Delurk. Query as to why (in early 2002), the fandom seemed to prefer to believe that Snape never held his old Slytherin classmates in any regard or affection, followed by some speculation on Frank Longbottom.
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Snape and his relationship to his old Slytherin housemates and DE colleagues. House Slytherin's apparent emphasis on loyalty.
Negative spin on Snape's decision to take Sirius back to Hogwarts at the end of PoA, rather than feeding him to the dementors.
Sirius, Snape and the "Prank." Lupin's and Sirius' behavior in the Shrieking Shack
Subversive readings and what drives them. "Fault lines" in the text which lead to reader anxiety. The question of why the fandom does not tend to subversion when contemplating the relationship between Snape and his old Slytherin housemates and DE colleagues. Part two of two.
Speculation on Snape's old Slytherin housemates, including a Redeemable!Avery defense. House Slytherin's apparent emphasis on in-group loyalty, and the effects this might have had on Snape. Discomfort with the depiction of the DEs in canon. Defense of the notion that Snape genuinely favors members of his own House. Snape's relationship with Karkaroff, Lucius Malfoy, and Barty Crouch Jr. And an analysis of Snape's Sudden Movement. Also, the introduction of S.Y.C.O.P.H.A.N.T.S.
Snape and his narrative function: his indeterminacy, his subverting role in the text. His character: the tension between his instincts and proclivites and his moral principles. His relationship to House Slytherin and specifically to the Malfoy family. Also contains some discussion of House Slytherin in general, and passing questions as to the nature of the Dark Arts.
Snape as a principled sadist and sympathetic character. Analysis of both "The Egg and the Eye" and the end of PoA in terms of reader sympathy for Snape. Snape's divided loyalties in regard to House Slytherin.
Discussion of the Serpensortia scene in CoS and whether or not it indicates that Snape was trying to smoke out Harry's Parseltongue abilities from the very start, followed by a discussion on the nature of the Dark Arts and of Divination. I suggest that all of the truly effective forms of Divination available to humans in the Potterverse may be considered Dark magic.
Attempt to pin down precisely what the Snapetheory known as "George" stands for. Mainly focussed on those two perennial questions: "Why did Snape join the DEs?" and "What made him change his mind?"
Defense of Sadist!Snape and some suggestions as to how his moral principles might have led him to leave the Death Eaters in spite of a visceral appreciation for cruelty.
Tongue-in-cheek speculation about Neville and the Longbottom Incident, with more timeline wrangling, as well as a "Memory Retrieval Potion" theory.
Why did Ron choose to play a knight in the chess game at the end of PS? Why did Dumbledore out Snape so very publicly (200 witnesses!) as a spy in the Penseive scene of GoF?
Speculation on how the Dark Mark might work, the ramifications of the mystic bond between Voldemort and his DEs, Voldemort's motivations in GoF, and why he might have named the names he named in the Graveyard scene.
Analysis of the scene in PoA in which Snape brings Lupin his Wolfsbane Potion
Discussion of the precise nature of Crouch's, errr...reforms to the WW's judicial system - specifically of the use of the Unforgivable Curses on suspects - and speculation that Wilkes may have died in custody at the hands of Frank Longbottom, followed by a list of reasons that Snape might be so very hostile towards Neville.
Defense of the (now canonically-established) theory that MWPP really *did* bully Snape back in their school days, followed by a thematic analysis of Snape's Grudge, the Train Stomp, and the end game of PoA.
An utterly trivial post with an inaccurate subject line: Snape's weighty pause before the delivery of the "I see no difference" line.
