[HPforGrownups] Re: Dumbledore: Patronus and Dementors (specifically Snape's)

[Christine Maupin]

No: HPFGUIDX 173901


Christy:
 > What makes me curious, and I mentioned it before, is
 > assuming Snape did use his Patronus to alert the
 > Order in OOTP, didn't anyone wonder why this dark
 > wizard known for his cruelty had such a mild and
 > meek creature as his Patronus?  (Did the other
 > Patronuses laugh at him?)  Not that anyone would
 > have neccessarily made the connection to Lily --
 > that is not important to me -- its the irony that
 > intrigues me.  I can see Sirius saying, "hey, did
 > you guys know that Snape's Patronus is a doe?"  Or,
 > maybe my assumption is wrong; maybe he had another
 > way to talk to the Order, but with Umbridge
 > monitoring all conventional channels of
 > communication I can't see how.
 
Tawana Campbell
>But can't people make their patronus change?

A friend has my copy of HBP so I'm relying solely on my memory...  When he meets Tonks and Harry at the front gates of Hogwarts in HBP, Snape insults Tonks's new Patronus, which prompts Harry to later ask Lupin about changing one's Patronus.  I think Lupin said it can change as the result of a trauma or emotional distress or something of that nature -- I didn't get the impression that one can change his or her Patronus by choice.  JKR refers to Patronuses as Spiritual Guides on her website so that leads me think that one doesn't choose -- that rather Patronuses are reflections of those who cast them and what's important to or indicative of those people.

I'm OK not knowing or understanding how Snape communicated to the Order at the end of OOTP -- I just find it ironic that he might have used a symbol of Lily Potter to communicate with James's best friends.  Considering that Snape stood outside the Gryffindor Common Room until Lily came out to talk to him so he could apologize after he insulted her, their friendship must not have been too secret.  So, perhaps they wouldn't think anything of his Patronus being a doe anyway.  Just one of the many things in the Potter universe that intrigues me...

Christy
 
                      
       
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