WMG / Harry Potter Hogwarts Faculty

Dumbledore:

Dumbledore had a magical duel in the London Underground.

Where did Dumbledore get a scar that looked a map of the London underground on his right knee? Perhaps during a fight (maybe with Grindelwald) in a London Underground station, his knee hit a map, and with melting bits of metal and plastic (or metal and metal) all over the place, his knee was scarred...

• That must have been a very small map.
  • Or it had been shrunk with magic!

Dumbledore played Seeker for Gryffindor

Eleven-year-old Harry, we are reminded a few times, is the "youngest Seeker in a century". Exactly 100 years prior to Harry's joining the team would be 1891, when Dumbledore was ten. Of course, he wouldn't normally have been eligible to enter Hogwarts at that age, but perhaps an exception was made for the young genius, or maybe "a century" is a casual term for 99 years. Since no mention is made of Dumbledore's Quidditch career in the books, perhaps he simply wasn't very good despite early promise, and quit after a couple years.

• With what a big deal Quiddich is at Hogwarts, I doubt Harry and everyone else wouldn't be aware of this. I personally always viewed Dumbledore as more of a spectator or someone who picked up the interest later in life, but there's no reason he couldn't have played though.
• Incorrect. Dumbledore was 150 in the mid-90s. That means he was middle-aged (by Muggle standards) in 1891.
  • According to JKR, Dumbledore was born in 1881, making him 110 years old in 1991, when Harry entered Hogwarts. Therefore, Dumbledore was 10 years old in 1891. That said, I don't think for a second that he was the seeker. Chances are, the "youngest seeker in a century" before Harry was a second-year at best.
    • The youngest seeker would have to be first year cause even Malfoy was able to buy his way onto a team in his second year.
    • In the sixth book, Katie Bell is shown to be the only original member of Harry's first-year team. Since she was not sorted with Harry's classmates, she must have been a second-year.

Dumbledore is senile.

Which is why he's such a Cool Old Guy in the first few books ("As long as they don't take me off the chocolate frog cards!") and such an Idiot Ball-toting Jerkass in the last books. Same reason, different symptoms. He's not wise, he's just a Seemingly Profound Fool. The times he was badass in battle was because he was lashing out with his coolest spells at someone who PO'd him, not because he's all that competent.

Dumbledore is a phoenix animagus.

This was here before, a rather in-depth explanation too, before the Data Vampires or someone who liked deleting things they thought weren't taking the WMGs seriously trust me, it was serious), but what I can remember was this: Mostly, the ability to teleport even on Hogwarts grounds, in a puff of fire in the books and fifth movie, as well as how he tends to take his time travelling (possibly flying places as a phoenix instead of going on a broomstick or apparating instantly?). There are at least four unregistered animagi in the books, and at least three of them figured it out during their early school years without detection, so why not the Greatest Wizard of All Time? There was more, so if anyone remembers it, could you please post it?

• Related WMG: Fawkes was Dumbledore's mate. In settings where there are more than one phoenix, they usually mate for life, and Fawkes headed away never to be heard from again once Dumbledore died. If it was human-level sentience, like the merpeople (which Dumbledore could speak the language of), then bestiality wouldn't be a concern, and the animagus ability would act as the Male To Phoenix Universal Adaptor, if they even did anythign like that. If phoenixes aren't human-level intelligence, Fawkes could have imprinted on Dumbledore in his phoenix form, and it just didn't go away when he turned back into a human.
  • So does that mean that Fawkes is actually Grindlewand? He was searching for the Deathly Hallows as a way of cheating death and along the way discovered that he was a pheonix animagus that allowed him to be "reborn" as it were.
• Alternately, Dumbledore could be a demiguise animagus. He admits he has the means to become invisible without a cloak, and he has lots of long silvery hair. Fantastic Beasts describes the demiguise as having long silvery hair and the power of invisibility; indeed, most invisibility cloaks are woven from their hair.

Dumbledore did have an Animagus form, but chose not to use it.

