OOP: Snape 2

[captc2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 65120

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Snape:  Umbridge asks how long he has been teaching at Hogwarts.  His 
answer:  14 years.  

Harry's Age:  15.  I believe he was 1 year old when his parents died.

So Snape started teaching around the time Harry's parents were killed.

Perhaps Snape is the one who overheard the first part of the prophecy 
at HogsHead.  He ran to tell Voldemort, but didn't know that the 
Potter's would be chosen.  Suddenly V. decides to kill off the 
Potters.  

Snape owed James his life, which we know creates a bond between 
wizards.  Snape may possibly have had feelings for Lily, as she had 
defended him during the difficult school years at Hogwarts.  So 
suddenly Snape the Death Eater, was faced with a horrible set of 
circumstances, owing his life to the father, and, perhaps, having 
feelings for the mother.  This set of events may be what triggered 
his return to Dumbledore and could be the reason Dumbledore trusts 
him.

Finding out that Snape was the unwitting catalyst for the death of 
Harry's parents would certainly show his character in a bad light.  
Maybe that is why JKR does not want us to think well of him.

Ruth