JKR didn't say "No: was re: Life-saving bonds

[rubyxkelly]

No: HPFGUIDX 94718

> All the books are filled with deliberate attempts to create false 
> impressions...that's what mystery stories are about!  But when 
> you have all the facts, you see how you were led to misinterpret, 
> for example, Snape's actions at the first Quidditch match, or what 
> Quirrell meant when he said "C-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I 
> am to meet you."  Rowling explains her attitude in the following 
> quote:
> 
> Reader's Digest
> December 2000
> J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter Tim Bouquet
> http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1200-readersdige
> st-boquet.htm
> 
> "Readers loved to be tricked, but not conned."
> 
> IMO, if she says, "No" plainly and the answer turns out to be 'Yes' 
> that would be a con. But if she gives an obviously cagey answer, 
> and we let our own eagerness to have the matter settled  supply 
> a certainty that isn't there, then we've conned ourselves, which is 
> a very different matter. I'm perfectly willing to entertain the idea 
> that Snape isn't a vampire, but she gave a cagey answer 
> because she hates to spoil a theory. But I can't see that she gave 
> a cagey answer because she wanted the matter closed.
> 
> Pippin 

Pippin, that link didn't work; that, however, is not why I'm posting.
I also think JKR gave a very cagey answer. Asking if Snape was "linked" to any vampires, as opposed to asking if he WAS one, certainly gives plenty of room. Supose we didn't know about Lupin's status as a werewolf-but suspected something along those lines. Consider the following possible exchange:
"Is Prof. Lupin linked to any wereolves?"

"Erm..." (you know the rest).

Which would be misleading-but true! We know Lupin IS a werewolf, but never saw him "linked" to werewolves. As far as we know, he still isn't "linked" - which implies involvement with OTHER werewolves - even now. There's no mention of him being involved in Werewolf-Equality groups, or Werewoves Anonymous ("Hi, my name is Remus..."), he hasn't been outed as a member of the Werewolf Defense Force or a co-signer of the North Atlantic Werewolf Treaty Organization...or, well, anything. (It seems to me he could take a stance and stand up for himself as well as other werewolves since apparantly the WW knows about him; in fact organizing werewolves into demanding respect-AND the potion to treat the condition-would be more profitable than sitting around brooding. Of course, that would likely remove most of the motivation for him to have joined the DEs and be the traitor-to-the-Order theory as some have speculated.
Lupin being a "half-blood" was also interesting, seeing as how theare no real "purebloods" and haven't been (remember in the CoS movie, when the Trio are in Hagrid's hut after Draco calls Hermione a mudblood? Haggrid explains that marrying Muggles or Muggle-borns kept the WW from dying out-in fact, he goes so far as saying that there's nobody more than a half-blood, nowadays? Coupl that with JKR discussing how important it is to get the movie scripts to include the vital info to the series "puzzle", along with her statement that all the info necessary to figuring things out is in CoS; not to mention all the "dead-ends" backwards as well as forwards in the Black family tree...hmmm...). 
I'm not saying I believe Snape IS a vampire, but it wouldn't surprise me. Most of the "vampire" clues could also regard other things as well, such as an Animagi form. (Does anyone else find it hard to believe young Severus would discover his bitter school rivals to be Animagi without attempting to achieve the sme ability?) Also, some of the "reasons" for the impossibility of Vampire Snape strike me as extremely silly (he wouldn't have aged since school being the silliest). 
There are a couple of vampire-invloved theories that would make sense in many ways:
1) Snape became a vampire at the end of GoF in order to spy on he DEs;
2) Snape ended up as a vampire while IN the DEs (managing to create a potion to endure sunlight);
3) Severus is a dhampir (half-vampire) of some kind, omething that could be nicely worked into the Perseus Evans anagram. How? Well...that's another post which I don't hve time for right now...

She-Who-must-Go-Eat, (AKA)
Kat/rxk