CHAPDISC: DH33, The Prince's Tale

[zanooda2]

No: HPFGUIDX 184861

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> 
wrote:

> Does everyone think Lily was aware beforehand that he was using that
> word?  


zanooda:

It's really hard to tell, but I think that you may be right, and it's 
quite possible Lily didn't know *for sure* that Severus was using the 
word. Maybe she heard about it and even suspected it might be true, 
but it's not the same as actually hearing him say it. I suppose he 
was careful not to use it in front of her :-).

It's even possible (but less likely, IMO) that Lily found out about 
Severus using the word only *after* SWM. Many kids witnessed 
the "Mudblood incident", and someone could tell her 
afterwards: "Lily, why are you so surprised? He and his friends do it 
all the time, didn't you know? They called *me* Mudblood just 
yesterday". 

Anyway, I tend to agree with you that it's possible Lily was not sure 
that Snape was using the word Mudblood outside of his circle. It 
seems unlikely that she would hear him call someone Mudblood and do 
nothing about it until she was called Mudblood herself.