The DADA job - Not Snape's cup of tea?

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No: HPFGUIDX 141829

One matter that has bothered me somewhat throughout the series of 
Harry books, and more so since the release of HBP is Professor 
Snape's hankering after the DADA job. I do not agree with 
speculation regarding this position as being some kind of addiction 
for Snape, rather I believe that Snape may not have wanted the 
position until the time was right or at all.

There are a large number of references in the books and various 
interviews with JKR that relate to the DADA job and Snape's stance 
to it. This article would address the majority of these and set out 
my view that Snape, far from craving the job, was actually reluctant 
to do it.

My references for the books are Bloomsbury paperback editions of 
books 1-3 and Bloomsbury hardback editions of books 4-6. Any 
reference to interviews would be noted after the quotation.

The matters are in some kind of chronological order. The first 
relevant matter to my theory is contained in HBP, Chapter Twenty – 
Lord Voldemort's Request, page 418:

"You see, we have never been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark 
Arts teacher for longer than a year since I refused the post to Lord 
Voldemort."

Dumbledore says this to Harry after the sequence viewed by them in 
the Pensieve. It is based on Dumbledore's own memory and I postulate 
that Dumbledore figured out that he could not keep a DADA teacher 
for more than a year within a short time of his interview with LV. 
Why then would Dumbledore give the job to a useful man like Snape? 
Clearly Snape, despite his faults, is a competent and able teacher 
and is particularly gifted at Potions as indicated by his identity 
as the Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore as an intelligent man would 
have wanted Snape to remain at Hogwarts for longer than one year.

It is also worthy of note that Dumbledore did not believe Voldemort 
was finished and he would, therefore, want to maintain one of his 
most useful spies in case LV returned as we know he subsequently did.

When JKR was asked as long ago as 1999, prior even to the release of 
GOF regarding Snape in The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999 
she had this to say:

"Snape is a very sadistic teacher, loosely based on a teacher I 
myself had, I have to say. I think children are very aware and we 
are kidding ourselves if we don't think that they are, that teachers 
do sometimes abuse their power and this particular teacher does 
abuse his power. He's not a particularly pleasant person at all. 
However, everyone should keep their eye on Snape, I'll just say that 
because there is more to him than meets the eye and you will find 
out part of what I am talking about if you read Book 4."

I have been taking this advice seriously and keeping an eye on 
Snape. The matter we discover about Snape during GOF is, I believe, 
simply that he was a Death Eater.

Almost immediately after the release of Book 5 a further question 
was asked regarding Snape (Q & A quoted in full below) during the 
Royal Albert Hall Interview – 26th June 2003

`Professor Snape has always wanted to be Defence Against the Dark 
Arts teacher. In book five he doesn't get the job. Why doesn't 
Professor Dumbledore let him be the DADA teacher?

JK Rowling:
That is an excellent question and the reason is
 I have to be 
careful
 not to say too much. However, when Professor Dumbledore 
took Professor Snape onto the staff and Professor Snape said he'd 
like to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts please and Professor 
Dumbledore felt that it might bring out the worst in Professor 
Snape, so Dumbledore said: "I think we'll let you teach potions and 
see how you get along there."'

The question suggests that the questioner believed Snape always 
wanted the job. I disagree with the questioner as I am sure that 
Dumbledore would have mentioned to Snape that he could not keep a 
DADA teacher for more than a year and other than just thinking that 
the position would bring out the worst in Snape, as it possibly did, 
he would have persuaded Snape to accept the Potions position or 
Snape may have actually wanted the Potions job. This position is, 
after all, one at which Snape excels and Dumbledore would know that 
Snape was a marvelous potioneer.

It should be remembered also that this was said well in advance of 
HBP and at that point there was no information that the position had 
been cursed by LV so obviously, being cagey, as she most usually is, 
JKR would not want to specify the reason that Snape did not get the 
DADA position too clearly.

Our first indication in canon regarding Snape and the DADA position 
comes from Percy, of all people (a fifth year at the time), in PS, 
Chapter Seven – The Sorting Hat, page 94:

"He takes Potions, but he doesn't want to – everyone knows he's 
after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, 
Snape." (Percy to Harry)

Everyone knows Snape is after the DADA position do they? A carefully 
disguised ruse in my opinion to cover the fact that Snape actually 
is content to be the Potions Master. Further exposition follows.

Our first formal introduction to Snape, other than the red herring 
of Harry's scar prickling when Snape looks at him is in Chapter 
Eight. This is headed "The Potions Master", not the DADA wannabe or 
some such but the Potions Master. Incidentally in GOF when Barty 
Jnr. refers to Snape he calls him the Potions Master also. This fits 
with my view that Snape is content to be in the position he held and 
possibly was even aware that Dumbledore knew of LV's curse on the 
job Snape supposedly coveted.

I will not go into what a supreme potioneer Snape is here as this 
has been adequately covered elsewhere in the forum.