• I think the reason why Dumbledore was never an Animagus despite certainly being talented enough in Transfiguration was that he was, but had no use for it after the initial novelty. Why, you ask? Because his form was a cabbage head jellyfish. Its toxin is extremely weak, it can't really move without a current, and it obviously can't survive without water. Doesn't really jive with the image of the all-powerful wise old wizard. Despite this, Dumbledore did experiment with his transformation in the Hogwarts Lake - incidentally, that is how he developed an interest in Mermish language and culture. However, after a near-fatal incident where he was almost killed by a common turtle, he decided to use one of the many safer and more practical methods of exploring the water.
  • Oh, and as additional point for the immature: Cabbage head jellyfish are mostly asexual, but when they do have sexual encounters it consists of ejecting sperm into the mouth cavity of other jellyfish.

Dumbledore used the Elder Wand to secretly repair Hagrid's wand

Hagrid seems to be able to do some simple spells without problems. as we have seen with ron's broken wand he would have had difficulty doing even simple magic without his wand pieces malfunctioning. It's mainly Hagrid's limited knowlege of spells that gives him trouble as he try's to turn Dudley into a pig which would have gone horribly wrong if he had a broken wand instead based on his limited abilities he's only bale to give Dudley a tail.

Dumbledore is dosing the Slytherin house's food with Veritaserum

Whenever we see the Slytherins outwith Hogwarts, or whenever Dumbledore is restricted as Headmaster, they always seem to be so much better at information management and the cunning that is their house characteristic. Yet whenever they arrive at Hogwarts, and when Dumbledore is operating unrestricted, they blurt out secrets and are generally indiscreet about just about everything. The logical conclusion is that Albus "for the greater good" Dumbledore is just dosing the food for Slytherin house's consumption with Veratiserum to make sure than anything their parents talk about in front of them quickly reaches his ears.

• Unlikely that Dumbledore would dose an entire house with the most powerful truth serum on a consistent basis, he probably used a weaker one

Dumbledore killed Ariana.

This has been cited before, but all other members of the fight was otherwise occupied- Aberforth was crucio-ed, Grindelwald was using Crucio. Dumbledore was the one to launch the killing spell.

• And he knows this. Which is why he grabbed at the Resurrection Stone, to ask for an apology.
• Aberforth, meanwhile, was disoriented enough to only suspect it was Albus.

Dumbledore is a Pyromancer.

Probably the most telling evidence that can be provided for this is Dumbledore's bond to Fawkes, a phoenix. He is also able to conjure Gubraithian Fire, which can only be crafted by extremely powerful wizards. He repeatedly makes a show of lighting and extinguishing candles and braziers. He also seems to favor the Incendio spell: he mentions setting his curtains on fire in his fourth year, he demonstrated his magical ability to Tom Riddle by setting his wardrobe ablaze, and he created a firestorm to drive back the Inferi while escaping the Horcrux cave. It also helps that Dumbledore was a Gryffindor, which seems to be the closest to the element of fire.

• Adding to this, Seamus Finnigan is showing signs of a budding Pyromancer, given that many of his spells tend to explode in his face.
  • Or, as Professor McGonagall put it, he has a "particular proclivity for pyrotechnics."

Dumbledore was at least partially banking on the Dursleys' less than stellar treatment of Harry during his early childhood.

• Why? To ease his transition back into the wizarding world when the time came. Think about if the Dursleys had been halfway decent to him. He probably would have ended up much like them, even down to being much more obstinate in doubting the existence and merits of magic. Of course, when the whole secret comes out, Harry doubts it for a little bit, but by the next morning, he's on board enough to follow a strange, giant man to points completely unknown. Philosopher's Stone itself says when he leaves for Hogwarts that he "didn't know what he was going to, but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.'' He may not have taken such a risk if not for the fact that things at the Dursleys were so bad that going somewhere else couldn't have possibly made things worse.

Dumbledore and Flitwick made themselves look younger.

Between the second and third films, they used a spell that would make them look younger, hence their change in physical appearances. This would explain why Dumbledore is portrayed by Michael Gambon when he first meets Tom Riddle.

