Room for Debate (ws Re: J.K. Rowling Comments )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164735

Carol teased:
> > 
> > Or what was Snape's relationship with the other Slytherins at
Hogwarts? ;-)
> 
va32h sniffed:
> 
> Yes, but that's *important*. 

Carol responds:
I know. :-) I was just putting on my Twins hat after giving everybody
a good dose of Carol McGonagall. Aside from a Severus/Regulus
connection, which I do think is at least possible (as you know, I
think young Snape saw Regulus die and that may have helped him turn to
DD), I'd really like to know how Severus could have been part of a
"gang of Slytherins," most of whom seem to be at least five years
older than he was. (I think he was their pet prodigy, hence "Lucius
Malfoy's lap dog" in Sirius Black's distorted perspective, but what do
I know?)
> 
Carol earlier: 
> 
> > Now, granted, I'd like to know Snape's Boggart and Patronus simply
because JKR has said they'd reveal too much about him for her to
answer that question,
> 
va32h:
> 
> Well those are important too. They will probably be important to our 
> understanding of Snape. (please, please, Jo,  do not let them be 
> anything that could be remotely connected to Lily)

Carol:
Are we the only two who feel that way, I wonder? Since we're talking
hopes, not reasoned argument, I'll just say that I hope they *weren't*
Potions partners. I don't want Lily to have anything to do with the
HBP's Potions improvements, which I think are his alone, and if she
passed on his spells to James and company (Levicorpus was <nvbl>,
after all) she deserves to be hung upside down by her ankles for half
an hour (at least). But I don't think she did. Saint Lily won't turn
out to be a sneaking traitor who gives her Potions partner's spells to
his worst enemy. Nope. I don't think there's a Lily/Snape connection
other than his not wanting an innocent woman to die because of his
information to Voldie. Anyway, I'm getting OT here. I'm sure she'll
tell us what made Snape join the DEs in the first place and what made
him turn to DD. If she doesn't, she'll have a horde of disappointed
fans to deal with!
> 
Carol earlier:
>  but I was thinking more of unanswered questions that would lead to
discussions, for example, what's going on between Snape and Lupin in
the scene where Snape summons Lupin to his office to talk about the
piece of parchment he confiscated from Harry? Clearly, they both know
something they're concealing from Harry, including who the
"manufacturers" of the map were, but it isn't clear whether Snape
recognizes the names or only suspects that Lupin was one of them based
on the insults (four people who clearly know who Snape is insulting
him, and one of them suspiciously named Moony?) I don't think she'll
answer a question like that in DH (though she might answer it on her
website some day), but until and unless she does,it's open to argument
and speculation.
> 
> va32h wonders:
> 
> Both of those explanations are fine. Is that such a crucial detail 
> that it is actually worth arguing about? I'm not trying to be 
> sarcastic, really. I've listened to some of Jo's interviews where it 
> really seems that she's surprised at the question, because the 
> thought never occurred to her. I think this would be one of those 
> questions. 
> 
Carol again:
Oh, no. It's very important from a DDM!Snape perspective. Snape needs
to be telling the truth in PoA--that he knew nothing about the SK
switch and didn't know that Wormtail was the spy. Either that, or he
knew the nicknames but never heard Bellatrix and the other DEs (those
closest to LV) discussing Wormtail. We know he didn't know they were
Animagi and he couldn't have known that Pettigrew was alive, but
DDM!Snape has to have sincerely believed that Sirius Black was the
spy/traitor/murderer, that Lupin was his accomplice, and that he was
saving HRH's lives. So if he *knew* that the people who were insulting
him were James, et al. because he already knew their nicknames (and
who was who), it's harder to explain how he would not have known that
Wormtail, aka Peter Pettigrew, was the spy. Whereas if he only deduced
that James and Co. were the makers of the troublesome parchment that
he guessed was something like directions for getting into Hogsmeade
from the insults (four people who clearly knew him) and the nickname
"Moony," which would logically belong to Lupin, then he's off the hook
and there's no reason to doubt his sincerity throughout PoA. His anger
would be caused, not by a schoolboy Prank, but by Black's (supposed)
betrayal bringing about the murders he was trying to prevent. At any
rate, it's subject to both interpretations, and perhaps others I
haven't thought of--exactly the sort of argument/speculation thing
that JKR said she would keep open.

va32h:
> I really don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to know 
*more*, I just don't understand why people can't be content to just 
fill in the blanks for themselves on stuff that is really, ultimately
 unimportant. Those missing Gryffindor girls - who cares? If they have
to have names, call them Ann and Betty and be done with it. Or, just
decide that there are only three girls in Harry's year. Those girls
are never mentioned, because they don't matter. 

Carol:
Oh, they have names. JKR made a chart of forty students, five boys and
five girls from each House, in Harry's year. She just never got around
to putting those two into the story (though I think their Boggarts
make a token appearance in PoA). True, it's not important, but it's
"factual" information of the sort she can easily provide to make the
fans feel that they know "everything" about the WW without in any way
influencing her readers' (varied) interpretations of the books.
> 
va32h:
> What is the Fat Lady's backstory? No idea. Maybe it would be fun to
invent one - surely just as fun as working out ways that Harry could 
be an accidental horcrux. 

Carol:
Well, yes, and probably at least as important from my non-Horcrux
perspective, but Harry's scar and the powers he acquired from
Voldemort are crucial to the last book, and Scar!Horcrux is one
currently popular explanation. If the Scar!Horcrux is another Mark
Evans, no one will talk about it after DH comes out. And even if it
turns out to be true, the topic will dwindle in popularity because it
won't be a subject for speculation or argument any longer, and it will
have its limits as a subject for interpretation as far as I can see.
The Fat Lady we can always speculate on, but no one will because she's
not important AFAWK and we'll never know the answers.
> 
> 
> va32h, who is too busy trying not to think about how Dementors breed 
> to worry how they dig a grave.
>
Carol, who'd rather *not* think about how dementors breed!