Family members of important characters

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 88712

> Sawsan wrote:
<snip>
> Also, I noticed that the surname Snape is not mentioned on the
> pureblood family tree of the Noble house of Black. That makes me think
> about the scene when Snape calls Lily Evans a mudblood, and she is
> shocked (I read it and thought that she was shocked because he of all
> people couldnt call her that). What do you think? Come to think of it,
> neither is the surname Slytherin; so if they all intermarry to keep
> the blood pure so to speak, then why weren't those names mentioned?
> (Perhaps I need to reread that chapter again to make sure about
> Slytherin, though I don't think I came across it.)
> 
> In fact I didn't see any of the instructors' names from Hogwarts on
> the tree, if I am not mistaken. Any canon proof about any of this that
> I missed guys?

We don't see the entire Black family tree, which is very complex, and
as we know, certain names have been removed from it, so others may
have been removed as well. I think that Sirius and Harry are
interested primarily in the close relationships--Sirius's first and
second cousins, etc. Any person, Sirius included, has four
grandparents, eight great grandparents, sixteen great grandparents, ad
infinitum. It's entirely possible that the names Snape, Potter,
Dumbledore and McGonagall appear on the tapestry several generations
back. Consider, for example, that Dumbledore is 150 years old. His
name would be rather difficult to find. I imagine that Sirius, who is
not at all proud of being part of the "Noble and Ancient House of
Black," has spent very little time examining the relationships
depicted in the tapestry. But given the intermarriages of the
purebloods, I'd be very surprised if he wasn't distantly related to
Severus Snape and James Potter four or five generations back--and for
that matter, to Neville Longbottom, who's described as a pureblood as
early as CoS 116 (Am. ed.).

However, given that Harry is considered a half-blood because of his
Muggle-born mother, it's possible that James and Severus are
full-bloods rather than pure-bloods, meaning that their parents were a
witch and a wizard, neither of whom was Muggle-born, but they had
Muggles earlier in their ancestry. The problem with that theory is
that JKR herself doesn't make a full-blood/pure-blood distinction.
It's also possible that James, at least, has been removed from the
tapestry for marrying a Muggle-born and that Sirius chose not to point
this out to Harry. My point is that there are many reasons why Harry
would not have seen the names Snape, Potter, Dumbledore, and
McGonagall on the tapestry, none of which precludes the possibility
that these people are purebloods and related to Sirius. As noted, he
didn't see the name Longbottom, either.

Carol, who wants Snape to be a pureblood so that his calling Lily a
"mudblood" won't be hypocritical. 

Carol