Snape:

The reason Snape hates Neville so much

• Neville reminds Snape of Peter Pettigrew. Not the sharpest tool in the box, kinda quiet, follows the Gryffindor trio around, probably similar in appearance. Snape still hates Peter for Lily's death, and takes it out on Neville.
  • But Snape seemed to dislike Neville before it came out that Pettigrew was the one who betrayed the Potters and he couldn't possibly have known the truth before if they didn't tell Lupin, who was James' other best friend and Snape had already fallen out with Lily and Dumbledore himself didn't even seem to know about the switch until the third book (he would have cleared Sirius' name if he did). Actually, if he saw any similarity to Pettigrew in Neville, you'd think he'd be nicer during years 1-3 because Pettigrew, as far as the world knew, had tried to avenge James and Lily's deaths.
  • Possibly, but Peter also went around tormenting Snape throughout his childhood, and Severous probably assumed that he was just doing it for James, not Lily.
  • Nah, it's because Neville could be the chosen one, and in that case he Lily wouldn't die. So every time Snape sees him he thinks about how Lily could still be alive if that little guy were chosen instead of Harry, and that makes him really bitter.

Snape asked to be sorted into Slytherin.

Come the end of Deathly Hallows, we are made aware of Snape's true loyalties, which actually marks him as more suited to any of the other three houses then Slytherin. He is found to be very brave, as a Gryffindor, smart (possibly to genus levels, if his old Potions book is any indication) as a Ravenclaw, and fiercely loyal as a Hufflepuff. He never shows the trademark ambition of a typical Slytherin, and it is known that he wanted very much to be in that House.

• I disagree. I think he does have Slytherin qualities, and they're very prominent. Gryffindors are brave on the upfront, in the reckless kind of way, not in the sneaky way of Slytherin. We've seen that Slytherins don't WANT credit for helping, so they do it from the shadows, shown with Malfoy and his cronies, and the other Slytherins who were mentioned via Word of God for coming back. Hufflepuffs aren't just loyal, they're hard-working. Snape worked remarkably hard to keep where his true loyalties lie a secret, and worked hard as a spy for many years. I think Hufflepuffs are really just an extroverted Slytherin. Ambition is NOTHING without the hard-work and loyalty to whatever one is ambitious towards, and likewise, what is hard-work and loyalty without ambition? Pottermore's opening letter for Slytherin states that Slytherins look out for their own (unlike Ravenclaw), and are loyal to those they care about, just like Hufflepuff. And as for Ravenclaw, we do see that Slytherins aren't stupid. Not all of them. Look at Voldemort, at Slughorn, at Merlin! None of those wizards were stupid. Just because you're smart doesn't automatically mean you're a Ravenclaw. Hermione, McGonagall, and Dumbledore weren't, and they're shown as being very, very bright. Snape belongs in Slytherin, he didn't ask. He would have asked for Gryffindor, to be with Lily, in the House he suits the least, since he lack's that bull-headed, up-front bravery that lacks any sort of level-headed-ness. Snape thinks things through and is brave from the shadows. Gryffindors just dive right in without much thought, or completely lose their heads trying to think (like Hermione and Molly). Slytherins can remain calm in the face of danger and think things through. Snape embodies Slytherin House.
• In Snape's memory in Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore makes a comment that he thinks Hogwarts sorts their students too early. It's possible that Snape at age 11 was much more like a traditional Slytherin, but he's gone through a great deal of personal change, being affected by Dumbledore and his guilt over Lily Potter's death.
• Yet all that — even Dumbledore's view — overlooks the key factor that would've overridden all young Severus's other aptitudes, placing him unquestionably into Slytherin no matter how brave, devoted, or intelligent he was. It's what made him the Spanner in the Works for Voldemort, and what gave him the strength to sacrifice everything he did throughout the series: the sole, driving ambition that never wavered, for all that bitterness and envy might've masked it. Namely, his ambition to become the sort of man Lily could've loved, and forgiven. No matter what it cost him, no matter how long it took, no matter how much hatred he might incur along the way. That's what Snape had wanted as a child, what he twice betrayed in moments of weakness he'd never forgive himself for, and what he died to live up to in the end. Ambition — pure, undiluted, Slytherin-calibre ambition — but directed toward a purpose Voldemort and his ilk could neither comprehend nor anticipate.
  • Yes, you got Snape right in that he sought to redeem himself in the eyes of Lilly (or at least in his eye what would be in Lilly's eyes), but there is another motivation in him, that is still a very Slytherin motivation...revenge! He wants to get kill Voldemort for killing Lilly. Fortunately for him in his mind, killing Vldemort at all costs both redeems Snape in Lilly's eyes and grants him his revenge. The question is, deep down, which motivation is the stronger one? Revenge. While Snape's motivations have a noble effect, stopping a murderous dark lord, deep down his motivations are still selfish and about feeding his own need for revenge and unrequited love. I always liken Snape's morality to that of Noah Bennet from Heroes. Noah Bennet never had a change of heart, he was always an asshole, but he was an asshole who loved his family and would do anything for them. While that is a noble goal, he himself was a morally reprehensible man who just so happened to have a goal that would enable something noble to happen.