Up to the end of the first book then we have no indication to 
disprove that Snape longed for the DADA position, however this 
position changes into line with my theory in CoS. As we all know 
Gilderoy Lockhart is appointed as the DADA teacher in book 2, but 
why would this be if Snape, a seemingly more suitable candidate, was 
constantly applying for the job? As Hagrid says about Lockhart in 
Chapter Seven – Mudbloods and Murmurs, page 88:

"He was the on'y man for the job"

If this is true, and perhaps Hagrid's expostulations should be taken 
with a pinch of salt, then Snape could not have applied for the DADA 
job for Harry's second year. Apparently only Lockhart applied.

Not long after this Snape himself says to Lockhart (Chapter Nine – 
The Writing on the Wall, page 110:

"Excuse me" said Snape icily, "but I believe I am the Potions Master 
at this school."

This is after Lockhart says he could make the Mandrake Restorative 
Draught for Mrs. Norris. Snape himself seems proud at this point 
that he is the Potions Master and able to remedy a condition through 
his skill in Potions. It is not reflective of Snape envying Lockhart 
his position as DADA teacher, although quite likely Snape is aware 
that Gilderoy is incompetent.

In Chapter Eleven – The Duelling Club, page 142 some further author 
misdirection is thrown at us where the following is found:

`Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart was 
still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have 
been running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.'

I understand from this that we are supposed to believe that Snape is 
acting as he does because he is envious of Gilderoy's position as 
DADA teacher. An equally plausible explanation is that Snape is well 
aware of Gilderoy's incompetence and is looking forward to 
humiliating him in front of the entire school body.

Once Gilderoy has lost his memory it becomes clear that a new DADA 
teacher will be required for the third year and in Chapter Eighteen –
 Dobby's Reward, page 246 Dumbledore says:

"We'll be needing a new Defence Against the dark Arts teacher. Dear 
me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"

This, I contend, is further authorial misdirection to deflect 
readers at that point from wondering why the DADA teacher not only 
lasts for one year at a time but also why Snape is not appointed 
earlier.

The first indication that we are handed that there is more to the 
DADA position than we may have initially suspected comes in POA, 
Chapter Five – The Dementor, page 60:

`There were rumours that the job was jinxed.'

This is given as a throw away line but with what we now know is very 
pertinent indeed. These rumours turn out to be true and would 
support my supposition that Dumbledore did not want to give the job 
to Snape because of the jinx / curse rather than for any other 
reason so that Snape could remain in place. 

*A thought occurs* - perhaps Dumbledore did not entirely trust Snape 
and wanted him at Hogwarts to keep an eye on him and ensure that he 
did not go looking for and reviving LV, therefore a further reason 
Snape was not given the DADA job earlier. I digress.

In the same Chapter at page 72 further emphasis is put on Snape's 
known proclivity for the DADA post while Snape is looking at Lupin:

`It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defence Against the 
Dark Arts job, but even Harry, who hated Snape, was startled at the 
expression twisting his thin, sallow face.'

As I say I am now convinced that Snape did not want the DADA job, 
especially if Dumbledore had explained the implications to him. The 
twisted expression noted here is more probably due to Snape's 
continued bitterness regarding the werewolf caper than his disgust 
at not being appointed DADA teacher as we are supposed to believe. 
Speculation on the details of the werewolf caper are rife and I 
believe that James saved Snape only just before Lupin would have 
otherwise attacked. The life debt Snape has to James can not be 
convincingly explained in any other way. It would not be likely that 
James stopped Snape at an early point in his progress to the 
Shrieking Shack because then it could not be said that Snape owed 
his life to James as some other incident could have possibly have 
intervened to save Snape. Snape must have been proximate to death 
himself for him to owe his life to James.

Reinforcement to the red herring regarding Snape hating Lupin 
because of the appointment as DADA teacher is found in Chapter 
Eight – The Flight of the Fat lady, page 107 where we find:

`Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these days, and no one 
was in any doubt why 
 His eyes flashed menacingly at the very 
mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was bullying Neville worse 
than ever.'

At this point Snape already suspects that Lupin is assisting Snape's 
nemesis Sirius to get into the castle. He goes so far as to voice 
this suspicion to Dumbledore in the Great Hall. More misdirection in 
other words and a bolster to my belief that Snape wanting the DADA 
job has been perhaps the ultimate red herring throughout the series 
so far.

Moving on to GOF and Moody is now DADA teacher as a special favour 
to Dumbledore, at least he would have been if Barty Jnr. had not 
intervened. Yet again we are confronted with anomalous information. 
In Chapter Twelve – The Triwizard Tournament, page 155 Hermione says:

"Maybe they couldn't get anyone!"

