Snape's Patronus

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 90719

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "davewitley" <dfrankiswork at n...>
wrote:
> Amanda wrote:
> > I submit that Snape probably cannot perform Expecto Patronus. It's 
> not that
> > I doubt his power or will--but I doubt he has sufficiently happy 
> memories.
> 
> It is possible that Snape has never been able to master the Patronus 
> because of difficulty summoning happy memories.
> 
> However, I don't believe that happy memories are integral to the 
> spell; they are merely an accepted learning method for it.  Once 
> Harry has grasped the spell he does need to call something to mind, 
> but 'happy memory' is IMO too simplistic a description.
> 
> I believe that the spell is esentially an assertion of *identity* in 
> the face of a predatory attempt to remove it.  For the beginner, 
> this is most easily done via a happy memory, but this is not 
> necessarily the only way.
> 
> I think Snape has a sense of his own identity in spades  (there is 
> perhaps a parallel with the way Sirius was able to resist the 
> Dementors in Azkaban), so in principle a Patronus is perfectly 
> possible for him.
> 
> David

It's also possible that occlumency might protect him. Maybe he's able
to block the dementors from entering his mind at all. At any rate, I
can't see Snape, who's a very powerful wizard and was clearly obsessed
with the results of his DADA OWL exam, not learning to cast a Patronus
for his DADA NEWTs. And if a happy memory is needed, maybe he can
recall his mother smiling at him some time in his early childhood when
his father wasn't around. I can't imagine his *entire life* being
unhappy, though much of it clearly was.

Carol, who thinks that Snape can cast any spell he sets his mind to,
even a cheering charm :-)