Sirius, Bella, Snape WAS Re: Snape the Half-Blood Prince

[Alec]

Yes, that would explain a lot of things!

At this point, of course, Snape would still be something of an 
outsider, as he doesn't seem to have helped the Slytherins in any 
bullying of younger kids - assuming at that Bella and co did do this 
sort of thing while at school, which would be in character for 
Bella, but we don't know for certain yet: all the concrete evidence 
so far is against the Gryffindors!

But of course, Snape would have to reject "Lily's" support in as 
hostile a way as he possibly could, if he was to have any hope at 
all of getting closer to that gang of his fellow-slytherins. If he 
accepted Lily's support they would turn on him completely, and he'd 
be finished where they were concerned. In fact, since they were in 
his own house, they could make his life "extremely" unpleasant. 

Gosh, now I'm thinking of Mark Studdock in That Hideous Strength, 
who abandoned his only real friend while at school, to get into 
some "inner ring" - except that Snape's decision here had far more 
reason behind it, and at the same time it was far more final, and 
fatal too. It says something that it is described as his "worst 
memory." 

Alec

--- In the_old_crowd at ...m, "Eileen Rebstock" 
<erebstock at c...> wrote:
>
> Alec:
> >"That 
> >is in fact not unlikely - Snape does seem to be a loner, when 
he's 
> >glimpsed in the pensieve scene - and doesn't seem to have a gang 
> >that will come round and support him, either then or later. There 
> >seems to be no prospect at all of that!"
> 
> Me: 
> >I think it's clear Snape was a barely tolerated member? Tagging
> >after them? Derisively nicknamed "The Halfblood Prince?"
> 
> I had a bit of an inspiration last night thinking about the 
problem. It
> came to me that there's actually a perfectly reasonable 
explanation for
> why no one steps forward for Snape in the pensieve scene in OotP. 
The
> identity of the aggressor. 
> 
> Sirius Black may have displeased his family by being sorted into
> Gryffindor and hanging out with the wrong sort, but he didn't 
break with
> them till the end of fifth year. The end of fifth year is also 
when he
> last saw Bellatrix, if we can believe his "I last saw her before 
Azkaban
> at your age" story he tells Harry in OotP as precisely accurate.
> Bellatrix two years ahead of Sirius at least makes it credible she 
could
> have had some collaborative acquaintance with Snape. The more I 
think
> about it, I think that, dating problems with Andromeda's pregnancy
> aside, this is probably what JKR has in mind. 
> 
> Anyway, why no one intervened for Snape. I don't think Bella and 
Sirius
> interfered with each other much at school. A mutual dislike would 
not
> have changed the fact that they were family and bound to present a
> united front or reap the consequences at home. Towards the end, 
Sirius
> may have stopped caring. Bella, on the other hand, would have felt 
the
> need to maintain family unity keenly until Sirius betrayed the 
family
> entirely. 
> 
> Was Sirius's targeting of Snape a *safe* way to show his anger 
against
> his family? Unable to take out his anger on Bellatrix, or on her 
close
> friends, all of whom were likely linked to the Blacks by centuries 
of
> friendship and marriage, did Sirius focus on the half-blood Snape 
who
> was only on the fringes of the Slytherin group? In fact the person 
that
> Bellatrix and the others would lose their reputation as properly 
proud
> pureblood wizards and witches by defending too vigorously? "You 
took a
> half-blood's side against your own kin?" would be the question at 
home. 
> 
> But when Sirius leaves home, he becomes a blood traitor, and 
suddenly
> it's all very different. Up till then, Snape was perhaps more 
sinned
> against than sinning. After all, Lily challenges James to explain 
why
> Snape's being bullied so, and James can't even come up with a list 
of
> evil things Snape's done to the younger kids. Now however, Snape 
can be
> 'supported' by his fellows. Of course by 'support,' I mean 'get
> recruited into the Death Eaters.' He is so very bitter. He's become
> increasingly nasty over the years, trying to fit in, leading up to
> calling erstwhile friend and potions partner Lily a mudblood. (One 
gets
> the feeling from that scene he'd never said that to her before.) 
The
> Shrieking Shack incident cements his hatred for not only Sirus and
> James, but for Dumbledore who lets them get away with it. 
Suddenly, he's
> presented with an opportunity to fit in. Bellatrix isn't at school
> anymore, but be sure she's keeping tabs on the Slytherin students 
via
> her friends in the younger year, perhaps even via the most amiable
> Slughorn who thought Bellatrix was hot stuff. Did Bella get 
invited to
> his school parties even after she left school? Are those parties 
where
> Snape got to know the older Lucius well enough for Narcissa to 
refer to
> him as "my husband's friend?" No doubt Bella was encouraging 
people to
> take revenge against her disowned cousin. 
> 
> All of which begs the question, how did Bella first connect to
> Voldemort, anyway? 
> 
> Eileen
>