Snape's Psycology: WAS: More thoughts on the Elder Wand subplot - Owner?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 187455


> Carol responds:
> I don't think anyone even knew about Sectumsempra, including the MoM. Lupin acts as if it were Snape's signature spell, which is odd because Severus could hardly have performed Sectumsempra at school without being expelled (Madam Pomfrey, not being an expert at Dark magic, couldn't have cured it any more than Molly Weasley could restore George's ear).

Pippin:
That's only a problem if the spell Snape used on James was not sectum sempra.  A knife can produce a single tiny cut that stops bleeding in moments and heals without a trace, and yet the same weapon could just as easily deliver many deep and terrible wounds. I don't see why a spell that acts like a knife should behave otherwise just because it has "always" in its name. JKR obviously isn't pedantic about spell names, or she never could have made Ennervate the countercurse for stunning.:)

I wonder if Lupin  learned the names of Snape's nonverbal spells through legilimency -- it's not definite that he has the ability but there's certainly canon to support it. The Marauders, experimenting with the spell (hopefully on something inanimate) could then have discovered its dreadful potential. 

 That would make sense out of their belief that Snape was "up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts" but also "careful and clever enough to stay out of trouble." James could hardly complain that  the little scratch he received was Dark Magic absent other proof. We know there are other cutting spells, presumably safe and legal, since Ron is supposed to have used one to hack the lace off his dress robes.

SWM happens after the prank, when Snape already believes that the Marauders have tried to kill him, so it's no wonder that he would arm himself with a deadly spell, just in case. But his use of dark magic didn't  protect him from the Marauders, it just made them feel more justified in attacking him.

Carol:
> Carol, almost hating Narcissa and DD for placing that burden on him and wishing that DD had burnt the Elder Wand, his real motive for asking Snape to kill him

Pippin:
Surely if the Elder Wand could be burnt, Dumbledore would have done it. I doubt even Fiendfyre would work. And I suspect its true master could summon the wand from anywhere, even the heart of a volcano or the bottom of the sea, as ready to serve as ever. 

It is one of those devices, familiar to all fantasy enthusiasts, which can only be destroyed in a particular way. Its purpose is to demonstrate a character's resolve and his moral fiber, not his ingenuity in disposing of unwanted thingies.

Pippin