Snape had a good relationship with his mother.

He doesn't seem to have any hatred or resentment towards women in general; in fact, he appears to have had a great deal of respect for McGonagall (and not just because she could hand him his ass in a duel without breaking a sweat). This implies that he and Eileen were fairly close. (Maybe because Eileen knew a little something about being bullied at school, or they might have just stuck together because they didn't have anyone else to turn to.)

• It was probably more complicated than anything. He was placed in Slytherin, which probably helped convince him to become a Death Eater in the first place. For a while, he was convinced he was an abomination because he was a half blood. After his mother's death, he learned, with help from Dumbledore, to forgive himself and her, which converted him to being in the Order of the Phoenix.
  • 'and not just because she could hand him his ass in a duel without breaking a sweat' Jossed in book 7. Snape faces her and two other teachers while defending and not really trying to hurt them. If she could do that then she would have killed him easily instead of having backup and SILL not being able to kill him or really hurt him.

Snape is Voldemort's son

Actually, the more you think about this the more sense it makes: Voldemort raped Eileen Prince during his "absence" from the Wizarding World. Eileen then married Tobias Snape to save face and pretended that her child wasn't the spawn of Evil Incarnate. Tobias, who was never sympathetic anyway, convinced himself that his wife was a slut and hated Severus for being another man's child. Tobias's hatred of Severus also explains adult Severus's jealousy issues with Harry and Lily. In addition, Severus Snape is shown to be an extremely powerful wizard, on a level with both Dumbledore and Voldemort in the last two books; he showed a knowledge of, and talent for, the Dark Arts by the age of eleven, he's intelligent enough to invent his own spells, he's the most accomplished Occlumens of his time (to counter-act his real father's aptitude with Legilimency), and in the seventh book, he uses spells that are described by other wizards as being the type "only Voldemort" would use. In book seven, Voldemort figures out that not only is Severus his son, but is also a more powerful wizard than he is, and kills him out of fear, rather than a desire to conquer the Elder Wand. ...You're still squicked out by the idea of Voldemort naked, aren't you?

• Depends on which Voldemort you're talking about.
• Book!Voldie.
• To be fair, he would not have been a snake monster at the time.

• who says Voldemort would have had to rape her? He was a seductive and charming man.

Snape picked on Neville because...

Lily died.

The rationale is simple: Snape knew that the prophecy had two possible candidates for the"Chosen One": The Potters and the Longbottoms. If Voldemort had chosen the Longbottoms first and been brought down, Lily doesn't die sacrificing herself to save her child. So Snape hates Harry for being Mini!James and Neville for living while his Lily had to die.

We'll ignore the parts about this meaning James is still around as well or that this means Bellatrix goes after the Potters instead of the Longbottoms. Snape isn't the most emotionally logical person around.

• ...Are you sure that's not canon? Because it should be.
  • Just because a theory is on this page doesn't mean it might not be proven right eventually. Yes, a lot of the ones on here are purposefully silly in nature but a few seem pretty serious, and this one is one of the more logical and likely ones. Though I might just be sticking up for this one since I believed it, too...
• Snape may have also had a grudge against Neville's parents, who were aurors. They may have met in battle, or they may have interrogated him with traumatizing intimidation tactics.

Snape lives!

"I can teach you to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death."

• Except the word is stopper, not stop. To stopper death is to put a stopper in it—like a cork in a bottle. I always saw that phrase as his saying he'd teach his students to make poisons.
• In fact, the Nagini's venom was one of the last ingredients needed for his resurrection potion, and he'd planned it from the start.
  • Unfortunately, it isn't without flaws, and he spends the next book in a mindless frenzy "Aurors!"
• Harry Potter 8: Snape's Revenge!
• As has been pointed out in a few fanfics, if there's anyone who would walk around with an anti-venom, it's the Potions double-agent expert who hangs around with a guy commanding a giant poisonous snake. And we know anti-vemon for Nagini exists thanks to Arthur, and Snape knows it too. And there is a fairly suspicious bit of time after the bite, when Harry jumps back into his own head and thus can't see what Snape is doing (Ingesting the anti-venom?) until he moves the crate out of the way.

