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[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 91021

Beth wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforG
rownups/message/91011 :

<< He is deeply interested in the Dark Arts from very early in life,
which is suggested in the books. Why? >>

IMHO, because the only time his parents (or father, depending on
whether the mother's timidity was always or just in the Pensieve
scene) expressed approval of him was when he showed that he was
learning far ahead of his age by reading in their Dark Arts library.

I should mention that I believe his childhood left him with a big
hunger for approval and it took him a very long time to learn any ways
of gaining approval except bragging about his grades and winning
fights/duels. 

He has learned a little; the rest of the permanent Hogwarts teachers
accept him as a colleague, respect him as a knowledgeable and powerful
wizard, and may enjoy his jokes. Look at McGonagall: "Heaven knows, we
need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by
Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks...."

I should mention that I don't believe that Snape has social phobia (I
do) because, despite his desire for approval (respect or at least
fear) from all people, he Doesn't Fear Disapproval from anyone but
himself and his current father figure, currently Dumbledore, perhaps
once Voldemort or Karkaroff or Lucius Malfoy.

Of course Snape is full of curdled rage and shame which turns to hate
as Jim Ferer described. Just not caused by social phobia.  I believe
(this is my old, old, 1999 theory) that the main thing which has, in
Jim Ferer's words, denied him the pursuit of happiness, is self-
directed homophobia. I feel sure in my heart that poor Severus was
born with exclusively 'gay' orientation but qas brought up to find
that idea disgusting. So he constantly tries to suppress those
feelings; when he feels them, that is one more thing to be disgusted
at himself about, along with having been a Death Eater, having been
humiliated by Marauders, etc. Self-disgust -> shame -> rage -> hatred
(of whomever can be blamed for making him feel so bad, or whomever can
be envied for undeservedly feeling good). 

And because he can't let himself feel his feelings, then he can't find
pairing-off love. 

Lucy Phoenix wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/91007 :

<< Has there been a discussion on who or what Crookshanks really is? I
feel he/she is more than just a cat but how does he/she fit in the
future stories? I don't have the books (I just keep checking them out
of the library), so is Crookshanks male or female? >>

Crookshanks is male, always getting the pronoun 'he' from "Poor
Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages; no one
wanted him" on. JKR said in an interview that Crookshanks is part
Kneazle. FB said that Kneazles "have an uncanny ability to detect
unsavory or suspicious characters, and can be relied on to guide its
owner safely home if they are lost."

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/bestiary/crookshanks.html

Christal Richards wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/90985 :

<< To view the pages from the movie's DADA book, and a transcript of
the words posted, use the link below.

http://hp4unews.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_hp4unews_a
rchive.html#107626975420360745
>>

Thank you for this link! WoW!

Their Firebolt with the crooked stick and painted runes doesn't look
much like the canonical description of the Firebolt:" It was a
Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Harry had gone to see every day
in Diagon Alley. Its handle glittered as he picked it up. He could
feel it vibrating and let go; it hung in midair, unsupported, at
exactly the right height for him to mount it. His eyes moved from the
golden registration number at the top of the handle, right down to the
perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail."

No glitter, runes not registration number, crooked not perfectly
smooth twigs ... 

"They've updated the handle too, a bit slimmer than the Cleansweeps,
reminds me of the old Silver Arrows" Handle THICK as well as BENT, the
latter surely contrary all the statements about it being
stream-lined. 

And, and Silmariel said in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/90995 , the movie
DADA textbook contradicts FB in some ways:

FB: "Humans turn into werewolves only when bitten."

FB: "Once a month, at full moon, the otherwise sane and normal wizard
or Muggle afflicted transforms into a murderous beast." "When there is
no Full Moon, the werewolf is as harmless as any other human."

Neither FB nor the movie book tell how to distinguish the werewolf
from the true wolf, which must be important because JKR has put it in
two books.

PoA: 
"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and
the true wolf?" said Snape.
(snip)
"Please, sir," said Hermione, whose hand was still in the air, "the
werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout
of
the werewolf --"

OoP:
"Did you like question ten, Moony?" asked Sirius as trhey emerged into
the entrance hall.
"Loved it," said Lupin briskly. "'Give five signs that identify the
werewolf.' Excellent question."
(snip)
"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes, and the tufted tail,"
[Wormtail] said anxiously, "but I couddn't think what else ---" 

Lupin is my favorite, too, so I am eager for all scraps of info about
Potterverse werewolves, but I find the movie DADA book to be contrary
to canon.

Ali wrote in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGr
ownups/message/90993 :

<< I was interested that the prop had a section on the "Silver Bullet
myth". Whilst it would be great to think that this was a JKR hint
that Lupin cannot be killed by a silver bullet, and perhaps by
extension, the Silver Hand of Pettigrew, I would imagine that this
is a leap too far. >>

I believe that JKR answered that silver is not especially dangerous to
Potterverse werewolves in Harry's first dinner at 12 Grimmauld Place.
There is that stuff of Mundungus asking Sirius whether the goblets are
solid silver, which has no purpose except to establish that they are.
And there is no reason to establish that the goblet is silver except:
when they get down to business: "A frisson had gone around the table
at the sound of Voldemort's name. Lupin, who had been about to take a
sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary." JKR is telling
us that Lupin has no problem drinking from a silver goblet; holding it
doesn't burn his hand as in so many fanfics; it doesn't do special
magical harm to him.