Tonks's age: A possible solution RE: [the_old_crowd] Re: Snape the Half-Blood Prince WAS RE: Page-filler Lupin

[Alec]

Here's the text:

"What d'you think, Sirius?"  Harry said loudly, and Ron and Hermione 
stopped bickering to listen.
"I think they've both got a point," said Sirius, looking 
thoughtfully at Ron and Hermione. "Ever since I found out Snape was 
teaching here, I've wondered why Dumbledore hired him. Snape's 
always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at 
school.  Slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid, he was," Sirius added, and 
Harry and Ron grinned at each other.  "Snape knew more curses when 
he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was 
part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death 
Eaters."
Sirius held up his fingers and began ticking off names.
"Rosier and Wilkes - they were both killed by Aurors the year before 
Voldemort fell. The Lestranges - they're a married couple - they're 
in Azkaban. Avery - from what I've heard he wormed his way out of 
trouble by saying he'd been acting under the Imperius Curse - he's 
still at large.  But as far as I know, Snape was never even accused 
of being a Death Eater - not that that means much.  Plenty of them 
were never caught. And Snape's certainly clever and cunning enough 
to keep himself out of trouble."
 

Hmm, I wonder at how to interpret all this. Probably JKR just got 
her maths wrong!  

But maybe the "gang of Slytherins" was a long-term thing, which 
lasted longer than any one person was in it. Suppose it was around 
in the school throughout the seventies – throughout the eleven years 
that Voldemort was making his bid for power in the world outside 
(and possibly even earlier – who knows?) And as some people left the 
school, others had already joined to take their place. 

This means that Bellatrix could already have left the school (in 
1972), at eighteen – and she then went on to join Voldemort. 
Andromeda left at exactly the same time, at seventeen (at the end of 
her sixth year) when she eloped with Ted Tonks - because according 
to the family tree "she" is the middle sister. Was one of the things 
that pushed Bellatrix down such a radical path, her horrified 
reaction towards her sister's betrayal? 

Now, Snape would have been cold-shouldered by the gang to start with 
(the time when he would have been friendly with Lily), though when 
he arrived, knowing so many curses, he may have hoped to have a 
chance with them, before they cold-shouldered him, and he became 
friends with Lily; but later, after Bellatrix had left the school, 
he'd have found that he had more of a chance with them, and (as a 
Slytherin, hated by the Gryffindors, and with no way of escape 
there) he was tempted to join the "inner ring", with a good deal 
more reason than Mark Studdock (in That Hideous Strength) ever did – 
though in the long run it meant he couldn't stay friends with Lily. 
But he never made the final irreversible choice until he was 
compelled to react in as hostile way as he could towards Lily's 
attempt to take his part against MWPP. That was the fatal choice 
that coloured the rest of his life – the real reason why it was his 
worst memory, though he may not have seen it at the time – and no 
wonder he hates the people whom he regards (with some truth) as 
giving him the final push in that direction.

But is Sirius telling the truth about how Snape knew so many curses 
when he arrived? Possibly, but even if he is, he's being misleading: 
the Pensieve scene, and Lily's words to James, suggest that even if 
Snape knew these curses, he still wasn't using them. And yet the 
diary suggests that Snape was not merely gifted: he was brilliant – 
and could think up unusual and very deadly hexes. And yet he didn't 
use them? Mind you, Sectumsempera is "too" deadly to use at school. 

BTW – I do like the theory I read on the LJ hp_essays recently, 
arguing that Pettigrew was probably the exceptional Muggle-Born 
Death Eater which JKR hinted at. The idea is that this is a very 
compelling reason as to why "no one" suspected him of being a spy. 
Besides, he never pretends to have any loyalty to the "cause" (just 
loyalty to Voldemort) and it gives an added meaning to the way he 
can be referred to as "vermin" by the other Death Eaters!

I wonder whether this is partly why James (and Sirius perhaps?) 
expected Peter to be as servile as he was?