Snape deliberately burned his bridges with Lily, as the first step in establishing his cover

Hey, he was willing to kill his (maybe friend) and handler, the only one who could or would testify to his mole-status.

• It does seem uncharacteristically...stupid, for Alan Rickman a schemer like Snape to let rip with a racial slur.
  • This... Is not a WMG; it's just plain stupid. Let me count the ways: When he called Lily "Mudblood", did it not occur to the OP that he'd just been humiliated in front of the entire school and, being an angry and insecure teenager, was speaking like someone who was angry and humiliated? All There in the Manual, dude. Second, Snape is not a Seer; he had no idea he'd turn spy for Dumbledore within five years. For that matter, he didn't know he'd be Voldemort's spy and apply for a teaching position at Hogwarts in that timespan. Again, All There in the Manual. Third: Alan Rickman is not Severus Snape, and Severus Snape is not Alan Rickman. Just because Rickman wouldn't do something doesn't mean that Snape wouldn't. One is a fictional character, the other is an actor playing a fictional character. This doesn't need to be in the manual; it's just common fucking sense.
    • Unless, of course, becoming a spy was his plan all along. We only know what Dumbledore claims are his reasons for turning against Voldemort. Maybe he had others.
  • He planned on becoming a Death Eater, that was it. Death Eaters are mooks; they do whatever Voldemort tells them to. Whether or not Snape wanted to become a spy is beside the point (and he very likely didn't; a spy would have been the single deadliest position for any Death Eater if they didn't know Occlumency, and the only reason Snape did was because Dumbledore taught him). As for turning against Voldemort for other reasons... Like what? His boundless, burning passion for teaching all those wonderful, beautiful little children at Hogwarts how to brew potions? Also, this guess is based on the idea that "Snape is a schemer". He isn't. He's intelligent, but as our Idiot Ball-toting Big Bad could tell you, an intelligent person isn't guaranteed to be a master planner (and it doesn't take intelligence or a master plan to want to stay alive; that's called "survival instinct" and all living things act upon it). As for Snape being "willing" to kill Dumbledore? What the hell book did you read?! Dumbledore had to force Snape to do it by telling him he needed to make an Unbreakable Vow and all but making sure Draco failed to kill him! And please keep in mind that if Snape had just said "Fuck you, Dumby, I'm not doing it" and Draco ultimately failed to kill him, he would have died (again, that pesky survival instinct comes into play). He was right when he accused Dumbledore of using him; in the end, Snape was just as much Dumbledore's pawn as Harry.
  • He would have called Lily a mudblood because a Slytherin (and, as he hoped to be, future Death Eater) being defended by a Muggle-born after being humiliated by Griffindors...well, yeah.
• Jossed

Severus Snape's cloak is a lethifold.

This is why it billows the way it does. And since only a patronus charm can dispel it, it would make good armor.

• More likely a lethifold's skin, as the guess said before the original author changed the wording, since it doesn't try to eat him. It could be a tame lethifold, though.

Severus Snape is multiracial.

This could be an explanation for his black hair and eyes.

• JK Rowling said that Alan Rickman was pretty much perfect as Snape, and this comes across in later books. So no.
  • The books say nothing against it.
    • The books also say nothing against Hermione being related to Jennifer Lopez. Does that mean THAT is true?
    • My mental picture of Hermione wouldn't suffer from a little J-Lo family resemblance... (Nothing against Emma Watson, of course)
• White people don't always have light hair and eyes. And I never thought his eyes were literally black, in fact I've always imagined them a dark shade of brown.
• Exactly, and white people can have any hair color and any eye color combo.

Severus Snape has magical creature ancestry.

This could be an explanation for his black hair and eyes. I have read Fanfics where he is/has the blood of a/an elf, vampire, werewolf, incubus, veela (shudder), dementer, and (my favorite) selkie.

• Would these fics happen to include PossessionSues?
  • Some of them, but there are a few that are actually good.

Severus Snape is a white half-blood Wizard.

Because this theory is just crazy enough for Wild Mass Guessing.

