Snape's Parents

[Sharon]

No: HPFGUIDX 134724

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Dave Hardenbrook <DaveH47 at m...> 
wrote:
> Okay -- We now know that Snape's father was a Muggle and his mum was
> Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team.  So why in Snape's memory
> (_OOP_, Am. Ed., top of P. 592) is she cowering while her Muggle
> husband shouts at her (as opposed to turning the domineering git 
into
> a yak)?  Is it possibly Tom and Merope redux, and Snape Sr.
> is about to desert the family?  Or are these not the people we
> assume they are?
> 
> -- 
> Dave


I've always wondered about that scene.  Do we know for sure that it's 
his parents at all?

"Harry's mind was teeming with memories that were no his - a hook-
nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired 
boy cried in a corner..."  OotP, p 592.

Granted, the man and the boy sound like they resemble Severus Snape.  
But the last two memories aren't in chronological order - the second 
memory is that of a teenager; the third is of a "scrawny boy", 
infering he's less than a teenager.  One could make the argument that 
the hook-nosed man is Severus Snape himself, although I suspect Harry 
would have recongized him as a younger version.

Perhaps it's not Snape's mother his father is yelling at, or perhaps 
she loved her husband too much to turn him into a yak (or was 
allergic to yaks).  Or perhaps it's not his father yelling.  There's 
too little information in a scene pictured in less than 20 words to 
make any definitive statements.

--azriona