HBP Spoilers: Whom does Snape REALLY love?

[Lyn J. Mangiameli]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> wrote:
>snip< 
> 1. In her greatest need, Narcissa comes to Snape for help. What
> arguments does she use to convince him? She *doesn't* use any of
> "you're honor bound to help your friend Lucius". She doesn't use
> "you're honor bound to help Draco because you're a DE/ Slytherin/ old
> gang member". Nope, her arguments are much more convincing than that:
> she calls him "Severus", she praises him, she gasps, she sobs, she
> clutches her long blond hair, she casts her cloak aside and falls on
> his sofa with trembling hands clasped, she shed tears on his chest
> (no, I'm *not* exaggerating. She most canonically shed them on his
> chest), she pleads, she actually kneels before him and kisses his
> hand, darn it. And it works. How did she know that this approach would
> work on a confirmed SOB like Snape? 
> 
<snip of an extensive, but very well presented and argued theory of Narcissa/Snape>

Really well done, and more importantly, I think you have made explicit JKR's subtle but 
intended presentation of this relationship. It adds but one more relationship to the 
background theme in this book.