Frogs, Cats and Sadistic Teachers (was:Re: Teaching Styles)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 148074

 
> Neri:
 I suspect that when Harry had to
> cut his own hand with a magic quill in Umbridge's detention, he was
> actually suffering much less than Neville when he had to cut and
> disembowel a barrel full of toads in Snape's detention (GoF, Ch. 
14).
> And of course, Snape knew that Neville's pet is a toad and that
> Neville would come out of this detention "in a state of nervous
> collapse". Subtlety here means knowing your victim's personal
> vulnerabilities and exploiting them to hurt him the most,....

Potioncat:
Contrast this with the DADA lesson later in the same chapter. Crouch!
Moody uses the Cruciatus on a spider, causing Neville to go into a 
state, so that C!M could "comfort" him later and give him the book 
Harry would need for the challenge. That's sadistic!

No apologies, Snape is mean. 

Why did Snape choose that particular punishment for Neville? I don't 
know. Maybe he needed a supply of bowel-free frogs, or a supply of 
frog entrails for a Potions class and gave the job to Neville. How do 
you think Potion Makers get eye of this and tongue of that? 
Witchcraft isn't pleasant.

I've always thought the frogs were dead. Just like the big container 
of cats we had to use for dissection in my anatomy class when I was 
studying nursing. Did it break my heart to see all those sweet little 
cats? Yep. Did I continue with the course? Yep.  

(We named our cat, Frills)

Potioncat