I'm not convinced that Snape *was* on particularly good terms with the Blacks. All of his known associations with the Blacks are through the Malfoys. His known relations with the Blacks are all pretty uneasy.
My take on it was that Bellatrix and her yearmates were *exactly* the 7th years that Snape showed up at Hogwarts knowing more hexes than that Sirius was refering to when he gave us that info in GoF. He was sorted into their House and was probably as naive as the next 11-year-old. They buttered him up, picked his brains, and dumped him by the time the year was over. He has neither forgotten nor forgiven them for it either. Their association was also what got him targeted by the Marauders. After all, anyone who cousin Bella takes up with *has* to be a bad egg.
Lucius Malfoy, a 6th year, was in with that circle, and indeed may have been their connection to the DEs, since Sirius states with considerable conviction thaqt his own parents were not DEs (too old to have been at school with Riddle) and we haven't heard anything about his aunt and uncle being DEs either. But the proto-DEs at Hogwarts in the day may well have been scattered all through the whole 7 years, and there may have been others in 7th year. (It looks very much like the first DE in the family could well have been Bellatrix herself - and dragged her sister and younger cousin in with her.) Malfoy, who has a bit better sense than Bellatrix, didn't just use Snape and drop him. He saw him as a potentially valuable resource, and cultivated the association through patronage through Snape's 2nd year.
Ergo; Snape's long association with the Malfoys, and the rather nasty vibe of resentment/gloating between him and Bellatrix. It's all too easy to read in a subtext of the tables having turned between them. I'm not convinced that it's all illusory.
As to Regulus; we've really no solid data to base anything on. He couldn't have been more than 2 years younger than Sirius in order to have become a DE and died by some (as yet unspecified) date in 1980, and he certainly *knew* Snape. And given that the younger of the two cousins married Lucius Malfoy, he probably ended up associating with Snape to some degree. But having been taken advantage of by Bellatrix in his 1st year, I wouldn't assume that Snape had a lot of time for Regulus back at Hogwarts.
Another factor we don't have a handle on is how much younger Narcissia is than her sisters. Andromeda has to have been Lucius's age and year in order to have a 22-year-old daughter by the opening or OotP. But Narcissia could be any age from 4 years older than Snape to 2 years younger. If Lucius and Narcissia are close in age, then Lucius would probably have convinced her that Snape was worth keeping an eye on, and keeping him on your string. If she was a good deal younger than the two older sisters, Lucius may have had less influence on her treatment of Snape.
Of course he could have just had a crush on her, and if she was already associated with Lucius, never acted on it.
But if we can assume (provisionally) that Regulus made it out of the sea cave alive, he would have almost certainly summoned Kreachur to help him get to the best potions expert he knew.
Snape may be involved in the business of the false Horcrux, but I don't think he managed to get much usable information out of Regulus before the kid fled.
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Date: 2005-09-08 04:06 pm (UTC)My take on it was that Bellatrix and her yearmates were *exactly* the 7th years that Snape showed up at Hogwarts knowing more hexes than that Sirius was refering to when he gave us that info in GoF. He was sorted into their House and was probably as naive as the next 11-year-old. They buttered him up, picked his brains, and dumped him by the time the year was over. He has neither forgotten nor forgiven them for it either. Their association was also what got him targeted by the Marauders. After all, anyone who cousin Bella takes up with *has* to be a bad egg.
Lucius Malfoy, a 6th year, was in with that circle, and indeed may have been their connection to the DEs, since Sirius states with considerable conviction thaqt his own parents were not DEs (too old to have been at school with Riddle) and we haven't heard anything about his aunt and uncle being DEs either. But the proto-DEs at Hogwarts in the day may well have been scattered all through the whole 7 years, and there may have been others in 7th year. (It looks very much like the first DE in the family could well have been Bellatrix herself - and dragged her sister and younger cousin in with her.) Malfoy, who has a bit better sense than Bellatrix, didn't just use Snape and drop him. He saw him as a potentially valuable resource, and cultivated the association through patronage through Snape's 2nd year.
Ergo; Snape's long association with the Malfoys, and the rather nasty vibe of resentment/gloating between him and Bellatrix. It's all too easy to read in a subtext of the tables having turned between them. I'm not convinced that it's all illusory.
As to Regulus; we've really no solid data to base anything on. He couldn't have been more than 2 years younger than Sirius in order to have become a DE and died by some (as yet unspecified) date in 1980, and he certainly *knew* Snape. And given that the younger of the two cousins married Lucius Malfoy, he probably ended up associating with Snape to some degree. But having been taken advantage of by Bellatrix in his 1st year, I wouldn't assume that Snape had a lot of time for Regulus back at Hogwarts.
Another factor we don't have a handle on is how much younger Narcissia is than her sisters. Andromeda has to have been Lucius's age and year in order to have a 22-year-old daughter by the opening or OotP. But Narcissia could be any age from 4 years older than Snape to 2 years younger. If Lucius and Narcissia are close in age, then Lucius would probably have convinced her that Snape was worth keeping an eye on, and keeping him on your string. If she was a good deal younger than the two older sisters, Lucius may have had less influence on her treatment of Snape.
Of course he could have just had a crush on her, and if she was already associated with Lucius, never acted on it.
But if we can assume (provisionally) that Regulus made it out of the sea cave alive, he would have almost certainly summoned Kreachur to help him get to the best potions expert he knew.
Snape may be involved in the business of the false Horcrux, but I don't think he managed to get much usable information out of Regulus before the kid fled.