Snape curses WAS Tonks' age

[Olivier Fouquet]

Alec
 > 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.

Olivier
Didn't use them? I think he did but was surpassed by the incredible  
combined talents of James and Sirius anyway. My evidence. Well,  
OoP:"Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash  
of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering  
his robes with blood." Compare this with HBP "Blood spurted from  
Malfoy's face and chest as though he had been slashed with an  
invisible sword" and especially "But though gashes appeared in their  
sodden rags and their icy skin, they had no blood to spill". Same  
choice of word (gash), same symptoms (a nasty cut and heavy  
bleeding). On my first reading of HBP, I concluded right away that  
Snape had indeed tried his new curse against his enemies.

So I see no contradiction here: Snape was brilliant, but  
unfortunately for him, so were James and Sirius (many canon for  
this). And Snape indeed was very much into the dark arts: James'  
cowardly attack was shameful but Snape did reply with a curse he knew  
(contrary to Harry)  could seriously injure his opponent. I tend to  
see a self-reinforcing dynamic here. Snape was so frequently  
violently bullied for no reason at all that he immersed himself in  
his schoolbooks and spent his spare time inventing curses that would  
help him defend himself. Meanwhile, James and Sirius despised him  
more and more because of his apparent love for the dark arts.

On a related subject, I believe there is a way to reconcile the  
apparent contradiction between Bellatrix's age, Snape's isolation in  
OoP and Sirius assurance that Snape was "part of a gang of  
Slytherins". It could very simply be that Snape met them at  
Slughorn's frequent parties, though they had left Hogwarts already.  
Sirius would know about that of course (and so would probably James),  
because he was most certainly invited to the club ("he was a talented  
boy […] I'd have liked the set" Slughorn dixit), being a rich, well- 
connected, extremely talented, pureblood. If Slug was holding two to  
three parties a year and if Bella was there each time, then Sirius  
would be as justified to say that Snape was part of her gang as Draco  
would be to say that Harry was "part of a gang of bloodtraitors like  
the Weasleys". And don't forget that Rabastan Lestrange could still  
be at Hogwarts at that time.



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