Of Sorting and Snape

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 175165

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Judy" <judy at ...> wrote:
>
> Ah, the end of the series doesn't mean the end of the debate between  
> Snape's supporters and detractors!
> 
> Prep0strus (in post #175139) says, of James & Sirius bullying Snape:
> > Snape isn't an entirely innocent victim.  He's a boy practicing
> > dark arts 
> 
> Well, Snape is certainly not an innocent by his late teens or so, 
> since he's joined the Death Eaters. However, you are making some 
> statements here that are not based in canon. You say that Snape 
> is "practicing the Dark Arts" and imply that he does so even as a 
> boy, even during the time when Lily is friends with him. The fact is, 
> though, that we hardly ever see Snape practicing the Dark Arts in 
> canon at all, and certainly not as a boy (unless you want to count 
> killing flies, which we see him doing once.) We see him cast 
> Sectumsempra once as an adult, but here he is actually trying to save 
> Lupin from a Death Eater. That is the extent of the Dark Arts that we 
> actually see Snape USE. 
> 
> In fact, we don't really even hear *about* Snape using the Dark Arts. 
> For example, in the Pensieve trial scene in GoF, Karkaroff accuses 
> various Death Eaters of horrible things – torturing muggles, 
> murdering wizards, using the Imperius Curse. But, when he gets to 
> accusing Snape, all he says is that Snape was a Death Eater. Even 
> when Crouch Sr. doesn't believe that Snape is a Death Eater, 
> Karkaroff doesn't back it up with an examples of what Snape has done. 
> He just says, "I tell you, Snape is a Death Eater!" Moody, watching 
> the proceedings, whispers to Dumbledore about various things other 
> Death Eaters have done, but all he does when Snape is mentioned is 
> look skeptical about Snape's being on Dumbledore's side. Lupin does 
> mention that Sectumsempra was a specialty of Snape's, but we don't 
> know if that means Snape used it a lot, or if it means instead that 
> Lupin is aware that Snape invented the spell. That's about it in 
> canon for Snape using the Dark Arts. Compare that to, say, how much 
> Dark Arts we see Voldemort or Bellatrix performing. 
> 
> Now, what we do see in canon is that Snape is knowledgeable about the 
> Dark Arts -- fascinated by them, in fact. But, knowing the Dark Arts 
> is not the same as using them. In fact, long before we know of 
> Dumbledore's friendship with Grindelwald, we see two professors 
> (McGonagall and Binns) stating (or at least implying) that Dumbledore 
> is quite knowledgeable in the Dark Arts.  
> 
> I think this is where some of the divergent views of Snape come in.  
> Snape is clearly described, by Sirius at least, as being fascinated 
> by the Dark Arts even as an eleven-year old. Some readers take that 
> to mean that Snape was always a Dark Wizard, even as a child.

Geoff:
It's interesting to note what Sirius says to Harry at one point:

'"Ever since I found out Snape was teaching here, I've wondered why 
Dumbledore hired him. Snape's always been fascinated by the Dark 
Arts, he was famous for it at school. Simy, oily, greasy-haired kid, 
he was," Sirius added and Harry and Ron grinned at each other. "Snape 
knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in 
seventh year and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all 
turned out to be Death Eaters."'
(GOF "Padfoot returns" pp.460/61 UK edition)

Now this partly echoes what you have said, but the interesting thing is, 
how did the other students know about his curse knowledge if he didn't 
show it off? And I would have thought that he would need to practise 
them in order to convince himself that he knew them....