'Filch, I don't give a damn about that wretched poltergeist, it's my office that's-'
(Moody/Crouch appears)
'Professor Snape and I heard noises...said Filch. - and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off-'
'Shut up!' hissed Snape

Hi.  Mind if I join you?

Have you seen the bit about squibs at jkrowling.com?  It's in "Extra Stuff".  She mentions Filch, saying that he has carved a niche for himself at Hogwarts.  This makes me think that he does want to work there, in spite of all his grumbling.  Why would he, though?  I expect he could have been care-taker in a muggle building.  Does he want to be around magical people? Is there some special reason which we'll find out later?  I do think he may be the one to do magic late in life, now that Petunia has been ruled out.

His interactions with Snape are certainly interesting (and by the way, I'm glad to know that someone else wonders why Snape couldn't have healed the bite Fluffy gave him). I don't think we've seen much of Filch's interaction with other teachers, so it's hard to judge; yet he certainly does seem to get along well with Snape.  Does he specially admire Snape, as being the sort of wizard he would like to be if he could?  Does he owe Snape for something?  Or perhaps he just respects and wants to stay on the good side of someone who has a tendancy to be quite nasty when crossed? Perhaps he has just been intimidated into giving Snape a hand whenever he's asked?

In CoS when Mrs. Norris has been petrified and Dumbledore is examining her, Snape lurks in the background wearing a "peculiar" expression.  Harry thinks he might be trying not to smile.  Has anyone any idea what that was about?

There are several questions concerning Filch:
Why is a squib employed at Hogwarts?

The way Snape gets along with Filch, even talking to him about Fluffy as if he is an equal, may mean that he actually respects Filch, even though he is a squib.  On the other hand, it could be that Filch has got on the good side of Snape by being subservient, and Snape sees him as a house elf sort of person.

I'll admit I never thought much about Filch at all. I think he likes Snape because they have the same personality. I don't think Filch is bad--he just sides with the teachers over the students, and he has definite, old-school thoughts about the way the kids should be disciplined. That's why, IMO, he likes Snape and Umbridge so much.

I like the idea of Snape getting on Filch's good side as a student.  I can just see him gleefully tipping Filch off that it was Potter and Black who left that horrible mess in the sixth floor corridor.

Now who does that remind me of?? Oh right! Draco!!  Draco tipped Filch off about Harry and Ron being in the trophy room in PS/SS. Yet another similarity between Snape and Draco. Do you lot think that Draco would try to get on the good side of Filch?

I don't. He had gotten on Snape's good side. I think that was enough for Draco. I can see Draco thinking Filch was so beneath him. :dry:

True, MonieLou, but Severus doesn't think Filch is beneath him. And that's one of the differences between Snape and Draco!

What exactly is his role? We know he's a caretaker, but security also seems to come under his remit, patrolling the corridors much as Severus does and checking objects brought in (book 6) and outgoing post (book 5).

I don't think Snape had any great liking for Filch, certainly no more than for any of his fellow professors, and he couldn't very well be seen to be openly disrespectful of Filch in front of the students.  When Snape tells him to shut up, I thought that this had more to do with Snape's annoyance at him, combined with his wariness about Moody, than anything else.  As for the time when Filch was helping him with the bandages, perhaps Filch came across Snape just after he was hurt, and Snape had no choice but to let Filch help him.

Filch has one advantage however - he simply hates students, so no worry that he will side with this obnoxious Potter or his friends. Snape must appreciate this aspect of Filch's character :wink: .

As for the time when Filch was helping him with the bandages, perhaps Filch came across Snape just after he was hurt, and Snape had no choice but to let Filch help him.

Perhaps. But why would Snape trust Filch to keep that little secret? I think they have a deeper relationship than that. Or at least deeper than Snape and the other teachers.

I'm not sure. But something could have bonded them. I'm rather liking the idea of Snape hanging around Filch when he was at Hogwarts. I can picture a lonely 11 year old Snape making friends with the caretaker, can't you?

But Snape was supposed to make better friends and, as a Slytherin, rather despised "filthy Muggle-borns and Squibs". Or he would like to pretend doing so. What would Lucius tell, seeing him making friends with a caretaker? By the way, when Marvolo wanted to humiliate his daughter, Merope, he called her "a Squib".
In my opinion, their "friendship" has started since Snape was working as a teacher. Not a very likeable teacher, by the way. Almost like Filch himself. And birds of a feather flock together!
:wink:  :p

But Snape was supposed to make better friends

This might be off topic, but where does it say that Snape had to make better friends? He was able to make whatever friends he wanted. And if Filch was one of those friends, then so be it.

I think that Snape is a Slytherin, which would mean making useful connections.  Lucius Malfoy is useful for his connections to the rich and famous.

Filch is useful because he is another weapon in Snape's arsenal to promote his own House at the expense of the other three. How many Slytherins do you see get detention? Not many, and not often.

Filch is servile to those he thinks will advance his cause--that of physically maiming the students for infractions, and, of course, gaining the ability to do magic.  Filch is a sadist--he revels in punishing the students. Naturally, he would support and pander to those who support those aims.

I think that Snape is a Slytherin, which would mean making useful connections.  Lucius Malfoy is useful for his connections to the rich and famous. Filch is useful because he is another weapon in Snape's arsenal to promote his own House at the expense of the other three. How many Slytherins do you see get detention? Not many, and not often.

