[HPforGrownups] Selection of DADA Teachers (WAS: TBAY: Dead Man Walking (WAS Assassin!Snape and Karkaroff's Big Mistake))

[Sherry Garfio]

No: HPFGUIDX 46998

Cindy wrote:
> "Let's 
> not forget that Snape became a DE of his own free will.  That makes 
> him the only member of Dumbledore's team who has likely used Dark 
> Magic and done evil things, at least for a while.

All of this Snape talk has brought up a fairly mundane question in my mind. 
*Why* can't Snape have the DADA position?  In PS/SS, we learn that Snape has
been after Quirrell's job for years, which implies that Quirrell has been there
a while, so maybe he had tenure over Snape.  But now he's had *four* chances at
it, and we know he's not getting it now because JKR has said that the new DADA
teacher is a woman (unless Snape's really a woman, or wants to be, but
EEEEWWWW).

Let's look at the qualifications of the DADA teachers so far (using only what
Dumbledore knew about them at the time of hire and discounting later
revelations about their true past or true identity):

Quirrell: Only theoretical experience when he started teaching.  Went out to do
some field research and came back scared of his own students.

Lockhart: Long career traipsing around fighting vampires and banshees and
writing books about it.  Nice smile.

Lupin: Demonstrated ability to control dangerous creatures (not sure in what
capacity he has demonstrated this prior to being hired, I'm just assuming
Dumbledore knew this).  Werewolf.

Moody: Distinguished career as an Auror during VoldeWar I.  Now very mentally
unstable.

So the least qualified is probably Quirrell, but the others all sound pretty
good.  But it seems to me that Snape is uniquely qualified in that he has
*used* the Dark Arts, in service to the very Dark wizard that these students
are likely to be in endangered by.  Could it be that Dumbledore isn't 100% sure
that Snape is reformed, and if given the DADA position might start training
students in actual Dark Arts?  Or is it just that qualified Potions teachers
are so hard to come by that he needs Snape to stay where he is (never be
indispensable - if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted)?

I would think that DADA, given that Voldemort has been showing himself since
Quirrell's tenure to be trying to make a comeback, would be much more important
for the students to learn well right now than Potions.  Better to find another
teacher, even a mediocre one, for the Potions position and allow Snape to use
his unique knowledge to prepare the students for Voldemort's return.  It seemed
like that was exactly what Moody was trying to do (when everybody assumed he
really was Moody), and it was a given that he was only hired for one year.

Any ideas?

-Sherry


=====
"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers."

      -Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

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