Irma Pince is Snape's mother in disguise? AND Filch Squib or Muggle??? then.

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 137312

Valky:

> Argus seems able to recall an age when students were whipped as
> punishment for misdeeds. It's highly doubtful that this would exist
> under DD's Headmastership.

houyhnhnm:

He doesn't necessarily have to know about the old punishments from
personal memory. He may have just heard about them (from Eileen?) Or
from finding the whips and shackles. We don't know when he became
caretaker, but we know he didn't hold the position in Mr. and Mrs.
Weasley's time.

Valky:

> Filch tries to learn a little Magic for Squibs from a mail order kit.
> It would seem pretty pointless for a Muggle to try it, and call
> himself a Squib too.

houyhnhnm:

It would be pointless for a Squib to try and learn magic from a mail
order kit, too, wouldn't it. Nevertheless Filch tries--and fails. If
you were a Muggle in hiding in the midst of a wizarding community you
would have to pose as a Squib. It would be impossible to pass as a
wizard. And how could anyone really tell the difference between a
Muggle and a Squib?

Valky:

> Snape likes him, now I know it's not proven canon, but it's likely
> that Snapes actual father was very abusive of his wife and child.
> Sevvies not exactly the character I'd hold out big hope for being
> forgiving of sins against him as a child, so if it was Tobias, I'd
>be more inclined to say it's in character for Snape to be resentful
>of him.

houyhnhnm:

In the longest scene in which we see them alone together, at the foot
of the hidden staircase when Harry is returning from the prefects'
bathroom, Snape repeatedly addresses Filch as "Filch" and Filch calls
Snape "Professor". For someone as subtle as Snape and and as
obsessive about status and titles, this could be adequate revenge for
any mistreatment he suffered as a child.

Anyway, if Filch is Snape's father, Snape may not resent him all that
much. We don't know that Snape's father was *very* abusive (if that's
whom we are seeing in the memory), just that there was discord. Snape
is very much like him. If Filch/Madame Pinch are Snape's parents (or
just Madame Pinch alone), we can certainly see where Snape gets his
attitudes and social skills (or lack thereof). Both Filch and Madame
Pinch are suspicious, unsocial individuals who think everyone else is
up to no good and it is their job to ferret out the wrongdoers and see
to it that they are punished. That's Snape in a nutshell.

I'm totally convinced about Madame Pince at this point, but still
unsure about Filch.