Spinner's End

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 156762

*-Carol responds:

> Nothing except his handwriting, mentioned in OoP, his 
> potion-making ability, his invention of those spells, etc. 
> Only snape would have brought up James as he was (very 
> skilfully) fending off Harry's spells. do you think it 
> was also someone else who saved DD from the ring horcrux,
> Katie Bell from the cursed necklace, and Draco from 
> Sectumsempra? And who but the inventor of Sectumsempra 
> would know the countercurse?

houyhnhnm:

How do we know Snape invented those spells?  Because he's 
the Half Blood Prince.  How do we know he's the Half Blood 
Prince?  Because he invented the spells.  That's my point.

There have been a lot more than two students at Hogwarts 
with small cramped handwriting, I feel pretty confident. 
Snape's class seems to have been unusually talented. We 
don't know that the spell Snape performs on Draco is a 
specific counter-curse to Sectumsempra. "Snape"'s reference 
to "your filthy father" is the weak point in my argument.  
It is the closest thing to proof that "Snape" is Snape. 
And I'm not claiming that Snape was not Snape all through 
the book, only at the end.

Carol:
 
> Assuming a straightforward reading with the man on 
> the tower being Snape, 

houyhnhnm:

If Snape is the man on the tower, then, yeah, he's the 
Half Blood Prince.  I'm not assuming he's the man on the tower.

Carol:

> We have enough mysteries to be getting on with just figuring 
> out Snape's motives on the tower. What's to be gained by making 
> him someone else?

houyhnhnm:

The answer to the question of Snape's motives on the tower may be that 
he wasn't on the tower.