HPB writing/ Snape Timeline/ poor Lupin, and some other replies

[Christina Katsos]

No: HPFGUIDX 134308

 >>**Marcela now: I noticed that Hermione always thought that the writing
 >>looked like that of a woman's or girl's... She took a lot of teasing
 >>from the boys because of the Prince and not Princess connection... But
 >>maybe it was Lily's writing after all?

Christina:
I am 99% confident that it was Snape's writing in the book.  Here's why:

(US HBP 193):
"Harry bent low to retrieve the book, and as he did so, he saw something 
scribbled along the bottom of the back cover in the same small, cramped 
handwriting...."

(US OotP 641):
"So Snape had to be fifteen or sixteen....he had written at least a foot 
more than his closest neighbors, and yet his writing was minuscule and 
cramped."

As for the whole Snape/Lily business...I think her defense of him in OotP 
was due to the fact that she's just a nice girl who stands up for 
injustice; however, the fact that both she and Snape were little potions 
prodigies is heavily emphasized...I can imagine them collaborating once in 
a while and Snape really respecting her on an intellectual level.  It seems 
to me that Snape would be the most likely to fall in love in an 
intellectual way, with someone's mind.


 >>lizvega:
 >>In Spinner's End, Snape tells Bella and Cissy that he was at
 >>Hogwarts when Voldemort fell, placed their under LV's orders.
 >>Fast forward 16 years and Dumbledore tells Harry that delivering the
 >>news of the prophesy to LV, and the ramifications of doing so, was
 >>perhaps the greastest regret of Snapes life. Harry assumes, and
 >>tells the other's in the hospital wing, that Snape came to Hogwarts
 >>because of his parents murder, not before it.

Christina:
This can all be factual and still make sense.  Remember, Dumbledore got 
news that the Potters were in danger and put them into hiding (PoA, Chapter 
10).  The order of events probably went something like this: LV gets the 
prophesy from Snape, LV interprets the part of the prophesy he has and 
figures out his target (Harry), Dumbledore gets tipped off that the Potters 
are in danger and tells them to go into hiding, the Potters go into hiding, 
Peter Pettigrew tells LV how to find the Potters, and LV goes to find them 
in Godric's Hollow.  Even if it was Snape himself that tipped off 
Dumbledore (realizing his terrible mistake and going to DD with remorse), 
he still would have been switching sides before the Potters 
died.  According to Trelawney, Snape was looking for a job at around the 
same time she was interviewing for hers and made the prophesy (US HBP 
545).  The Potters were killed on October 31st, so we can probably assume 
that Snape started off that school year working at Hogwarts and had been 
teaching there for about two months when Voldemort fell.  I don't find it 
difficult to believe that that much time would have lapsed between Snape 
overhearing the prophesy and the Potter's ultimate demise (someone please 
correct me if I'm wrong, the timeline at this point is really 
confusing).  Not that I think Snape is telling the sisters the whole truth, 
but that's another story :)


 >>qtrimble:
 >>But what about Lupin? Was he at least warned? Possibly DD guessed
 >>that his leaving would be related to Black's escape and/or his being
 >>a werewolf and not the death of Lupin but still, the fact remains he
 >>was 'outed' as a result, and we were quite lucky that that was the
 >>full extent of his suffering. I can see Lupin agreeing to take the
 >>risk if he was warned but otherwise this seems quite dangerous to me.

Christina:
Is it possible that DD asked Lupin personally to come and teach for a year 
*because* of Sirius Black's escape?  Perhaps DD wanted someone close by 
that knew Sirius and Harry's parents and could keep an eye on Harry's 
whereabouts?


 >>Tone:
 >>ALSO, unless Lupin intended to lie to Harry, he claimed
 >>the spell had been around for forever. Lupin trusts Harry and vice
 >>versa, why would he lie here?

Christina:
The exact quote is (HBP US 336):
" 'But it sounds like it was invented while you were at school,' Harry 
persisted.
'Not necessarily,' said Lupin.  'Jinxes go in and out of fashion like 
everything else.' "


 >>Marianne:
 >>No provision in Sirius' will for any money to go to Remus.

Christina:
*Thank you!!!*  This bothered me SO much.  Harry has a ton of gold sitting 
in the bank, and poor Lupin can barely afford clothes!  So sad :(


 >>heather:
 >>5. The Gryffindor rubies spilled all over the floor, glistening like
 >>blood. Hogwarts itself is bleeding. Love that.

Christina:
I loved this part, just because there's so many different ways you can look 
at the symbolism of it.  When I first read it, I saw it as the granting of 
hundreds of symbolic "house points" to all of the Gryffindors fighting up 
in the tower, and a last tribute to the greatest Gryffindor of them 
all...Dumbledore *sniffle*

I like the way JKR sneaks in references to Gryffindor in times of 
trouble...she did it at the end of OotP also, in Dumbledore's office...(US 
OotP 840): "The sun had risen fully now.  Dumbledore's office was bathed in 
it.  The glass case in which the sword of Godric Gryffindor resided gleamed 
white and opaque..." Such lovely writing.

Hope this was all coherant :)

Christina