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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 119405


 
> > 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? 
> 

Pippin:
Snape seems to be younger by a good thirty or forty years than 
any other Hogwarts teachers except Quirrell and Lupin, also 
outstanding in their fields. He is  teaching without assistance in 
a subject  in which a NEWT is required for Aurors. If Snape 
needed help, Dumbledore could hire another teacher, but he 
hasn't.

 Not that that tells us about his practical skills, but it wouldn't
tell us very much about Snape's potion making skills if he did 
brew something in class, since we only have seen up to fifth year 
anyway. 

Dumbledore asks Snape if he made the potion again for Lupin, 
so at least we have confirmation that Snape is indeed the one 
making the wolfsbane. Some of us think that Luna's mother was 
trying to make wolfsbane potion when she got killed, which 
would confirm that it is indeed difficult, but there's no canon for 
that. 

However, Umbridge expects Snape to be able to make 
veritaserum, and obviously doesn't think she can floo London to 
get some from the Ministry's stores, which implies that he is the 
Ministry's  one and only source.

Pippin