Spinner's End as home (wasRe: CHAPDISC: HBP 2, Spinner's End

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 142168

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lyraofjordan" 
<lyraofjordan at y...> wrote:
>
> Lyra now:
> Well, Potioncat, you've touched on a topic that really fascinates 
> me, one that I've never seen anyone write about: How does a 
> wizard/muggle marriage or family life work? And I tend to agree 
> with you, that there must be some sort of compromise-mixture of 
> the two ways of doing things. <SNIP>
> 

lealess:
I am wondering if witch-Muggle marriages *DO* work.  The examples we 
have show no signs of happiness.  Perhaps witches are even forbidden 
to disclose their magic to their purely-Muggle intendeds until after 
marriage because of the Secrecy Act.  And Muggles being what they are 
(Dursleys), there may not be a lot of tolerance for magic after 
marriage.  As for wizard-Muggle marriages, are there examples of that 
in the books?

> I can also envision Severus growing up in a muggle neighborhood, 
> being the local weird kid, with all the teasing that that entails. 
> I would expect he hoped all that would stop when he got to  
> Hogwarts, (and then he found out rich, pureblood kids could be just 
> as nasty as poor muggle kids). <SNIP>
> 

lealess:
Someone upthread (sorry, can't really search now) said that they 
couldn't see Snape hiding himself away all the time as a child.  As 
someone who basically did that growing up, I can see it.  Before I 
went to school, I never left the house unless a relative was 
visiting.  When I went to school, I spent my time in the library 
instead of playing with others.  So, I can see someone like Snape 
doing the same.  We don't know what kind of education he had before 
Hogwarts.  Assuming Eileen homeschooled him, he may have been 
substantially isolated from the Muggle kids in his neighborhood.  If 
his father insisted he go to Muggle school, then he probably would 
have had problems.

> 
> <SNPI> Eventually, as Potioncat notes, Snape totally rejects the 
> muggle part of his heritage, not because he never was exposed to 
> muggle ways of doing things, but because wizarding appealed to him 
> more... <SNIP>.
> 

lealess:
I tend to think that Spinner's End was Snape's home as a child.  It 
has the closed-in feelng of much of his life, a padded cell holding 
secrets and unhappiness, a cell he may have wanted to escape from 
early in life and later accepted as a quiet retreat, until the rat 
showed up.  The house may have contained Muggle artifacts at one 
time, but perhaps not many, depending on the status and temperament 
of Snape's father.

In the realm of pure speculation, if Eileen married Tobias because of 
love, and then hello:witch!, she might have suffered the same magic-
debilitating effects as other witches unhappily in love, which would 
have made her vulnerable to abuse.  Perhaps money was also a factor, 
on a lesser Zambini-scale.  The family's fortunes could have declined 
with the factory, creating additional stress at home.  Then you have 
the odd kid Snape, who gradually shows himself to be magical... that 
couldn't have helped the situation.

As to whether Snape rejected his Muggle-past, we don't directly see 
him interface with the Muggle world, that I remember, so it is hard 
to say.  He may gossip with his Spinner's End neighbors over the 
fence, for all we know, though it seems unlikely.

When I picture the house, I picture the Bunker's home in the 
American "All in the Family," based on, I believe, "Til Death Do Us 
Part" in England.  Of course, the house has been improved by the 
addition of all those books.

lealess