CHAPDISC: HBP9, The Half-Blood Prince

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 147675


AyanEva:

>At one point, Snape bumps Ron 
> aside and attempts to silently hex Harry in demonstration for Ron. 
> Harry, however, reacts automatically and casts a really powerful 
> Shield Charm, which knocks Snape into a desk. Naturally Professor 
> Snape is not very happy about this and assigns Harry detention for 
> Saturday night. 
> 
> After class, Harry is complaining about Snape and mentions that it 
> sounds as if the man adores the Dark Arts, judging by the way that 
he 
> was describing them to the class during his introduction. Hermione 
> makes a good point when she says that Harry has spoken of the Dark 
> Arts in almost the same manner. 

Potioncat:
One little point. Snape doesn't give Harry detention for knocking him 
into the desk, but for Harry's cheek afterwards. As for Hermione, I 
think she's providing canon for what many of us have noticed over the 
years, Harry and Snape are a lot alike. 
> 
>
>AyanEva: 
 It almost seems like JKR is, in 
> essence, sticking a neon sign around certain skill areas of 
> particular individuals; areas that I had not previously associated 
> with these people. Are these really specific skill sets that are at 
> least some of the exact elements with which to defeat Voldemort? 

Potioncat:
I had the same feeling in OoP when the students were reading the 
requirements for certain careers. She seemed to be giving us random 
bits of information, but I can't help but think it will be important.


>AyanEva: 
> -In the DADA class, of particular interest is the exact quote by 
> Snape on page 177 (US HB), " `The Dark Arts,' said Snape, `are 
many, 
> varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting 
a 
> many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a 
> head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that 
> which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.'" 

Potioncat:
Well, ESE!Snape would be saying the Dark Arts are supreme, wouldn't 
he? DDM!Snape would be saying that it is an unending battle. That 
what you are fighting changes and becomes different. You know, Harry 
wasn't tempted by Draco's "right sort of people" or the Hat's "you 
can be great" but he was lured by the HBP's spells. And he has fallen 
into the tempatation to use Dark Arts against Dark Wizards.


But for stuff like 
> Transfiguration and DADA, what exactly are they doing that makes 
the 
> homework so horrifically complex?

Potioncat:
I snipped the part where you said "just for fun" but I think "fun" is 
part of it. JKR is presenting a Wizarding school that provides the 
same sort of challenges that RL school offers. We can all (no matter 
how young or old) understand the challenge of a difficult 
report/assignment. The fun is for us readers as we feel for the kids 
doing the work.

 
> 
> -I still am not entirely convinced that Harry got the HBP book by 
> accident. I have to wonder if someone (a professor) knew what was 
in 
> the book. That then leaves me with the question of:  If someone 
> wanted Harry to have the book, who was it? 

Potioncat:
Well, my opinion is that it just happened. But, I'll play. The three 
suspects would be DD, Snape and Slughorn. From his reaction in the 
bathroom, I don't think it was Snape. Given Snape's reaction, I can't 
imagine DD would condone Harry's having the book either. That leaves 
Slughorn, but what possible reason could he have? If he knew how much 
better the HBP's instructions were than the books, I'd think Slughorn 
would teach them. 

I think the book and young Snape were parted. (the book was lost, the 
book was stolen, Snape was called away abruptly at the end of the 
year...don't know) I suspect that the book was in Slughorn's boxes of 
stuff and brought back to school. Or had been at the bottom of a 
cabinet badly in need of re-orgnizing...for many years. But I don't 
think Snape knew the book was there. It's very similar to the map, 
which had been confiscated while the Marauders were kids and later 
used by a different generation.
 
 
> -Slughorn mentions Lily was good at potions. Did Lily write in the 
> book at all? I doubt it since everything that is in the book, so 
far, 
> is in the same handwriting. But maybe something will come up later 
> about Lily and her connection to potions. All we hear about is 
> charms. 

Potioncat:
It would be interesting to know if Lily was as good at potions as 
Slughorn says. If so, he may be truely assuming that Harry gets his 
skills from  her. Since she was Head Girl, there's reason to think 
she was an exceptional student. From what I've seen at this site, 
academics usually play a role in that position. I don't think there's 
any reason to think Severus and Lily worked together or swapped the 
book. In fact, Lily's skill at potions is sort of a red herring. It 
leads us to think it was her book while Harry is thinking it was 
James's. And it plays into LOLLIPOPS.

Very good review and questions!