How did Sirius lure Severus into the Willow? (was: James the Berk?)
arrowsmithbt
arrowsmithbt at btconnect.com
Wed Jul 14 20:16:05 UTC 2004
No: HPFGUIDX 106262
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Brenda M." <Agent_Maxine_is at h...> wrote:
> heavy snipping>
> Brenda: You say "How did you reach them? Any evidence? Any at all?"
>
> This is my fault, I apologize. I was assuming that it would be
> somewhat clear how my logic was laid out. So here it is -- my
> speculation as to HOW DD 'blackmailed' SSSnivellus (irresistable) to
> keep his mouth shut (about the whole Shrieking Shack fiasco and
> Lupin's nature):
>
> (1) DD kindly reminds Snape that he is also half-human and he must
> treat all the students same -- that is, IF Lupin gets expelled from
> this (Howler!parents), so must Snape.
> (2) Snape is another orphan who stayed at Hogwarts for the summer and
> DD tells him he can't grant him this priviledge if Snape were to go
> blabbing.
>
> So how did I reach these specific scenarios?
>
> I was thinking whatever 'blackmail material' DD had against Snape, it
> had to be something very PERSONAL for Snape that it was worth missing
> his *one* chance (perhaps the only) to see Sirius and Lupin expelled.
>
> (1) From Shrieking Shack scene in PoA where Lupin explains that he
> had been tempted to inform DD of Padfoot!Sirius but he was afraid of
> betraying his trust. DD had allowed him to attend Hogwarts despite of
> his condition when no other Headmasters would. Then I remembered
> seeing some HPFG posters saying "Snape is a vampire". (I still have
> *no clue* how people got this idea and I would love to see how they
> argue on that.)
Kneasy:
Shh! Not so loud. There are posters still in denial over this one.
Vampire!Snape was a quite popular theory at one time with posts,
not-so-veiled insults and cries of anguish reverberating around the
site. The evidence was thin; very thin and all of it inferential, but the
enthusiasts stuck to their guns - until JKR's web chat, 4th March this
year.
Megan: Is there a link between Snape and vampires?
JKR: Erm..I don't think so.
This pretty well put the mockers on that one, because if Snape was
vampire or part vampire then the answer would have been "Yes" or
maybe something more enigmatic or "I can't tell you". Some still
have hopes that his Patronus or Animagus form is a bat, which is
just about possible from JKR's answer. But any hope of Snape being
blackmailed because of Dracular tendencies is a non-starter. And
there are no indications that he has any other zoologically
interesting ancestors either.
>Bren:
> (2) Tom Riddle closed the Chamber of Secrets and blamed Hagrid from
> the fear of not being able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer. IMO
> Tom Riddle LOVED being the Heir of Slytherin, he loved the idea
> of 'purging those who are not worthy of studying magic'. Then why did
> he close it? To him, going back to orphanage for the summer was
> simply too painful to bear that he would rather close the Chamber.
> Not to mention providing some degree of closure to Moaning Myrtle's
> parents, but I doubt TR cared about that too much. And I thought this
> was a nice parallel to how Snape would have felt after Shrieking
> Shack Fiasco.
> [Also, it was only for the SUMMER, Snape wouldn't necessarily freeze
> in snow during England's summer, would he?!]
>
Kneasy:
Snape an orphan? I can't remember ever seeing that mentioned before.
The TR stuff is canon, but so far as I can recall, we have absolutely no
information about Sevvy's family situation - except that 'crying child'
memory. This has been interpreted two ways; most think that the
crying child is Sevvy and that it's a vision of an unhappy childhood.
Others (me included) aren't so sure; Snape could be the adult.
But whichever it is, it tells us nothing about Snape and his family in
his Hogwarts years or whether he was an orphan or not. We just
don't know. (If there are posters who know differently, please post
with details.) The inference is that he wasn't - you don't learn
Dark Magic curses in an orphanage and Sirius tells us Snape knew
plenty when he arrived at Hogwarts... If you can believe Sirius.
See, it's pushing things a step too far for my taste.
Speculating that Snape is an orphan is one thing, and quite possibly
a valid viewpoint if some sort of support can be found; but *needing*
Snape to be an orphan so that a *supposed* act of blackmail can take
place is not reasonable IMO.
I've seen snow in England in June. Rare, but it can happen. This month
we've had night-time temps down to 40 F (3-4 C). Summer doesn't
necessarily mean a great deal round here. It can get bloody cold.
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