Snape the Half-blood?

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 44827

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Olivia" <olivia at s...> wrote:
> Well, there is always the possibility that he knew how to read and 
spent his
> childhood with his face in a book like Hermione has. :) Although, 
there's no
> canon proof that Snape is literate.

Huh?  I'm feeling slow witted tonight -- am I missing a joke here?  
Snape reads the writing on the Marauder's Map in PoA, reads one of 
Rita Skeeter's articles aloud in class in GoF, writes on the 
blackboard during class, etc.

As for Snape spending his childhood with his face in a book, I 
suspect he did, but they would have to be magic books in order for 
him to pick up all those Dark Curses.  This suggests to me that he 
wasn't raised by Muggles.  Hermione didn't start reading up on magic 
until after she got her Hogwarts letter, and while she did seem to 
know more spells than most first-years by the time she arrived, I 
don't think she could've competed with the seventh-years.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com