Canon for OFH!Lucius

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 161068

 
> > Carol earlier:
> >  ("Slimy," no. Snakes aren't slimy. Snails and eels are.
> > > and I'm surprised that a DDM!Snaper would call him slimy, with all
> the disgusting qualities attached to that adjective.)
> > 
> > <snip'>
> > 
> > > Vile? Offensive? Repulsive? Odious? Resembling mucous?
>  
> > Pippin:
> > 
> > An unattractive substance with protective, even healing properties?
> 
> Carol again.:
> What healing properties can you find in slime, whether it's the slimy
> trail that snails and slugs (nasty creatures that destroy plants)
> create for themselves or pond scum? Can you think of a single positive
> connotation for slime or slimy? 

Pippin:
Yes, 'slime' and 'slimy' have unpleasant connotations, as do 'snake'
and 'Slytherin'. But are they deserved?

Mucus is full of antiseptic enzymes. It traps and destroys bacteria,
and also keeps your stomach from digesting itself. You'd be in a bad
way without it. Respiratory mucus, also called 'phlegm', was one
of the 'four humours' of ancient medicine, corresponding to the
four elements (and thus to the four Hogwarts Houses). A proper
balance of the four humours was considered necessary to life and
health. The chapter title 'An Excess of Phlegm' refers to this 
belief. 

An excess of phlegm was supposed to produce a 'phlegmatic'
temperament, characterized by apathy and sluggishness. We
can see that in Slughorn.  But in proper balance, phlegm
enabled one to be calm and rational. 

> Pippin:
> > 
> > There's plenty of canon for it, of course.
> > "slimeball", "slimy, oily, greasy-haired", and of course "Snivellus".
> 
> Carol responds:
> And who is calling Snape by these names? His enemies, in particular
> Sirius Black, the man who states in PoA that he wishes Snape had died
> as a result of the so-called Prank. That his enemies call him slimy
> doesn't mean he really is. Dumbledore's enemies call him a doddering
> old fool. Hardly an accurate perception despite DD's capacity for
> human error.

Pippin:
But Dumbledore  sometimes gives the impression that
he *is* doddering. Harry's first impression is that he's mad, and Percy
cheerfully confirms it. And Snape sometimes  gives the
impression that he's slimy: smirking at the possibility of being 
recommended as the next headmaster, insinuating to Fudge that
Dumbledore might make trouble, giving Umbridge the impression
that he and Dumbledore aren't on the best of terms. Of course
if you believe in DDM!Snape then it's not Dumbledore who's
being slimed, but Draco, Fudge, Umbridge et al. The et al
unfortunately includes Harry, who persists in not getting it even 
after he's told straight out that Snape has to pretend.

I don't think 'Snivellus' is just a sound-alike tease, (nor
for that matter is 'loony Lupin', surely Peeves knows what
Lupin is), I think Sirius is picking up on something. Of
course he is putting the worst possible interpretation on it,
but there is, there has to be, an aura of deceptive loyalty
around Snape.  People like Sirius, Harry or Ron, who
can't really conceive of feigned disloyalty, find it disgusting,
but it's actually quite useful.

Pippin