• This belongs on the Darth Wiki.

If Snape's life hadn't sucked so much, he'd have been at least as powerful as Voldemort.

As we see from Tonks and Merope, depression drains a witch or wizard's magic. Snape's life sucks far more than Tonks' but he's possibly the third most powerful wizard in the books. Therefore, if he hadn't had an abusive home life, driven away the girl he loved, and been partially responsible for her death, he'd be feted as a prodigy and potentially hailed as the next Dumbledore.

• An observant and clever WMG if I've ever read one. I'd be interested to see what Rowling would have to say.

Snape hated Neville because the Longbottoms weren't targeted instead of the Potters.

I always did wonder why he picks on Neville so much. While it's true that he's awful at Potions there seemed to be a certain vindictiveness that was normally only reserved for Harry and friends, which he directed towards Neville even before he actually became friends with Harry (Generally bullying him and doing things like the time he threatened to test Neville's antidote on Trevor as incentive to force him to get the potion right in fourth year). He's excessively cruel to Neville for no real reason other possibly being a Gryfindor and I always thought it was weird even for Snape, until this occured to me.

Think about it. Voldemort had a choice between two families the prophecy could have applied to, the Potters and the Longbottoms. In the end he chose the Potters, but if he'd chosen the Longbottoms, Lilly would still be alive. It might be unfair to Neville, but with the way Snape projects his hatred of James onto Harry, it would make perfect sense to Snape.

Snape is the Heir of Grindelwald.

Grindelwald raped a British pure-blood woman sometime during his reign of terror. This woman was engaged to a guy from the Prince family, whom she eventually married. She gave birth to Grindelwald's child, naming her Eileen. Eileen went on to marry Tobias Snape, and then they gave birth to Severus.

• Jossed.

That's right. Gellert Grindelwald is actually Snape's great-grandfather. It would explain Sirius's comment that Snape "knew more curses when he arrived at Hogwarts than half the kids in seventh year" (assuming he wasn't bullshitting to make Snape look bad), since he inherited it from dear old great-grandpa Gellert.

Stop looking at me like that. You all think it's cool, I'm just saying it.

Snape's animagus form would be...

A small lap dog. They often get attached to one person, to whom they are extremely devoted. Many can be quite vicious towards people they don't like, and at one point Sirius calls Snape "Lucius Malfoy's lap dog."

Snape planned to kill his father, Tobias, and may have done so.

It seems strange that Snape would have such an interest in Dark magic at such a young age. Also, Tobias Snape was abusive toward his wife and toward Snape himself. It's interesting that, while most of Snape's memories recorded in the series focus on Lily, there's the one fleeting glimpse of his home life. Also, maybe Snape would have found it oddly fitting as a teenager to start his own life as a Dark wizard the same way Voldemort started - by returning home with his new power and murdering his bastard of a dad.

Snape's Slytherin gang supported his friendship with Lily

• Or at least they pretended to. After all, if they were vocally against it I doubt Snape would've been able to hang around them. My guess is that they used his friendship with Lily as a way to gain his trust, maybe tell other Slytherins off if they bothered him about it. This would bring him closer to them (especially since Lily seemed vocal about her disapproval toward his friendship to the gang) and once the differences became too much for their friendship, Snape would come crawling to them as his only other friends.

Professor McGonagall and Augusta Longbottom were fellow Gryffindors, perhaps old friends and/or roommates in the same year

• McGonagall certainly had a good memory when it came to the fact that Augusta failed her Charms O.W.L. So, unless McGonagall tested Augusta (which seems unlikely, given that they were about the same age), she probably found out when the two compared test results as students. Also, McGonagall had to be fairly confident in her relationship with Augusta to write her a letter essentially telling off Augusta for not appreciating Neville as he was. Not to mention that she was a bit more warm with Neville - not so much as she was with the Trio, but also a bit more than other students.
  • Additionally, her harsh punishment on Neville for dropping the long list of passwords (which, despite his bad memory, he likely wouldn't have needed if Sir Cadogan wasn't being an ass) was a Batman Gambit. She hadn't heard from Augusta in a while and wanted to talk to her, and knew Augusta would probably send a letter to the school after Neville told her what had happened.

McGonagall found Moaning Myrtle's body in the toilet...

