Most burning Snape question?

[jotwo2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 108017

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mnaper2001" <mnaperrone at a...> 
wrote:

You lucky thing.  This is the Snape question I would most like to ask 
JKR and it doesn't even mention the name Snape.  It's so ambiguous 
that I think you could get quite a lot of information from her.

Petunia says she heard "that awful boy" telling Lily about the 
Dementors.  Harry assumes she means his dad but Petunia is "horribly 
flustered" and never confirms this, so

a) was it James
b) if not, when will we find out who it was
c) in the meantime when and where did Petunia overhear and
d) if it was at the Evanses' home did Lily invite the boy or did he 
just turn up?

If you don't have time to ask all of it, then a) and b) are the vital 
questions to ask, as c) and d) are less essential because they are 
just to elicit further details.

I class this as a Snape question because there has been a discussion 
about who this boy was.  A lot of fans just assume, like Harry, that 
it is James.  Others, like me, suspect it was someone else, and Snape 
is one of the candidates.  We need JKR to confirm one way or the 
other if it wasn't James.  I think it wasn't James because I find it 
suspicious how it is left hanging.  Also she has a habit of hiding 
things up her sleeve by not giving the full information about people 
e. g. Sirius refers to the Lestranges in GOF and does not mention the 
important fact that Mrs Lestrange is his cousin so that Bellatrix is 
a surprise in OOP.  Again, it's a line that's likely to be overlooked 
by the casual reader, such as Dumbledore's seemingly throwaway gag 
about Trelawney making her second true prophecy and the room full of 
champerpots, both of which turn out to be significant.  If she says 
no, it isn't James, then this opens an interesting line of debate for 
fandom.  IMHO it's Snape, but I'm sure others disagree.  I think this 
quotation could be evidence for some connection between Snape and 
Lily and that is why I would like her to answer it.

I came up with part b) of the question because if JKR answers book 7, 
then this could be evidence that the awful boy and Lily talking has 
some connection to the revelations about Lily that are supposed to be 
in books 5 and 7 and/or the infamous Snape and love question which 
JKR was "stunned" about, and said readers "will find out why I'm so 
stunned if they read book 7".

If you haven't guessed by now, I am one of those fans who think it is 
possible, even probable, that Snape was in love with Lily.  Parts c) 
and d) were added to try and get information about Lily's attitude 
towards Snape or whether it was unrequited.  If JKR said that Lily 
invited the boy to her home then this suggests that Lily was at least 
friendly with Snape, whereas if the boy turned up uninvited it 
implies that Lily did not know him that well, and points more towards 
the unrequited love theory.

I don't mean to sound big headed but if you want to get information 
from JKR about the was Snape in love or friends with Lily theory then 
I think this question is your best bet.  If you ask something more 
direct then she will probably say no, I can't tell you, as she did in 
the Paxman interview.  With this question I think she would be able 
to answer it without spoiling the plot.

Hope you don't mind me going on like this but I wanted to make my 
reasoning clear.

Another Snape questions I'd ask is:

Is Snape a vampire?

I interpreted her response to 'Is there a connection between Snape 
and vampires?' in the March chat as a no, but others thought it could 
be interpreted as Snape is a vampire but he has no connections with 
others of his kind.  This question could pin her down to a definite 
no or a wait and see answer.

I'd also ask:

Is there some significance to bats in the Harry Potter series, 
because you mention them in Quidditch through the Ages and there is a 
bat in Diagon Alley and Quirrell mentions them in the first film and 
a flock of them in the POA film.

I'd ask this because there is a theory that Snape is a bat animagus 
because of the bat descriptions applied to him, like Sirius was 
described as dog-like.

I really hope you have a good time in Edinburgh and get to ask some 
Snape questions.

JoTwo


> Laura:
> > Hey there, this is a bit OT but I had the most *amazing* letter 
> this 
> > morning containing tickets to meet JKR at the Edinburgh book 
> festival 
> > on Aug. 15!!!!!
> > 
> > I've already decided I'm asking her a question on Snape as not 
many 
> > people ask good Snape questions when she does stuff like this, 
plus 
> > he's my *favourite* character. But I can't think of a good enough 
> > question, one that she won't say "I can't reveal that yet", 
that's 
> > never been asked before, and that maybe has a couple of questions 
> > sneaked into one ;) Any ideas? This is what I've got so far:
> > 
> > 1) Is Snape a pure blood?
> > 2) Why did he join/leave the Deatheaters?
> > 3) Has he ever been married/engaged?
> > 4) Will he ever get the DADA position?
> > 5) Why did he flinch in GOF when Lucius was named as a DE in the 
> > hospital wing?
> > 
> > I really can't think of any more, I'm too excited to think! She 
> > probably won't answer most of these anyway. I need other fans' 
> help, 
> > I've already asked the snapesupport lot. Has anyone got a list of 
> > Snape questions they really want answered? (Stupid question 
really) 
> > And did anyone else get lucky? If so what are you gonna ask?
> 
> 
>