Wormtail's silver hand (was: Thoughts on Wormtail's activities in OOTP )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 84520

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Diana_Sirius_fan"
<siriuslove71 at y...> wrote:
> > A related question regarding Sirius's schoolboy "prank": If Snape 
> were
> > a vampire, couldn't he have fought werewolf Lupin in that form? If
> > we're going by folklore, nothing can kill a vampire but a stake of
> > holly to the heart, right? Why would he have needed to learn
> > occlumency or any form of defense against the dark arts if he were
> > virtually immortal?
> > 
> > Carol
> 
> 
> Snape may not have had to learn occumlency.  If he is a vampire, he 
> may be able to read minds already, so he fine tuned this skill.  As 
> far as learning the dark arts: he was always interested in that 
> subject.  Just because he could be immortal doesn't mean he can not 
> be interested in a subject.  At Hogwarts, all students must take 
> DADA, even if they are a vampire.  Even so, JK's vampire might not be 
> a traditional folklore vampire.  
> 
> Diana

But Snape would not have been furious with Sirius all these years for
apparently trying to kill him if he were a vampire because he would
not have been in any danger from werewolf Lupin. Also Dumbledore would
never have hired him and the students wouldn't be safe. Snape took his
DADA O.W.L. exam very seriously, writing about two feet more than
anyone else in a tiny hand and poring over the questions after the
answers had been turned in. It was clearly of the utmost importance to
him (as the closest he could get to the dark arts themselves)--it was
not merely a required subject. If he were a vampire, he'd have no need
for the dark arts if he wanted to harm an enemy. All he would have to
do is bite them.

There is no solid evidence that he's a vampire, only an occasional
suggestive image (and Sirius has the same traits, overtly described as
vampirelike in his case). And I can't think of any plot-related reason
why he would need to be one (other than as an ambassador to the
vampires, and we've already had that sort of subplot with Hagrid).
Snape is pretty clearly a "pure blood" wizard, based on his reference
to Lily as a "mudblood" and his aversion to werewolf Lupin (as well as
his placement in Slytherin, if the sorting hat follows Salazar
Slytherin's criterion for admission to his house). I don't mean to be
rude or dismissive, but I don't understand why anyone would want him
to be a vampire. What is the attraction of this theory?

Carol