OFH, Life-debt and Snape/Lily-no-way

[Annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 162367

Sarah wrote:

<snip> 
> Dumbledore says that Snape owed James a debt ever since the prank.  
<snip>
> I submit that it was the impending consequences of
> the life debt that sent him back to Dumbledore.  Voldemort would be 
no
> help, as the life debt magic would be concerned with concepts like
> honor and reciprocation, which Voldemort doesn't understand.  Snape
> went back to the only wizard he thought might be able to somehow
> subvert his contract.  This was successful, but of course Dumbledore
> couldn't dissipate the life debt completely, he either stalled the
> consequences or more likely somehow transferred the debt to Harry's
> account, rather than James.  Since Dumbledore knows that a) Harry is
> the anti-Voldemort device and b) Snape can't let anything happen to
> Harry or face dire consequences, Dumbledore can trust what Snape 
will
> do.

Annemehr:
This fits together nicely, and provides a handy use of that pesky 
life-debt besides.  I'm still going DDM!Snape all the way, though. ;)

I won't do a long canon support for my preference here, but just a 
tidbit: I really like Snape's little intro to his first DADA class 
(remeniscent of Harry's first Potions class, as well):

"The Dark Arts," said Snape, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and 
eternal.  Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, 
which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and 
cleverer than before.  You are fighting that which is unfixed, 
mutating, indestructible." [HBP ch. 9; p. 177US]

Of course, Harry misinterprets, and thinks Snape speaks of the Dark 
Arts with a "loving caress in his voice."  Hermione understands 
better, and says Snape's words remind her of Harry's descriptions, 
from the year before, of fighting Voldemort.

I say, Snape knows so very well what fighting the Dark Arts is like, 
because he is *really* fighting them.  He's not just fighting for his 
life, or for his own advantage, and he's had long experience with 
those severed heads.

Sarah:
> This completely negates any need for Snape/Lily, which I've never
> understood anyway for several reasons.  The main support for it 
seems
> to be that Snape and Lily both did well in Potions class.  By that
> standard, Draco and Hermione should be getting engaged any day now.
> The second most common support is that it is Snape's "Worst" memory
> because he was mean to Lily, which seems to me a pretty big leap of
> faith.  A lot of bad things happened to Snape in that scene, and we
> didn't even get to watch the whole thing.  It seemed like it was 
only
> about to get worse at the end there.

Annemehr:
I'm still agnostic on the Snape/Lily question, but I think it's a 
better bet than you give it credit for, and it's much older than 
either of the arguments from HBP or OoP.

As far as Draco and Hermione in Potions class, I don't see what you 
mean.  Actually, I think it's striking that Slughorn passes so 
quickly over Hermione's potions.  She is, after all, a member of the 
Slug Club, so he's not ignoring Hermione as a person; yet in class he 
barely notices her once she's answered his questions at the 
beginning.  We know she's "the best in her year."  We know that in 
previous years her potions are consistently far better than anyone 
else's.  Yet, this year her attempts are eclipsed by the Half-Blood 
Prince's (via Harry).

If Hermione is an exceptional student, then Lily and Snape must have 
been beyond exceptional.  Hermione goes by the book - the Borage 
book, which she rattles off word for word in class [ch. 18; p. 374 & 
376US] - while Snape and Lily apparently used insight and intuition 
[ch.15; p. 319US].  Slughorn attributes Harry's success to inheriting 
Lily's talent, and once tries to credit Snape's teaching also (at the 
Christmas party)[ibid].

Doesn't it make you wonder, though?  Harry is using Snape's book, but 
Slughorn sees Lily.  That tells me that their talents were so 
similar, that Sluggy could mistake one for the other.  I'm guessing 
that they *combined* them to achieve a sum greater than its parts - 
just like Golpalott's Law.  I *have* to believe, as many others do, 
that those two worked together at school.  Whose talent was the 
greater, or whether there was any romance involved, I couldn't say, 
but it seems that together they achieved a unique proficiency.

The other compelling proof of Snape's regard for Lily, for me, is 
that he never talks about her to Harry.  (This has been noted by the 
Snape/Lily faithful for years.)  Snape is continually engaged in 
building Harry's enmity to himself, and to that end he never 
hesitates to denigrate James.  I don't think he can bring himself to 
speak of Lily in that way, but neither can he praise her - to say 
what he really thinks of her - to Harry because it would work against 
his purpose.  So, he keeps his silence.

Hmmm.  I suppose I do accept Snape/Lily, even if I can't decide 
whether there were erotic feelings or not.  Love is love, after all, 
isn't it?

Annemehr
with thanks to Talisman for drawing my attention more closely to the 
relative abilities of everyone in Potions