The 3 good Slytherins (was: The two good Slytherins)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 176422

Eggplant wrote: 
> > so as far as Phineas Nigellius knew Snape was a loyal Death Eater,
and yet he worshiped him. Calling Hermione a Mudblood did not exactly
endear him to me either. <snip>
> 
zgirnius replied:
> Regarding Phineas, in "The Prince's Tale" he reports to Snape that 
Harry and Hermione are in the Forest of Dean, and Dumbledore excitedly
tells Snape to take the sword to them, without answering Snape's
question about what to with it. At this point Phineas definitely knows
Snape is no Death Eater. 
> 
> Quite possibly, however, he has also witnessed all of the scenes 
between Snape and Dumbledore which took place in Dumbledore's office.
The former headmasters do seem to listen in and know these sorts of 
things. (Like knowing that Harry slew a Basilisk, e. g.). In which
case he saw Snape's remorse over the death of Lily, his promise to
help protect Harry, his saving of Dumbledore's life and agreement to
kill him when the time comes, and any number of other conversations.
> 
> I took his comment at the end of DH, about Slytherin's contribution
to the victory, to mean, among other things, Snape's contribution.
<snip>

Carol responds:
I agree with Zgirnius. I think we can safely assume that Phineas
Nigellus witnessed all or almost all of the conversations between DD
and Snape or DD and Harry that took place in the headmaster's office.
We are only specifically told of his absence when he leaves at the end
of OoP to verify the truth of his great-great-grandson's death. He
appears in the portrait at 12 GP only at times when Harry is known to
be staying at that house. He would have witnessed, for example, the
conversation between Snape and DD in which Snape promises to kill DD
should it prove necessary.

His cooperation with Snape (if not his adulation of him) is
foreshadowed in HBP when he twice defends Snape to Harry:

First, DD informs Harry that Professor Snape has prevented the rapid
spread of the curse that struck Katie Bell, and Harry interrupts with,
"Why him? Why not Madam Pomfrey?" Before DD has a chance to explain
that Snape "knows much more about the Dark Arts thn Madam Pomfrey,"
Phineas Nigellus jumps in, calling Harry "impertinent" for questioning
the way Hogwarts operates, but, IMO, his real objection is to Harry's
attitude toward Snape (HBP Am. ed. 259). (It would have been nice if
someone had mentioned that Snape was the DADA teacher and that
McGonagall had sent the cursed necklace itself to Snape as the most
qualified person to deal with both curses and cursed objects, but, oh,
well. We must maintain Snape's ambiguity.)

Phineas Nigellus again sides with Snape after Harry tells DD about the
conversation between Snape and Draco that he eavesdropped on. DD tells
Harry that he's heard nothing that causes him disquiet, Harry responds
with, "So, sir, you definitely still trust {Snape}?" DD says that his
answer has not changed, and Phineas intercedes, "I should think not"
(359).

It seems clear to me that Phineas Nigellus, unlike McGonagall and
Lupin, knows exactly why DD trusts Snape and approves of that trust
100 percent.

As for Phineas Nigellus's use of the word "Mudblood," he's the
patriarch of the Black family, which prides itself on being part of
"Nature's aristocracy" and he was born in the nineteenth century. It's
to his credit that he accepts Dumbledore's values to the extent that
he does and that he accepts Snape's correction when Snape tells him
(in "The Prince's Tale") not to use that word.

I think that Phineas delights in being a sneaky, snarky Slytherin spy,
maintaining the pretence that the headmaster to whom he reports is a
DE and a murderer but who is really, like himself, Harry's ally. On a
sidenote, Phineas' affection for his renegade Gryffindor
great-great-grandson at the end of OoP is, IMO, quite touching and
intended as evidence that Phineas, for all his snide comments about
adolescent angst and all his Slytherin tendencies is a good guy. 

At any rate, I was pretty sure after reading the quoted HBP scenes
that Phineas would play some sort of role in revealing Snape's
loyalties to Harry. The Snape/Phineas relationship didn't work out
quite as I anticipated--Headmaster Snape caught me completely
off-guard--but his loyalty to the primary "good Slytherin" was clearly
foreshadowed in HBP and, as Snape's ally and assistant (as well as
DD's in previous books), I think he belongs on the list of good
Slytherins. *I* like him, in any case.

Carol, wishing that the Scholastic editions used a different typeface
for the page numbers as she finds the threes and fives hard to
distinguish