cobwebs and Re: Peter

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> wrote:
> 
> KathyW
> Sort of like the ropes that came out of Snape's wand back in PoA? 
> Stong enough to restrain a werewolf? 
> 
> Not only were people searching maps, they had other ideas: death of 
> Aragog, someone's end, someone's goal, something to do with Draco's 
> detour....it's almost as if JKR took all the ideas and worked them 
> into the book, if not the chapter.
> 

Yes - I was favouring it to refer to Aragog myself, preferably with Ron
ending as a sucked-dry husk hanging lonely and abandoned in the
depths of the Forbidden Forest.  Ah well, wrong again.

> The images that this chapter create are amazing. Who lives at 
> Spinner's End? Two SPYders. Hmm, and spy was part of the spider 
> riddle back in GoF. Snape has been described in spider-like terms 
> (particularly in OoP), fitting he would live here, possibly killing 
> flies in this very house as a teen. Right in the chapter itself he 
> says, "I spun him a tale of deepest remorse..."
>

Well worth dissecting this chapter. Lots of odds and ends and links
to thoughts and opinions expressed by characters elsewhere.

One little problem that has generated posts in the past - the 'one who
has left him forever' seems to have been answered - or has it?
Snape: "The Dark Lord thought I had left him forever, but he was wrong."
That plus Karkaroff being found dead in some lonesome bothy - he the 
'coward who would be punished' presumably, leaving Barmy Barty Jnr.
as the most faithful servant. Or is Jo pulling a fast one?

Then there's Snape opining that there's nothing special about Harry Potter.
He can't really believe this, can he? Who is he trying to fool? Himself or
well-connected Voldy supporters? Or is he toeing the party line - not
being so suicidally daft as to contradict the version that Voldy is using
to gee-up his flagging troops?

"... it became apparent to me very quickly that he had no extraordinary
talent at all. He fought his way out of a number of tight corners by a
simple combination of sheer luck and more talented friends. He is
mediocre to the last degree, though as obnoxious and self-satisfied
as his father before him. I have done my utmost to have him thrown
out of Hogwarts....."

Taken a few liberties with the truth here, has dear Sevvy.
Sure, there's been a lot of luck and DD intervened a fair number of 
times, but still; has he forgotten Parseltongue, producing a Patronus
to dispel multitudes of Dementors, the TWT where he competes 
against elder students? Hardly. So why does he say it?

And true, he demanded Potter's dismissal with an almost metronomic 
regularity, but of DD, who he knows damn well won't back him. But
when there was a regime change and Dear Dolly took charge, did he 
repeat his demand? Nope, even though there was opportunity to do
so. In his own snide way Snapey is playing down Harry's capabilities.
Why?

> 
> KathyW:
> And so we could have in book 7 a nice parallel to our favorite 
> adversaries: a wanted man, forced to stay in the house of his 
> childhood, the house filled with unpleasant memories, all the while 
> forced to tolerate a servant he loathes. And don't call him coward.
> 

Heart-warming, isn't it?
But is there evidence that it is Snape's childhood haven of peace
and domestic felicity? Can't remember any. A reasonable assumption,
true - but we all know what happens when one makes a reasonable 
assumption of what Jo's up to - tooth-grinding frustration at her
sneakiness.
Where does Peter hail from, anybody know?

Kneasy