Where did he learn it all? (was Re: Severus's memories and schoolyard curses)

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 150437


> Carol:
> I am not, however, ready to go along with the working-class
> background, which is pure speculation. 

zgirnius:
Yup, sure is. A guess based on the theory that Spinner's End was 
Snape's childhood home, which would make Tobias a worker in a textile 
mill in a northern industrial city. From which I next guess that 
Eileen would come from a comparable social stratum in the WW rather 
than the rather socially elevated milieu of families like the Blacks. 

Carol:
> I do think it would be very odd
> if Eileen were intimidated by her Muggle husband and yet Sevvie
> somehow grew up with such exceptional magical knowledge, so I
> speculate, in turn, that the shouting man is Grandpa Prince and that
> Tobias is nowhere in sight. (I don't think we need to speculate that
> the Princes approved of the marriage; Eileen could have put the
> announcements in the paper as an act of rebellion, which would 
explain
> her father's anger when she brought the little half-blood to
> contaminate their home after Tobias's death or desertion of his
> family, which is how I (speculatively) interpret the memory 
fragment.

zgirnius: 
I'm torn, really. I could see this, too. To be honest, I probably 
prefer my version because the idea of young Severus attending a 
Muggle elementary school is just too beautifully incongruous for me 
to discard. There is even a vague clues that he was raised at least 
partly in the Muggle world. In CoS, for example, ("The Duelling 
Club") Snape states "We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchey 
up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Would a WW-raised person know 
what that is? (OK, maybe Snape got an O on his Muggle Studies OWL.)

The working-class thing...well, it would be another point of 
difference between Snape and James/Sirius. Another potential source 
of misunderstanding. Of course, I can have that even if I go with 
your Grandpa Prince was the shouting man scenario. And I do think it 
fits the character better (for example, his spitting after the 
Quidditch match he referees in PS/SS). Lucius Malfoy just wouldn't.

Carol:
> Carol, still completely unable to reconcile Severus's growing up in 
a
> Muggle neighborhood with a Muggle father and all those hexes (and, 
as
> zgirnius suggests, their countercurses) and/or a precocious interest
> in the Dark Arts

zgirnius:
The Muggle neighborhood is certainly no problem-magic would go on 
indoors when no Muggles were present. (Don't other witches and 
wizards live in Muggle neighborhoods?) Tobias would be more of a 
problem, but there are ways around that (he works a late shift, he 
likes to go our for some beer after work, etc...)
The question is, what would Eileen do if she realized she had a 
magical prodigy of sorts on her hands? Is it credible that she would 
encourage him to read and practice in secret if his father 
disapproved? It seems she might be too intimidated...on the other 
hand, if she did stay with Tobias, the household was probably subject 
to instances of uncontrolled magic by Severus (caused by a kid being 
angry/scared...) Might teaching him actually be a way to lessen the 
instances of 'accidental magic' which might otherwise be more likely 
to ensue in an unharmonious household? It would certainly be a reason 
for even a scared Eileen to encourage Snape's learning of magic.

--zgirnius, who did manage to get one canon quote into this long 
speculation!