Retrospective - Snape's Worst Memory

[rklarreich]

No: HPFGUIDX 142836

I'm not replying to Goddlefrood's main point (that "Snape's worst 
memory" refers to the contents of the chapter of that name rather 
than to the contents of the Pensieve), but to some of the other 
issues he mentions in the same post.

Goddlefrood wrote:
>
> Snape is said to have loved someone, we are unaware so far as to 
who 
> that may be, however there are some suspects, which range from the 
> sublime to the ridiculous.

Roberta:
Actually, my recollection is that JKR said in an interview that Snape 
*has been* loved *by* someone, which is not quite the same thing.  Of 
course, she may have said elsewhere that Snape has loved someone, but 
I don't recall seeing it.


Goddlefrood:
> The second suspect is the other Evans girl, Lily Potter. Much 
> discussion has been ongoing regarding Snape's potential infatuation 
> with Lily. She is likely to have been his guide in Potions.


Roberta:
I've never liked the Snape-loved-Lily theory because it seems such a 
tired device.  But here I want to address the comment that Lily 
is "likely" to have been his guide in Potions.  This is a leap from 
the known facts, which are:

1.  Snape was the owner of a potions textbook with improvements in 
the margins.

2.  Lily was very good at Potions.

3.  Lily and Snape were in the same year and therefore presumably in 
the same NEWTs Potions class.

We do not have any evidence at this point that they were friends or 
associates in any way, so we can't make the inference that she 
was "likely" to have been his guide in Potions.  We can speculate on 
it as a possibility, of course, but that's not the same thing.  And 
we should bear in mind that Snape is still at the top of his field, 
despite the fact that Lily has been dead for ten years as of the 
beginning of the series, which suggests that Snape is capable of 
doing just fine without her help.

(And the fact that Slughorn continually mentions Lily's Potions 
prowess to Harry while being silent on the subject of Snape's 
abilities proves nothing either way.  Since he's trying to "collect" 
Harry, he'd naturally want to keep praising Harry's mother, and Snape 
would be completely irrelevant to this.)


Godlefrood:
> She was 
> offered the opportunity of saving herself, which is unlikely to 
have 
> been at LV's instigation alone (although I believe he would have 
> killed Lily even if she had stepped aside, but that's another post),


Roberta:
JKR has confirmed (in the Mugglenet/Leaky Cauldron interview) that 
Voldemort would have spared her.  Although I suspected as much even 
before she confirmed it--it makes more sense that way.  Why would 
Voldemort waste time telling her to step aside if he was going to 
kill her anyway?  Voldemort was there to eliminate the One With the 
Power to Vanquish him.  This was work, not Bad Boys' Night Out.  No 
time to waste toying with the people who got in the way--just kill 
them and get on with the serious business of the night, killing 
Harry.  No, if Voldemort told her to step aside, it was because he 
had a reason for sparing her.

Which brings me to the speculation that his reason for sparing her 
has to do with Snape (half-raised by Goddlefrood in this post, more 
prominently featured by others).  This doesn't make a lot of sense 
for me because he DID kill her in the end.  If she wasn't important 
to him personally, but he was saving her for someone else, why not 
just Stun her to get her out of the way?  I find it more likely that 
he wanted her for his own purposes, then realized from her behavior 
that it was never going to work out and killed her.  This would work 
if, as some have suggested, he wanted to tap into her Potions ability 
(or Charms know-how?).  I'm more intrigued, though, by the theories 
put forth that he may have wanted to make her a Horcrux but realized 
he couldn't control her.  (Apologies to the originator of this theory 
for forgetting your name!)


Godlefrood:
> Other suspects are any younger female Professor at Hogwarts, these 
> would include possibly Proffessors Vector and Sinistra and I 
suppose 
> you could not exclude Trelawney.


Roberta:
I suspect that if Vector or Sinistra were going to play a part in the 
story, it would have happened by now.  As for Trelawney and Snape, 
the mind boggles.  Although there is a certain wacky charm to the 
idea of secret trysts in secluded corners of North Tower.  The 
Prophecy could have brought them together.  Voldemort orders Snape to 
keep an eye on the seer in case she delivers another prophecy, and 
one thing leads to another...Except Snape would have to be brain-
dead, so there goes that idea.

Roberta