[HPforGrownups] We'll Never Ever Be Able To Guess The Sixth DADA Teacher

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 83618

Louis Badalament proposed that we won't be able to guess the next DADA
teacher, and listed his reasons why.

So. I'll bite. Because I think Snape will finally get his chance, next year.

Rationale? Snape must continue to be Harry's teacher.

I seriously doubt Harry made high enough on his O.W.L. in Potions to be
acceptable to Snape for N.E.W.T. study. To be an Auror, Harry must continue
with Potions, however. He can, if the Potions teacher isn't Snape. Auror
study is not the survival-necessity that Occlumency was; so I doubt
Dumbledore would "lean" on Snape to take Harry for N.E.W.T.-level potions
study.

Harry *easily* made N.E.W.T. level in DADA. He's something of a Hermione in
that field. It is where his and Snape's skill sets interact, and their
interaction as teacher/student in this class would further the unwilling
understanding that JKR is building between the two.

I suspect that Fudge may leave some of those Educational Decrees standing,
possibly the one stipulating a Ministry selection when the headmaster cannot
fill a vacancy. Dumbledore may opt to select Snape, to avoid a Ministry
choice. If it was a risk to give it to Snape over the past 14 years, surely
what Snape's been dealing with in recent months with Voldemort is worse;
possibly enough to make those considerations less than the need to avoid
Ministry interference at Hogwarts.

Interesting list of DADA-teacher characteristics, though; let's see how
Snape would plug into those.

> 1)  A DADA Teacher's Name Never Comes Up Before The Book He Or She
> Comes In As A DADA Teacher.

Okay, Snape would violate this one. But the completely unexpected nature of
him showing up as DADA might have the same "left-field" effect. There's
certainly been enough buildup that he's a DADA pro.

> 2)  Harry Always First Learns Or Is Exposed To His Current DADA
> Teacher Shortly Before Arriving At Hogwarts The Year That Teacher
> Starts Teaching

This could easily be addressed in book 6.

> 3)  Snape Already Had His Fling At Defense Against The Dark Arts

That one sub for Lupin? Hardly. And true, he's unpleasant there, too, but I
think that had as much to do with the circumstances and situation as the
class itself.

> 4)  The DADA Teacher Always Has A Big Secret That, If Exposed,
> Would Spell Ruin For The Teacher.

I think Snape probably fills this particular criterion nicely.

> 5)  The DADA Teacher Takes Center Stage At Hogwarts At Some Point

Snape could fill this, too. He's close to Dumbledore, probably second in
line behind McGonagall.

> 6)  The DADA Teacher Places Harry Potter In Real Peril At Least
> Once, If Not More

I can see Snape doing this too--whether only in Harry's perception, whether
deliberately or not, it could so easily happen, given the stunning potential
for miscommunication between them.

> 7)  NOBODY WANTS THE JOB!!!

Snape does.

> 7)  The DADA Teachers Are Unable to Be Predicted

Second #7. I think after being turned down for 14 years, Snape's appointment
there is sufficiently unexpected to fill this one.

> 8)  The DADA Teacher Remains For Only One Year, And Then Leaves In
> Some Spectacularly Dramatic Fashion

Yeah, unfortunately. I've always thought Snape would bite it. I didn't want
it to be until the very end, but he may well be put out of the way at the
end of book 6, if he becomes DADA prof.

~Amanda