CHAPDISC: HBP28, Flight of the Prince

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 163587

 "colebiancardi"  wrote:

Potioncat:

Thank- you for a very good summary, and very original questions. I 
enjoyed answering them.


> DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
> 
> 1.	Why so much blood? The blood in the corridor by the tower, 
bloody
> footprints, blood on the flagstones. Who was wounded? Malfoy? Snape?
> The blond DE? The brother & sister act was behind Harry, so it could
> not have been them.  

Potioncat:
Oh, I never noticed it before! Harry runs through a pool of blood, 
and his trainers are
slippery with it.I suppose everyone else ran through it too. But 
wouldn't you expect only a few footprints from the blood? I mean, 
would the blood still be on the shoes by the time they had reached 
the entrance hall? Maybe JKR got carried away. It's starting to 
remind me of our first meeting with Slughorn, except I can't think of 
any reason for there to be a hoax here.
> 
> 2.	Harry's state of mind is understandably chaotic and confused 
Yet,
> Harry seems to be holding his own with the Death Eaters and he is 
able
> to jinx them successfully. However, against Snape, he was unable to
> get one jinx or curse off fully. Why is that?
 
AND
> 
> 3.	Since Snape is able to deflect every one of Harry's spells, 
do you
> think that Snape is an extremely powerful wizard or do you think it 
is
> due to Harry's lack of experience in comparison with Snape? If the
> latter, explain why Harry didn't have this problem in the battle 
from
> Order of the Phoenix? If the former, who trained Snape to be so 
powerful?

Potioncat:
Well, of course "I" think Snape is an extremely powerful wizard, so 
my saying so will impress no one.

I think one of JKR's weaknesses is her description of battles. The 
DEs are pretty lame,
both here and at the MoM. I mean, Fenrir is horrible, and Amycus is 
bad, but the fighting
skills are less than stellar. Of course, Harry did pretty well 
against LV, too. Why is it so much harder for him to best Snape? 

I'm not sure if JKR is showing us that Snape is powerful, or if 
Harry's emotions are in the way. Snape's emotins get in the way of 
his dealing with Harry and Harry's emotions get in the way of his 
dealing with Snape. Of course, I think Snape has been using 
Legilimency to one degree or another on Harry for 6 years now. So 
perhaps it's become very easy for him to know what Harry is about to 
do.
> 
> 4.	Much discussion has already been had on whether Snape was 
imparting
> his last lesson to Harry with his advice of no Unforgivable Curses,
> his reference to Harry's lack of nerve and ability, and his
> instruction to shut his mouth and close his mind. Explain why you
> think Snape did this if it was not in order to help Harry in the 
long run.

Potioncat:
For the fun of answering the question in the way it was asked:
Because he is an Evil-Overlord-In-Traning and he is making one of the 
errors that Evil Overlords make; he is taunting the hero with the 
very information the hero needs.

I shouldn't have said that.

> 
> 5.	Snape has the same expression of hatred on his face as he did 
right
> before he killed Dumbledore. This is right before he tells Harry 
that
> he is the Half-Blood Prince. A lot of discussion has been generated
> around this expression when we've talked about Dumbledore's death 
and
> the parallel of Harry's feelings in the cave. We've never talked 
about
> this particular chapter and this same expression on Snape's face. Do
> you think it really is the same expression? The same feelings behind
> it? Those who believe that Harry's feelings of hatred and revulsion
> are the same as Snape's look of hatred and revulsion (self-loathing,
> perhaps?), explain this same expression that it is this chapter. I
> hope question made sense!! 

Potioncat:
In this section Harry first thinks Snape is torturing him; then hears 
Snape
tell the siblings to stop; then Harry thinks that he hates Snape as 
much as LV;
and then the line, "but Harry was mere feet away now and he could see 
Snape's face clearly 
at last: He was no longer sneering or jeering...a face full of rage."
So, was Snape never sneering and jeering just like he wasn't the one 
casting
the Cruciatus? 

It seems that Snape is enraged by the beginning Sectumsempra and 
Levicorpus and
he yells about filthy James Potter using his own curses against him. 
It really seems out
of place at this particular moment. He also announces then that he is 
the Half-Blood Prince.
I thnk that will be very important later, but I'm not sure if Snape 
is yelling it out in uncontrolled
anger or if he has a reason for telling Harry now.
> 
> 6.	Snape loses his sardonic cool when Harry calls him a coward 
and
> refers to Dumbledore's death. This is the only time during the 
battle
> that Snape actually hits Harry with a curse. Why did Snape show his
> weakness to Harry? What was it about that statement that pushed 
Snape
> over the edge?  Harry called Snape a coward earlier, yet Snape just
> jeered at him then. Was it really about being called a coward or 
that
> Harry accuses Snape of killing Dumbledore?  This is my favorite
> question, BTW.  I can't wait to read the responses.

Potioncat:
The description of Snape was painful. He's compared to the howling 
dog trapped
in the burning hut. What is JKR trying to tell us? This description 
is part of the reason I think Snape is loyal to DD. He would be 
gloating if he was LV's minion.

