Snape might have been an epic douche, but he was one of the most skilled wizards in the series not named Albus or Tom Riddle. IIRC, he was the only other wizard to pull off Voldemort's unassisted flight trick. And I suspect that creating your own spells is no piece of easy, either.

I have no problem believing that he was magically talented as a kid.

EDIT:

So here's a question for everyone. Numerous people are amazed that Harry pulled off a patronus charm as a thirteen year old. Given that multiple kids in the DA were doing them, what does this mean?

Was Harry just an exceptionally good teacher, or were the students in the DA just really good at casting a spell that most people don't even bother to learn? Some combination of both? Something else entirely?

I've always wondered about this. I'd be especially interested in what Taure has to say about this, since he seems to have answered similar questions about canon stuff.

 

I guess I just see it as something odd, that if he indeed was that magically talented, why the fuck did he bother joining up with the Death Eaters? Can't be that every single Slytherin of his generation went on to become a Death Eater or the supporter of them... can it?

I can't honestly remember if he ever expressed actual belief in the whole blood supremacy propaganda, it would be more in line with his character, or so I theorize, that he wished to accumulate power (so that he would be respected/feared) while using the resources of the whole group.

Maybe it's just me looking at this whole thing wrong. I don't know.

 

It could have just been 'join us or die'.

 

As I recall, Snape was identified by Lucius Malfoy (a prefect when Snape was Sorted) as a promising lad, so peer pressure might have been enough to sway him without a death threat being required.

 

That too

Or he just wanted to be a member of the 'cool' group. As long as your definition of cool is 'start an insurrection and take over the country.'

 

Not necessarily, "join us or be forever ostracised, just like when you were a kid, this time by your own peers, so your childhood dream of being accepted/admired won't ever happen and what happened in your childhoood is going to happen again." If you're feelling generous.

If not "join us and muggles like that shitty father (maybe child bullys) of yours won't ever bother you again, better you're gonna rule over them! You will never be shunned again, that muggleborn girl you can have her, it's your right! That rich assholes who had it all? Blood traitor, we're killling them." It eerily made me think 'that's how they recruited people to the Nazi party and crazy cults."

 

Odran:
One shit or the other, he had his incentive, he knew of the magical world enough, he got his books an he learned his curses. Scumbag attitude aside he is the most hard-working human of the series, after all.

dmacx:
Adult wizards have a bit misguided view on the learning process of the Patronus Charm. A happy memory is necessary for even attempting Patronus. Children are often happy, adults are not. And it takes a lot of time and determination to perfect it enough to efficiently drive away dementors. Weeks, months, years, even. Most adult wizards don't bother.

 

A patronus charm may be easy to learn but to use it in front of a fucking dementor who's trying to suck your soul out is a whole another matter.

 

How do we know Snape was a bully in school? He invented Levicorpus?


EDIT: James could only have used it on Snape after either having had it used on him by Snape or seeing it used on someone else (likely a friend of his).

 

And in the Room of Requirements.

 

It always struck me as odd that Levicorpus being a nonverbal spell was somehow passed to Snape's bullies. I wonder who he told it to that they leaked it to James? Maybe his dumb Death Eater friends he was trying to impress or something. /shrugs

 

I wasn't actually asking . . .

I know he's a bully, and was offering up the invention of Levicorpus as an example.

 

The way you phrased it fooled me too.

 

In addition considering it isn't taught in the hogwarts curriculum many people wouldn't have even tried it. Also since the people who were surprised at Harry learning the charm went to Hogwarts themselves, they probably learned it outside of school which would explain why they are so surprised. I know that if I learned something in high school and found an 11 year old had learned the same thing with the help of his teacher I would be surprised to say the least.

 

Why does anyone join a gang?

They feel weak and want to be strong, they feel inconsequential and want to be important, they feel they deserve more than their lot in life... and they think a gang is the way to get those things, because they don't think they can do it on their own.

Snape was an abused and (to at least some degree) impoverished child. I doubt his home life and financial situation had improved much by the time he was a teen, but he got to add the fact that he wanted a girl who didn't want him to his list of grievances with the universe.

A gang is a gang is a gang, whether they're sporting guns, wands, or stuka dive bombers. The reasons for joining them? Also the same.

It's possible that if Snape had gotten a girlfriend at Hogwarts, life might not have seemed so bad, and he wouldn't have felt the need to join a gang, in the hopes that membership would have its privileges (to paraphrase a slogan).

Her getting booted out of her family wouldn't prevent her from teaching Snape what she knew, and it wouldn't stop her from getting more books on magic. You'd might as well ask, "If my father was kicked out of his home, how could he still teach me to fish?"

Unless they obliviate you for being disowned, I'm pretty sure she'd retain her knowledge of spells and ability to read books.
So, in summation: Snape's mother was a witch; she probably taught dark magic to him. It seems to be a theme in HP that 'dark' families teach magic to their children, while 'light' families stick their thumbs up their asses and say, "Hogwarts is good enough; they'll learn everything they need to know, there. Oh, is that a primrose path I see? Let's all go skipping."

In light families, unless your older brother teaches you the Bat Bogey hex, you're shit out of luck. :facepalm

 

We're told in DH that Aberforth was never the student Albus was, but the three-way duel was apparently heat/confused/close enough that no one knew who killed Ariana.

Just how badass is Aberforth? Is he like Harry, good in a fight but unconcerned with academia beyond its application to his immediate desires and interests?

 

Didn't her (Ginny) using that spell on some guy in front of Slughorn get her an invite into the Slug Club? How the fuck does that make sense?

Oh jolly good, that's an excellent entrails expelling curse you got there, Miss Bobblewottom. See there, the way it forms a swan? Most splendid indeed!

Granted, I exaggerate, but you get the gist.

 

afrojack:
Even young Gellert Grindelwald was leagues beyond Tom Riddle, and Aberforth dared to fight him. So he's badass, though not quite on the level of Albus, Gellert or even resurrected Tom. It is unknown if Aberforth kept practice, but I imagine he was at least as good as Moody even if he hadn't. You got to be if you'd like to keep your rowdy monster and criminal patrons in check.