Snape vs. MWPP

[Lisa (Jennings) Mamula]

No: HPFGUIDX 115725


Tammy <elsyee_h at y...> wrote:
> <snip>
> I think we've yet to hear the full reasons that Lupin, Black, and 
> Potter hated Snape so fully in school. And there are probably a 
> few more brief tidbits about MWPP's treatment of Snape as well. 
> 
> You can't judge Snape's behaviour in POA yet, as we still don't fully
> know the full details of their past relationship, or all the bad blood
> between them. 


Good call, Tammy!  
I completely agree; we just can't judge Snape's character yet, even after what 
we learn in GoF and OotP.  JKR has done a *masterful* job of making his 
character infinitely intriguing and frustrating!

I can't wait to learn more about Severus as a Hogwarts student.  As horribly as 
MWPP seem to have treated him, I can't believe that 1) he didn't do *
something* to bring it on himself, at least at first, and that 2) MWPP are the 
reason he is so horrible to Harry (and to most students) now.  He must have 
been on his way to being such a sour soul before MWPP met him.  

1) He must have done *something* to provoke James/Sirius to harrass him 
so.  (I know Lupin wasn't *innocent*, but his was more of quiet acquiescence, 
as far as we know, so I'll leave him out of this.) Sirius already confirmed that 
Snape was up to his eyeballs in Dark Arts stuff during his Hogwarts time, and 
that James HATED the Dark Arts. (away from books; that quote comes from 
Harry's conversation with Sirius and Lupin in Umbridge's fire, OotP) There's a 
start.  Maybe unfair, but that's how kids are.  

Maybe he was also a little jealous of James (and Sirius).  James came from a 
good family (as far as we can tell; they took Sirius in!), and Sirius' family at 
least had money.  James was a talented Quidditch player and Sirius, we're 
told over and over again, was very handsome; I think it's therefore reasonably 
safe to assume that they were fairly popular. 

Snape, OTOH, was NOT popular or attractive: greasy hair, oily skin, scrawny, 
pallid, ?grey undies?, obsessed with the Dark Arts -- not a pretty picture, and 
not the picture of a well-adjusted teenager, IMHO.  

As for what started all the feuding, we'll have to wait until JKR tells us!

2) As to the reason Snape is such an unpleasant person now (even though I 
love him dearly), I can't believe that it's just because he's hanging on to his 
hatred for MWPP.  To a degree, I believe this, but a grudge can only carry you 
so far, IMO.  Unless JKR shows us some pretty horrible exchanges between 
Snape & MWPP, I can't believe all of his foulness is due to their bad treatment 
of him.

And let's not forget that Severus has seen some *horrible* things in his 
lifetime.  He was a Death Eater -- one of Voldie's chosen!!  Of course he is 
nasty!  Of course he is emotionally/socially damaged!!  He has seen (and 
probably done) some very, very evil things in his young life.  The fact that he 
was predisposed to like the Dark Arts makes his status as a DE very 
understandable; I would expect someone like that to grow up to be a DE.  So, 
the question is, what kind of horror did he witness (or was he forced to 
commit) that made him decide to spend his life fighting for DD (against LV)?  
Whatever it was, it MUST have been awful.

LisaMarie, who hopes that everyone will forgive her for re-hashing everything 
that has already been said about Snape, but couldn't help herself, as she is 
such a believer in his deep-seated, well-hidden goodness at heart!