HBP (Snape's) old school textbook: FIFTH year text

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 137018

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Little lama" <mcandrew at b...> wrote:
> 
> Actually, I have been intrigued by the fact that Snape was already 
> using the Advanced Potions textbook in his FIFTH year, although it
is now a sixth year text.  The Pensieve scene where he's tormented by 
> James took place, if you remember, after they had just sat one of 
> their OWL exams, which take place in fifth year.  I am confident
that the sectumsempra spell is the same one SS used in the Pensieve 
> scene ... and that JKR laid this as an early clue for wide awake HBP 
> readers as to the HBP's identity. <snip>


Carol responds:
I don't think we can call it a "fact" that Severus was using the book
in his fifth year. I'm not even sure there's any basis for speculation
of that nature. We do know that the so-called Prank (in which Sirius
Black lured Severus into the Shrieking Shack when Remus Lupin had
turned into a werewolf) occurred when Sirius was sixteen--almost
certainly during sixth year. That action, which was much more
dangerous than the merely humiliating Pensieve incident at the end of
fifth year, may have prompted Severus to invent the Sectumsempra
spell, which he then worked out in the margins of his NEWT Potions book.

I don't think that the spell Severus uses on James, which merely cuts
his face, is Sectumsempra, which would have left James lying in a pool
of his own blood, with all the sixth years who witnessed it screaming
"Murder!" as Moaning Myrtle did. It's probably a variant of the
stinging hex. (I have the spell name "Relashio" in my head for some
reason--was that used in the DoM fight or am I just imagining it?)
Anyway, if you look closely at the description of the effects of the
two spells, it's clear that Sectumsempra is much more dangerous. I
don't think it had been invented yet.

I agree with the comment I snipped that the small, cramped handwriting
of Severus's DADA exam was a clue, as was his detailed knowledge of
that subject. It's not surprising that he was a Potions genius--that
much is evident from the memorized Potion formulas that appear on the
board when he merely points his wand at it, and from other evidence as
well (wolfbane potion, veritaserum, etc.), but that exam was the first
clue we had that his interest in DADA was also genuine and deep.

As for where the book came from, I've said in another post that I
think Severus left it behind on the last day of his seventh year. He'd
memorized everything in it--the original potions, his shortcuts, his
invented spells--and no longer needed it. Slughorn, who used the same
textbook every year, probably "collected" it as a spare without even
looking at it and brought it with him when he returned to Hogwarts. (I
don't think Snape used a textbook in his Potions classes, or if he
did, it probably involved theory rather than Potion recipes. "One
Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi," mentioned in several HP books,
ought logically to be the Herbology text, though Snape may
occasionally refer to it. That would be Harry's source of information
regarding aconite (if he'd read the book), but it wouldn't help him
with bezoars or the Draught of Living Death. (I'm referring, of
course, to Harry's first-ever class with Snape, the one in which Snape
first mentioned the magical multiple antidote that would ultimately
save Ron's life.)

I agree with the posters who say that Snape's surprise at Harry's
Potions success (followed by a searching look that can only indicate
Legilimency) and his shock and anger when Harry uses Sectumsempra on
Draco indicate that he didn't plant the book. I don't think Dumbledore
did, either. That leaves only Slughorn, who may have known the book
was Severus Snape's and intended Harry to have it so he would appear
to be a Potions prodigy, but I really don't see any need for that.
Harry was already the jewel in the Slug Club.

Carol

P.S. Note to Valky: Didn't you suggest that some of the curses on the
Horcruxes might have been Snape's inventions? I don't see how that's
possible since he was about eleven when Voldemort returned from his
wanderings, transformed beyond recognition, and began recruiting
followers. All of the Horcruxes (with the possible exception of
Nagini) would already have been created at that point. C.