How HBP could have interwoven into CoS (Was: Re: Eileen Prince)

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 156400

> Carol wrote:
> 
> Still, to return to my original comment about not seeing how the HBP
> plot could fit into CoS, I don't see how the HBP's Potions text or
> DADA text could have been used in a book about Harry's second year.
> Aside from having an interaction between Harry and two different books
> (one magical and one not), it would have been premature to show Snape
> inventing spells like Levicorpus, much less Sectumsempra, not to
> mention having Harry cast it on Draco in second year and Snape saving
> Draco from death at Harry's hands when the two boys are twelve years
> old. 

I think you are projecting too much of the storyline of the HBP book
that we have back into CoS. When the HBP plot element was part of CoS
it was probably considerably different. I think it probably worked
well but made the book bigger than JKR though would fly at that point.
A child's ability to devour a big book was much larger than anyone
thought at the time as it turns out!

Let's say that for some reason Harry gets Snape's old beginning
potions book in CoS. Snapes notes don't include the two spells that
"offend" you above but they do have a lot of helpful advice about
brewing potions. Harry has who perhaps has never seen Snape's
handwriting at this point has no way to figure out that it is Snape's
old book. It is a weakness of HBP that Harry does not notice this,
btw. Even without the pensieve memory it is odd that Harry would not
be familiar with the handwriting of a teacher he had had for 5 years
previously and still had classes with in year 6. In year 2 it is still
barely plausible. Perhaps there is no dueling club but perhaps the
snake casting spell is in the potions book. At some point in the book,
probably late, Harry tries the spell and on its evidence concludes
that the previous owner is the heir of Slytherin. Maybe Harry then
sees an example of Snape's handwriting and accuses him of being behind
the attacks. I don't know where it all goes from there but then I'm
not an author.

The irony of Snape being a difficult teacher for Harry in person but
an excellent teacher for Harry through the written word it still there. 

I doubt I have come all that close to the original way the HBP element
was used. The point is that it was probably reworked heavily when it
was refarmed as book 6 and that book 6 would have been very different
if that element had been used in book 2. Without input from JKR I
doubt you will ever get very close to the way it would have been used
in book 2.

Ken