Bathroom Scene - A Different Perspective.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165198

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Neri" <nkafkafi at ...> wrote:
>
Neri:
> Where is the canon that Hermione and Draco get better marks in
Snape's class than in Slughorn's? And more to the point, where is the
canon that they learn better or produce better potions in Snape's
lessons than in Slughorn's?

Carol:
Canon? Snape writes his Potions directions on the board with a flick
of his wand; he doesn't assign them from the book. He knows exactly
what can go wrong at every point in the experiment. Harry's mistakes
in Snape's Potions class almost always result from having missed a
step, from not following *Snape's* instructions exactly as they're
specified on the board. Draco, Hermione, and the resto of Slughorn's
NEWT Potions class (except for Harry and Ron) got O's on their
Potions OWLs learning from Snape. They know what they're doing or they
could not have received such high marks. Hermione understands
Golpalott's Law; Harry doesn't. And yet, suddenly, she's getting lower
marks and less praise from Slughorn than Harry, who is falsely
credited with having inherited his mother's talent for Potions. Harry
himself knows that he's cheating, that he wouldn't get any such
results without the HBP's book, which is borne out when he doesn't get
the expected results after hiding his book in the RoR and Slughorn,
still thinking that he's inherited his mother's talent and refusing to
see otherwise, makes excuses for him.

I can quote canon if you insist, but it's clear that Harry is using
someone else's notes to get results that he wouldn't have achieved had
he followed the standard text. He's not earning high marks through his
own work or his own understanding of potions. He's earning them
through *Snape's* hard work and understanding of the subject. He's
even rewarded for handing Slughorn a Bezoar instead of conducting the
antidotes experiment as Slughorn himself directed! And Hermione, who
does understand Golpalott's Law and has followed directions, is
ignored thanks to slughorn's mindless favoritism.

If Draco were using the HBP's book to get the results Harry is
getting, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't be recieving praise for
resourcefulness by members of this group. He'd be characterized as a
typical Slytherin cheat. But since it's Harry--the poor orphaned
Chosen One who's always been given a hard time by Snape--it's suddenly
okay. Sorry, but Harry should be held to the same standard as everyone
else. It's intellectually dishonest to present someone else's findings
as your own. Period.
>
Neri:
> On the contrary, it seems to me that it is Harry who is doing better
in Slughorn's class, not the rest of the class doing worse. It
definitely sounds like Harry was getting much better results, not only
in respect to the other students, but also in respect to his own past
results in Snape's class. This implies that it was Harry who was
suddenly using improved instructions, and not the other students
suddenly using degraded instructions. I conclude that Snape wasn't
including his own tips in his directions to the students. <snip>
>
Carol:
No one is arguing that Harry's instructions, the HBP's are not better
than Libatius Borage's. Of course they are. The HBP, Snape, has
improved on them through his own efforts. We're arguing that he
shouldn't be credited for being brilliant in Potions based on those
instructions. The hard work and Potions brilliance he's being credited
with are Snape's not his.

Harry's improved results are not his own, and they're the
result of Snape's instructions! And Hermione *is* having more trouble
than she's ever had in Potions, on which she previously got the
highest marks in the school (HBP 186). When did Hermione ever have
trouble in snape's class? Instead, she offered to help Neville put his
botched potion right, and succeeded in doing so. But in HBP, Hermione,
who has never had problems following the directions that Snape put on
the board (and immediately recognizes all the potions in Slughorn's
first class), is suddenly doing less well than Harry, who is
(unknowingly) following Snape's instructions:

"Hermione, of course, seemed to have progressed furthest. Her potion
already resembled the 'smooth black currant-colored liquid described
as the ideal halfway stage." Harry, meanwhile, has only finished
chopping up his roots and is struggling to cut up the sopophorous
beans. So far, so good. Situation normal. (Harry has also noted,
ironically as it happens, that Draco Malfoy "would have to rely on
nothing but talent to win the Felix Felicis" since he's failed to win
preferential treatment by mentioning his grandfather's name. Harry,
however, has the advantage of having a mother who was one of
Slughorn's favorites and for whose death he feels partly responsible.)
But then, as Harry borrows Hermione's silver knife to follow the HBP's
instructions, Hermione starts having unexpected trouble:

"She nodded impatiently, not taking her eyes off her potion, which was
still deep purple, though according to the book, ought to be turning a
light shade of lilac by now."

