Potions, the Book, and a New/Old Perspective

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 165316

> > Magpie:
> > It's crazy. I'm not even Hermione and I wouldn't accept working 
with
> inferior instructions. It's common sense. But then, Hermione's 
idea of
> genius often seems foreign to me.


> Carol responds:
> Yes, but what Hermione does is a side issue. It has nothing to do 
with
> the rightness or wrongness of Harry's behavior, and she's 
absolutely
> right that Harry is getting credit for someone else's work, for
> Potions brilliance he doesn't have, and that it's unfair to the
> students who *do* know what they're doing and work hard to achieve
> their results. 

Magpie:
I agree-it's totally a side issue. I was just saying that, on the 
side, I can't personally identify with Hermione's wanting to use 
official instructions rather than the Prince's. I would be all over 
notes in the book. I don't share Hermione's fondness of authority 
for authority's sake--on that issue I almost always zig instead of 
zag. 

But I would also, as I said, think that the whole class should have 
access to them. Class doesn't have to be a competition. I wouldn't 
say it's always wrong for a teacher to use competition in a class. 
I'm sure it's just one of many things that can be used in different 
learning situations. Some students might respond to it well. But I 
don't think there's anything very good in it in this context. (And 
in general I really think Slughorn's attitude is dreadful for a 
teacher--it's partly why I'm surprised when people call him "the 
Good Slytherin"). It's too bad the Prince's book is shared between 
Hermione, who would keep the information from everyone because it's 
not officially approved to her standards (heh--why does that make me 
think of Umbridge?), Harry, who seizes on it only as a personal gift 
for himself that he uses to his advantage, especially compared to 
the other students, and Ron, who can't be bothered to care.

It's a bit ironic that Snape himself, as I read it, puts the 
students on a level playing field at his own level. However he 
dislikes the Gryffindors, he isn't giving them the official book 
while the Slytherins get his improvements. He more goes the 
Hufflepuff way in that regard. It's Harry who takes what most would 
consider the Slytherin attitude.

Geoff:
Harry has used the book to produce good results. As has been
observed, he has had the ability to translate the information in
the book into the correct end-product and that has involved his
own skill. You can give me a detailed recipe book and I will still
make a pig's ear of the resulting meal... as can Neville.

Magpie:
But clearly in canon, imo, this *isn't* what Harry is being praised 
for and he knows it. Slughorn says things like, "Wow, adding 
peppermint! Great idea!"  He begins to filter everything Harry does 
in class through the idea of his being a genius. He's specifically 
praising the Prince's additions as if Harry thought of them himself. 
And in class, Harry is thought to be using the exact tools as 
everyone else--the textbook. When he gets better results Slughorn 
*thinks* it's becuase he's better at translating the information 
into a correct end-product while others make pig's ears, but really 
the other kids are using different instructions. So Harry's got the 
detailed recipe book and the other kids have bad recipe books, or 
not detailed recipe books. They're quite possibly being *better* 
students than Harry in doing as well as they do with the 
instructions they have.

So however fine it is to use better instructions, Harry is not 
deserving of the reputation he gets as being so much better than the 
other students. And he hasn't done any of the work you describe 
going into your notes in chemistry. Harry does happily take credit 
for "improving" the recipes himself instead of just following them.

-m