Some Snape thoughts;Dursley backstory

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 35771

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:

> Hmmm.  So if I read this correctly, you're suggesting that Snape 
has 
> some sort of power to resist Harry's vague wandless magic, and 
> that's the reason Snape didn't blow up like Aunt Marge.  Hmmm, very 
> interesting, the idea that Snape has these unusual powers. I wonder 
> where he got those powers.   Hmmm.  Is there any creature we know 
> that requires a special defense, a creature that can only be 
> repelled with a Patronus charm, a creature that glides and prowls 
> and inhabits dark spaces and sucks the warmth out of the air?  Nah, 
> nothing comes to mind.
> 
Well, I did hold back on my theory that Snape's form of vampirism 
consists in feeding on the strong emotions of those around him, for 
fear of winning the Flint prize for the maximum number of 
contradictions in a single post.

On this idea, he needs for the Gryffindors to be cross with him every 
lesson to keep the oil flowing in his hair.

But I don't think Harry's wandless magic is vague.  It's very 
powerful, when it leaks out.  I'll stick to my guns and say that I 
*do* really think that JKR intends to link up the Marge incident and 
Harry's anger to other times at Hogwarts when he gets angry.  But I'm 
partly influenced by my view, based on feel for the structure as much 
as anything, that pretty much anything that happens at Privet Drive 
or with the Dursleys is a significant foreshadowing of something.

While I'm on the topic of the Dursleys, I've always wondered about 
Vernon.  You know that bit when he is fleeing the letters, he gets 
out of the car in the forest, casts around or sniffs the air or 
something, gets back in the car and turns round, and they eventually 
choose that island?  What does he imagine he is doing?  Logically 
(and in the actual event) it's a bit hopeless to try to avoid magic 
just by moving.  The Dursleys are anything but logical, but it's as 
if Vernon has some sense of the 'magicality' of a place, or 
something, and is seeking a dead spot.  As if he has some experience 
of magic of his own.  (It's clear he has no experience of magical 
*society* - he doesn't recognise the wizards in the street for waht 
they are.)  I do wonder if he was down to go to Hogwarts, and 
rejected it (or his parents did), and that's what drew him and 
Petunia to each other.

His ability to say 'Do I look stupid?' when he has egg dangling from 
his lip suggests he could be a seer.  He has no neck, so he could be 
part-Skrewt (Challenge to fanficcers: how did this come about, with 
diagrams, please).  The way he turns purple could be an incipient Sea 
Slug animagus ability, too.  And remember, it's the Smeltings Stick 
that chooses the Dursley, not the other way around. ^_`

David, suffering from too much time stuck in a hotel