Polyjuice potion (was Re: Spinner's End)

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 156819

> Carol responds:
> first-ever Potions lesson with Harry.) Hermione thinks that the HBP
> might be a girl because the handwriting resembles hers, but it not
> only resembles but is identical to the minuscule, cramped writing of
> Teen!Snape in his DADA OWL. 

Ken:

I know that you keep *saying* that the two writings are identical but
neither here nor in the previous message that you refer to do I see
any *proof* of this. I agree that you are drawing the conclusion that
the narrator intends, I just don't know whether that conclusion is a 
red herring.

Carol:

> Teen!Snape's handwriting could be smaller than Adult!Snape's, which
> Harry sees chiefly on the board, where it would have to be large
> enough for the students to read (and he could use printing rather than
> handwriting, for that matter). also, 

Ken:

I thought briefly that Snape's writing on the board should have settled
the matter and then like you I remembered that he produced it 
magically. For all we know the writing on the board is Helvetica bold,
300 point. It seems very odd to me that in the course of 6 years
none of the trio has seen Snape's handwriting enough to recognize
it as the Prince's. That isn't conclusive, merely suspicious. You 
apparently recall a scene where Snape *did* write on the board by
hand and dismiss it because Harry doesn't notice details. Hermione
does though.

>Carol:
> 
> And, sorry, Ken. I *do* insist that the lovely irony of Teen!Snape
> teaching Harry and Harry identifying with and defending him would be
> entirely lost if the HBP were anyone else. You're free to think
> otherwise, of course.
> 

Oh, I agree that this would kill that irony. It  occurs to me that if 
a writer wanted to fool a reader like Carol her best bet would be
to set out a delicious plate of irony and then cruelly knock it to the floor
in book 7 ;-)

I don't know if this goes anywhere or not. It is an apparently new
piece of out-of-the-box thinking. Do we have anything else to 
do right now? You're not going to outwit the unreliable narrartor
from inside the box.

Ken