Voldemort's Intentions & Snape's Expectations

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 189810


> Bart:
> Let's see. A 10 year old having a knowledge of curses on the level 
> of advanced 17 year olds is pretty impressive. 

Mike:
As you said earlier, he knew *more* curses. Sirius never said what level they were on. I'm sure there are hundreds of little minor curses such as the itching curse that young Severus could have learned. And I'd wager that half of the seventh years weren't interested in learning that many curses. Besides, Sirius sounded like he was exaggerating for effect in that little speech.

> Bart:
> Creating methodologies for potions that were easier and more 
> effective than those in the advanced textbook is pretty 
> impressive, too.

Mike:
But when did he do this? That textbook had probably been in there since Snape came to teach, he'd have had many years to perfect his methods. So who knows when he came up with his better methods. He was the potionmaster at the school, he had lots of time to experiment. And it was his job for 15 years.

>From the way I understood it, he was second to Lily in his year at potions.


> Bart:
> His occlumancy skills are such that Morty doesn't even know that
> Snape is hiding his thoughts. And note that, other than Morty, he
> is the only wizard who managed to learn the "flying without a
> broomstick" method. 

Mike:
All fine skills that I'm sure he took a few years to hone. But that doesn't change what I'd originally posited. To wit: *at that time* Snape was still a nobody to Voldemort. Maybe Voldemort could see some potential in the young Snape, but granting a *request* from a nobody when LV was never shown to have granted any request, to anybody, before or after, not even to the mature, right-hand-man Snape we see in DH, just doesn't make sense for Voldemort.


> Bart
> Just to name a few things off the top of my head.

Mike:

OK, I'll play. James and Sirius figured out how to complete the difficult and dangerous Animagi transformation, and teach Peter how to do it, by the age of 15. After all, we don't know the level of curses Severus learned, but we do know that the Animgi transformation was way beyond a 5th year level. Does that make them geniuses?

Harry could produce a corperal Patronus in his third year, a skill that evidently most adult wizards couldn't master. Even Remus only produced a wispy vapor on the train when the Dementors came calling. Does that make Harry a genius?

In their first year, the trio beat, what, 5 different obstacles set up by school professors, including Snape, to thwart someone from getting to the Stone. Does that make them geniuses?

Learning a skill does not make one a genius. That's not to say that Snape wasn't one, maybe he was. But other than his potions methods (which could have come from trial and error), all the things you mentioned are learned skills. Snape probably hadn't learned most of these skills by the time he'd made his request. So what did Voldemort have in front of him, *at that time*, that would have convinced him that Snape was a genius and therefore deserved "better treatment" than his other DEs?

Mike