CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 29, Career Advice

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 116182


> > 3. After Harry turns, he hears a smashing sound.  Who or what 
> broke the sample vial of potion?  Would Snape have broken it, given
that Draco thinks Snape is teaching Harry remedial potions?  Would 
> Draco have broken it in front of Snape?  Could it have fallen by
itself? 
> 
> Alla responded:
<snip>
> Yes, I definitely think that Snape broke it. I think that was his 
> petty attempt of revenge for Harry's looking into his pensieve. Do 
> you think that it fallen down by itself? I reread the paragraph and 
> could not see any indication of it.
> 
> What gets to me the most is Snape reaction, of course "His potion 
> sample lay in pieces on the floor and Snape was watching him with 
> the look of gloating pleasure" -OOP, p.661, paperback.
>
Carol responds:
Snape's reaction does not prove that he broke the vial, only that he's
glad it was broken. I agree that he took advantage of the opportunity
to avenge himself on Harry and that doing so was less than admirable.
But delighting in giving Harry a zero for a spilled potion is not the
same as spilling the potion himself.

This scene reminds me of the moment in SS/OS when Harry think it's
Snape that's making his scar hurt. JKR is again concealing
information; Harry doesn't see what happens:

"He had just turned away when he heard a smashing noise; Malfoy gave a
gleeful yell of laughter. Harry whipped around again. His potion
sample lay in pieces on the floor, and Snape was surveying him with a
look of gloating pleasure. "Whoops," etc.... (OoP Am. ed. 

It is not clear from this scene whether the vial falls before, after,
or at the same time that Hermione cleans up Harry's portion. He
discovers that she has done so when he reaches his desk. It's clear,
however, that if she had not done so, Harry would not have received
the zero. He would have triumphantly produced the second vial.

More important, while it does seem unlikely that the vial would have
fallen one its own unless Harry placed it precariously near the edge
of the desk, it's also very unlikely that Snape would have knocked off
the vial in the presence of three students (even though Harry's back
was turned, he was still *there*. And Hermione, Harry's friend,
witnessed the incident. Rather than blaming Snape, she blames herself:
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, Harry. I thought you'd finished, so I
cleared up!" Her distress would surely be replaced by anger if she
thought that Snape had broken the vial. And Snape, had he actually
broken the vial, would be in trouble if Hermione reported the incident
to McGonagall or Dumbledore.

Harry is furious, to be sure, but even he does not accuse Snape of
breaking the vial. His bad mood results from the zero that he received
in place of the E he was hoping to have earned. I've argued elsewhere
that these zeroes are not really factored into Harry's grad; he has
yet to complain about an end-of-year Potions mark. Note that
McGonagall has his Potions grades in front of her during their
appointment and she gives no indication that they're unsatisfactory.
And note that even in *her* class, he is only averaging an Acceptable,
She advises him to bring his work in both classes "up to scratch
(663). And there's that mysterious flicker of a smile as she notes the
importance of antidotes and potions, and her implication that Harry is
perfectly capable of earning an "O" on his Potions OWL if he applies
himself. Almost certainly Snape and McGonagall are working together to
make sure Harry learns what he needs to know, regardless of Snape's
in-class gloating over spilled potions. 

And Harry is also angry with Hermione, desptie her apology, making
sure to sit between Neville and Seamus at lunch, though he tells
himself that it's because he doesn't want her "nagging him about using
Umbridge's office again" (661). 

Once Harry gets through his career consultation appointment, he
forgets about the incident entirely. And note that when Harry meets
that afternoon with Black and Lupin, he points out that James, in the
Pensieve memory, "attacked Snape for no good reason." He continues to
defend Snape, at least until he finds out that he hexed James as often
as James hexed him (671) and in answer to Lupin's question about
Snape's reaction to the Pensieve incident, reports indifferently that
Snape told him he'd never teach him Occlumency again. He does
anticipate that Snape would "kill" him if he asked to resume
Occlumency lessons, but that remark relates to Snape's reaction to the
Pensieve incident and not to the Potions incident.

Surely if Harry thought that Snape had deliberately broken his potion
vial that very day, he would not have defended him to Black and Lupin,
and would have brought up the subject either to them or to Ron. And
surely Hermione, if she had seen him do it or suspected him of doing
it, would have mentioned it to Harry in self-defense. Instead, we hear
no more of the incident.

To return to the original question, it's possible that Harry himself
placed the vial so carelessly that it slipped off the desk, which
would account for Malfoy's gleeful whoop of laughter. It's also
conceivable that Draco would have "accidentally" broken the vial in
front of Snape as he swept by to turn in his own potion and that Snape
would have taken pleasure in turning a blind eye to the incident and
in (ostensibly) giving Harry a zero. He's still angry with Harry over
the invasion of his privacy, and he's enjoying a small bit of revenge.
But he would not have stooped to breaking the vial himself, and the
thought that he would do so does not even enter Harry's mind, or,
apparently, Hermione's. Either of these explanations is much more
likely than that Snape risked his professional reputation by breaking
a student's potion vial in the presence of at least three students.

Carol