Snape A vampire?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 92458

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Ms Mo Me 
<fauntine_80 at y...> wrote:
> I have been reading some of the recent posts on the
> theory that Snape is a Vampire.
> 
> Just based on how JKR writes her books, that is highly
> unlikely.
> 
> Also, there was much controversy at letting a Werewolf
> teach at Hogwarts because of his danger to others.  I
> am sure there would be much the same controversy if
> Snape was a vampire.  
> He is not JUST a teacher, he is also the house leader
> of Slytherin.  So, he has a little bit more
> responsibility than most of the other teachers. 
> 
> Plus, vampires are supposed to be dead but living,
> right?  So, there powers wouldn't be the same as a
> full wizards, right?  Well, Snape has already proven
> that he is a pretty well-versed and strong wizard. 
> This makes it even MORE unlikely that he would be a
> vampire.
> 
> Vampires also don't age.  We see Snape as a youth in
> the pensieve and he was pretty much the same
> personality/dress he is today.  I think his morose
> look just goes along with his personality.  He
> obviously has gotten older since then, but has
> maintained the same characteristics.  Therefore,
> again, I highly doubt he is a vampire.  

Hmmm....What if PoA had had a different ending? If JKR had 
decided to keep us in the dark about Lupin's lycanthropy for a 
few volumes instead of revealing it in the same book which 
introduced him, the list could have had a similar discussion 
about Remus.  

Without the revelation scenes in PoA, we'd have nothing to go on 
but  the clues: the werewolf essay, the unexplained bouts of 
illness and Snape's mysterious potion, the boggart which looks 
like a crystal ball but is never stated to be one, and most of all 
his name. 

But without the revelation scene we wouldn't have known that 
Lupin's bouts of illness occur at regular intervals, much less at 
the full moon. Listies would be pointing out that there's no  hair 
on his palms,  that he can touch silver, that there are already 
enough half-breeds and part-humans in the story with Hagrid, 
Maxime and Firenze, that Lupin has enough problems just 
dealing with ill health and losing all his childhood friends to 
Voldemort, that werewolves are traditionally dead but living, and 
that considering the uproar over Hagrid, the wizards would never 
tolerate a werewolf as a teacher or a student. And besides how 
could Lupin have attended Hogwarts as a werewolf cub?

You see the problem--while one might  suspect that Lupin was a 
werewolf based on the clues alone (and some clever readers 
did so), it would have been impossible to prove it. It's also 
impossible to know which popular beliefs are going to be woven 
into the story and which are going to be ignored or refuted.  
Furthermore, some common beliefs may be introduced into the 
story only to be proved erroneous later, like the werewolf cubs.

Pippin