"So what did Snape not know or understand when he left Hogwarts that  he understood better when he returned to Dumbledore, and that still persists as a motivation for his continued spying?"

OK, I have a theory.  We know close to nothing about Snape's past, who his parents were, what they were, etc.  I think Voldemort cursed or killed them, but Snape didn't find out about it until he joined up with the death eaters.  

I also continue to think that there is more behind Snape's cruelty to Neville than just his personality.  I think that maybe (as I stated before) Neville reminds Snape of himself in many ways.  Particularly true if Snape discovered that his own parents were killed/cursed in the same way as Neville's--maybe Snape's parents were afflicted when he was young as well, and he sees his own reactions to it in Neville and blames Neville for bringing up those feelings.  Perhaps he blames Neville for being to weak and stupid to protect his parents, and feels the same way about himself.   I could imagine Voldemort punishing Snape with the accounts of his own parents' agony.  Maybe Snape was even the one (as suggested by someone else) who cursed Neville's parents--maybe Voldemort laughed afterwards and said something about how Snape's parents reacted the same way.  In the world according to Snape, this would make him project his own feelings of inadequacy onto Neville and hate him more, rather than bring him closer to the boy.  But, it probably would be enough to make Snape turn away, rather than make him more submissive.

Rita
















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