Snape as DADA, new Potions teacher? (was Re: It's Libatius)

[cat_kind]

No: HPFGUIDX 126245


> SSSusan wrote:
> Also, the standards Snape holds to in his own classroom just might 
> be  higher than the standards to which the examiners hold students, 
> might they not?  If that's the case, then achieving the "O" Snape 
> requires might be possible for more students than think they can 
> achieve it.

> Potioncat:
> 
> So it seems that the marks that these two teachers give are much 
> harder to earn than the marks on the tests. 
(snip)  
> So I don't think it would be an error for Harry to get into the 
> classes. I think JKR did a nice job of setting us all up to worry 
> about it.
> 
> Alla:
> 
> You could be very right and I personally I was always pretty sure ( 
> of course you can never be 100% sure with JKR)that Harry will get 
> into Potions class from the way Potions OWL was set up. There WAS a 
> Polyjuice question on theory, which Harry knew really well from 
> experience  and there was no Snape in the room breathing down his 
> neck on practical.
(snip)

catkind:  
Personally, I'd predict Harry an E in Potions. Not an O, but still
significantly better than he has been getting from Snape, thanks to
the Polyjuice question and not being loomed over. 

The problem is, if Harry really is an Outstanding student, then Snape
will not only be landed with Harry at NEWT level, but he will also
look rather silly after the comments he was making about Harry's work.
Harry and his classmates would never take Snape's grades seriously
again. I don't think Snape would risk being put in this position. 

There are teachers that mark down deliberately to make their students
work harder, and I could see McG being one of them.  Then at the
beginning of the NEWT class she can congratulate her students on their
good OWL performance.  It's hard to see what tack Snape could take if
students are consistently doing better than expected, I can't imagine
him congratulating anyone outside his own house.
I would think it out of character for Harry to get an O as well. 
Harry is set up as a bit of an everyman. It's repeatedly pointed out
to us that he's not a particularly good student in general. He's only
particularly talented at Defence and flying.  Potions has always been
one of his worse subjects, and we've certainly not seen him work
particularly hard at it or take any interest. How can he suddenly be
Outstanding at it?  

I've seen nothing to indicate that Harry is better at Potions than at
subjects like Transfig or Charms, or that he is nearly as good at
Potions as Hermione.  

Does anyone think he will get lots of O's and rival Hermione? Or just
in Defence and Potions?

Having said that, I'm also, say, 95% sure Harry will still be in
Potions.  I fear DD will force Snape to make an exception; I hope
someone else is teaching Potions, so no exception is needed. 

In the latter case Snape doesn't have to be teaching Defence of
course.  He could be off spying or something. The obligatory
Harry/Snape confrontations could come from Occlumency lessons or Order
meetings instead of regular lessons. 

catkind