Quick post because the poor monkey has a tummy ache. I was watching CoS for the I-don't-know-how-manyth time and I noticed something that I can't believe I never noticed before: in the dueling scene, Snape says that if they let Ron duel with Harry, they'll be sending Harry to the hospital wing in a matchbox. I checked the book and, though there he's talking about Neville not Ron, he still says matchbox. So what's the problem with that? Wizards don't use matches. In GoF, even Mr. Weasley, who actually works with Muggle stuff, is baffled by the matches. We've already seen evidence suggesting that Snape isn't a pureblood (like his absence on the Black family tree) but I didn't suspect until now that one of his parents was actually a Muggle. They can't both be Muggles or else he wouldn't have known all those curses as a first-year. Unless someone magical knew him as a child, and somehow became aware of his ability. Still, I think it's much more likely that (at least) one of his parents is magical.
The problem with this is that Snape, being Head of Slytherin, would not likely throw around obviously Muggle terms so casually. Lucius might be able to excuse some Muggle blood in Snape's family but if he had one fully Muggle parent - and Lucius knew about it - then I don't think Lucius would have anything to do with him.
It's also possible that this is just a slipup by JKR; that it's just a common word and she didn't know when she wrote CoS that she'd later be including a bit about matches. The fact that no one reacted to Snape saying "matchbox" supports this idea. But then maybe it's another hint (as I suspect is Lupin's vampire essay) that doesn't mean anything to the characters but is aimed at the readers, if that makes sense.
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