Harry meanwhile uses the silver knife to crush the sopophorous bean
(which he could not even crush by his own efforts). The bean
immediately exudes more juice than he would have thought it could hold
(more, undoubtedly, than Hermione's bean crushed by some other
method), adds it to the potion, and "*to his surprise* . . . the
potion immediately turned exactly the shade of lilac described by the
textbook." harry has outdone Hermione without having a clue what he's
doing by following the instructions of someone who *does* know what
he's doing as the result of his own experiments on improving potions.
Hermione, who has done exceptionally well in his class, earning the
highest marks in the school, is suddenly outdone by Harry, who doesn't
even know why his potion has turned the right color--outdone because
the Half-Blood was (and is) a Potions genius, the very same Potions
genius who has been teaching Hermione for five years.

Harry next follows the Prince's instructions, again the result of
Snape's research and experimentation, not Harry's, and adds a
clockwise stir after every six counterclockwise stirs while Hermione
is following the directions in the book and simply stirring
counterclockwise. The directions in the book, Snape's directions, are
producing better results than Libatius Borage's, but Harry has no idea
why no one else's potion is as pale as his.

Slughorn gives Hermione's potion an approving nod, then views Harry's
with "incredulous delight." He credits Harry with inheriting his
mother's Potions talent, declares him "the clear winner," and hands
him the bottle of Felix Felicis.

Note, please, that Harry feels *guilt* at this point: "Harry slipped
the tiny bottle of golden liquid into his inner pocket, feeling an odd
combination of delight at the furious looks of the Slytherins [who
know perfectly well that Harry is not a "dab hand" at Potions and have
earned O's, not E's, to get into the class] and *guilt* at the
disappointed expression on Hermione's" (191).

Now is the time for Harry to confess, after class and in private, that
he didn't know what he was doing and was following someone else's
instructions. Instead, he lets Slughorn think that the Half-Blood
Prince's genius is his own.

Neri:
> Yes, I think Harry wasn't exactly playing fair when achieving his
fame based on material he never told his teacher or other students
about. But then, academic life at Hogwarts don't strike me as very
fair to begin with. It was also not fair that Harry was picked on by
his potions teacher for five years, but do we ever hear any objections
from any staff member?
>
Carol:
So Snape's sarcasm and Harry's own less than stellar marks in Potions,
often caused by his not paying attention (and, again, I can cite
canon) are somehow a justification for him to take credit for skill
and knowledge he doesn't deserve, including wining the bottle of Felix
Felicis that should have gone to Hermione? Sorry, but Snape's
unfairness does not justify cheating on Harry's part. And I'll bet you
wouldn't think it did if the Half-Blood Prince were anyone other than
Snape, any more than you'd think it was right for Draco to achieve
unexpectedly improved results using the HBP's book.

Snape's unfairness has nothing to do with the matter, nor does Harry
bring Snape into it. He blithely accepts the bottle of Felix and
Slughorn's praise and high marks all year. But he knows full well who
the Potions genius really is, which is why he hides his book and lies
to Snape after the Sectumsempra incident, and why his Potions results
go back to his usual sub-Hermione performance once he no longer has
the use of someone else's notes. Had he known whose book it was, he'd
never have used it and Slughorn would never mistakenly have credited
him with someone else's genius.

Carol, who wishes that Harry's conscience would actually prevent him
from doing what he knows is wrong rather than merely making him feel a
bit guilty and then forget about it