Whom does Snape REALLY love?

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 138593

I wrote this in another forum several days after HBP. Since the noise
level here seem seems to be angling down towards the 100 posts per day
I'm cross-posting it below. BTW, I'm looking for a cool TBAY acronym
for my new S/N SHIP, in case anybody has suggestions.

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Okay, not *all* my theories, speculations and predictions were shot
down in HBP. Only about 99% of them. But hey, I did have at least
*one* speculation that turned out correct: Bellatrix is older than
Narcissa. My detailed reasoning for this prediction was originally
published in a post titled "Three Black sisters on a tree"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/106729
To very briefly summarize, I noticed that in the Black family tree,
the names of the three sisters appear from left to right in the order:
Bellatrix; Andromeda; Narcissa; and therefore I concluded that this is
the order of their birth. At the time this was against the opinion of
many including the celebrated Lexicon (which assumed Narcissa to be
the same age as Lucius). But Dumbledore confirms in HBP that Bella is
indeed the oldest of the three Black sisters, when he discusses the
issue of Sirius' will and the Black estate:

************************************************************
HBP Ch. 3:

"Quite," said Dumbledore. "And if such an enchantment exists, then the
ownership of the house is most likely to pass to the eldest of
Sirius's living relatives, which would mean his cousin, Bellatrix
Lestrange."
*************************************************************

The implications of this on the timeline and love life of the three
sisters were rather extensively discussed in my original post, but
briefly it implies, among other things, that Narcissa is several years
younger than Lucius, in the same age group with the Marauders and
Snape. She might be in the very same year, or a year older or a year
younger than them, but probably not farther than that. In the
above-mentioned post I already suggested the possibility of some
interesting dynamics between Severus and Narcissa at Hogwarts, but I
think HBP went much further than that. It is now obvious to me that it
is Narcissa that Snape has always loved, not Lily. Lets consider the
evidence:


1. In her greatest need, Narcissa comes to Snape for help. What
arguments does she use to convince him? She *doesn't* use any of
"you're honor bound to help your friend Lucius". She doesn't use
"you're honor bound to help Draco because you're a DE/ Slytherin/ old
gang member". Nope, her arguments are much more convincing than that:
she calls him "Severus", she praises him, she gasps, she sobs, she
clutches her long blond hair, she casts her cloak aside and falls on
his sofa with trembling hands clasped, she sheds tears on his chest
(no, I'm *not* exaggerating. She most canonically sheds them on his
chest), she pleads, she actually kneels before him and kisses his
hand, darn it. And it works. How did she know that this approach would
work on a confirmed SOB like Snape?


2. And how does Snape acts in response?

*******************************************************************
HBP, Ch. 2:

Snape said nothing. He looked away from the sight of her tears as
though they were indecent, but he could not pretend not to hear her.
<snip>

Snape caught hold of her wrists and removed her clutching hands.
Looking down into her tearstained face,
<snip>

Snape stooped, seized her by the arms, lifted her up, and steered her
back onto the sofa.
<snip>

Snape lowered himself so that he was kneeling opposite Narcissa.
Beneath Bellatrix's astonished gaze, they grasped right hands.
*********************************************************************

Huh? Do you believe this? Do you remember Snape *ever* treating
*anybody* else gently and kindly, in the whole series?


3. Snape and Narcissa kneeling with clasped hands in front of a
"Bonder", and Snape saying "I will" several times, what does this
image make you think of? Wanna bet Snape was thinking of that too?


4. As Bella correctly notes, Snape could have easily slither away from
this specific responsibility. None of the Death Eaters would expect
him to guard Draco or act against the spirit of the Dark Lord's
explicit orders. He could have easily ushered Narcissa out with some
vague promises that he'll do what he can. But no, he makes her an
Unbreakable Vow. The BIG sacrifice. Why?


5. Snape's real choice in HBP wasn't killing Dumbledore , it was
taking the Unbreakable Vow. Once he had made *this* choice, his only
apparent way to avoid Dumbledore's death was to sacrifice his own
life, which would be a huge sacrifice even for a completely
converted-and-reformed Snape. Even if you want to believe in
Innocent!Snape and Dumbledore somehow enacting together Dumbledore 's
death, the Unbreakable Vow still seems like a *huge* complication they
could have easily do without. Snape knew the full implications of the
terrible choice he was making. Even Bella was speechless. So was I.


6. You will notice that Snape most definitely doesn't do this for his
old friend Lucius. You won't find in his words even a hint for some
good word, some whiff of tender emotion for Lucius. He won't say it
explicitly in front of Narcissa, but it's obvious from his comments to
Bella that he despises the man.


7. What do we know about Snape's character? The man seems to be
obsessed with power, status and respect. It's always "I'm the Potions
master in this school", "I will not be talked to like that!" "You will
address me as sir", "Yes Potter, this is *my* job". Snape was a
half-blood kid sorted to Slytherin house, and a member of a gang that
included mostly of pureblood nobility like the Malfoys, the Blacks and
the Lestranges. Instead of using his muggle father's name, young
Severus chose the maiden name of his pureblood mother for his
self-invented nickname. And this name just happened to be "Prince".
Yep, I believe our poor Severus is obsessed with pureblood
aristocracy. He despises them, oh yes, for being so incapable and for
thinking that their ancestry makes them better, but what he wants more
than anything is to be an aristocrat himself, more noble and rich and
powerful than his fellows DEs. He fantasizes about them looking up
admiringly at him. So, whom would this Severus be attracted to? The
muggle-born, independent, smart, cheeky, redhead Lily Evans, who could
respect him for his knowledge and abilities? No, no, no. He'd fall for
the unachievable aristocratic pureblood, rich, elegant, frail, fair
Narcissa Black, who probably treats him like dirt. The Narcissa who
is, naturally, promised to the older, rich, powerful, aristocratic
Lucius Malfoy.

Yes, the beautiful Narcissa desperately falling on her knees in front
of Severus and kissing his hands, this is what our poor teenager
Severus was fantasizing about when he was sitting alone in his dark
bedoom shooting down flies. And when this fantasy finally comes true,
he's a goner. He must show her that he is the only one who can help
her, while her dear Lucius, her noble rich powerful Lucius, can't do a
thing.

Is JKR going to play on the S/N ship in Book 7? I'm not sure. Maybe
it's not that important for the plot as a whole. It could be that JKR
will keep it in the level of some dropped hints for grownups to
notice, while her younger readers won't care much about characters'
motives. But I think the hints are most definitely there.


Neri