James & Snape: Related? - or Snape & Sirius?

[queen_astrofiammante]

No: HPFGUIDX 110133

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> If Snape has to be related to anyone (something I'm not convinced
> about but for the sake of speculation...), then there are good (or 
> at least not-bad) indications that he might be related to Sirius.  
> How about as an illegitimate half-brother?


Congratulations on a wonderful theory - I really enjoyed reading it, 
and it does read very convincingly, especially as an explanation of 
the visceral hatred between Snape and Sirius. They are undoubtedly 
described with physical characteristics in common - height (I think 
Snape is initially described as 'a tall man') and hair colour. 

Also, we have the interesting question of Snape's blood status, 
information which we have never yet been made privy to. We think that 
he must be pureblood or at least a very well-connected half-blood to 
be in Slytherin. Being an offshoot of a family like the Blacks would 
serve very well. Added to which, it does explain Snape's early 
interest in the Dark Arts and his membership of the Death Eaters and 
the reason why an admittedly nasty incident of bullying gets 
classified as "Snape's worst memory".

But inevitably, here are a couple of things that came to mind in the 
other direction. Firstly, I had always thought James and Sirius were 
the two that were related, and that the mysteriously absent Pureblood 
Potters were perhaps an offshoot of the Black family. Remember that 
quote from Prisoner of Azkaban (UK Bloomsbury paperback p. 152):

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers," chimed in 
Professor Flitwick. "Inseparable!"

That line has always stuck out like a sore thumb to me, just as much 
as James saying "It's more the fact he existed..." - over which I do 
admit your argument is very satisfying. I thought James and Sirius 
might be cousins based on a Black sister who married a Mr Potter - or 
possibly a relationship through Sirius' mother. Add to this the 
supreme arrogance of the young James Potter and his own undoubted 
knowledge of hexes, jinxes and curses that he likes to let off in the 
school corridors. 

Secondly, and I hate to go over old ground here, but I have 
tremendous trouble seeing how the Perseus Evans anagram can possibly 
be an accident, even after the Mark Evans fiasco. A red herring, 
possibly, but not accidental. Here, with extreme brevity, are my 
reasons:

1. It's too elegant - there are very nearly internal anagrams in the 
two words. You need to swap just one letter - the V from Severus and 
the P from Snape - to make it work.

2. The resulting name is totally consistent in style with many others 
in the book - a mythological or astronomical first name married with 
a very ordinary surname. Sirius Black, Hestia Jones, Arabella Figg, 
Alastor Moody, Mundungus Fletcher, Minerva McGonagall, I could go on 
and on.

3. The resulting name just happens to include the surname of one of 
the book's most important characters (yes, I do realise why this 
isn't nearly as convincing an argument as it might once have been...)

4. Where there is a Perseus, wouldn't you expect to find an 
Andromeda? And, lo and behold, one appears. If Snape has a blood 
connection to the Blacks, this has superb potential for melodrama.

So, if Snape is related to anyone, isn't it likely in the light of 
this to be Lily Evans? And wouldn't that explain the equally visceral 
hatred he displays to her: "I don't need help from filthy little 
Mudbloods like her". True, we know she's muggle-born but then again 
we also know there's something about the Evans family that doesn't 
quite fit the rules - see the current debates on Dudley and Petunia. 
As for Petunia being Harry's 'only living relative', I invite 
sceptics to consider the suitability of Severus Snape as the sole 
guardian of James Potter's orphaned son.

Incidentally, I think the reason for Lily's intervention in the 
Pensieve scene is, apart from the opportunity to make James look 
small, evidence that she might have been the female Gryffindor 
prefect in her year.

My personal favourite candidate for the Half-blood Prince, excluding 
Godric Gryffindor himself, is Perseus Evans - whoever he 
turns out to be.

My thanks for providing some marvellous food for thought.

"queen_astrofiammante"