Pince/Filch was Re: Why DD trust Snape

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 152498

Tonks:
 
> > Many here have said that Madam Pinch is really 
> > Prince, Snape's mother. I wonder if Filch is his 
> > Muggle father. We think he is a  squib, but  maybe 
> > he is just a nasty Muggle in disguise.

houyhnhnm:

I am a firm believer in this theory and will remain so until book 7 
proves me wrong. But I'm not expecting that to happen with Madam 
Pince.  Filch is a little more iffy.  I don't see anything that 
precludes Filch from being Snape's father, but OTOH, I don't see as 
much evidence that he is, as I do for Madam Pince being Snape's mother.

Potioncat:

> Based on the way Snape treats Filch, I don't think 
> Filch is Snape's father or step-father. And I think 
> it would gall Snape no end, to have his father serve 
> as a janitor at the school where Snape was a master. 
> He might not mind that his father had to work hard, but he wouldn't 
> want him as part of the staff.

houyhnhnm:

For me, it would be completely in character for Snape to insist on his 
father's protection as a condition of turning spy for the Order, then 
treat him as a servant. He's bound to be at least half ashamed of 
having a Muggle father. That's the essence of Snape, as I see him:  
Someone who does the right thing, the dutiful thing, but grudgingly, 
without graciousness and without charity.  One of the reasons I like 
this theory is that it shows how Snape got that way.  His sour 
disposition is not too surprising if he was the son of two people who 
are so narrow and suspicious, with an eye out for others' wrongdoing 
and punishment all the time.

Steven1965aaa:

> In COS he was reading a "quickspell" (something like that, 
> IMR) book,  a course designed to help squibs/poor wizards 
> cast simple spells.  I doubt he's a muggle.

houyhnhnm:

Is there any evidence that the KwickSpell course is anything other than 
a fraud?  If it is wishful thinking on the part of a Squib to think 
he/she can acquire magical abilities that aren't there by taking a 
correspondence course, couldn't it also be wishful thinking on the part 
of a Muggle, especially one who has been living entirely among wizards 
for a dozen or so years.  

There may be some differences between a Muggle and a Squib such as 
increase longevity, resistance to physical injury, etc., but is there 
any evidence that Filch exhibits any of these characteristics.  In 
other words, is there anything Filch does anywhere in the books that 
could not possibly be done by a Muggle?  I can't think of anything.