Man the canons

[Debbie]

No: HPFGUIDX 127393


Alla:
> Hm, I am not so sure about Snape being alone against four Marauders
> all the time, no matter how unpopular Snape seemed to be in that
> scene.
> 
> There is that gang of Slytherins, which Sirius mentioned. I do 
think
> that it is a likely possibility that they were involved quite
> actively in interactions with Maraduers.

That would seem logical, based on Sirius' assertion that Snape hung 
out with a gang of DEs in training.  However, in all of the 
discussions, only Snape is mentioned.  For purposes of the story, 
Snape had to encounter MWPP alone in the Pensieve scene, but it 
seems very odd that Snape did not exit the Great Hall with his gang 
of Slytherins if they were in his year.  

Alla:
> I speculate that it is a possibility that in this year Snape was
> outnumbered because his gang was older and left the school.

If Snape's gang was older, he might not have had a lot of contact 
with them outside the Slytherin common room and the Great Hall, 
whereas Snape likely encountered James and Sirius in classes, giving 
J&S plenty of opportunity to harass Snape without his support 
system.  

 Harry also surmises based on what he sees in the Pensieve that 
Snape was unpopular.  On that basis, I further surmise that the 
*only* people who took any interest in Snape were the "gang of 
Slytherins" Sirius mentions, and that their interest in Snape was 
primarily, if not solely, because of his Dark Arts prowess.  

Sirius says he arrived at Hogwarts knowing more curses than most 
seventh years, and I'll bet people like Lucius and the other future 
DEs were eager to learn them.  But their interest in Snape may have 
been more or less confined to Dark Arts, leaving Snape alone very 
frequently with his misanthropic personality and his poor hygiene.

> Bookworm:
> Sirius told Harry that Snape was "part of a gang of
> Slytherins" (not the leader of it).  According to the Lexicon,
> Lucius Malfoy is about 5 years older than Snape.  Malfoy and Snape
> would have been at school together for only a year or two, but I
> suspect that Malfoy was the leader and Snape was his protégé.

I bet Snape did at one point invoke Malfoy as protector, but that it 
just provided S&J with more ammunition.  The "lapdog" taunt is, I 
suspect, very old.  I also suspect that Lucius made Snape his 
protege *because* Snape arrived at Hogwarts already up to his 
eyeballs in the Dark Arts, and that Lucius played the part of DE 
recruiter. 

  
Alla:
> History with Malfoy is also very interesting. Does the above
> mentioned "Malfoy lapdog" refers to past or present or BOTH?

I think it's both.  Perhaps Lucius was a kind of substitute father 
figure for Snape at Hogwarts?  Based on the glimpse we get in the 
Pensieve of Snape's childhood, he certainly needed one.  I'll bet 
that Snape had other mentors, too.  Like Dumbledore.  And that he 
rejected Dumbledore and embraced Lucius and the DEs after 
Dumbledore's elevation of James to Head Boy proved to him that 
following the rules, or indeed any moral code, does not pay.

Debbie
thinking "Snivellus" may sum up the adolescent Snape very well