Lily and Tuney and Sev, Oh My

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 176390

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mike" <mcrudele78 at ...> wrote:
>
> OK, a disclaimer right off the bat. I still despise the Snape 
> character that we saw for 3900 of the 4000 pages in the series. Yet,
> I actually liked the young Severus like I never will the adult 
> Snape. Yeah, he was geeky in his "too short jeans, shabby, 
> overlarge coat... and odd smocklike shirt." (p.663) But I admire 
> the kid's spunk, he tried so hard, you just can't hate the poor kid 
> from Spinner's End.

Jen: Hey, I'm with you, that 'smocklike shirt' did it for me, poor 
guy.  Actually, I have to say adult Snape doesn't seem so offensive 
to me now that we have a reason for his actions.  Give me a rationale 
and I'll gladly rationalize. ;)


> ****Mikefic
<reluctantly snipped a little>
> She comes to a part where she deviates and Sev speaks up with, "But
> mum, it says to chop them up." Eileen answers, "Oh posh, that's old
> Borash mixing up his methods again. No Sev, it works much better to
> crush them with your pestle. C'mere, I'll show you." And of course 
> she does. As Sev returns to his seat with a smile on his face,
> Eileen, without looking up, says, "Now write that down in there,
> dear. Next time, you can do the crushing, okay?" As Severus leans
> over his book to make the change, Eileen glances up at him with
> pride.

Jen: Aw, that's sweet Mike, hehe.  Unless Eileen was the one who 
thought it was okay to let Sev run around in the smocklike shirt, 
then she gets some character deductions in my book *Jen takes out her 
tally sheet, noting Eileen's practically blank column because her 
entire characterization is off-page.*

> ****The Girls.
> The first words out of 11-year-old Tuney's mouth were "Lily, don't
> do it!" Is she scared of Lily's magic? Well sure, we know that
> attitude didn't change even as an adult. But I also think she's 
> trying to be the protective older sister. Tuney doesn't understand 
> how Lily can do what she can do, but Tuney knows if she were to do
> it she'd get hurt. I think her's is a natural reaction of the older
> sister.

Jen: Sort of the pushy older sister type, yeah, more bossy than 
scared I think.  Also not wanting the neighbors to see, seeds of her 
later obsession?  Mixed in with...envy.  We don't get many scenes for 
why she wrote the letter to Dumbledore; Lily's power intrigued her on 
some level. 

Mike: 
> Now when Tuney told Lily, "Mummy told you not to!", that sounds
> more like a bossy older sis. Because I'm not sure mummy ever said 
> any such thing to Lily. I doubt Lily ever tried her trick in front
> of mummy to have prompted such a rebuke.

Jen:  And if Lily did try it in front of the parents, my guess is 
they praised her for her amazing abilites: "Lily glanced toward her 
parents, who were looking around the platform with an air of 
wholehearted enjoyment, drinking in the scene." (chap. 33, p. 669, US)

Mike:
> And poor Sev, he "had been planning this moment for a while, and it 
> had all gone wrong" (665). Ahh the angst of a pre-adolescent boy 
> trying to make a good first impression and blowing it completely. I 
> know from where you heart hurts, young Sev. We just aren't equipped 
> to talk to girls until we reach the age of,... oh I'd say around 
> 35, but maybe that's a little optimistic. ;)

Jen: Here's a question: Was Sev mainly interested in Lily because 
he'd never expected to meet a fellow magical person in Spinner's End 
or was it that he already had a crush on Lily or a little of both?  
And was it a crush, definitely, because of the spying part, or was 
that just Sevvy's *thing* from a young age, spying?  Just curious 
what others think.

Mike
> Ahh, but it is a mistake to pick on a poor wizard about his poor 
> clothes. Sev can't bring the wrath of God down on Tuney, but he can
> manage the wrath of some good English Elm.

Jen: HAHA!

Potioncat:
> Has anyone's thoughts drifted back into earlier books? Want to bet
> the girl who laughed at the boy on the bucking broomstick was Lily?
> (Could be Tuney, I suppose.)

Jen:  "JKR, please don't make me buy that Lily was the girl laughing 
at Sev on his bucking broomstick, that Harry didn't recognize his own 
mum.  There's so much I buy already, the maths, the wisdom *cough* of 
the Secret Keeper ...oh, you say it is Lily?  Right, okay, yes that 
makes sense.  Of course Harry doesn't recognize his mum because he 
never saw a picture of her as a girl...oh, well except he so did 
because old school chums sent Hagrid photos from their time at 
Hogwarts, remember?  I'll ignore that part, right..."  (Jen ends 
imaginary conversation with JKR.)

Seriously, I don't think it was Lily.  The broomstick had a hex or 
jinx on it if it was bucking, right?  Some random girl in flying 
class is laughing because the Marauders jinxed Snape's broom - 
Florence, perhaps. <g>  

Jen