Filch is also an easy read--Umbridge found him easy to win to her cause. I am sure that Snape found it equally easy; as for the leg dressing--well, Filch was the caretaker, and had keys to the forbidden corridor--I would not be surprised if Filch was on the scene when Snape was injured, or very near. It would be natural to accept the assistance of the closest bystander. Filch probably had to clean up behind Fluffy--not a job I would like!!

If Filch had been able to go to Hogwarts, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have been a Slytherin. A Squib still has pureblood antecedents. Filch is servile to those he thinks will advance his cause--that of physically maiming the students for infractions, and, of course, gaining the ability to do magic.  Filch is a sadist--he revels in punishing the students. Naturally, he would support and pander to those who support those aims.

If Filch had been able to go to Hogwarts, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have been a Slytherin.

Filch is also an easy read--Umbridge found him easy to win to her cause. I am sure that Snape found it equally easy; as for the leg dressing--well, Filch was the caretaker, and had keys to the forbidden corridor--I would not be surprised if Filch was on the scene when Snape was injured, or very near.

I always thought that Lucius was the one recruiting Severus for his potions ability and dark arts knowledge PP, not the other way round.

I agree that Slytherins probably don't get as many detentions as Harry and co. (because they're too cunning to be caught), but most detentions are handed out by teachers, not Filch.

I think that it's possible that Snape, while seeing the advantage in befriending Filch, also connected with him on a personal level.

Snape was a bit of an outcast at Hogwarts. Even when he became a teacher, he's still a bit of an outcast. And Filch is also an outcast. It might be majorly because he's a Squib in a wizard setting, and/or it might be because he has such hard standards in discipline. Either way, both have been socially shunned in a way. Wouldn't it seem logical for them to befriend each other?

But back to Filch and Snape-when Filch is helping Snape is at least a couple of days after he got bitten. (Halloween was when the troll got in, then the next chapter starts saying how cold November is and how Harry will play his first match on Saturday, then Snape sees them outside the day before the game-and Harry says he must have gotten bitten on Halloween. If I was going to summarize the book, I should have quoted it instead-next time!) So it's not like he was in urgent need.

I always thought that Lucius was the one recruiting Severus for his potions ability and dark arts knowledge PP, not the other way round. Severus does not seem to make much use of these rich and famous friends.

I agree that Slytherins probably don't get as many detentions as Harry and co. (because they're too cunning to be caught), but most detentions are handed out by teachers, not Filch.

I think that it's possible that Snape, while seeing the advantage in befriending Filch, also connected with him on a personal level.

Filch is pretty unlikeable, always trying to get students in detention, adding to an ever-increasing list of banned items.

As for Filch's list of banned items, I often wondered why DD tolerated that aspect of Filch's character but came to the conclusion that because he was a gentle and kindly wizard himself, he could sense the frustration that lurks within Filch and understood it.  I imagined that DD chuckled heartily to himself when he read Filch's list, realising that if Filch could vent much of his spleen on paper, at least the students wouldn't have to suffer so much from it.

On a similar subject, does anyone think that Filch actually had permission to use the manacles and string students up in the dungeon many years ago? Or has he read the previous caretaker's records and been convinced that he'd like to have that power?

Section: Rumours
Mrs. Norris is an unregistered Animagus

No, she's just an intelligent (and unpleasant) cat.

I rather hoped there was more to it but alas. . .

Incidentally, I may have found some evidence that Dumbledore was aware of Snape and Filch working in tandem.  

What happened:
In SS/PS The Mirror of Erised, when Harry was in the restricted section of the library on his maiden voyage w/his invisibility cloak, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, heard a faint whispering, and felt as if the books knew that someone was there who shouldn't be.  Harry then opened the surprisingly loud book, fled the library and heard Filch tell Snape about the intruder in the library saying "you asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night."  Harry then finds the Mirror of Erised.  
Later, Dumbledore reveals that he had been following Harry on his visits to the mirror.  We know for sure that he was there on Harry's second visit to the mirror because DD knew what Ron saw in the mirror.  

Conclusions:
1) Although there is no absolute proof of it, I think it is likely that Dumbledore followed Harry on Christmas night.  DD would know it would be Harry's first night with his cloak and that Harry would surely give it a try, and DD was curious where he would go/ wanted to have fun vicariously through Harry / wanted to make sure Harry stayed out of real trouble.

2) It was Dumbledore's gaze that made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickle, not the books.

3) Dumbledore, following Harry in his flight to the room w/the Mirror of Erised, would have heard Filch and Snape's conversation.  So Dumbledore knew that Snape was using Filch to patrol the castle for suspicious activity.  

Snape suspected Quirrell, and with the Philosopher's Stone now hidden in Hogwarts, he was stepping-up the security, and that meant asking Filch to report anything suspicious directly to him, rather than deal with it himself (and attempting to deal with it may well have put Filch in real danger, as he's a Squib!) with or without Dumbledore's blessing. I imagine that if Snape had real proof about Quirrell, he'd have taken it to Dumbledore.

madamros, I realize Quirrell is an adult, but recall that DD had Snape watching Malfoy even though they both knew he was up to something. So I still think it's very possible that Snape's job from DD may have been just keep an eye on him, and he enlisted Filch, natch, to help him keep an eye, not on Quirrell specifically, but on suspicious activity.

I also think it's nice that even Filch has somebody to love, in Mrs. Norris.  

But Snape encountered Quirrell on Halloween, Harry got his cloak for Christmas-"use it well" then proceeded to find the mirror. Not long after, DD makes sure Harry understands how it works.