Teaching Potions

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 33001

Hello, all!  This is my first post.  I'm delurking to defend my 
favorite character, Snape.

Elizabeth Dalton wrote:
> > But I still don't think [Snape]'s a good teacher.... I
> > evaluate this by the lack of evidence that any of his students are
> > learning much about potions except Hermione, and since she does so
> > much self-study, I'm not sure we can count her. 

Margaret Dean came to Snape's defense, saying:
[snip]
> Could this possibly have anything to do with the fact that the
> only equipment needed for a Charm is a wand, whereas in order to
> make a Potion you have to obtain a variety of ingredients?  Not
> to mention the time involved, where do you set up your cauldron
> where it will be safe to let it simmer for hours, days, or weeks,
> what if your roommates complain about the smell, etc., etc.  You
> can't always count on having a disused lavatory to work in. [snip]


I agree completely with Margaret.  Potions require a lot of advance 
planning, a private area to set up your cauldron, etc.  Much of the 
"extracuricular" magic students do at Hogwarts is spur of the moment 
(like hexing Malfoy) and is contrary to school rules; it would be
hard to use a potion for this.

I'd argue that potion making seems to be a very specialized skill. 
It's not just students who rarely make potions (outside of potions 
class.) We rarely see any *professors* besides Snape make potions,
and that can't be Snape's fault; he is presumably too young to have
taught any of the other professors.  Lupin needs Snape to make the 
Wolfbane Potion for him. Dumbledore asks Snape to get him some 
Veritaserum. It's implied that Snape makes the Mandrake Restorative 
Draught for use by Madam Pomfrey; some of Madam Pomfrey's other 
remedies seem to be commercially bought (ie, Skele-Gro.) Lockhart says 
he can make Mandrake Restorative Draught, but we know what a liar he 
is.  Fake Moody is the only teacher I can think of that makes a 
potion.

As for Cedric and Harry not using potions in the Triwizard
Tournament, Fluer and Krum also don't use potions, even though they 
are from other schools.  So, again, this lack of potions use suggests 
that few wizards make their own potions, rather than saying anything 
about Snape's teaching skills.  By the way, I don't think there is a 
flame-freezing *potion*.  The books talk about a flame-freezing 
*charm* that was used in the Middle Ages to avoid being burnt to
death at the stake. Elizabeth, maybe you are thinking of the potions 
Snape makes in SS/PS, which are used to walk through fire and get to 
the stone?  These may work only on magic fires, not real fires -- we 
know that the potion for the purple fire doesn't work for the black 
fire, and vice-versa.

My guess is, since potions can be bottled and sold (unlike spells), 
most wizards buy potions rather than make their own.  Of course, this 
raises the question of whether Potions should really be a required 
class, but that would be a major curriculim change, not something 
Snape could decide on his own.  Anyway, the situation at Hogwarts 
mirrors the situation in the real world (at least in the US), where 
science students have to spend endless hours in chemistry labs even
if they are very unlikely to synthesize their own chemicals in the 
future.  I have to say, Potions class remind me *so much* of Organic 
Chemistry lab from my pre-med days, and I really wonder if JK Rowling 
ever took that class.  Things blowing up, endless injuries, people 
being overcome by fumes, etc.  The part where Neville's potion turns 
out orange instead of green reminds me of an unfortunate incident 
where I was supposed to be synthesizing a black, powdery chemical.  
Instead, I got bright blue crystals.  My instructor looked at it and 
sneered "You breathed on this, didn't you?" (Oh, did I breathe?  I'll 
have to make sure never to do that again!) At least he didn't make me 
eat it.