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

[erinellii]

No: HPFGUIDX 89811

Carol: 
> 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). 

Erin:
But not just at home!  There's a whole library at Hogwarts, isn't 
there?  You're probably thinking all the Dark Arts stuff is kept in 
the restricted section, but it may not have been.  And even if it 
were, there would be ways around that.  Not to mention all the older 
Slytherins who joined the DE's (such as Lucius Malfoy) were around 
and probably taught Snape a thing or two.

Or, heck, he could have had a pen- er, quill- pal from Durmstrang, 
where they actually do teach the Dark Arts.

As for Snape's father, well, if we go by the definition that shouting 
at your wife makes you evil, I know an awful lot of evil people!


Carol
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. 

Erin:
I take it you mean objective evidence, and you don't count Sirius' 
words as evidence. But... there's also the evidence that Snape joined 
the DE's.  That didn't just spring out of nowhere.  If he had not 
really wanted to, he wouldn't have gotten far enough in to get an 
actual dark mark like he had.


Carol:
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?

Erin:
Not everyone believes that they *were* in different Houses.  They 
could have both been in Slytherin. I admit that I also think it 
unlikely, but it is not ruled out by canon.  

If they were in separate Houses, though....  Well, just because we 
don't see the trio mingling too much with other Houses doesn't mean 
that's the way everyone is.  We have seen canon examples of inter-
house dating and such.  Sirius's brother who became a DE was probably 
in Slytherin, wouldn't you think?  I believe Harry is really a pretty 
extreme example of no contact with the other houses (or even other 
students in his own house, for that matter)  Other people are more 
social, and I think that if you went to the same school with someone 
for seven years, you'd get to know something about them.  

 I think you're just not giving people enough credit.  Students can't 
learn outside class, different Houses have to be ignorant about each 
other?  No, that's just not the way life is.  People are curious 
animals.  They have ways of finding things out.

And then of course there's the fact that they *were* enemies.  Who 
better for Snape to use some of those Dark arts on than James and 
Sirius?  They probably got a first-hand dose on several occasions.  
Okay, I know you'll probably protest that that would be illegal or 
something, but some of it may not be.  The fact that there are only 
three Unforgivable curses, as well as the DAs being taught as a 
subject at Durmstrang suggests to me that there are many DA curses 
that are not so unforgivable.  And since dueling at all is against 
the rules, why shouldn't Snape bend them a little further?  I'm 
wondering about that curse that slashed James across the cheek.  It 
wasn't exactly a light and fluffy one, was it?

As for not trusting Sirius, I see your point, but I don't believe he 
would lie to Harry about his father.  Not to mention that lupin was 
sitting right there and could have contradicted Sirius at any time 
had he offered wrong information.  And I *do* trust Lupin.


Carol: 
> (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.)

Erin:
I snipped it because it wasn't the part I was replying to.  Sorry if 
it offended you.  I read it and understood that that was your 
personal feeling, but you were arguing in the above paragragh that 
there wasn't much evidence for it, and that was the section that I 
wanted to try and refute.  I try to quote only the relevent parts of 
posts so that people who have been reading a thread don't have to 
read the same thing twenty zillion times.


Erin