Drill Sargeant (with a tiny bit of ontopic talk...)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 94796

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
> Siriusly Snapey Susan:
  I guess if all of  what you're describing *is* the true situation, 
then I'd say we're back to my other argument:  that, if it's really 
THAT important for  Snape to prepare these two particular 
students for the inevitable  battle(s) with Voldy, he's GOT to find a 
way to reach them.  Being  cruel, sarcastic & nasty doesn't seem 
to be cutting it w/ the two  students who most need to learn, so 
why doesn't he STOP the drill  sergeant routine w/ them and find 
a way to help them learn?  SURELY  he can *see* that it's not 
working with them?  <snip> Why isn't he re-evaluating his 
technique with Harry and Neville?<<

Because he's not a flexible person. His way is the only way he 
knows.  But I think you just put your finger on why Dumbledore 
won't let Snape teach DADA. The one thing that whole crew of 
naive (Quirrell, before he became possessed),  incompetent, 
careless, gonzo teachers hasn't done,  except for Umbridge who 
was not  Dumbledore's choice, is put Harry off the subject. 
Dumbledore knows Snape would make people hate DADA and 
he can't afford that, not with the war coming. 

Potion-brewing, on the other hand, is not a combat skill. It 
seems to be the Auror's equivalent of high-tech weaponry. The 
soldier needs to know how to use it and recognize it and counter 
it.  Research and manufacturing, OTOH,  generally takes place 
far from the battlefield.

Harry's loathing of potions  may hinder his career choices but so 
far it hasn't made much of a difference in the battles with 
Voldemort. And if Neville never gets near a cauldron for the rest 
of his life after he leaves school, Snape will probably conclude 
that he has done the WW a signal service.

But Harry and Neville are tested  under pressure in his class.   
They do learn to handle it, Harry better than Neville, but Neville 
learns too. . I suspect that whether they actually learn to brew 
potions as well is secondary from Dumbledore's point of view, if 
not Snape's.

Now if this was Dumbledore's plan, then it obviously backfired 
when Snape had to teach Harry Occlumency, a skill which he 
thought Harry really did need, but not one which Dumbledore 
anticipated would have to be taught by Snape.

I also think, as I've said before, that IMO, this was a felix culpa, 
since Occlumency only opened Harry's mind further to Voldemort  
in a way which Dumbledore, IMO, did not expect.   I think 
Voldemort was already finding it difficult to enter  Harry's mind 
because of the strength of Harry's positive emotions , and by 
clearing his mind, emptying it of emotion, Harry became more 
vulnerable. That's why the frequency of the dreams increased 
and the scar prickled more. Harry *was* learning Occlumency, 
and Snape was teaching it properly.  It just wasn't working the 
way Dumbledore had hoped it would.

It's possible that Dumbledore eventually realized this (I wonder 
how much information Prefect!Hermione passes to 
McGonagall?) and that's why he allowed Snape to discontinue 
the lessons.

Interestingly, there was an article in this Sunday's New York 
Times magazine about a baseball coach and his Snape-like 
methods. The sub-title is " Was it abusive rage or tough love?" 
and the article suggests that sometimes it's all in the eyes of the 
parents.

Pippin