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

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 119526


> 
> Potioncat:
> In the real world kids get enough chemistry to have an idea of what 
> it is.  In the WW, very young kids are making potions that shrink a 
> frog into a tadpole.  I can't think of any RW comparison to that. 
> Every student leaves Hogwarts knowing how to make certain potions.  
> Not every student studies  N.E.W.T. level Potions nor do all of 
> those pass the exams.
> 
> So most could make a potion to cure warts, not everyone could make 
> Wolfsbane.  If Lupin is being honest, perhaps not every N.E.W.T. 
> level wizard could make it, even with the instructions.
> 
> I have to admit, Pippin has influenced me enough that I wonder if 
> Lupin is telling the truth about his own ability at potions.  But 
we 
> don't know if he passed Potion O.W.L.s or if he took the N.E.W.T. 
> level Potions class.
> 

Neri:
If I remember my canon right, the little of what we know about 
Lupin's brewing abilities comes from the same passage in PoA that (I 
still maintain, in the absence of counter-examples) is our sole 
direct canon for Snape's brewing abilities. In this passage Lupin 
tells Harry (paraphrasing from memory): "I was never much of a potion-
brewer and this potion [the wolfsbane] is particularly complex". Note 
that he doesn't literally say "I can't brew this potion" or "I didn't 
do NEWT potions". I remind you that we are talking about the same 
Lupin who told Harry "I do not pretend to be an expert on Dementors". 
Note also that in this scene, as in many other scenes, Lupin is a 
master of evasive understatement ("I was a bit off-color"). He has an 
obvious agenda in this little talk with Harry: stress how much Snape 
is helpful and trusted. Would it be out-of-character for Lupin to 
exaggerate Snape's brewing skill a bit on the expense of his own 
skill? Both skills aren't corroborated by any other character. Both 
skills are never demonstrated on page.

It is reasonable to suppose that Lupin completed a Potions NEWT with 
a good grade: he is intelligent, was probably a good student (a 
prefect and a "good boy" who started studying for the Transfiguration 
OWL minutes after getting out of the DADA exam) and he had a strong 
study group. He also has the disposition for Potions: quiet, patient, 
subtle and motivated. In fact, in the Pensive scene 15 yrs old Remus 
seems to be more patient and subtle than 15 yrs old Severus. For all 
we know, he could have got a better grade in his Potions NEWT than 
Snape did.

Even if Lupin isn't "much of a potion brewer", he has very good 
reasons to make an exception and invest a lot of effort in learning 
how to brew the Wolfsbane Potion. He cannot always rely on expert 
Potions Masters brewing it for him. The price is likely to be high 
and he doesn't appear to be wealthy. He is a member of an outcast 
minority and might not want to reveal what he is in every new place 
he arrives at. He is also a member of an underground organization 
that at times was on the run from both DEs and the Ministry. If 
indeed only a small number of potions masters can brew the Wolfsbane 
Potion, and Lupin must get his potion every month from one of them, 
this means that it would be very easy to track Lupin down, no matter 
how well he is hiding. In the muggle world there are some drug 
addicts who have learned a complex process of growing and distilling 
their own drugs in order to be independent of drug dealers and avoid 
the police. I can see Lupin doing the same thing.  

Neri