Snape's Parents

[colebiancardi]

No: HPFGUIDX 134775

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "zgirnius" <zgirnius at y...> 
wrote:
> Dave 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 
> 
> zgirnius speculates: 
SNIP
>.  If this 
> is Eileen, her reactions may be in line with this sort of syndrome-
> despite her magical abilities she does not use them to protect 
> herself from her husband.
> 
> We could speculate Eileen "drew the line" at letting Tobias abuse 
> young Severus, though...maybe she taught him all sort of hexes and 
> jinxes at an early age for this reason? (Consistent with JKR's 
> assertion that Snape was loved by someone at some time...)

I like this theory a lot.  That Eileen loved & protected her son from 
abuse by teaching him a bit of the dark arts.  That would explain why 
he knew so much about them when he started school. What I hate is the 
speculation that she, herself, was evil and nasty. Just because 
someone is plain or "sullen looking" doesn't mean they are evil 
people.  Her sullen expression could mean a lot of things - she could 
have had bad teeth and didn't want to smile because of that....  

I still think that she died when Snape was a young boy - maybe just 
before he started Hogwarts or shortly afterwards.  That is the love 
he lost.  But those are my wild speculations :)

colebiancardi