Snape as Borgin

[Gregory Lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 113740

First, forgive me a) if this has been discussed ad nauseam, b) my
books are packed up so I don't have page references, and c) I  must
begin with a question...where is it that Snape is referred to as
Lucius Malfoy's lapdog?  Is it in OOP when Snape and Sirius Black are
bickering at #12?

Anyway...

I was listening to Chamber of Secrets last night, and I think Mr
Borgin may be Professor Snape in disguise.

There's very little direct evidence to support the conclusion, I state
that at the outset.  What prompted my little theory is merely the fact
that Mr. Borgin is described as having greasy hair as is Snape.

That, in itself, wouldn't convince me the sun was going to rise tomorrow.

The first two bits of supporting evidence are global storyline trends.
 That is, we have any number of people who have originally appeared to
be other than what they were.  Black first appears to be a murdering
madman; Snape first appears to be an evil git (as opposed to merely a
good but nasty git); Scabbers appears as a rat; Trelawney appears as
an utter fraud.  There are lots of examples.  Also, we have a number
of people who appear to be trivial background characters who end up
being more than that.  These include Mrs Figg, the dog Harry sees
after blowing up Aunt Marge, Sirius Black who is originally introduced
merely as an escaped prisoner, Draco Malfoy who is originally
introduced as the kid in the robe shop, Ginny Weasley who is "merely"
Ron's younger sister.

Then there's the scene itself.  What is the purpose of the scene in
the course of the story?  From what I can tell, we get the following
out of that scene:

1) The downside of floo powder
2) An introduction to the seedier side of wizard commerce
3) An introduction to the Hand of Glory
4) An introduction to Lucius Malfoy with characterization as an
arrogant snothead
5) Evidence that Draco Malfoy has an unnatural obsession with Harry
6) Introduction to Mr Borgin
7) Evidence that the Malfoys are dark wizards with nasty secrets to sell

The scene of the fistfight in Flourish and Blotts would have served
well enough for an introduction to Lucius Malfoy as an arrogant
snothead methinks so I think the purpose of the scene lies elsewhere.

The most important thing we get out of the scene is, I believe, the
evidence that the Malfoys have evil secrets but again, we get that
from the scene in the Slytherin common room when Ron and Harry are
polyjuiced.

To be sure, there's no reason why Rowling couldn't take the pains to
make the same points twice, but it seems unlikely to me that she'd
include a scene just to reiterate two points that are made elsewhere.

Looking at the other things, none of them seem all that important, so
any one of them could be more important than the others.

All that, in my opinion, gets an "Eh, maybe."  Sure it could be, or it
could not be, and there's no real reason to believe either more than
the other.

But we know more than that.

We know that Snape is trying to keep an eye on the Death Eaters at
great personal risk.  We know that he was once a Death Eater.  We know
that Voldemort believes there is a Death Eater who has left him
forever, and that he (Voldemort) intends to kill this death eater.

It's not a given that Snape is the one Voldemort is talking about but
it's certainly a reasonable conclusion.  Regardless, if Snape ever
were discovered spying, there is no question that Voldemort would want
to respond with a killing curse.  Therefore, even if Snape is still
believed to be a willing DE, he would want to keep his spying as
secret as humanly possible.

We know that there are ways of changing ones appearance by the use of
potions.  We've seen the polyjuice potion.  In OOP in the packing
scene in Harry's bedroom, Tonks mentions that most wizards need wands
or potions to change their appearance without mentioning the polyjuice
by name.  While not specifically stating so, the implication is that
there is more than one potion that can change one's appearance.  And,
of course, we know that Snape has polyjuice ingredients and it stands
to reason that other appearance changing potions would have similar
ingredients.  And, of course, we know that Snape is a better than
average potion maker.

We also know that Snape is an accomplished legilimens and that a
direct line of sight makes legilimency easier.

And, of course, a shopkeeper who deals in dark arts toys would
reasonably be expected to be in the company of a variety of DEs on
occasion, and would appear (to the DEs) to be in a subservient
position and thus possibly be overlooked.  No better place to hide
than right in plain sight is there?

In conclusion, Snape has a reason to be near DEs while hiding his
identity, the ability to change his appearance, and the ability to
extract secrets from people's minds.

-- 
Gregory Lynn