When it appears that no DADA teacher has been appointed, This 
conflicts somewhat with what we are led to believe everyone knows, 
that is that Snape wants the position. Why would an intelligent girl 
like Hermione say this when she supposedly knows Snape wants the 
position? It would be more natural if it were generally believed 
that Snape desperately wanted the DADA post to say: "Perhaps they 
finally appointed Snape" rather than what she does in fact say.

Two chapters later in Chapter Fourteen – The Unforgivable Curses, 
page 185:

"You know why Snape's in such a foul mood, don't you?" 


 "Yeah" said Harry "Moody."

Still further misdirecting us on the DADA position. We are to 
believe that Snape is once again disappointed to have missed out to 
Moody. A more likely explanation of Snape's foul mood is twofold. 
One Moody has searched his office, about which he is far from 
cheerful and two he is annoyed that Harry continues to do all that 
is loathsome to Snape, for instance being picked for the Tournament.

To backtrack a little, here is the reference to Snape by Barty Jnr. 
In Chapter Thirty – Veritaserum, page 598:

"When the Potions master found me in his office, I said I was under 
orders to search it."

Again the Potions master reference. The etymology of the term is 
self-explanatory and I will not overly prolong this article by going 
into it any further.

OotP is less easy to explain to fit into my theory, but here follows 
relevant quotes and my explanation of them.  As we know Professor 
Umbridge is now the DADA teacher, but why, if Snape really wants the 
job? That is especially if the Ministry practically railroaded 
Dumbledore into accepting Dolores's appointment. But before that, 
back to Snape, who clearly is not expecting to be appointed DADA 
teacher, even in Harry's sixth year. The Potions master says in 
Chapter Twelve – Professor Umbridge, page 209:

"I take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means 
that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye."

Clearly he is not expecting Dumbledore to give him the DADA job at 
this point and is seemingly anticipating remaining as the Potions 
Master. We learn later on that Educational Decree number 22 
basically forced Dumbledore into accepting Dolores, the relevant 
passage as quoted from The Daily Prophet is in Chapter Fifteen – The 
Hogwarts High Inquisitor, page 275:

`As recently as 30th August, Educational Decree Number 22 was 
passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being 
unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry 
should select an appropriate person.'

In this circumstance we must query why Dumbledore did not give the 
job to Snape to circumvent the Decree's provisions. The logical 
explanation is that Snape did not want, neither did he apply for, 
the job. If he had then Dumbledore would almost certainly have 
accepted his application. Based on what can be inferred about 
Dumbledore he does not like outside interference in his school, most 
particularly from the Ministry. Alternatively it is a convoluted 
plot device and indubitably JKR knew from her plan of the seven 
books that Snape would be DADA teacher in Harry's sixth year. 
Another Flint then?

However, at this point, and with the next quoted passage my 
speculation runs across a problem. The problematic passage is 
contained in Chapter Seventeen – Educational Decree Number Twenty-
Four at pages 323-4:

`"You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post I 
believe?" Professor Umbridge asked Snape
"Yes" said Snape quietly.
"But you were unsuccessful?
"Obviously."
Professor Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.
"And you have applied regularly for the defence Against the Dark 
Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?"
"Yes," said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips. He looked very 
angry.
"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to 
appoint you?" asked Umbridge.
"I suggest you ask him."'

Unless of course Snape is being less than honest and covering the 
real reason he has not become DADA teacher. As we know Snape follows 
orders and he would have to apply for the DADA post if LV wanted him 
to. Or did LV want him to? After all LV would know of his own curse 
on the position and only if he anticipated Snape staying only a year 
or he lifted the curse could Snape last beyond a year in the post. I 
contend that Snape is not being entirely truthful. The passage does 
not say, however, that Snape applied every year since he joined the 
staff, only that he has applied regularly. To have applied every 
year would be inconsistent with the matters noted in this article. 
Even to say he applied regularly is a bit of a stretch as clearly, 
from Harry's year 2 until his year 5 (four full years), Snape 
probably did not apply for the job.

Finally we reach book 6 and Snape is appointed to the DADA job. We 
continue to be assured that Snape has craved the position for years. 
In Chapter Eight – Snape Victorious on page 159 is says:

`How could Snape be given the Defence Against the dark Arts job 
after all this time? Hadn't it been widely known for years that 
Dumbledore did not trust him to do it?'

Sorry? It had been widely known for years that Dumbledore did not 
trust him to do it. Where exactly did this come from, if not the 
Royal Albert Hall Interview – 26th June 2003 at which it was first 
mentioned by JKR. It seems like a little covering up to me and 
inconsistent with just about all other canon information. It is also 
through Harry's perspective and Harry tends to be a little blinkered 
where Snape is concerned.

And this brings us back to the beginning of the article so it only 
remains for me to conclude. Snape did not want the DADA job and the 
contents of this article should also add fuel to the ongoing Snape 
controversy. Personally I think Snape is only out for himself, but 
in the matter of the DADA job he did not always want it and probably 
now regrets ever having been appointed to it.

Goddlefrood