Facilis descensus Averni---Snape's little problems

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 140480

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ericoppen" <oppen at m...> wrote:
> It occurs to me that a big part of what ails Snape is that he's
been 
> mixed up with the Dark Arts for so long.  In many (most?  I am no 
> scholar of the occult) magical and magickal traditions, those who 
> palter with evil for easy power pay a price.  While the power comes 
> easily, much more easily than it does on the "good" side of things, 
> there are always side-effects, and nasty ones.
<snip>
> Which brings us to everybody's favorite puzzle character, Severus 
> Snape.  We are informed that he knew more "curses" when he got to 
> Hogwarts than many seventh-year students---what does this tell us 
> about the sort of magic he had been swotting up on his own?  Not to 
> mention the ones he invented---the one Harry used on Malfoy, forex.
 
> _Not_ nice magic at all.
>

Pippin:
I've been waiting for someone else to bring this up but no one has,
so I'll jump in. Do we know that Dark Arts are *still* Snape's
favorite subject?

 Or was he only pretending that he lusted after the DADA
job because he was pretending he was still a DE? Or is it that he's
really always been better at potions than at DADA, but he has yet
to learn this about himself?

Was Snape more into developing dark spells as a hobby than he was
into potions? Harry flat out denied it  -- until he found out the
book had belonged to Snape. Then of course, he saw sinister intent 
on every page. But was it really there, or was that Harry's own
personal version of vampire!Snape? <veg>

What was so sinister about muffliato? And levicorpus was tolerated, 
according to Lupin, unlike  spells that, say, swelled the victim's
head to twice normal size. Harry didn't seem to find that spell
in his book, but James and Sirius knew it.

The only _not_ nice spell in the Prince's book that we have any
direct evidence of is Sectum Sempra.

And I have a feeling it's been tamed. What spell did Snape use  when
he slashed his wand and Harry felt like "a white-hot whiplike
something hit him across the face" that left no blood or scar
behind? Was that sectum sempra lite? 

AFAWK, Snape's never been wrong about a potion, but he
has been wrong, twice, about DADA. Once with that mistake about
kappas in PoA, and again in HBP where he disagrees with Harry
about how to fight dementors. I think he's always been better at
potions than at DADA, but Dark Wizards (and Aurors) get way
more recognition and prestige than potion makers, even brilliant
ones. As Snape says, many people hardly believe potion making
is magic. So if you want a rep as a badass wizard, potion-making is
not the field for you. 

As I've said, I think it's recognition Snape was addicted to, more
than Dark Arts. I think as part of his agreement with Dumbledore he 
had to refrain from publishing his improvements to the potions texts 
(though he was allowed to teach them) and perhaps to let someone 
else take the credit for the wolfsbane potion. This had the dual
effect 
of preserving the illusion that Dumbledore did not quite trust Snape
(useful, for example, so that Voldemort did not try to get *Snape*
to steal the stone for him) and teaching Snape to appreciate himself
for who he is, instead of what others thought of him.

The person who's made the Faustian bargain with the Dark Arts,
IMO,  is that anti-villain Remus Lupin. But we'll see.

Pippin