Expanding on Curses was Re: Young Snape's cutting curse

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 150341

 Carol wrote:
>
> > But Black does not say that eleven-year-old Severus came to school
> > knowing more *Dark* curses than half (and, yes, it is half) the
> > seventh years. He only says that he knew more "curses" than half the
> > seventh years. JKR is a bit inconsistent in distinguishing curses
> > from hexes and jinxes (and hexes and jinxes from each other; IMO,
> > throughout OoP she uses "jinxes" for "hexes," but that's another
> > post. I agree that these so-called curses were schoolyard variety
> > hexes and jinxes, some of them perhaps of his own invention (like
> > the toenail jinx he later invented).
>
> Valky responded:
> I have given this some pondering myself since we last spoke about it,
> Carol, and I think I have a good theory about the difference between
> curses and hexes/jinxes. Just going on the Bat Bogey Hex and the Eat
> Slugs examples, it seems that Hexes and Jinxes are temporary in
> nature, once cast they will eventually wear off after some discomfort
> so they are in esscence basically innocuous, inconvenient and
> uncofortable rather than dangerous.  Curses, OTOH, it seems to me
> always need to be professionally countered by some expert in healing
> arts, they seem more permanent and by extension of that hence rather
> more a danger than hexes or jinxes.
>  ------------------------------
>
..
.
Kemper now:
To clarify, a curse is a spell or an item.
But I like your idea on curses and would like to expand it a bit.

A curse either requires an advanced/powerful counter (Sectumsempra/Opal
Necklace), or
it requires the curse caster to release the curse (Cruciatus/Imperius), or
it has no counter (Killing/BurnYourEyesOut Book/Can'tStopReading Book).

So, did young Severus know the curses on an academic level (I bet he
devoured any book he could get his hands on with regards to magic prior to
Hogwarts, kind of like Hermione would had she a magical parent)?  Or did
young Severus know the curses on a practical level?

And if this little odd ball was up to his neck in the Dark Arts, do we think
Severus knew any counters?  Based on who Snape (adult) seems, I would guess
Severus (student) knew, or strove to learn the counters or the Light to the
curses and Dark he knew, regardless of what level he 'knew' the curses.

That said, did he also know more Light Arts than half the seventh years?

If he did, I'm not sure how much he would want others to know especially
based on what I perceive as the culture of Slytherin at the time Severus was
a student.

Kemper


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