Snape passionate about the dark arts? [was: Snape]

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89807

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "erinellii" <erinellii at y...> wrote:
> 
> > Carol:
>  Sirius's statement that young
> > Severus was "up to his eyes in the dark arts" was not quite true,
> > unless you count his coming to Hogwarts at age eleven knowing more
> > hexes than most sixth years. The Dark Arts are not taught at 
> Hogwarts,
> > so what he was up to his eyes in (quite literally in the Pensieve
> > scene where he has his nose pressed to the parchment and is writing
> > extremely long and detailed answers in a small hand) is DADA.
> 
> 
> Erin:
> 
> Just because something isn't taught at school doesn't mean that a 
> student cannot be deeply involved in it.   Suppose there was a 
> student who was taking a computer programming class, was making 
> straight A's in it, and then someone told your that he was "up to his 
> eyeballs in hacking"  Would you protest that since his class didn't 
> teach you how to be a hacker, he couldn't be one?  That what he had 
> to be "up to his eyeballs in" was simple programming?
> 
> Students have interests outside of class, you know.
> 
> --Erin

I'm not denying the possibility that he might have been exposed to the
Dark Arts at home (that father of his seems like a Dark Wizard if
there ever was one). I'm only saying that the evidence we have
(notably that O.W.L. exam) points directly to an interest in DADA and
only indirectly to an interest in the Dark Arts per se. But the
question is, how would Sirius know about Severus's interest in the
Dark Arts if, as I believe, they were in separate Houses? And can we
trust Sirius's assessment of someone he has hated since they were both
boys?

(For the record, I *do* think young Severus was interested in the Dark
Arts and that's what led him to join the DEs, but you snipped that
part of my post.)

Carol