Sirius, Severus and the Potters

[mnaper2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 100846

Darrin:

> BUT WHAT IF... there WERE five?
> 
> And one was Severus Snape, sorted proudly into Gryffindor.
> 
> Until something, maybe a love of Dark Arts, maybe jealousy over 
Lily, 
> maybe a major falling out with Sirius, made life so intolerable in 
> that room that D-Dore had to step in and separate Snape from the 
> Marauders.
> 
> Snape was allowed to be re-sorted.
> 
> If the hat bases the house selection on choice as much as ability --
 
> as seen not only with Harry, but Draco, who was under the hat 
> for .349 seconds before it said Slytherin -- then how do we allow 
for 
> changing of minds?
> 
> Poke holes as you will. I'm not sure I believe it myself. :)
> 
> Darrin

Ally:

I would not be surprised one bit if Snape turns out to have been 
sorted into Gryffindor.  First, JKR likes to write things in a tricky 
way so that the reader makes false assumptions - about Snape in SS, 
about Sirius in POA.  She never clearly states that Snape was in 
Slytherin house, so wouldn't it be right up her alley to blow apart 
our assumption that he was?

Two other things that stuck out - the way Snape always "followed" the 
Marauders around brings to my mind the kind of kid that tagged along 
after a big brother and then tattles when he isn't allowed to join 
the fun.  Something that could have occurred if Snape was part of 
Gryff but not really accepted.  Also, the fact that no Slytherins 
come to his aid in the pensieve scene.  You would think at least one 
of them would have intervened out of house pride alone if one of 
their ranks was being tormented by a bunch of no-good Gryffindors.

BUT - I also get the sense that Snape was raised in a Dark Arts-
loving/Voldie-supporting household like the Blacks, so I could also 
see him pulling a reverse Harry - getting told he was a Gryffindor 
and insisting he wanted to be in Slytherin b/c he thought it was 
where he was supposed to be.  And its not clear that there are always 
5 Gryff boys in every class.

The other issue is this - thematically, if Snape was a Gryff or was 
supposed to be and turns out to have been working for the Order as he 
supposedly is, then once again, we have someone who isn't a Slytherin 
doing something brave and noble.  I dislike intensely this idea that 
all Slytherins must be bad and we can tell that they are when they're 
kids - if that's the way things turn out, I think its a real failing 
on JKR's part, and I really don't think she'll do it, either. 

At this point, Snape is the closest thing we have to a Slytherin who 
might buck the expectations.  If he turns out to have Gryff 
connections, that sort of takes the complexity out of him to a 
certain extent and just plays him more into the black/white 
distinction of Gryff = good; Slyth = bad (and I know that Pettigrew 
debunks this theory somewhat, but I still think a Slyth who is fairly 
visible in the books needs to be shown in a good light for the 
black/white dichotomy to be really thrown out).