Snape and dementors Was Re: Why does Dumbledore make Snape DADA teacher?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 158601

Steven1965aaa wrote:
> 
> IMO Snape would not be as effective at dealing with Dementors 
> through the Patronus charm because his "happy memory" would not have 
> the same power as Harry's.  IMO the patronus charm is a "love" charm 
> and that's why Harry's is so powerful.  I don't mean "love" charm in 
> the sense of love potion --- I mean that the swelling of emotion and 
> feeling associated with a happy memory would make the spell 
> powerful, just like Harry's swelling of feeling made Voldemort's 
> possession of him in the ministry intolerable for Voldemort. Just a 
> guess of course, and I don't mean to say that Snape would not be 
> capable of generating some measure of positive emotion, but this 
> would explain why Harry is so good at this particular charm.
>

Carol responds:
Whether that's true for snape or not, the point is that he presented
an alternative protection against Dementors to the students in his
NEWT DADA class. Harry rejected the idea, whatever it was, because the
Patronus works for him. 

Harry practiced on a Boggart!Dementor, failed to use the charm
correctly when confronted with a large number of real Dementors, then
succeeded in casting against Dementors who were attacking his PAST
self because he had seen his FUTURE self doing it. After that
experience, dealing with two Dementors attacking him and Dudley wasn't
all that difficult.

However, the other students in Snape's DADA class have learned, at
most, how to cast a Patronus in the Room of Requirement faced with
nothing more threatening than each other. They haven't even practiced
it against a Boggart (which wouldn't conveniently turn into a Dementor
for them, anyway). It's one thing to think of a happy memory in the
RoR and quite another to think of one when you're facing a Dementor
intent of sucking out your happiness and your soul. And the students
who weren't in the DA (including Draco Malfoy and the other
Slytherins) don't have even that much experience with casting a Patronus.

If, as Snape's assignment suggests, there's more than one way to deal
with a Boggart, then it was quite reasonable and sensible of him to
teach that method. And Harry is only assuming that he'll get a low
mark on the essay for disagreeing with Snape. We have no indication
that that really happened.

At any rate, if you're right that Snape would have trouble conjuring
up a happy memory, then he'd be likely to know--or discover--an
alternate method. (I imagine that Occlumency would protect him
personally from Dementors, but I doubt that it's his alternate method
or the narrator would have mentioned it.) IMO, HBP shows that Snape
really is a DADA expert. Too bad Harry doesn't realize that and
cooperate in learning nonverbal defensive spells.

Carol, hoping that Hermione, who fainted when she faced multiple
Dementors in PoA, will demonstrate Snape's alternative method for
dealing with them in Book 7