CHAPDISC: HBP24, Sectumsempra

[Cyril A Fernandes]

No: HPFGUIDX 161291

Cyril here

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...>
wrote:
>
> >
> Carol responds:
> But what I was wondering when I wrote the question is why the spell
> requires a chantlike countercurse rather than a single word or phrase
> (contrast Levicorpus/Liberacorpus). Clearly "Finite Incantatem" would
> not counter Sectumsempra or Snape would have used it, and even
> Levicorpus requires its own countercurse. Perhaps Sectumsempra
> requires a stronger, more complex countercurse simply because it's a
> stronger, more complex spell than Levicorpus, not to mention Darker
> magic, but when have we seen anything resembling this chantlike spell
> in a language Harry doesn't understand (perhaps Latin, perhaps not)? 
> 
> Possibly, Snape discovered through experiments (presumably not on his
> schoolmates or he'd have been expelled) that no simple, one-word
> countercurse could undo the effects of Sectumsempra and searched the
> records for some ancient healing spell that could counter it, a spell
> that he alone of modern wizards has memorized. Or perhaps he sat down
> and invented that complex, chanted countercurse based on what ancient
> wizards had done to counter similar Dark spells. Wither way, the spell
> is unusually complex, it's songlike, it's powerfully magical, and its
> magic is that of healing, not destruction.
> 
> What does it tell us about Snape that he would invent or seek out such
> a spell? Snape seems almost motherly, but also very powerful, as he
> sings it.
> 
> Carol, who was reminded of Gregorian chant when she read the
> description of the countercurse
>


Cyril here:

IMO, Snape is probably one of the few people who can *reverse* the
impact of Sectumsempra, because it is his own spell. However, IMO,
that does not necessarily mean that he had knowledge of ancient (or
even modern) healing magic, which could counter such damaging magic.

The reason for this opinions was the following examples:

Why was Snape not able to heal himself when he was presumably (as it
is Harry's assumption about the cause) bitten by Fluffy in SS/PS.
While there is no canon (other than Harry's assumption) about the
cause, Snape clearly was limping, and should have been able to heal
himself.

Again, Snape was not able to help Arthur Weasly when he was bitten by
Nagini, and the wounds were not healing for quite some time.

Both the above wounds could be magical in a sense, that they were
caused by magical beings, and probably had something that prevented
the *normal* magical cures from being effective.

Cyril, totally agreeing with Carol and other posters on the view that
Snape used advanced, complex magic to help heal Draco, but does not
seem to show the same capability in some other instances.