Snape the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw?!

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93264

 "snapesmate" wrote:
> > Is there actually any canon stating Snape was in Slytherin? <snip>
> 
> Potioncat:
> I think I have the quote you're looking for. GoF, US paperback p531 
> Padfoot Returns: <quote snipped>

> 
> I know our group can take that about 7 different ways, but it really 
> sounds to me like Severus was in Slytherin.  
> 
> Sirius goes on to list 4 male names and Bellatrix as being in this 
> gang.  So it could be that Rosier, Wilkes, the married Lestranges, 
> Avery and Snape were in the same year in Slytherin.  He lists the 
> others as having been found to be DE's (except for Avery who had 
> claimed the Imperius curse and gone free) but goes on to say, "But 
> as far as I know, Snape was never even accused of being a DE--not 
> that that means much...."
> 
> As to being Head of House, I can't imagine your house as a student 
> would be an important consideration for Head of House.  What if a 
> professor was up for head and the available slot wasn't from his old 
> house?  Or if the professor came from one of the other schools?  
<snip>

Carol:
I agree that the quote implies that Severus was in Slytherin, though
he's not necessarily the same age as the others. Sirius says that he
last saw Bellatrix when he was Harry's age (fifteen and about to enter
his fifth year), which suggests that either Bellatrix left school to
get married very early or she's about three years older than Sirius.
Rodolphus is probably close to the same age.

I also agree that no one but a Slytherin would be appointed Head of
Slytherin (or a Gryffindor as Head of Gryffindor). Can you imagine
Draco's attitude toward Snape if he suspected him of being a former
Gryffindor, or Snape being able to maintain his connections with
Lucius Malfoy if he were a former Gryffindor? His reference to
Slytherin as "my own house" (can't remember where that comes from,
sorry!) suggests that Slytherin has always been his house, as does his
support for the Slytherin quidditch team (matched by McGonagall's
loyalty to hers). 

One more point. Except for his unusual courage, Snape is the
quintessential Slytherin: ambitious, cunning, and not altogether
scrupulous. Multiple Slytherin traits would probably outweight single
traits suggesting other houses (intelligence for Ravenclaw and courage
for Gryffindor). The very fact that he was once a loyal DE suggests
that he was in Slytherin. And his early interest in the Dark Arts
would certainly have been best served and perpetuated by placement in
Slytherin.

(This is also why, IMO, Sirius labeled Severus as "Lucius Malfoy's lap
dog." The phrase does *not* suggest an errand boy, as some people on
this list have interpreted it, but a pampered pet--a relationship that
could only have occurred when both were in school and the five-year
age difference was important in determining their relationship. My
interpretation is that Lucius as a Slytherin sixth-year spotted little
Sevvy's precocious knowledge of curses and his interest in the Dark
Arts and took him under his wing, and it was probably his influence
that drew young Severus into the Death Eaters at about eighteen--a
most unlikely event if he wasn't in Slytherin. this paragraph is in
parentheses because it's speculation, but I see nothing in canon to
contradict my interpretation.)

Anyway, the weight of the evidence seems to me to point to Snape as a
lifelong Slytherin, and I can see no reason why the Sorting Hat,
looking into his eleven-year-old mind, would have placed him in any
other house.

Carol