A BIAS in the Pensieve: A Batty Idea About Snape

[pippin_999]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" 
<nkafkafi at y...> wrote:
 I think you'll probably agree with me that if vampires were 
mentioned 18 times and hags 12 times, it doesn't imply
 that vampires are more important to the story than Hags. My 
original meaning (before Charme started counting) was just to 
say that an argument like "JKR mentions vampires and therefore 
Snape could be a half vampire" is not a stronger argument than 
"JKR mentions hags and therefore McGonnagall could be a half 
hag".

Pippin:
Statistical analysis is all Geek to me, but aren't you all ignoring 
the possibility that Umbridge is more than metaphorically a hag? 
The PoA video game chocolate frog cards  inform us that hags 
have been known to masquerade as witches, and Umbridge 
does have those pointed teeth. Perhaps Dumbledore was able 
to rescue her from the centaurs by revealing that she wasn't 
actually a human after all.

As for connecting vampires to the main plot, I direct you to this 
quote: 

He disappeared after leaving the school...travelled far and 
wide...consorted with the very worst of our kind,underwent so 
many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he 
resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognisable." 
--CoS ch17

We know that some of those transformations were directed at 
achieving immortality and that vampires are considered 
"undead", commonly live (or exist?) for spans of several hundred 
years (both PoA choc frog cards), and are notoriously hard to kill 
(GoF). So it's hardly far-fetched to think that some of LV's 
experiments were vampire-related. It's also been hinted that 
those experiments will have to be reversed if LV is to die.

Consider also that Dumbledore could have placed Harry with a 
wizarding family and hoped for the best --after all he could have 
moved Harry to the Dursleys any time if danger threatened. That 
he didn't argues that he *knew* Voldemort was coming back, 
and where would details about the experiments Voldemort has 
made have come from if not Snape?

Speaking of hints, JKR said in Edinburgh that Snape's ancestry 
has been hinted at, which ipso facto means there's a mystery.
The only other guesses I've heard are "related to Sirius" which 
isn't bangy enough for seven books, and "related to Lily" which is 
ruled out by JKR's answer about why Dumbledore can't be 
related to Harry. If Snape could provide the blood protection, then 
Harry would be as safe at Hogwarts as he is at the Dursleys.

Neri:
So, as someone who thinks that there actually MIGHT be 
something in the vampire thing, I was trying to put my finger on 
why many people don't like this speculation. 
> 

Pippin:
Because it makes Snape's coldness natural to him, which I am 
afraid tramples the dearest fantasies of those who would like to 
think that if only some warm-hearted witch -- too insightful to be 
deluded  by appearances-- had offered him affection, he might 
not be what he is. Eurgh! Gimme vampires any day.



Pippin
who has been posting about Vampire!Snape for four years, but 
who is old enough that being  mistaken for a novice at anything 
is a compliment :-)