The one thing that keeps me from seeing this - and it's a really big thing - is that Snape has seemed so independent and almost scornful of real relationships in the past. And that's not really accurate; he's not really an outcast among the faculty (see interaction with McGonagall in OotP) and we knew he had some sort of connection to the Malfoys for some time. But the way Rowling's described him, he's stuck out like a sore thumb. He's obviously antagonistic a lot of the time, which doesn't attract a lot of friendships. His interaction with Draco prior to HBP was as close to friendly as we've seen him, but distant, and there's an obviously large gap between them in HBP, so it doesn't seem to me that they're very close. The diction in his conversation with Bellatrix and Narcissa is very, very formal. That could be habit among the Death Eaters or a practical choice to get information to the readers, but it makes the relationship between them seem more tenuous. And there's been no indication that he's particularly close to anyone else. And yeah, Harry wouldn't know about anything that happened outside of school, but I've got a strong impression of him as a lonely man.
I don't know. I think you've made very good points on how Snape might have interacted with the Blacks and Regulus in particular. And I can certainly see Snape being brought into the fold of the Blacks as a friend and, um, business partner, of Regulus. That'd have its own advantages in terms of status; something like a patronage system. But I'd be hesitant to call Snape a surrogate family member, and Snape seems so cautious about his estrangement from the Muggle and pureblood worlds that I doubt he'd think of himself in those terms, either.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-10 02:08 am (UTC)I don't know. I think you've made very good points on how Snape might have interacted with the Blacks and Regulus in particular. And I can certainly see Snape being brought into the fold of the Blacks as a friend and, um, business partner, of Regulus. That'd have its own advantages in terms of status; something like a patronage system. But I'd be hesitant to call Snape a surrogate family member, and Snape seems so cautious about his estrangement from the Muggle and pureblood worlds that I doubt he'd think of himself in those terms, either.