The handwriting in the book (Was: Lily and Snape)

[Auria]

No: HPFGUIDX 140411

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> Carol earlier: <heavily snipped>
> > > First, it's highly unlikely that Lily (or Snape's mother,
> suggested by other posters) would invent the curses that Snape 
claims
> as his own, particularly Sectumsempra and its accompanying 
note, "for
> enemies," and the curses are in the same handwriting as the potions
> hints. Both appear to be the product of the same ingenious mind, 
young
> Snape's: <snipped>
> > >
> Auria responded:
> > You are making a huge assumption that everything that Snape wrote 
in 
> > his textbook is coming from one source.  No-one here seems to 
have 
> > considered the fact that MAYBE Snape picked up tips from several
> other students, perhaps other books too, as well as making some 
spells
> of his own. > Carol responds:
> 
> Perhaps you've misunderstood me. I didn't say "one source." I said
> "the same ingenious mind" (Severus Snape's). > 
> Since you snipped most of my post, including the canon support, I'll
> repeat the key points: 1) The potion tips and the spells are all in
> the same handwriting: young Snape's, and 2) Lily would not have 
helped
> to invent Sectumsempra and that the spells in Snape's Potions book 
are
> his own inventions, as he claims. 3) If the spells are his own, the
> potion tips are probably his own as well. To me, it's much more 
likely
> that the spells and the potion experiments are the products of the
> same experimentally oriented mind than that they're the result of an
> uncharacteristic cooperation between a lonely little Slytherin nerd
> and a popular Gryffindor "Mudblood." 
> 
> None of which is to say that Lily might not also be good at Potions,
> but in contrast to the solid evidence in every book of Snape's 
expert
> knowledge, all we have to indicate Lily's skill is Slughorn's fond
> memory of a favorite pupil, which may or may not be accurate.
> (Slughorn's assessment of Harry's abilities does not speak well of 
his
> judgment in that regard.) He may or may not be correct about Lily, 
but
> even if he is, her abilities are not in themselves an indication 
that
> some of the experiments in the HPB's book could be hers. *That's* an
> assumption for which you need to present canon evidence. Frankly, I
> would love to see some. (And no, I'm not being rude or sarcastic. I
> don't do that.)

Auria responds:
Carol I think you have delved into my response a bit too deeply (and 
I had to snip a lot to save space here).  I was simply pointing out 
that I rather liked the idea that in an indirect way, and unknown to 
him, Harry may in fact be learning potions tips that may have 
originated from his own mother. Thats all.  I have no direct canon 
evidence of this, other than the explanations given by Slughorn 
himself. However remember in PoA Lupin does tell Harry that he knew 
Lily and she was 'a singularly gifted witch'.

One thing you wrote ''3) If the spells are his own, the
> potion tips are probably his own as well.''  I have to disagree 
with.  This is the major assumption I was referring to.  I never said 
that Snape worked WITH Lily, I meant that he may have written his 
notes by watching what she did during their classes. He may have 
taken notes on what other students did as well as make up stuff of 
his own.  In keeping with Snape's character, he would be the spying 
type - we know that he eavesdropped on Prof Trelawney and Dumbledore 
that night at the Hogs Head when she made the prophesy.  
This does not mean he has no talent of his own.  Quite the contrary - 
he seems the type to steal other people's ideas without giving them 
due credit, as well as experiment with convention, and of course 
dabble with the dark arts. The sectum sempra curse is his own 
invention, as he stated.
Anyway, this is getting too long a post so I'll stop here.

Auria