...when she was a student herself in the 1940s. Olive Hornby was the last person to see her alive, but we're not sure who found her dead. McGonagall's the right age, she knows things about this and...mostly it's just for symmetry with the "Claude's ghost is haunting the bathroom" WMG on the Degrassi page.

• Jossed. McGonagall was a student in the 1940s, but she started in 1946 (birth date was 1935). Myrtle died in 1942 - McGonagall would have been about 7.
  • The 1935 birthdate has never been canon. It's an extrapolation that's stuck.

Hagrid is an Occulmens

Obviously he is, or Quirrel wouldn't have bothered risking breaking his cover accidentally whilst playing cards with Hagrid. Either that or Legillimency leaves traces that another like Snape could notice. But it would have solved Quirrel's problem right away, zap the eye contact then leave to get the stone.

• No. Occlumency is a very rare and forbidden craft. Hagrid does not possess the emotional control that is needed to become an Occlumens. And occlumencers are rare. Hagrid is also a half giant (some magic doesn't work against him or does less then intended) and not too bright. He's very trusting and fun to be around and he's also a bit of a drunk. Quirrel probably just thought that Hagird was safe to be around and that he wouldn't be suspicious. He was right if I am correct. So I guess I'm saying it's jossed but maybe word of god will prove me wrong.
  • Legilimency is also a pretty rare craft, though I don't know how "forbidden" Occlumency is. Quirrel was presumably competent, but the only people we see who can actually perform Legilimency are Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Snape. Quirrel may not have a high enough level to use it.
  • Maybe because Hagrid is a half-giant he has some protection against Legilimency attacks because his mind is "too alien to read."

Slughorn keeps an eye on his hourglass

• During the dinner at Slughorn's where he was throwing out seemingly random, banal, small talk topics he would keep an eye on his hourglass that told you how interesting the topic was. If it wasn't he would change it. When he asked Hiermony what her parents did and she said dentist, and he kept listening, was because he noticed his hourglass slowed a bit. This proves that just because the conversation topic may be more interesting that doesn't mean that people have the conversational skill to really get into it.

Horace Slughorn has dabbled in dark magic, and actually wanted Voldemort to become a dark wizard.

Consider Horace 'letting slip' the information about the horcruxes to Voldemort. We know he enjoys having famous students, so what about infamous students? 'All publicity is good publicity' may have been one of Slughorn's mottos, or perhaps a good student is one that can do magic well rather then where their morals go. He knew Voldemort was something dark, and predicted he would go far. He sorty of helped Voldemort along and expected to see a powerful yet questionably moral high ranked Wizard with slughorn to thank. What he didn't expect is Voldemort to get cult followers and declare a bloody war. Giving Slughorn still more to be ashamed of.

Slughorn gave Snape's old textbook with the notes in it to Harry on purpose to give him an edge.

Slughorn prides himself on kingmaking - hand-picking and fostering up-and-coming young witches and wizards. He could have noticed that Snape had a gift for potions and a bad habit of writing in textbooks and put two and two together, giving Harry the old textbook with the brilliant notes in it so The-Boy-Who-Lived would excel in a subject he has no real talent for. Plus, it's been established that Slughorn was teaching at Hogwarts when Lily Evans was there, so it's hardly out of the question that Snape, who started the same year, would have been taught by Slughorn.

