[HPforGrownups] Selection of DADA Teachers

[Janet Anderson]

No: HPFGUIDX 47083

>All of this Snape talk has brought up a fairly mundane question in my mind.
>*Why* can't Snape have the DADA position?

This is, in my opinion, a very good question. Reading along, one simply 
takes for granted the fact that Snape wants the job but will never get it, 
just as the Coyote will never catch the Road Runner. It's a given.

However, although I am not a Snape fan by any means, two things are clear 
about Snape: he is a) competent and b) a good judge of character (he is, for 
example, not fooled by either Quirrel or Lockhart). And as has been 
mentioned, Snape has actual experience with the Dark Arts on both sides, 
which is probably not true even of (real) Moody and Dumbledore. Furthermore, 
if Dumbledore were put off by Snape's miserable teaching skills he'd have 
fired him already from the job he has.

So there must be a good reason why the perfectly qualified Snape is not in 
the running for the DADA position. It may be that others are right and he 
doesn't really want it, despite the prevailing opinion of his students.  It 
may also be that although Dumbledore will put up with Snape's attitude 
toward his students in a Potions class, he thinks it would be pushing 
everyone's luck to have him teaching a DADA class, sort of like putting a 
universally disliked person in charge of a self-defense class. It gives 
everyone the wrong mindset for the class, and also will probably end up with 
someone getting seriously hurt.

But I think that Snape, who as we already know is a really good Potions 
specialist, is more valuable to Dumbledore in the position he holds now. 
This may be because potions are going to be very important to the 
ongoing/upcoming struggle and Snape will need to justify the time, research, 
supplies, and expenses that he will be using for whatever Dumbledore needs.  
This will be much easier if he is the Potions master than if he were the 
DADA teacher.

Some of the possibilities that come to mind are potions that defend against 
the Dark Arts, poison antidotes, restoratives, etc. Perhaps Snape will be 
able to produce potions that heal people like Neville's parents. Or render 
people invulnerable to certain spells or Curses. And anyway, if Lupin is 
coming back into the fray, he'll need his potion every month.

Janet Anderson



_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail