First potions lesson/Harry getting special treatment

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 145955

 
> Sherry now:
> 
> Are we viewing this incident now from the point of view of having 
read five
> more books since SS/PS?

Potioncat:
Not only having read all the books, and read them more than once, but 
also years of discussing it. Most of us have dormant movie 
contamination and very active cases of HPfGU contamination. None of 
us are pure anymore.

Sherry:
  After all, in that very first lesson, we didn't
> know about James and Snape.  we didn't know Snape hated Harry's 
father.  we
> didn't have the never ending good/bad Snape debate yet.  Did anyone 
read
> this first potions lesson the very first time and think, yeah, he's 
just
> being a tough teacher, impressing on the class how Harry is nothing 
special,
> keeping up his death eater role or anything else?

Potioncat:
After identifying the stock "mean foster family who treat the orphan 
like dirt" that the Hero has escaped, I thought he was the follow on 
stock "very mean teacher who makes the young Hero's life Hell." I 
gave him very little thought at all. (Hard to believe now, I know.)

It wasn't until someone slipped out the information that Snape wasn't 
the bad guy that I started to look at him differently. That and 
Quirrell telling us that Snape let teachers think he wanted to throw 
the Quidditch game he was reffing when really he was protecting 
Harry. We have canon that Snape does things for reasons that aren't 
what they seem. 


Sherry:
  Even though I never
> thought Snape was the one after the stone in that book, I still 
understood
> why the trio might think so.


Potioncat:
Oh, of course, the kids had very good reasons for thinking he was the 
bad guy. It was a nice set up.