Weekly Discussion: Favoritism
Best: Perseverance
Worst: Mistrust bordering paranoia (so he never asks for help or forms connection with others)
I would sum up his best and worst traits in the fact that he was able to love as much as he was able to hate.
He made mistakes and he was petty, so much so that he only chose to see the worst in the son of his bully and his best friend but loved said friend so much that he took on a job he hated and protected the child to the best of his ability despite despising him. As a teacher, he was mean to his students but also imparted valuable information to them, too bad that due to his sour attitude, thenlessons don't seem to stick (remember the bezoar question during the first lesson? Harry may have learned from the Half-blood Prince but was taught the same information many years prior, he just didn't remember).
Best trait: Courage
Sounds a bit cliche but I think that's the most admirable trait of Snape. Snape turned to Dumbles and faithfully served him till his death, risked his life everytime he went to Voldemort after resurrection, had to walk thin line between saving people and watching them die and protecting the people he hated like Lupin and Harry.
Worst trait: Pettiness
Yeah, that's what I think, because Snape was a petty bastard throughout the books. He bullied kids in a position of authority and enforced petty grudges on Harry. He gloated, he sneered, he taunted and even had little displays of joy in his petty displays.
Even though I've described it as his worst trait, I actually enjoy Snape with pettiness in the fics and unfortunately this trait is removed in most Snape centric fics where his behaviour is turned more of a masked facade as a spy who is a hidden saint.
I like Professor Snape because he can be a bully towards children on one hand and sacrifice his own life for them on the other hand, thus a duality between his both worst and the best.
Best: Determination
I think this combines a few of the traits already mentioned here. Snape sets a goal at 20, and dedicates his entire life to it. Entire, not just in terms of the time before his death, but also in the way said time is spent. In a sense he dedicates his life to his love for Lily, and doesn't let anything – including hatred, which he has an abundance of, and quite possibly torture in all senses of the word – deter him.
Worst: Spite
For the same reasons @naaga has listed. That same determination I've put as his best trait plays a role here as well, because he is determined to only see what he wants to see and take revenge for his student years at Hogwarts as best he can.
29. Was Snape rich in his Professor years?
Probably. He could have gotten access to the Prince family fortune. Besides, even if he hadn't. He lived a rather frugal lifestyle so must have saved a rather large sum. Obviously, it went nowhere considering how his story ended. Which begs the question, how much did Hogwarts Professors earned?
I'm of the opposite opinion. I don't think he would've stayed in his childhood home, had he been able to afford to live elsewhere. It's possible he had a high salary, but he may also have faced financial penalties after the First War, seeing as he wasn't sent to prison. Overall, I think he lived modestly – not rich and not poor either (though perhaps with the mindset of a poor man).
Well... I worked as a teacher for a private school for a short time and compared to public schools my salary wasn't bad but in general? Teachers aren't rich (besides,half my salary was spent on pain killers and doctor appointments).
Teachers deserve a salary higher than that of the U.S. president if you ask me, given the bullshit they endure on a daily basis but in reality it's not a well-paid job given how emotionally, mentally and physically exhausting it is and most people don't even get that because tHeY HaVe SUmMeRs OfF!
I also don't believe that Snape would have stayed at Spinner's End if he could have afforded something better, not because he would have cared about a more luxurious home but he'd attempt to leave the bad memories behind. We also don't really see him described in different or fancy robes, so I do agree that he must have lead a frugal lifestyle. I also believe that many people who grew up poor also end up feeling guilty about spending money even when their financial situation improves, so it is possible that Snape had a significant amount of savings but was way too stingy to put them to personal use.
True enough. But personally, considering how he spent almost the entirety of his life in memory of his childhood 'friend'. I would say that he stayed at Spinner's End simply because of good memories, whatever few they were of Lily. Aside from that, we don't see him spending money on anything. So he lived a frugal lifestyle, but must have amassed somewhat significant sum even if it was pointless at that point. As for Prince family fortune, he may or may not have acquired it. But I am leaning more towards not getting it, because I don't think the disowning was just limited to Eileen. Obviously we would never know and it's not like Rowling would clarify that for us even if we wanted to.
I think Severus stayed at Spinner's End due to his memories of Lily after her death.
Severus was poor in his youth, and I guess he didn't have accommodations before his job at Hogwarts.
I think Hogwarts had a good salary, possibly on par with Ministry 1, because a lot of successful people like Lockhart, Slughorn, Moody, etc. were applying for the teaching job.
Severus also seemed quite frugal, so he probably saved a lot of money. He could've gotten out of Spinner's End, but what's the point when you don't have anyone to make a home—no parents, no partner?
Staying at Spinner's End was more of an emotional choice than a choice borne out of poverty, imho.
