[HPforGrownups] Re: Half-Blood Prince

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 183787

Zara:
> > I can. <snip> 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.


Jen:
> The only thing is Snape didn't talk about Slytherin house as the
house of purebloods on the train in the Prince's Tale; he mentions
brains. Are you thinking he was covering up some of his beliefs for
Lily? It's possible since he holds back earlier when she asks about
her Muggle-born status.

Debbie:
My sense from what we see of the eleven-year-old Snape is that he was well
aware by that time that to many, if not most, in the wizarding world,
pureblood status makes a difference (thus the hesitation before he responds
to Lily's question).  As suggested elsewhere in this thread, it does not
appear that Eileen received much, if any, support from her relatives, and
Snape is far too perceptive not to know his muggle father has something to
do with it.  In any event, I read the "half-blood Prince" moniker to be a
taunt against the pureblood Princes; he's a half-blood and a Prince, whether
they like it or not, and a damn good wizard to boot.

However, assuming that Snape lived primarily in the Muggle world (I just
can't envision social visits by Eileen's family to Spinner's End and given
the abuse she suffered there, I doubt she would have invited anyone),
Snape's understanding of Slytherin House at the age of 11 would have been
based on what he learned from his mother.  And if Snape thinks it was the
house of brains, it was probably because that's how Eileen described it to
him.

Thus, I find it readily believable that Snape did not know muggleborns were
excluded from Slytherin house.  Instead, his perception may have been simply
that pureblood wizards generally looked down upon muggleborns as third-class
wizards (half-bloods being second class, as he was well aware) by all four
Houses.

Debbie


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