Snape as Neville's teacher (was:Re: Snape as Noble teache...

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 168412

> Dana:
>  He does not help the healing of the 
> petrified in CoS because it does not require his help. 

zgirnius:
This is debatable. The cure was effected by administering a Potion 
which includes as its main ingredient the root of a mature Mandrake 
plant. Madam Pomfrey administered it, but we do not know who brewed 
it. I believe it was Snape, my canon follows.

> CoS, Chapter 9:
> "We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore 
patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some 
Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have 
a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."

> "I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred 
times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep -"

> "Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions 
master at this school."

zgirnius:
This passage confirms Dumbledore needs to 'have a potion made', and 
since no one reacts negatively to Snape's claim, I would suppose he 
is the one who normally makes potions when they are needed by the 
school. And, in particular, that he made that one when the time came.

Of course, a Basilisk is a Dark Creature.<g>

Dana:
> More like a pharmacist knowing which 
> medicine to give you ones the illness is diagnosed, a pharmacist is 
> still not a doctor, he will know which medicine should not be taken 
> together and he will know the side effects of every medicine he 
ever 
> prescribed but again this still does not make him a doctor. 

zgirnius:
This seems to me a semantic argument. Surely pharmacist is one of the 
healing professions? In many countries they can sell things like 
antibiotics based on a customer's account of their symptoms, which 
certainly can cure certain diseases. In response to your later 
comments about Snape stabilizing people so the specialists at St. 
Mungo's could heal them, surely being a paramedic is also one of the 
healing professions? 

I know some people have suggested Snape's first job out of school was 
to enter training to become a Healer, something we have no canon for 
or against. (As he seems not to have been wealthy like James, he must 
have had some job before Hogwarts, but we have not been told what). 
Certainly, as a student fresh out of Hogwarts, he probably had the 
right competencies to be considered for that job. Per OotP, "Career 
Advice" it requires NEWTs in:

- Potions (check)
- Herbology (he seems to know his plant ingredients, adding 
peppermint to banish side effects, knowing the best way to juice a 
sopophorus bean, etc.)
- Transfiguration (this could be his weak area, I suppose, I can't 
think of an instance we have seen him use it - but then, he could 
have studied hard as Harry did for his Potions OWL)
- Charms (Levicorpus and Liberacorpus are spells of that type, if he 
can invent 'em, he can do well in the class if he applies himself)
- DADA (check)

So it certainly seems like a career to which he could reasonably have 
aspired, more than that we could not say.

Ay any rate, in the case of Katie Bell he would have had to make the 
diagnosis before treating her, because no one else competent to do so 
was available. Apparently, he managed.

> Dana:
> also is proof of that Sirius's 
> claim in GoF that Snape was famous for this knowledge is true. 

zgirnius:
This is a fallacious argument; its conclusion does not follow from 
the premise. That adult Snape knows something does not imply 11 year 
old Sevvie was famous for it. For example, I am a Mathematics PhD; 
but anyone at my high school will remember me as that kid that won  
English and foreign languages prizes. Math was my weakest subject.

Regarding Neville, Goyle, and their boils - I suspect Snape was 
sending them off to Madam Pomfrey so that she could administer the 
potion for curing them which he had made. He definitely knows how to -
 it is the effect Neville's potion in PS/SS *would have* had, if he 
had made it correctly.

zgirnius, who loves Snape, and figures that, as making personal 
statements about him is apparently de rigueur, she may as well join 
in.