Snape's Patronus

[steven1965aaa]

No: HPFGUIDX 160825

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, J <tidblgr72 at ...> wrote:
>
>Jeremiah
> Didn't someone mention in the books that all the members of the 
Order were capable of producing a Patronus? It is the way they 
communicate, isn't it? I would think that this would logically 
conclude that Snape can produce one. The question is: What kind of 
Happy Thought could Snape have? The day Voldemort was banished? 
(assuming he was glad to see V go). The day he was appointed to 
Hogwarts? Quite possibly it's something that we will learn about in 
the last book. :) That would be fun.
> 
Steven1965aaa:

I don't think there's any real doubt that Snape can cast a patronus.  
It's how the Order members communicate with one another and Snape is 
an extremely capable wizard. What we do know is that Harry disagrees 
with Snape about the best way to get rid of dementors, which tells us 
2 things: (1) there is more than one way (i.e. there is an alternative 
to the patronus charm) and (2) Snape thinks that the other way is 
better than the patronus charm.

But what I think is interesting is this --- why is Harry so good at 
casting a patronus?  Perhaps Snape's way is better for Snape, and 
Harry's/Lupin's way (patronus) is better for Harry. Maybe Harry is so 
adept at the patronus charm because its a "love" type spell -- in 
other words, you need some strong positive emotion to make it work 
really well.  Just like you have to really mean it to cast an 
unforgivable.  So that theory would mean that Snape could cast a 
patronus but he'd need a really good strong positive happy memory to 
cast a really strong patronus. Does he have a memory like that?  Who 
knows.  Maybe that type of thing is easier for Harry than for Snape.  
This all makes me wonder whether we will see dementors and that 
alternative method used in book 7.  Someone like Voldemort, for all 
his power, might not be able to cast a patronus nearly as powerful as 
Harry's.