“No, not you, Miss Felthorne!” Snape said. “Not you! We really are talking about a boy. One who attends your Potions class, in fact.”
Maybe I’m misunderstanding this part of the conversation (possibly because Miss Felthorne’s private thoughts have contaminated my idea of what Snape’s model of her is likely to be), but it seems to me that Snape ought to have said here ‘Not me!’. Because (as he claims next) he is really talking about a boy, a student in the same class, rather than himself.
But the reason that he slips up is that (in fact) he is talking about himself and not about Miss Felthorne. He’s talking about himself years ago (when he was a boy) and about Miss Evans.
There are 3 possible interpretations of the boy-Felthorne conversation. One is taking it at face value, one is thinking of it with Felthorne as the boy and Snape as the girl, and one is having Snape in the role of the boy and Lily in the role of the girl. Snape was using the face value conversation as a front for talking about the third one, but Felthorne misrepresented it as the second one, and once Snape realized that (presumably by using legilimency, since he catches Felthorne’s gaze) he made it clear that it wasn’t the case (though he did hint that he was really talking about himself by mentioning that the “boy” in question was in her potions class).
The boy in the face value conversation probably doesn’t exist, since there would be no point bringing him to Felthorne’s attention minutes before she is going to be obliviated (and it would be too much of a coincidence to have three real life situations correspond to each other instead of just two).
It seems to me that Snape is being silly and honest at the same time, stumbling over how to express his thoughts — very much in the “So, my friend has this problem” vein, but with a twist. It’s kind of like the old riddle, “I have two coins in my pocket that add up to fifteen cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are they?”
“Not you” means “No, I’m not saying that I have a crush on you.”
However, he is talking about a boy who attends her Potions class, namely himself.
No, I’m pretty sure his “not you” is almost entirely literal; you seem to be missing the analogy. In the hypothetical he’s considering (“suppose that boy had helped you”), the situation of the boy with respect to her is analogous to the real situation of her with respect to Snape. Hence when he points out that she would probably consider him bothersome… well, you see. “Not you!” indicates that, though the analogy is present, that wasn’t what he was going for; he is simply considering a hypothetical about an actual boy, not making a jab at her by means of analogy.
(Or in short, JoshuaZ is right. Added: See also jaimeastorga2000′s comment.)
To explain the stumbling, keep in mind that he’s probably never kissed anyone before, ever. We understand this because he fell in love just on the cusp of puberty and carried the torch up until Harry disillusioned him in the wallway after saving Lesath. Felthorne doesn’t have the context we do to know the depth of the situation, but she realizes that she is his first kiss just before being obliviated, simply from the physical details.
Ch 78:
Maybe I’m misunderstanding this part of the conversation (possibly because Miss Felthorne’s private thoughts have contaminated my idea of what Snape’s model of her is likely to be), but it seems to me that Snape ought to have said here ‘Not me!’. Because (as he claims next) he is really talking about a boy, a student in the same class, rather than himself.
But the reason that he slips up is that (in fact) he is talking about himself and not about Miss Felthorne. He’s talking about himself years ago (when he was a boy) and about Miss Evans.
There are 3 possible interpretations of the boy-Felthorne conversation. One is taking it at face value, one is thinking of it with Felthorne as the boy and Snape as the girl, and one is having Snape in the role of the boy and Lily in the role of the girl. Snape was using the face value conversation as a front for talking about the third one, but Felthorne misrepresented it as the second one, and once Snape realized that (presumably by using legilimency, since he catches Felthorne’s gaze) he made it clear that it wasn’t the case (though he did hint that he was really talking about himself by mentioning that the “boy” in question was in her potions class).
The boy in the face value conversation probably doesn’t exist, since there would be no point bringing him to Felthorne’s attention minutes before she is going to be obliviated (and it would be too much of a coincidence to have three real life situations correspond to each other instead of just two).
I missed that one! Now it all makes sense.
Possibly not. He may be talking about an actual boy just like that who he happens to see acting just like he did.
He seems to be saying “not you” to mean that he knows that she has a crush on Snape and that Snape isn’t talking about that.
It seems to me that Snape is being silly and honest at the same time, stumbling over how to express his thoughts — very much in the “So, my friend has this problem” vein, but with a twist. It’s kind of like the old riddle, “I have two coins in my pocket that add up to fifteen cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are they?”
“Not you” means “No, I’m not saying that I have a crush on you.”
However, he is talking about a boy who attends her Potions class, namely himself.
No, I’m pretty sure his “not you” is almost entirely literal; you seem to be missing the analogy. In the hypothetical he’s considering (“suppose that boy had helped you”), the situation of the boy with respect to her is analogous to the real situation of her with respect to Snape. Hence when he points out that she would probably consider him bothersome… well, you see. “Not you!” indicates that, though the analogy is present, that wasn’t what he was going for; he is simply considering a hypothetical about an actual boy, not making a jab at her by means of analogy.
(Or in short, JoshuaZ is right. Added: See also jaimeastorga2000′s comment.)
To explain the stumbling, keep in mind that he’s probably never kissed anyone before, ever. We understand this because he fell in love just on the cusp of puberty and carried the torch up until Harry disillusioned him in the wallway after saving Lesath. Felthorne doesn’t have the context we do to know the depth of the situation, but she realizes that she is his first kiss just before being obliviated, simply from the physical details.