• The favoritism thing would be understandable, but his social networking skill relied more on finding already-talented people and giving them a leg up (tying a string of obligation and gratitude to them in the process). Harry had no talent in Potions outside of using Snape's notebook and, outside of possible Auror work, wasn't likely to use the subject at all, let alone achieve the kind of fame for it that Slughorn would be looking for.
  • Slughorn knew that Potter wouldn't be able to make it into Auror training without decent marks in Potions and suspected that becoming an Auror would make him that little bit more famous. And it would make Potter all the more grateful to Slughorn; Potter was already sufficiently famous to call in a few favors on Slughorn's behalf.
  • Harry needed more then decent potions marks to become an Auror. He needed better marks in everything else and face it, he was an average student at best on a good day but was manly unmotivated, lazy, and relied on Hermonie too much during homework. To become an Auror you need amazing marks in everything which Harry did not have. However the idea that Slughorn, like Minerva, was willing to help Harry out by cheating or making it easier for him is not such a bad idea. Slughorn is a whore for fame and favors and Harry has lots and would make more of both. This idea I am a fan of. I'm still bitter over Harry getting lucky and becoming an Auror after the war because they were short on people, instead of on his skills and marks like everyone else. But hey, it's Harry, he gets super lucky all the time.
  • I'm not sure how growing up with abusive guardians, people trying to kill him every year, unwanted attention from the media and government, and unreasonable teachers counts as "super lucky". On a good day, Harry is motivated and has genuine reason to trust the people around him. On a bad day, he's reeling both emotionally and physically from another attack.
• But Harry did have some potions talent. He had a pretty good O.W.L. score despite receiving no positive reinforcement, after all. As much as Snape was devoted to flunking him, Harry did more or less all right even with a clearly faulty (if Snape's notes are to be believed) textbook. Perhaps Slughorn noticed the latent talent and wanted to give him a better guide.
  • Snape just forgot it was there. Also Slughorn had no idea he was basically cheating, he was all head over heels with Harry and went on and on about his amazing potions skills that were a result of Snapes notes. Also the potions book isn't outdated. The thing is Snape is the Tony Stark of Potions. He made things better and easier but didn't tell anyone, that doesn't mean his book was outdated it only means he found short cuts and a better way to do things. Like how Tony does with Technology. Harry was average, that's it. The only reason he did so amazing is because of Snape. With Snape's notes ANYONE could become an instant talent and genius. If Potter had done such amazing things without the notes then I would say he's talented but as is he's only average and that's it. And if Slughorn did give him the book then that's completely unfair to the other students who have to get by using skill and their own talents. After all, it's easier to do amazing things with a genius whispering in your ear and walking you through things.
  • Snape was talented at potions, but that doesn't mean that Harry is incompetent at it. It was probably easier to focus now that Snape wasn't breathing down Harry's neck and randomly insulting him. Snape was very competent at the subject matter, but he was a terrible teacher. It's very plausible that all Harry needed was a boost. My college sells used books for class. They come highlighted in places and contain notes in the margins. This isn't much different.
  • Harry's not so much dumb. He's not even really lazy. He has patterns of a kinesthetic learner, which sometimes doesn't translate very well to the classroom. As mentioned before, he did manage to earn an 'E' on his Potions OWL despite a myriad of distractions going on that year. The Potions OWL was primarily practical, which plays to Harry's strength. But he also had a professor that was not only somewhat ineffective but would occasionally dock Harry's points out of pure spite in a way that most other professors would not have done. If it had been Slughorn, for example, that had taught him the entire time, he might have learned much better even managed an 'O' on that OWL. And to put things into perspective, "Exceeds Expectations" is probably roughly equivalent to a "B" in American grading parlance, which, all things considered, is actually pretty good.

• This was my suspicion at first, but why would Slughorn have done that? He knew that Snape was an excellent potion maker, but he didn't actually give the book to Harry, because Harry and Ron had the completely silent fight about who was to get each book, according to the book...Ron could have just as easily got it

Professor Trelawney is Obfuscating Stupidity.

Well, not stupidity per se, but she knows more than she seems. No one except Parvati and Lavender take her seriously, but all of her predictions come true at one point in the book, often not in the way we expected. Since Professor Trelawnry was the author of [ Harry's prophecy, the Death Eaters must be after her. Therefore she, being already somewhat extravagant, decideed to exaggerate this so she would not attract attention.

Severus Snape is a transgender woman

Okay, this is largely just to spite Rowling for her views on trans people, but hear me out. Canonically, Snape clearly has some identity issues already because of being a half-blood and Tobias's abuse for being a wizard. This could relate to a transgender identity crisis. Additionally, Snape's Patronus is a doe, supposedly only indicating love for Lily. But the fact that Snape's Patronus is opposite Snape's perceived gender is rather suspicious. Finally, Snape was something of a Pretty Boy as a child and had long hair even as an adult — perhaps subtle attempts at appearing more feminine, which the very masculine Marauders may have bullied Snape for on top of everything else. Getting even more crack here, maybe the real reason why Snape hates Neville is because the boy is not very masculine, serving as an unwelcome reminder of Snape's own identity issues.

• I buy it. And I might be misremembering but wasn't the handwriting on the Half-Blood Prince's book described as elegant and feminine?