Fw: Re: [HPforGrownups] Snape's De past/Draco behaviour/

[Rita]

No: HPFGUIDX 44397







Hello everybody! My name it's Rita, I'm Italian, 26, and writing my thesis
on the HP saga, I came across your mailing list quite by chance and feel
very lucky
for it because reading your posts helps me a lot with getting the right kind
of concentration to get into the books and write something sensible
afterward!! I hope I won't make any mistakes in quoting/spelling/choice of
words and the likes.

So here's my contribution to a few topics lately discussed:

-Who knows about Snape's past?
That he was a DE doesn't seem to be common knowledge in the WW as Fudge
reacts to the news (Parting of the Ways ch. in GF) in a surprised manner.
As suggested, Karkaroff's hearing was probably not a 'public' thing and what
Dumbl. said about Snape may well never have left that room.

>> I would be a bit
>> surprised if not even McGonagall knew, however.

>Eloise:
>Actually, I wouldn't.
>I think it's quite likely that she does, but Dumbledore doesn't seem to
>confide everything in her.

here I agree with kel, I've got a feeling that McG was part of that 'old
crowd' Dumbl. mentions and I guess that they were bound to know if they had
a man in such an important position among Vold.'s people. Furthermore, she
knows everything about Vold's return, as she was in Moody's office when
Crouch jr 'confessed' and in the Hospital wing when Snape 'comes out' and
she doesn't say a word to that. If Dumbl. didn't trust her he wouldn't have
let her stay.


>> > kel:
> > > the few Slytherins that we actually know of

>> > Eloise:
> >> Again, I don't actually see evidence of that. Why would they know?

It's not very clear from the post who wrote the following, but, by the way
it's quoted, I guess it must have been kel, if not, I apologize to whoever
was the author:
>> I say: If most (possibly not all) of the students in Slytherin have DE
>> parents, I would think that at least some of them would know Snape was a
>> comrade of sorts, or at least know his name.

>Eloise:
>Do they know each other well?
[cut]
> The fewer that know each others identities, the better. There aren't that
many of them (I'm not sure about
>this - what is the accepted number of Voldemort's followers?), yet one of
the
>reasons for bearing the Dark Mark is to identify themselves to each other.
>And they habitually wear hoods and masks when in DE mode, as well.

It is true we have no evidence on this subject and Karkaroff says that there
was secrecy among them and only Vold. knew who they were but if they didn't
know each others, at least in small groups, how could they have organized
the attack on the Muggles at the Cup? Wearing hoods and masks doesn't mean
much,you can still know who's behind them, and actually you would need to in
a meeting of a fair number, otherwise how would you address someone if you
didn't know his/her name?They could have 'nicknames' but I guess we would
have heard some of them if that's what JKR had meant.And about the Dark Mark
couldn't it be a sign of 'distinction' besides a means of identification?
something like " we're all members of this exclusive group and we have a
tattoo to demonstrate it".

Eloise:
>I also don't think that we can assume that Slytherin Supporter of Lord
>Voldemort. In fact I rather think that that may be a trap that JKR *wants*
us to fall into.
[cut]
>No. I think that the DEs are Voldemort's inner circle. There may have been
>widespread support for him amongst Slytherin families, but I don't think we
>can assume that most of them were on the inside.

I absolutely agree with both this points. too little people come to Vold
when hen rises again to be all of his old supporters.





________________________________________________________________________

Bugaloo 37:
>> I consider Draco to exemplify the absolutely worst aspects of human
>> nature. He is a reflection, of course, of his father. He assesses
>> people on their heritage and financial status.[cut]

Melody:
>> I think that is a bit harsh on Draco. While he is not one of my
>> favorite characters, to say the least, I don't think his motives for
> >hating Hermione and Ron are based solely on thier stations in life.
> >I always felt Draco was more jealous of Ron and Hermione. If Draco
> >had his way, he would be Harry's best friend and bask in the
> >deflected glory that is the Harry juggernaut.

Carol:
>I have to agree with Bugaloo37. I don't deny that Draco is also jealous,
>but I don't think that's his motivation. Even if it were, it wouldn't
>excuse his obnoxious behavior. How one handles the less pleasurable
>emotions in life is, IMO, a way to measure one's character. Draco
>definitely comes up short here. Learning from his father, being jealous,
>whatever his reason, he is still an example of the worst aspects of human
>nature.

Don't think me arrogant if I say this but I think that this discussion is a
bit beside the point.JKR has taken the outmost care to show that Draco is a
negative character, he's the snobbish bully of the school story tradition,
because he's jealous, because he's not loved properly by his parents, you
name it, but nothing makes much difference, he's still depicted as the 'bad'
boy. Therefore I subscribe to anything Carol wrote in her reply:

>I wouldn't classify his behavior as nice necessarily. It looked more to me
>like he was bragging and showing off.
[cut]
>I wouldn't call it friendship that he offered either. It's more in line
>with his bragging nature. He's showing off more. He's so important he
>knows all the "right" wizard families. I don't recall that he went around
>offering this advice to anyone else, so clearly he's motivated to do so for
>Harry because ... well, because he's Harry. What a feather in his cap it
>would be to have Harry Potter under his "tutelage."


well, I hope I managed to make myself understood
Love to all,
R

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