Yay for the chinchilla! :D (I always think it looks like a kangaroo rat... but then, I've never seen a chinchilla!)

Most of my Snapes are, if not halfblood, then at least not of exceptional pedigree -- I don't think I ever bought "fabulouswealth!Snape" stories/characterisations, really, though I can suspend disbelief when needed for an otherwise good story. :D

It's just that, well, Snape tries too hard. If he'd really been born to luxury and grandeur, he ought to have that same air of self-satisfaction and superiority that the Malfoys display. Instead, Snape is touchy (hah -- downright prickly) and takes anything and everything as an insult, and he always seems to be trying his d*mnedest to prove himself, while Malfoy radiates the assumption that everyone else could only hope to attain the level he exists on. :D