Is Snape really THAT good in Potions?(was: Snape and the Kappa)

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 119401


> Carol responds:
> Almost certainly Dumbledore hired Snape to teach potions because 
he's
> a Potions Master

Neri:
I remind you that there was another reason, quite a critical one, for 
DD hiring Snape. So how do we know what part of DD's reasons was 
Snape's brewing abilities? 50 percent? 10 percent? 0 percent? Any 
canon, please? 

> Carol:
> and we do see evidence of his skill and knowledge in
> most of his lessons.

Neri:
I'll give you that, he is certainly impressive. All this sweeping 
around in black robes and talking about "the beauty of the shimmering 
potion" and "stopper death" and "subtlety". Sure to impress first 
year and even fifth year clueless students, or muggles like us, and 
make us forget that (unlike McGonagall or even Trelawney) he never 
actually demonstrate in class how to do things properly. I'd feel 
much better about it if someone knowledgeable like Hermione (who 
supports DD's trust in Snape), or Fred and George (who show a lot of 
practical expertise in brewing) would just once in five books say 
grudgingly something like "the man's mean as hell, but he surely 
knows his potions".    

> Carol:
> He can place the ingredients of a potion on the
> board with a flick of his wand

Neri:
It seems he is the only one allowed to do the "stupid wand waving" in 
his classes  ;-)

> Carol:
> evidence that he has memorized not
> only the ingredients and their proportions but every step in the
> process. 

Neri:
Erm, I didn't know that this is evidence for memorizing. Could you 
point me to this canon? Anyway, Umbridge does the same trick. Is she 
also an expert?

> Carol:
> He knows when Neville's potion is the wrong color exactly
> which step has gone wrong. 

Neri:
More than that, when the class is brewing the Draught of Peace in 
OotP, Snape knows exactly in what line Harry made what mistake. 
However, I was a lab instructor for 5 years (anatomy, not potions, 
but I still finds JKR's descriptions hilariously accurate) and so 
this fails to impress me. Snape has been a teacher for 14 years and 
each year he saw 40-150 students (depending on which side of the how-
many-students-in-Hogwarts debate you are) brewing each potion in the 
curriculum. He must have seen any common way of botching these 
potions many times, and the end results are pyrotechnically 
memorable. Trust me, after your forth year as an instructor you are 
already anticipating most of the trouble. It wouldn't surprise me at 
all if Harry's mistake was one of the commonest ways of botching this 
particular potion, and Snape was just waiting for something like 
this. In my own lab, after several years' harsh experience I used to 
highlight the hazardous parts in the instructions with something 
like: "Every year someone forgets the hellebore! You don't want to be 
that someone". Of course, I didn't find my students failing all that 
enjoyable.
     
> Carol:
> There is no reason to doubt that he makes all his potions and
> antidotes himself. Certainly we know that he brews the wolfbane
> potion, and there is no reason to doubt Lupin's word that it is
> difficult to prepare and that the ability to do so is rare. 

Neri:
Well, at the time when Lupin tells Harry about the wolfbane potion, 
Harry is very suspicious of Snape in general and the potion in 
particular, and it seems important for Lupin to stress that Snape 
isn't all that bad (he knows James' history with Snape and he doesn't 
want to tell Harry about it, but he also doesn't want it to repeat). 
So Lupin does have a reason to exaggerate a bit about the ability 
needed for brewing wolfbane and how helpful Snape is. In fact, 
considering how important this potion is in Lupin's life, it would be 
strange if he doesn't know how to prepare it himself. Perhaps he let 
Snape brew it for him in the first place only because Snape insisted 
that "he is the Potion Master in this school" and Lupin wanted to 
show his trust in him. 

I would have been much less doubtful of Lupin's words here if I had 
several other canon sources regarding Snape's expertise. It just 
seems strange that in five books Lupin is the only person to commend 
Snape's brewing abilities.

> Carol:  
> nor can we
> doubt Lupin's statement that Snape is a superb Occlumens. 

Neri:
Again, Lupin wants very much for Harry to learn Occlumency, and he 
knows what Harry feels about Snape. He has a very good motive to 
stress Snape's abilities here and even exaggerate a bit.

> Carol:
> Occlumency, too, appears to be a rare
> gift, and Lupin, unlike Sirius, appreciates that.

Neri:
I don't have the books with me, but didn't Lupin also tell Harry that 
even Sirius wants him to learn? Do you believe Lupin about Snape but 
think he is lying about Sirius?

> Carol:
> I won't get too deeply into Lupin's motives since they're a side 
issue
> <snip>
> As for Lupin being the only person to praise Snape's abilities to
> Harry, he is certainly the best person to do so. Sirius won't even
> acknowledge that Snape *has* any abilities other than casting hexes 
or
> curses;

Neri:
So he does acknowledge Snape's ability in cursing. He also says in 
GoF that Snape is intelligent. So why won't he acknowledge his 
abilities in potions? Not even in sinister, Dark potions? Something 
like "Snape knew more illicit potions in his first year than half the 
students in their seventh year". Nothing. Zero. Nada.

> Carol:
> Dumbledore is primarily concerned with getting Harry to treat
> Snape respectfully and understand that he is to be trusted.

Neri:
So he never found it helpful to tell Harry that Snape is a great 
potion master? Wouldn't that help just a bit with getting Harry to 
treat Snape respectfully? 

> Carol:
> McGonagall, who treats Snape as a colleague and an equal even though
> she's headmistress and he's half her age, has never questioned his
> abilities.

Neri:
McGonagall doesn't speak ill of her colleges, but it is a bit strange 
that in five years she didn't have even a single praise for his 
ability as a potion master.

> Carol:
 > And as someone else pointed out, even Umbridge notes that
> Snape's students are ahead of where they ought to be according to 
the
> Ministry's approved curriculum.

Neri:
Regardless of how much weight you ascribe to Umbridge's opinion, 
she's talking here about Snape teaching abilities, which is a 
different debate than his brewing abilities.
 
> Carol:
> It was his reference in class to polyjuice potions
> that led Hermione to check out the book he had mentioned which
> contained the recipe and when the ingredients were stolen from his
> office, he knew immediately which potion they were intended for.

Neri:
Did he know? I don't have the books right now and I can't remember 
this part. Can you quote the canon that he did?

> Carol:
> There are probably additional examples, but I can't think of them at
> the moment. Anyone?

Neri:
I was also sure at first that there are many more examples, but 
somehow I couldn't find any.

Neri