More on Snape & a couple of questions

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 56453

 First the questions because they're short. I was looking through the books
for some stuff to back up what I was about to argue and found a couple of
things that struck me as odd.
Neville - when the new Gryffindors are discussing their origins Neville sayd
"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch but the family thought I was
all Muggle for ages" But a non-magical person born into a wizarding family
isn't a muggle, they're a squib - like Filch. So why does he say muggle? We
know his parents were tortured by Death Eaters and are in St Mungos so it's
not like his mother was a squib who married a muggle. I'm confused.

Hogwarts Express - In CoS when Snape is reading out the sightings of Ron and
Harry in the Flying Fod Anglia he reads one out from Norfolk, which strikes
me as an odd place for the car to be flying over since it's following the
train. Lincolnshire I could understand but Norfol is a little too far east
for a train which is going north from London.

Anyway now back to my regularly scheduled message :) This occured to me
while we were debating Snape. Everything we see is from the pov of Harry
Potter, who's not exactly an unbiased witness. The impression we get from
him is that Snape is a universally disliked, unpleasent loner with no
friends - but I was wondering about his relationships with the rest of the
staff. I'm not including his relationship with the DADA teacher of the week
here because they've all been a) evil, b) useless or c) the source of great
childhood trauma for Severus (personally i don't think he's after the job he
just wants someone who's going to do a decent job of it, DADA is after all
quite important with Voldemort coming back and everything). Unfortunately it
s difficult to decide what he's like with the rest of the staff when they're
not being observed by the students because when they're not being observed
by the students Harry's not there to tell us. However I have found two thing
that make me think he gets on well with the rest of the staff, especially
Minerva and maybe the other House Heads too.

Firstly (and these are in the opposite of chronological order) the neat way
that he, Minerva, Flitwick and Sprout get rid of Lockhart in CoS. Here
follows a lengthy quote from the momen Lockhart enters the staff meeting (p
217-8 in my book)

"Just the man," [Snape] said. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the
monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has
come at last." 
...
"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying
just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the
Chamber of Secrets is?"
...
"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped
up Professor Flitwick.
...
"I certianly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at
the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape. "Didn't you say the
whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free
rein from the first?"
...
"We'll leave it to you then Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight
will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your
way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at
last."

OK I edited out Lockhart's blustering because it's irrelevent, amusing but
irrelevent. Now I'm not saying that the fact they've all seen through him is
a sign that they're friends - although I wouldn't mind betting he's the
topic of conversation whenever he's not around. But there's no way that they
ve had time to discuss how to get rid of him in advance. So I think the fact
that the other three catch onto Snape's aim and chip in is a sign that they
re at least amiable colleagues. They do work very well together here in
getting Lockhart to do exactly what they want ie go away.

Secondly, a quote from Minerva in PS. It's from the scene where she is
telling Wood that she's found him a seeker."Flattened in that last match by
Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks." We don't
get anything else on the subject of Severus/Minerva's rivalry (hmm, that
looks unfortunate - I'm not shipping) and I think we can assume tnhat Harry
writes it off as simply an extension of the Slytherin/Gryffindor division
amongst the students. But I think it sounds far more like Severus and
Minerva are both friends and since she at least appears to be a quidditch
fan (I can't see any evidence either way about Severus' feelings on the
game) it would only be natural that who beats whom is important. I think it
s a friendly rivalry ratehr than anything else.

What do you guys think? Severus and Minerva - good friends or not.

K