Oh, the People Snape Knows...

[Erin]

No: HPFGUIDX 107298

I was thinking the other day about Snape and how he relates to 
others. 

 ::pauses and and reflects how much she appreciates having a group 
she can say this to without people looking at her like she's crazy::

Anyway, as I was mentally going through Snape's interactions with 
those around him, something became undeniably clear to me.

Severus Snape doesn't have *any* insignificant relationships. None 
at all.  In fact, throughout five books, there's not a single scene 
where he speaks to Hagrid, or Sprout, or Flitwick, or Binns, or 
Pomfrey.  Or even about them.

OK, so the man doesn't fancy inane small talk.  I'm cool with that.  
But wait just a minute;  if he doesn't talk about the inane stuff, 
that means all his talk must be... ane?  Relevant, at any rate.  I 
sensed a new theory taking shape....

And yes, to my delight, the hypothesis held true.  Snape's 
conversations and confrontations in each book hold the clue to the 
ultimate resolution of the mystery within that book.  

It's not so much what he says, as who he says it to.  Other than his 
students, Snape doesn't even bother speaking to non-suspicious 
characters.  Nearly every single conversation he has is with someone 
who either *is*  a Death Eater or a traitor to Dumbledore, or who is 
*suspected* of being a Death Eater or a traitor to Dumbledore.  

Let me break it down by book so you'll have a better idea of what 
I'm talking about here.  This is a list of the people Snape has had 
key exchanges with.

PS/SS:  Argus Filch
        Quirrell

CoS:    Gilderoy Lockhart

PoA:    Remus Lupin
        Sirius Black
            
GoF:    Moody aka Barty Crouch Jr.
        Argus Filch
        Cornelius Fudge 
        Igor Karkaroff

OotP:   Umbridge
             

And to these, I would add a few others; Snape's recurring 
relationships, as I think of them.  These are the people whom Snape 
is shown interacting with in more than one or two books:

Dumbledore
McGonagall
Harry Potter 
Draco Malfoy
Neville Longbottom 

So.   Hopefully you're starting to understand what I'm getting at 
here.  But I'll expand a bit further just in case.

PS/SS:
In the first book, Snape is extremely prevalent as the trio mistakes 
him for the villain of the piece.  He has two major relationships; 
Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Filch, the 
caretaker of the school.

Quirrell: 
Quirrell, of course, turned out to be the villain hosting 
Voldemort.  The trio think Snape is bullying Quirrell in order to 
get the secret to the Philosopher's Stone, but at the end find out 
Snape had suspected that Quirrell was helping Voldemort, and was 
literally asking Quirrell to decide where his loyalties lay.

Argus Filch:  
Snape hangs out with more with Filch in this book than any other.  
When his knee is injured at Halloween, it's Filch he goes to for the 
fix-up.  When Harry sneaks into the library's restricted section at 
night, Filch runs to Snape and they hunt for Harry together.
Before OotP, spotting the pattern of Snape's relationships wouldn't 
have been possible solely because of Filch.  But in OotP, Filch 
shows his true colors.  He hates Dumbledore, loves Umbridge, and 
would be willing to turn the school over to anyone who would let him 
punish the students as harshly as he so desperately longs to do.  
Reason enough for him to be a suspicious character and for Snape's 
interest in him.

Also in the first book, Snape sets the tone in his treatment of 
Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, coddling the latter and getting off 
to a bad start with the former. 

In CoS:

Gilderoy Lockhart:  
He wasn't exactly the main villain, and Snape's utter contempt of 
him reflects that.  But he did prove capable of breaking the law, 
and erasing the memory of students-- 12-year-olds!-- entrusted to 
his care, as well as memory-wiping countless others in his quest to 
become famous.

Also in the second book, Snape cements his place as Dumbledore's 
trusted lieutenant.  Any time there's trouble, he and Minerva 
McGonagall are right behind the headmaster.


PoA:
Remus Lupin: 
A werewolf!  The man suspected by the Potters of being Voldemort's 
spy when they went into hiding  And guilty of withholding 
information from Dumbledore which could have helped recapture Sirius 
Black.   Even though he turned out to be a good guy, it's easy to 
see why Snape was suspicious of him.

Sirius Black:  An escaped criminal convicted of murdering the 
Potters.   And with whom Snape just coincidentally has a history.


GoF:
The central mystery of Goblet of Fire is, of course, 'Who put 
Harry's name in the Goblet?'.

Throughout the book, JKR tried to distract us by using red herrings 
and decoys.  And she did a darn good job of it, too.  There are 
*still* people running around the fandom arguing that Ludo Bagman is 
a Death Eater.  But I know he isn't.  *Because Snape never talked to 
him.*

Now, this book is where we should have begun to catch on to Snape's 
special function in the text, namely, that if he speaks to someone, 
that someone is an important or suspicious character.

Think of the suspects JKR set up when Harry's name was drawn from 
the Goblet. 

Ludo Bagman, a shady character with a mysterious penchant for 
helping Harry.  Mr. Crouch, with all his unexplained absences.  
Madame Maxime, a half-giantess.  Igor Karkaroff, headmaster of a 
school known for teaching the Dark Arts.  And Snape himself, who 
hates Harry.

Excepting himself, Snape speaks only to one of these: Karkaroff, who 
turns out to have been a former Death Eater.  Veeeery suspicious.

And he also speaks to the one person we didn't suspect. Moody, 
a.k.a. Barty Crouch Jr.   Harry and co. never had much luck figuring 
out who was responsible for dropping Harry's name in the Goblet, but 
Snape zeroed right in on him (though unknowingly).  

Also in the fourth book Snape speaks to Cornelius Fudge (the 
Minister of Magic, an important person who becomes suspicious when 
he refuses to acknowledge Voldemort's return) and continues his 
tradition of late-night rendezvous with Argus Filch.

OotP:

In Order of the Phoenix, Snape argues with Sirius Black (now 
revealed as the lone heir of an extremely Dark wizarding family)

He pretends to cooperate with Delores Umbridge (who set the 
dementors on Harry and Dudley)

And he spends time coaching Harry, who ultimately makes the mistake 
of falling into Voldemort's trap.

                   ****************                               
I know I haven't said all of this very well; I'm so excited about it 
that I'm sort of rushing into posting.  I plan to refine it a lot 
more based on the feedback that I hope it will get.  

But I will say this; if you want to know what's going on the very 
first time you read the sixth book, all you have to do is watch 
Snape.

--Erin


This message has also been cross-posted at The Hog's Head: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hogs_Head/  for the benefit of those 
who prefer a smaller and more intimate group of adult fans who are 
knowledgeable about Harry Potter.