CHAPDISC: HBP 2, Spinner's End

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 142356

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:
>
> Sirius said (GoF?) that Snape belonged to a gang of Slytherins, 
> which included the LeStranges,  who almost all became DEs. I've 
> always taken that to mean the gang were friends, but it doesn't  
> have to be the case.  Zacharias Smith is part of a gang (DA) that 
> includes Harry, but they aren't friends. Friends or not, if
> Spinner's End was Snape's childhood home,
> it would be understandable that he wouldn't invite his  
> Slytherin classmates there.
> 

I take the "gang of Slytherins" remark to be another example of 
Sirius Black's either-or view of the world, similar to the way Harry 
has viewed Slytherins, as evil from the day they were sorted.  
Black's rejection of his dark parents probably thrust him more into 
the black-and-white worldview, with James Potter happy to tag along. 
Snape was (1) a Slytherin, (2) "into the Dark Arts", and (3) 
unfriendly to boot.  Therefore, he was classified as being part of a 
group that Black called a gang, so that Black could distinguish 
himself from it and bolster his hatred.  Stereotyping is probably 
nothing new in the Wizarding World.

Snape may have shared classes with a few of the Death Eaters we've 
heard of: Avery, Rosier and Wilkes (both killed before Voldemort fell 

 hmmm).  Aren't the LeStranges older?  I somehow got the impression 
the Malfoys were roughly the same age as the LeStranges.  Regulus 
Black is younger.  So, yes, there were Death Eaters to-be at Hogwarts.

However, when we are shown glimpses of Snape as an adolescent, he was 
alone, not part of a gang.  This is Harry's perception of him.  He 
was on his own in his worst memory, as well as in the house shooting 
down flies.

If Spinner's End was his home, he certainly wouldn't have invited 
pureblood supremacists there to visit, or any other witches or 
wizards, for that matter...  maybe not even a Mudblood.  He would 
have been like a friend of mine, who had acquaintances drop her off 
blocks from her home because she was too embarrassed for them to see 
where she really lived.  She was too embarrassed at the time to 
really have friends.  And guess what: I've never seen her home now, 
in spite of knowing her for several years.  I do know where she 
lives, however.

> <SNIP> 
> What I'm wondering is,  how long has she distrusted him? Did she 
> come out of Azkaban with blanket distrust of the ones who walked 
> free? Is his ability to slither out of "work" giving her pause? Has 
> it just been since the DoM disaster?
> 

Mistrust is probably endemic in the Death Eaters, as they are all 
scrambling to satisfy a capricious boss.  Beyond that, it as much a 
question of Snape not trusting Bella as much a vice versa.  She has 
been a narrow-minded, over-the-top, emotional fanatic, after all, not 
trustworthy no matter what side you are on.  

For me, Snape is someone living on the margins of mainstream 
societies.  He is mixed-blood in a world that has trouble accepting 
mixed-bloods, and more than that, he is probably poor, he is not 
conventionally attractive, and he is sorted Slytherin.  He has been 
told he is "bad," and had this bullied into him as a self-fulfilling 
destiny.  He has a choice of two oppressive systems, one, represented 
by the Marauders and later to an extent, the Order, which rejects 
him, the other willing to put his talents to use and nurture his 
ambition, but in the end, to exploit him without caring about his 
wishes.  Being on the margins and learning to exist precariously, he 
slithers out of "action" when he can.  For me, he lives in the same 
space as Malcolm X, and some characters in African-American 
literature, a person who was told he was bad, went bad (and gathered 
some style along the way), and then managed to get free from bad 
choices, but not necessarily to a place he was really free.

> But, for whatever reason, both Narcissa and Wormtail know where 
> Snape works but Bella doesn't. She doesn't even seem to know that 
> his home/workplace is located in a dodgy Muggle neighborhood. 
> 
> I don't know...something doesn't seem right.
> 

There is probably no need for Bellatrix to know where Snape lives, 
and it's not as if he's holding parties there.  Further, Bellatrix 
presumably has been in hiding since escaping from Azkaban.  The night 
at Spinner's End was an emergency, with her sister defying the Dark 
Lord and all.

Narcissa knows where he lives probably because he really is a family 
friend and someone, perhaps OFH!Lucius, has made sure she knows where 
Snape lives, in case she needs help.  Wormtail knows, of course, 
because Voldemort pinned him onto Snape.

lealess