Severus and the DADA exam (Was: James, a paragon of virtue? )

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 123726


 
> > SSSusan:
 I think there's a WHOLE lotta assumin' goin' on here.  How do know  
all this stuff about Severus Snape -- that he clearly *cares* about 
what he knows, that he's not interested in getting a high mark just  
for a high mark's sake but because he wants to *master* the 
subject?  

 
> Carol responds:

> The implication is that he knows the subject and the words are just
> coming out of him. Afterwards he studies the questions as if 
trying to be sure that he remembered everything. That in itself is 
evidence that he cares about the subject, or at least about the 
results of the exam.
snip
...at the time of this scene, James doesn't seem to care one way or 
another about the DADA exam, the only one we see him take.

Potioncat:
There was a saying in the Navy, "Rank among Ensigns is like virtue 
among prostitutes." (quote cleaned a bit) That quote comes to mind 
in this discussion about James and Severus. 

 All we really know, from this one memory, is that they take tests 
differently. Knowing from canon that James was one of the brightest 
students, it isn't surprising that the completed the test, felt 
confident about it, and doodled for the remainder of the time. We 
know from canon that the adult Snape is very competent and skilled. 
We see that Severus, wrote everything he knew, then went over the 
test afterwards (as we've been told several times in canon, Hermione 
does) It doesn't tell one that one is brighter, or that one is less 
serious about the test.

I can make a leap (of course I might crash) and say that James knew 
the information and felt somewhat cocky about it, which to me is 
very Gryffindor-like. While Severus, who also knew the 
information, was driven by ambition to be successful, used every 
moment and every word at his disposal which is very Slytherin.


JMHO
Potioncat