Whatever Happened to Snape's Dad?

So, I posted this last time, and made a bit of an assumption. Snape killed his father. So let's evaluate the headcanon here.

So in my mind, Snape's father Tobias is likely dead. So this is the first thing to prove. To this, I'd first point out Snape has the house. Why should this matter you may ask? Well, bluntly put, I think if Snape would choose to live with anyone, it would probably be with his mother. A famous gobstones player, even opting for her last name privately? Why wouldn't he want to choose his mother over his father. The fact that he didn't decide to live with her, and perhaps her house, signals to me that his mother died, that his mother left, or as a side possibility, that his mother divorced his father, kept the house and him. Though I'm not entirely sure on the last point. One would assume that if he had been raised by his mother, she would inevitably have tried blocking him from his ways, or showed concern about his connection to Voldemort and the Death Eaters if she had any hint of it. To this, I will simply assume that his mother died, as leaving and forgetting about him is unlikely if he had taken her name of "prince".

So his mom is dead. That leaves a rather nasty father with him, his own personal Vernon Dursley I would guess. This isn't exactly a great thing. His mother was not there, and perhaps Tobias tried to stamp the magic out of him as well. So that builds up resentment. Add that Tobias would likely have some animosity, and it gets a bit rough for Snape. One might say that a small nudge, and Snape might just snap and kill his father given a good reason.

So that brings us to reason two: Voldemort. We all know Snape joins Voldemort initially, and turns only when he realizes Lily would be in trouble. If Lily was not in trouble, we don't exactly know if Snape would have turned spy. So with this in mind, why would Voldemort take Snape? Aside from being in Slytherin, Snape was a half-blood, far from the pure blooded ideology of Voldemort's, but how would Snape hide this? Let alone become a trusted member of Voldemort's ranks? First I'll make the assumption Snape was only CLOSELY trusted after he revealed the prophecy, and second Voldemort is known for giving more credit to those closer to himself. With Barty Jr, he saw the hatred Barty had towards his father, and perhaps with Snape, he saw the same. A muggle father he hated, a magic mother he wished cared for him and married someone better. At a young age, Snape was also not as likely to be as good at blocking off his thoughts as he is now. So with this, it's likely Voldemort knew, and perhaps had Snape kill his father as a way to show his loyalty.

Pretty simple isn't it? There are a few other possibilities, though few seem likely. If you are truly intent that Snape did not kill his father, and take his house (not out of fondness for his father, nor mother, but of Lily and the time they spent in the area perhaps), the best explanation is that Tobias died on his own prior to Snape being put in a position to get him killed. This would be because otherwise we are assuming that after Tobias had moved out of his house and sold it to a person, Snape bought it back. Possible, but I will side with the idea that Snape's father, for all intents and purposes, is dead, and likely killed by Snape to show loyalty to the Dark lord.


***ADDENDUM****
What about Snape's Soul? When asked to be Dumbledore's killer by Dumbledore, Snape expressed concern for his soul, if he had already killed his father, why would he be concerned?

Well, to this I admit the answer I have is unsatisfactory, even if we assume that Snape was barely a Death Eater, and killed NO ONE ELSE, it may not work out. There were approximately 3-4 years where Snape could have become a death eater, born in 1960, graduated 1977, Voldemort began the war in 1970, and Lily died in 1981, so the best case scenario is Snape joined the Death Eaters, and on his first assignment, changed sides almost immediately. This means he would not have killed if he didn't have to, which would be rather difficult to do among Voldemort's ranks, unless Snape was only serving as Voldemort's spy, out of the action and only gaining reconecance. Though I still think this is perhaps incorrect, as while I hate to believe this, I'm fairly certain Voldemort was recruiting people in Hogwarts fairly effectively, and Snape, assuming he had friends, may have come along with them. So let's just assume that under the best timeline, Snape had roughly a year and was recruited after Hogwarts, while under the more likely timeline, Snape joined in his sixth or seventh year, or even shortly after graduating. This means 1977, he is in the Death Eaters, and would have about 3-4 years left under Voldemort, but 1-2 years of that working as Voldemort's spy. In that time, I do think that Voldemort would have known, and forced the death of Tobias if he was not already dead.

So back to the topic, why would he still show concern for his soul? Well at this time Snape certainly WOULD know about the ramifications of splitting one's soul and Horcruxes, if not because of his fascination with the dark arts, but because of his work under Dumbledore. This would possibly have the same effect as being told that after smoking for a year or two, you could get cancer. Even if Snape had known that his actions were wrong before, the events of the books and from what we know about the events of the books, Snape would likely surmise the damage that could befall him if he were to kill someone, and if he had killed before, that would only give more, not less reason to avoid it. And beyond that, there is the one known way of repairing a torn soul, which it is possible Snape has undergone: remorse. As such, I'd say that a concern about his soul, that much concern, may signal more evidence towards his possible murder of his father, rather than disprove it entirely.

So what do you think? Leave a comment below