I'm thinking that Snape fell for Lily during their Potions classes--want to bet that they were either paired up or competitive due to their equal brilliance in the course? And, given Sluggy's penchant for forgetting personal details about anyone who isn't in his private club, I'm thinking that a lot of that moxie that Sluggy attributes to Lily might have actually been Snape's, and he just transferred the actions to his class favorite. Love that comment "Just shove a bezoar down their throats"--so typically Snape.

A couple more thoughts:

Clearly JKR placed Wormtail at Snape's for a reason -- but what? I mean, sure, maybe Voldemort wanted Wormtail out of the way, or keeping an eye on the untrusted Snape, or whatever -- but why did JKR want him there?

Less importantly, did anyone find "A Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love" a bit startling? I guess this isn't porny in the wizarding world, but come on -- hot strong (liquid) love? Wow.

I bloody LOVED the song. It cracked my shit up. The lyrics were *so* like all the Bessie Smith-type lyrics and all the coy double entendre-laced songs from the 40s and 50s, and that fits in brilliantly with the overall ambience of the books. Plus it's the sort of thing that wouldn't scandalise children, and yet would have adults spluttering. Loved it.

eta Woohoo! First time I've used the quick-edit way of whitefonting! Go Team Me!

I think that JKR had Wormtail show up for that all-too-brief second chapter because of fan complaints that he was nowhere to be found in OotP. Also, the idea of Snape and Wormtail being roomies is just hilarious! Mostly, however, I'm guessing that Voldemort has reason to be suspicious of both of them.

HP VI ** Weren't there comments by the characters that (at least some of) the handwriting in the Potions book was feminine? Is it possible that they're Lily's? That maybe she gave some pointers to Snape while they were in school? **

That would be lovely. I suspect the name itself of being coined by Lily, and perhaps scribbled in there as a joke. But I'm firmly convinced of Lily/Snape at the moment, so - yeah.

Fay, if you're still around and still looking for post-HBP Lupin/Tonks fic, with a heavy dose of Snape thrown in to boot, I definitely recommend The Double Tongue by rowen r at LJ.

That was a very good fic. I second it.

HBP: I loved the LOTR reference in the book Luna doing Quidditch commentary."...but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble--no Buggins--" Hee.

I just finished it.

I enjoyed it much more than OotP (mainly because I frickin' loved Sirius and I thought he got a crappy death). Dumbledore's didn't really bother me because that's been hinted at for forever. What actually upset me more (I'm ashamed to say) was the idea of no Hogwarts in the next book.

I thought Harry's reason for breaking up with Ginny was pretty lame. How is she different from Ron and Hermione? I would imagine that Voldemort would try to hurt them to get to Harry, too.

Snape is so going to die saving Harry's life or something equally noble. He's the tragic hero of these books. Poor guy. I loved the fact that Harry liked and trusted the HBP before he knew his real identity. I want more info about Harry's mom NOW.

And I still want it to be Neville who destroys Voldemort.

Oh, yes, I really hope that Neville destroys Voldemort. And I think that it's still within the bounds of possibility.