good and bad slytherins/Disappointment and Responsibility

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 175015

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Barbara Key <graynavarre at ...> 
wrote:
> Before entered into Slytherin House, Severus didn't
> have any trouble believing that Muggle-born  or half
> blood were just as good of wizards as full blood. He
> told Lily that it didn't make any difference if you
> were muggle-born or wizard-born. He wanted to go into
> that house because it emphasized brain over brawn (I
> would have wanted to be that house also and for the
> same reason). It was only after he had been in the
> house for several years that he started using the term
> mudblood.

> I found the fact that the first person to greet and
> welcome Severus into Slytherin was Lucius Malfoy.
> (Apparently, the hatred of half born wasn't in Slytherin
> yet.) I wonder if that was the reason he favored Draco
> so much. 

va32h:

I have a very different interpretation of that scene with young 
Severus and Lily. When she asks if it makes a difference whether she 
is Muggle born or not - there is a very telling pause on Snape's 
part, during which he looks at her very longingly. My understanding 
is that Snape knows full well that it *does* matter, but because he 
has already come to love Lily, it doesn't matter *to him*.

Now - would an 11 year old know that a Muggleborn couldn't get into 
Slytherin? Well we don't even really know that ourselves. Snape seems 
confident that he, a half-Muggle, will be in Slytherin. 

Nor do I think that Severus chose Slytherin solely as a matter of 
brain over brawn. I would wager that his mother was a Slytherin and 
that some discussion of house rivalry has already taken place at 
Severus' house - he knows a great deal about Hogwarts before he 
starts school after all. I really do wish we'd gotten some backstory 
on  Snape's parents, though. I have to wonder why Eileen married a 
Muggle, why she stayed married to a Muggle who apparently made her 
life miserable, how Snape learned so much magic at home if he gave 
off an air of being neglected...

Anyway - yes, I would agree that Malfoy's welcoming of Snape into 
Slytherin house led to Snape's closeness with that family. Although 
we don't see Harry liking his prefects much, or Ron and Hermione 
doing much as prefects, I got the impression that their job was to 
act as a mentor and guide to the younger students. 

Given the glimpse we've had of Snape's home life, it isn't hard to 
see why young Snape would be thrilled to find acceptance and 
friendship, and be willing to embrace whatever ideology his new 
family espoused. 

va32h