ACID POPS vs LOLLIPOPS (was:Re: Whom does Snape REALLY love?)

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 139019

> Betsy Hp:
> Snape doesn't neccessarily have to have been in  romantic love with 
> Lily for my theory to work.  He was canonically  fairly lonely 
> (sitting alone under a bush in OotP) so any friend would be  
> important to him.  I think he and Lily became secret friends  
> (through a mutual interest in potions) in their first year and she  
> gave him his nickname.  I think he visited Lily at her home and
he's  
> the "horrible boy" who spoke of the dementors guarding Azkaban that
 
> Petunia referred to in OotP.  

Christina:

I've been thinking along these lines myself for a while now, and I
posted a couple of weeks back on the "horrible boy" comment (which
Harry takes care to point out for us does *not* use either of his
parents' names).  I think you're dead-on.  Why else make Lily good at
Potions?  JKR has said that the fact that her wand is good at charms
is significant, but as for Potions skill, to be blunt...who cares? 
The only purpose I can think for that tidbit of information to serve
is as a means by which Snape and Lily could get to know each other.  

Also, why, *why*, would Snape, a Slytherin, go around calling himself
a nickname that proclaims himself a half-blood?  If he only used it
around Lily, it starts to make sense.  She, in doubt that any
Slytherin could have an open mind about bloodlines, would appreciate
Snape's acknowledgement of his Muggle blood.  In the Slytherin world
of prejudice and pureblood pride, calling yourself a half-blood is not
drawing attention to pure blood that you have, it's calling attention
to Muggle blood that you have.

...Snipping your version of Snape and Lily's fallout, which I agree
with...

> Betsy Hp:
> Then, to his horror, his information is 
> used  to fuel Voldemort's intense interest in seeing the entire 
> Potter family  (including his old friend, Lily) slaughtered.
> 
> Snape runs to Dumbledore  and tells him everything.

Christina:

Another of my long-standing theories!  I love this idea- it would give
a lot of weight to Dumbledore's claim that Snape was very remorseful
of his part in what Voldemort was about to do.  It is also a
demonstration of Snape trying to right a previous wrong.  I'm in the
camp that thinks that Snape is too complex to be simply all good or
all evil (his complexity is what makes him my favorite character), so
I would like to see him give some recognition to his wrongs.

ALSO, this introduces a wonderful little irony- in the end, it was
Snape, James's supposed worst enemy, that was desperately trying to
save his life while Peter, one of James's supposed best friends, was
giving Voldemort the final tool he needed to kill the Potters.

> Betsy Hp:
> Snape is heartbroken and swears 
> vengence (or whatever) and Dumbledore  realizes that he can fully 
> trust Severus Snape.

Christina:

We know that Snape switched to the good side before Lily was killed
(if his change of heart was genuine, but I think we agree that it
was).  I think what you're suggesting is that Dumbledore could have
taken Snape's reaction to Lily's death as the final seal on his trust
of him, which...I don't know.  It seems a bit wishy-washy for
Dumbledore to accept (because that's really the kind of thing that
could be faked), but I can buy Dumbledore being convinced by something
that has so much to do with love (whether you think it was romantic,
friendly, or whatever).  What I *would* have an issue with is if JKR
tries to tell us that Snape turned over to the good side (and that
Dumbledore believes his change of heart) solely over Lily.  For the
Snape defection to matter at all, Snape had to realize that Voldemort
was doing a *lot* of bad things to a *lot* of people.  If Lily is the
conduit that helps him to see that broader picture, than this whole
scenario works beautifully.  It's the distinction between, "Oh no,
Lily's dead, Voldemort has to pay, and boy am I ashamed that I had a
part in her death" and "Oh no, Lily's dead and Voldemort is a ruthless
killer and has been taking people's loved ones away for a long time
and that's just wrong, and boy am I ashamed of all of my actions as a
Death Eater."  The distinction is empathy.  Did Snape broaden his pain
to realize the overall evils of the organization he was a part of?  If
not, the defection is cheapened and, to me at least, means nothing at
all.

All of that said, I still think that Snape was stewing for a while
before the prophesy incident.  I think he fell slowly *into* the Death
Eaters, and came just as slowly back out of them.  Someone (sorry I
don't remember who it was- ack!) suggested it might have something to
do with Regulus Black.  I think Regulus *is* RAB and was having doubts
about his work (as Sirius said) and shared those doubts with Snape
(who developed some similar doubts).


> Betsy Hp:
> Of course, I  myself like the idea of Snape in love 
> because otherwise what a waste of  the sexy.

Christina:

I personally don't think that Adult!Snape was harboring a secret
obsessive passion for Lily (I'm not sure if you do or not, but I've
heard it suggested).  He may have lusted after her a teensy bit when
he was young (after all, as Julie says, he *was* 15 at some point, and
we know Lily was quite good-looking), but I think that he was
attracted to her mind rather than her body.  I think his feelings
toward her were mainly friendly.

...But I totally love you for the "wasting the sexy" comment.  I hate
Pining!Snape, but the man *has* got a heart (IMO at least) underneath
all those black robes.  And what sexy robes those are.


Christina