Snape set the snake on Harry? (Was: A strange silver instrument)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86468

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "oiramertip" <mario.pitre at v...>
wrote:
> Berit wrote: 
> > I still believe Snape knew what he was doing when he set a snake 
> on 
> > Harry :-) I think he "knows"... After all; Hogwarts was buzzing 
> with 
> > rumours as to who the Heir of Slytherin was and what the monster 
> in 
> > the secret chamber was; Snape's a smart guy :-).
> 
> Now me (Mario):
> 
> I just read about 5 posts arguing about why Snape set a snake on 
> Harry during the duel in Book 2.... But I believe that Harry was 
> dueling with Draco, no? Maybe it is time I read the book again and I 
> have been contaminated by the movie....


I had the same feeling and went back to look. Snape does whisper in
Draco's ear, so it seems that Serpensortia! is Snape's idea, not
Draco's, even though it's Draco who casts the spell (CS 193 Am. ed.).

So Berit is right that Snape suggested the spell, but I don't think
that Snape fully anticipated the consequences, "smart guy" though he
indisputably is. Although a snake is the emblem of Slytherin and would
naturally have suggested itself to Snape's mind as a spell for Draco
to cast, he may well have begun to suspect that the monster is a
basilisk and had that thought in the back of his mind as well. But I
don't see how he could have anticipated Harry's ability to speak
Parseltongue. He certainly didn't seriously suspect Harry (the
ultimate Gryffindor) of being the Heir of Slytherin and the person
responsible for petrifying the students. So whatever Snape's motive in
suggesting that Draco produce the snake (which he, of course, intended
to get rid of before it did any harm to the students), I think he was
as surprised as anyone at Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue. It
was only after the fact that the pieces started fitting together in
his cunning and logical mind.

Carol