Why Snape doesn't have to be human

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 107672

Pippin wrote:

Counterclues and potential arguments:
-[Names aren't always significant *cough*Evans*cough*]

-Many illnesses recur. JKR has said that Lupin represents
people with disabilities. That would be undermined if he turned
to be an undead with a purely imaginary condition. People would
throw their books across the room. I prefer to think Lupin has
(AIDS/MS/something of personal interest to the poster) There's
no indication that the bouts of illness coincide with the full moon.

-Harry thinks the boggart is a crystal ball. Lupin flees from
Trelawney. [Maybe it's a prophecy orb?]

-Snape was just trying to get even with the Gryffindors for
laughting at boggart!Snape

-Lupin is absent *during the day.* Werewolves transform at
night.

-If Lupin were a werewolf, torn and mangled bodies would be
lying all over Hogwarts every full moon. There is nothing in
folkore about potions to control lycanthropy

-[Lupin touched silver--that *proves* he's not a werewolf!]

-Lupin lost all his friends in the space of a few days and he has
some kind of disease. That's enough to deal with without being
a werewolf.

-Why do we need another part-human? Hogwarts is getting to be
a zoo!

-If Hermione knew Lupin was a dangerous monster, she'd say.

-If Snape knew Lupin was a dangerous monster, he'd say.

-There's a werewolf registry. If Lupin were a werewolf, everyone
would know.

vmonte responds:

What a great post Pippin. I think you're absolutely right, and it 
makes me wonder about all the vampire references. 

You know there are people who repress their true nature to a point 
where they deny the nature exists in themselves. They also despise 
anyone else with a similar nonconformity.  Did you ever read the play 
Tea & Sympathy? It's a story about a young boy who is ostracized at 
school and labeled a homosexual. At the end of the play it turns out 
that the boy is not, but you get the feeling that the school master 
that attacks him at every chance during the school year (and who 
happens to be cold and indifferent to his wife) is the real repressed 
homosexual.  

I'm not implying that either Snape or Lupin are gay (even if they 
were I would not care--I like both characters). What I'm suggesting 
is that Snape may have a nonconformity as well, but he may just be 
denying his true nature. This "repression" could blow-up in Snape's 
face.        

vivian