OotP: Snape as a halfblood (OotP spoilers)

[drmm_fuuko]

No: HPFGUIDX 61987

I've come to the conclusion that Snape is probably a half blood 
wizard. Why? I've got several reasons for thinking so.

1. He was not on the Black family tapestry. If Snape had been a 
pureblood, and Sirius said that pretty much all pureblood families 
(including the Weasley's) are related in some way, you'd think he'd 
say "Unfortunatly, I'm even related to Snivellus" or Harry would have 
noticed his name on the tapestry, the way he does Malfoy and 
Lestrange.

2. I've always wondered why Voldemort is so willing to trust Snape. 
Spy!Snape was obviously very important to Dumbledore during the first 
war and it's apparent that he's still valuable to Dumbledore now. 
Since Voldy can't really tell what Snape is thinking, what with the 
whole Occlumency thing and all (unless a trained Occlumens can 
mislead someone?), there must be a reason why he trusts Snape, even 
after his behavior in SS/PS. So, on that note ...

3. The flashback to crying Snape in OotP gives a pretty big clue that 
Snape and his mother (or at least his mother) was abused. If his 
father was yelling at a mother he disliked, I doubt he'd be so upset. 
Since he also calls Lily a mudblood, that gives us a clue that he WAS 
predjudiced against muggles. This leads me to the conclusion that his 
mother was a witch and his father was a muggle. If his Muggle father 
was abusive, then he would hate and resent all muggles, leading to a 
predjudice against them.

4. If his mother had been a pureblood who married a muggle, that 
would explain her absense on the Black tapestry and why Sirius 
doesn't mention that he's related to Snape. Sirius doesn't know the 
family name "Snape" and thus, has no idea that he's related to Snape 
(it wouldn't make him treat Snape any different though).

5. Voldemort would be more willing to trust someone with a similar 
background to his, since I'm sure he researches the backgrounds of 
his Death Eaters.

6. I rest my case.

On a side-note, I find it interesting that the description of Snape's 
father is so similar to that of Snape's. That could give the people 
who constantly speculate about why Snape's hair is so greasy another 
weapon -- he hates looking at himself in the mirror because he looks 
like his father, so doesn't bother to do anything about his 
appearance.