 Some have suggested that Snape is still thinking of James at this 
moment, because Snape was just yelling about James. Also, the 
slashing in air, and the white-hot whiplike hit across Harry's face 
could be something like the curse Severus used on James after OWLs. 
Although Harry seems more affected, and we don't hear of any blood. 
But I think he's back to DD at this moment. Still...the uncertain use 
of pronouns leaves it up in the air.

Nothing Snape has done as an adult has indicated any cowardice, so 
it's very hard to 
understand why that triggered the reaction. My feeling is that it has 
to do with his killing Dumbledore. It could mean he did it for an 
overall good, and knows he will seen as a
coward, or it could mean he himself wonders if he may have done it 
out of cowardice. I'm beginning to believe that the Tower events were 
completely unanticipated.
> 
> 7.	When a DE curses Harry, Snape states that "Potter belongs to 
the
> Dark Lord" and the curse is lifted.  However, that doesn't explain 
why
> Snape only deflects Harry's spells during the battle. Snape could 
have
> issued a "Petrificus Totalus" curse on Harry, which would not have
> harmed him. Why didn't Snape do such a spell?  And who lifted the
> curse from Harry?

Potioncat:
I think whichever sibling was casting it, stopped it on Snape's 
orders. Good question about Snape's other options. Again, is this 
JKR's battle scene style? Or was Snape using every last moment to 
train Harry?
> 
> 8.	Hagrid has always defended Snape's trustworthiness. Why is 
that? Is
> it just because of Dumbledore's steadfastness or something else? 
After
> all, Hagrid was around at Hogwart's when Snape was a student - does 
he
> know something more about Snape than the rest of the Order?

Potioncat:
Yes. I just went back to SS/PS ch 11  to make sure I didn't have 
movie-contamination. Turns out I did. Hagrid's support is pretty 
strong. His support is based on Snape, not on DD's trust of Snape.
We see it again in GoF...I don't have the canon for that one, but he 
seems amused at Snape's attitude in GoF.  He's very certain Snape 
wouldn't have killed DD. Of course, Hagrid has been wrong before.

 We know Hagrid liked James and Lily, but I'm not sure when he really 
befriended them, as students or as adults. It's possible he had 
befriended Severus as a student similarly to the way he befriended 
Harry. It's very likely he knew Eileen. 
> 
> 9.	Do you think Harry got rid of important clues when he 
rearranged
> Dumbledore's glasses and wiped the blood away?

Potioncat:
Well, he just straighened the glasses. They hadn't fallen off or 
broken. And there's the 
blood again. The fact that it isn't dry may be a clue, or it may be 
dramatic effect. 
> 
> 10.	This is some background information for the question 10:
	  a) 
> "Samatha Scattergood for Waterstones - Which is your favourite 
member
> of the Order of the Phoenix? JK Rowling: I keep killing all my
> favourite members of the Order of the Phoenix, but there is one 
member
> of the Order of the Phoenix that you have not yet met properly and 
you
> will ­­ well, you know that they are a member, but you haven't really
> met them properly yet and you will meet them in seven, so I am 
looking
> forward to that." 		
>   b) "Peter O'Brien for Easons Ireland - Are you going introduce any
> new characters in the final book?  JK Rowling: There will be some
> characters who you don't know particularly well, and there may be a
> couple of new characters, but nobody really major. You know pretty
> much the cast list by now"
> 
> So, the question is about R.A.B.- if RAB is not Regulus Black, who 
is
> it?  If you believe it is Regulus, do you think he is really dead or
> in hiding (RE: Dumbledore's conversation with Draco). If in hiding,
> why didn't Dumbledore already know that this locket was not the real
> Horcrux? Why would he put himself through the whole experience in 
the
> cave? Was it a setup? 
> 
> Interview quotes from:
> 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4690000/newsid_4690800/469088
5.stm

Potioncat:
I think he's Regulus. I think he's dead. I don't think he had been an 
Order member and I don't
think DD had any information about the locket from RAB. (Just in case 
it isn't Regulus.) Maybe RAB expected to die as he destroyed the 
Horcrux, or maybe he expected to die for some other reason. He didn't 
expect LV to find out any time soon about the locket switch.

Phineas Nigellus Black said something along the line of "given a 
choice, a Slytherin would save his own neck." That's been taken as 
resounding proof of Slytherin self-centeredness. Well, heck, if you 
had to do something brave and could come out of it alive wouldn't 
that be better than being dead? But if the chips were really down and 
you had no choice but to risk the sacrifice, would you do it? I don't 
think it's a given that a Slytherin cough*Regulus-or-Severus*cough 
wouldn't make that choice. 

> 
> 11.	Did you feel that Dumbledore's death at Snape's hands was 
subtle?
> Or too obvious and expected? Was this in keeping with Rowling's 
normal
> style of ending her books?

Potioncat:
I didn't expect it. No this book doesn't end like the others. I think 
JKR is being honest when she says book 6 and book 7 are like one book 
(Or something like that.)