Half-Blood Prince

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 183774

> Potioncat:
> For example I could imagine Sirius calling himself the "Black sheep 
> of the family" and making that word play. I really can't see Severus 
> doing it. (Sirius never did that in canon, I'm just making an example)

Zara:
I can. Sirius would do it for fun, and as a rejection of his family's 
views. He would expect James, Remus, and Peter to get a good laugh out 
of it. 

I think Severus did it in earnest, and shared it with no one. We know 
very little about his background, but we do know that for some reason, 
he wanted Slytherin House. The House of Purebloods, which he darn well 
knew he was not. To me, this suggests a conviction/desire to prove, 
that he is *as good as* a pureblood. Good enough to get into Slytherin, 
even with a Muggle father. Good enough to be a Death Eater, again 
despote his birth. That however a certain segment of wizard society 
(his family? his housemates?) might regard him owing to his parentage, 
he was still as good as any of them. In spite of his father.