Let's hear it for good old Snapey!

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 87905

Kneasy:
[snip]Snape was probably getting the answer to an important
question - "Right, who's a dummy and who's a smart-arse?"
He got the answer first try.

> Geoff:
> I wonder whether friend Kneasy was concentrating too much on the 
> approach of the New Year to be fair here.... His milk of human 
> kindness jug definitely seems a bit in need of a refill.
> 
> I went through a number of occasions when I would have to obtain 
> books prior to a course or something similar. Unless you are given 
a specific chunk to study, you can only leaf through the book, look 
at bits which catch your attention, browse....
> 
> Please note, Harry found "his school books were very interesting. 
He lay on his bed reading late into the night." (PS "The Journey 
from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters" UK edition p.67).

Laura:

I have no doubt that Snape was engaging in a multilayered head game 
with the first years.  He was establishing his authority and letting 
the students know what the environment (for want of a better term) 
of his classroom would be.  He was trying to separate the wheat from 
the chaff, albeit in a very clumsy way.  Any teacher who thinks that 
kids will perform all year the way they appear to do on the first 
day is either incompetent or inexperienced.  But I wouldn't be 
surprised if Snape subjected all his first year classes to a similar 
experience-except the Slytherins, of course.  And I do think he was 
letting everyone know where Harry stood in his estimation.  Whether 
that was due to genuine dislike, the exigencies of the spying game 
or both, it served its purpose.  If Harry had been able to answer 
the questions, Snape would just have kept at him until there was one 
he couldn't answer.  The point wasn't for Snape to see how much 
Harry knew.  It was to let the world know what Snape thought of 
Harry. 

You do have to wonder what kind of student responses would have 
satisfied Snape.  He didn't like it when kids didn't know the 
answers, nor did he like it when they did.  Granted, Hermione could 
be a bit of a know-it-all, but to paraphrase Harry suring that first 
Potions lesson, why ask the questions if you don't want the answers?

Laura, suspecting that Kneasy would fall into the latter of his two 
student categories and that Snape wouldn't like him any the better 
for it...