DADA vs. Potions teacher for Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89929

> SIRIUSLY SNAPEY SUSAN NOW:
<snip>
> I'd really like to ask people to weigh in on something.  Maybe I'm 
> having my impressions tainted by those damn movies or by fanfic, but 
> I think Snape ADORES potions.  He's a potions *master*, not just the 
> Hogwarts potions teacher; he speaks of few students appreciating 
> the "exact art and subtle science that is potion-making" [ahhh, a 
> lovely, thought-provoking phrase, is it not?].  Snape may be/have 
> been fascinated by the Dark Arts, but I think he is perfect as 
> potions master.  
> 
> So, here are my questions for the group: Do you believe Snape would 
> be HAPPIEST teaching DADA or Potions?  To which is he most SUITED, in 
> your view?

Carol:
Interesting question! There's no question that he's a real expert in
potion-making--not just in being one of the few wizards in the UK (or
is it the WW?) who can make the wolfbane potion, but in evidently
memorizing the ingredients of hundreds of potions in their exact order
and proportions. And, as you say, he speaks of potion making in
glowingly poetic terms in the first book, as I don't think even a man
with his flair for the dramatic would do if he didn't mean every word.
And he loves logic (the riddle in CoS, "putting two and two together
as only Snape could" in GoF), so why not love "the exact art and
subtle science that is potion making"? (In the RW, he'd be a
poet/chemist, not as incompatible a combination as it may seem.)

He also seems to disparage charms and other spells in that same
speech: "There will be no silly wand waving in this class." Wands, of
course, are crucial to DADA, whether it's defending yourself from a
boggart or deflecting an unfriendly spell. The speech makes it sound
as if these skills (of which his first years know little or nothing)
are unimportant. Yet we know that Snape is a skilled "wand waver." He
can do anything from cleaning up a spill to writing his notes on the
board with a flick of his wand, not to mention the countercurse
against Quirrell, "Expelliarmus" (and vanishing Draco's serpent) in
the Duelling Club scene with Lockhart, and the Legilmency spell in the
occlumency lessons.

In other words, the poetic tribute to Potions rings true (to me), but
the disparagement of wand waving doesn't. And both occlumency, at
which he is "superb" (Lupin's word), and duelling, about which he
clearly knows a lot more than the little bit Lockhart credits him
with, are crucial to DADA. And consider the passion he poured into the
DADA O.W.L. exam, with his long, detailed responses in minuscule
writing to squeeze it all onto the parchment. I would be very
surprised if he didn't receive the highest possible score. (If he
stayed in school long enough to take his N.E.W.T.s, and I'm assuming
that he did since he became a professor and not merely an instructor
like Hagrid or Madam Hooch, he probably excelled in both Potions and
DADA on them as well.)

So he seems to be an expert in both fields and passionate about them
both. And then there's his apparent interest in the Dark Arts
themselves: his ability to do a huge number of hexes at age eleven and
being "up to his eyes in the Dark Arts" throughout his Hogwarts
career, according to Sirius (who may or may not be confusing Dark Arts
and Defense Against Dark Arts--maybe you can't have one without the
other, just as Snape must know not only the potions but their
antidotes, which he conveniently keeps tucked under his robes as he
teaches his classes).

The only way I can answer your question, SSS, is to say that choosing
one over the other is like asking an excellent musician to choose
between teaching voice or violin. Potions are tied to the Dark Arts
just as curses are, and antidotes are tied to DADA just as
countercurses are. Would Snape enjoy teaching defensive spells and
countercurses? I think he would. Would he enjoy teaching the younger
students about hinkypunks or grindylows? Probably not. Would he, if
allowed, enjoy Imperioing, Crucioing and AK-ing spiders? I don't want
to know.

So, based on all of this, I'm starting to think he's better off where
he is. I still want him to prove himself worthy of the DADA position,
but having thought about it, I'm not so sure I really want him to
teach it. I'd love to see him offered the position and turning it
down. I'd also like to see McGonagall (in the Epilogue) as the new
Headmistress (DD would have to die; sorry) and Snape as the new Deputy
Headmaster, as strict as McGonagall but no longer nasty because VWII
is over and Harry and Neville have left the school. Harry would be
"Just Harry" and Snape would be "Just Severus."

Oh, well. I love (relatively) heppy endings and am tired of having
confliicted characters redeem themselves only as they die. (Boromir,
anyone?) Let Snape redeem himself and live. Whether he chooses Potions
or DADA at that point is up to him.

Carol