Half-Blood Prince

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 183784

 
> > Carol:
> > And yet she must have known that Snape's mother was a witch.
> > Obviously, he's not a Muggle-born or he wouldn't have been in
> > Slytherin (or LV's supposed right-hand man). Also, as I've 
> indicated
> > earlier, the Princes must have been Pure-bloods because "*the*
> > Half-Blood Prince" makes no sense unless there are or were "Pure-
> blood
> > Princes." 

Potioncat:
Yes, but there is "our kind" and there is 'our kind'. At the moment, 
Bella didn't like Snape and didn't want Cissy going to him for help. 
I think Bella is being particularly insulting. If she recalls that he 
is a Half-blood, then for that moment, neither he nor his mother is 
her kind---never mind that she has to play nice with Severus when the 
Dark Lord is looking.

It could also mean that his home is particularly out of the wizarding 
mainstream. But that makes no sense. 12 GP is smack in the middle of  
Muggle neighborhood.

For all that Severus seems to be accepted into Slytherin and the DEs, 
I have to believe that a time comes when his blood makes him not good 
enough. We also have Snape's comment that several DEs distrust him. 
His blood status could be a part of that mistrust.

> 
> Leah:   Possibly Tobias inherited the house from his 
> parents, though it would have beem unusual for mill workers (and 
> that's what they probably were) to own a house rather than rent; 
> often workers' houses were owned by the mill or factory.  Perhaps 
> the house was sold off if and when the mill closed down.  The 
> textile industry in the English North-West became very depressed 
> during the 60s and Tobias may have been on the dole and stuck nn 
> Spinners End. 

Potioncat:
If the English mill villages were like the US ones, they were sold 
off after the mill closed, as Leah suggested. They are still for the 
most part, depressed areas--at least in the US. I think JKR intended 
Tobias to be working at the mill during Snape's childhood, and my 
guess is that either it was bought by the Snapes later, or bought by 
Snape later. It has the advantage of being out of the way of Muggles 
and Wizards. It also has Severus close to the place where he and Lily 
had been happy.  
> 
 
> 
> Leah (who can't recall a Lucius/Snape moment other than the 
greeting 
> after Severus was Sorted.


Potioncat:
I don't think we "ever" see Snape and Malfoy--except for the greeting 
at the Sorting. But we have Black's "lapdog" jeer, Cissy's "Lucius's 
oldest friend" plea, and Delores's "Lucius speaks very highly of you" 
comment.