Flitwick as DADA professor?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 91036

"potioncat":
 I was surprised to see Flitwick in the memory as well.  But my 
> feeling was that he would have been a member of the MoM team who 
> came to test the students. What I wondered was, when did he become a 
> faculty member at Hogwarts? We didn't find out when Umbridge was 
> there because she visited Charms when Harry wasn't in his class. Did 
> he sign on after Snape?  Would that explain why Snape seems to be 
> senior to Flitwick and Sprout? We didn't find out when she began 
> teaching either.
><snip>
> Potioncat (who still isn't convinced Snape wants DADA, but who has 
> an open mind)

Carol:
I've pretty much worked out my confusion thanks to the many post from
presumably British list members who are familiar with test-giving in
Britain. I was *assuming* (bad me!) that Flitwick was the DADA
professor when in fact he was merely proctoring the exam for the DADA
professor, just as McGonagall proctored the Charms exam for Flitwick
in OoP. So I think he was probably the Charms professor then as now,
proctoring another teacher's exam as a way of guarding against
favoritism. 

I don't think that Snape, who has only been teaching for fourteen
years, is senior to Flitwick or Sprout, who are also the heads of
their respective houses and appear to be much older than he is. I
think that Flitwick, at least, was Snape's teacher (but his Charms,
not his DADA, professor). The reason that Snape acts as DD's righthand
man--and is always on hand when there's trouble--is IMO his particular
personality and particular skills. He's extremely intelligent and
logical but he's also able to intimidate students with nothing more
than a look. Consequently, he's a much more effective deterrent to
nighttime mischief than Flitwick or Sprout. Can you see either of them
prowling the halls at nighttime, threatening mischief makers with
detention? Snape is full of coiled energy, and DD puts it to good use.
An of course, he's also in the Order, working hand in glove with DD
(so to speak), and part of his job is to be at DD's beck and call
whenever there's trouble, especially if it involves Harry.

Carol