Half-Blood Prince and Sectumsempra

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 183807

> > Carol responds:
> > 
> > <snip>
> > (The little cut on James's cheek
> > doesn't count; clearly he was not "cut always.")
> 
> Pippin:
> But clearly it *is* supposed to count. Why else would JKR have had
> Snape cause that particular injury? If I know anything about young
> men, James would have been mortified to go to Madame Pomfrey over a
> slight cut on his cheek. As for squealing on a classmate, he'd have
> died first. 

Mike:
I agree with Pippin, both on the cut counting and on what James would 
have done about it. What was he going to do, complain that Snape got 
him back for hanging him upside down and filling his mouth with soap 
bubbles for no reason?  

Curious isn't it, James would have had a scar on his face just like 
Harry.

I'd like to point out that George wasn't "cut always" either. Sure, 
he couldn't have had his ear replaced because it was severed with 
dark magic. But that's quite the moot point considering they didn't 
drop down to the ground in the middle of the chase to pick up the 
severed ear, now did they? There was no ear to re-attach.

What I'm talking about is that George's bleeding *was* staunched. He 
wasn't "cut always" regardless of what was cut off. Two different 
things here. Knitting a wound versus re-attaching a severed piece. If 
you can't stop the bleeding from a Septumsempra wound without a 
specific counter-curse, then George should still be bleeding to this 
day. 

But clearly Molly stopped the bleeding, just as James must have had 
someone help him stop the bleeding, and Snape stopped Draco's 
bleeding. Harry doesn't know how to stop bleeding, he says so in the 
beginning of DH. Harry was not going to stop Draco's bleeding.

And before you say it; a generic counter-curse, such as Finite 
Incantatum, is still called a "counter-curse" though it can counter 
any number of hexes or curses. So Snape's "counter-curse" that he 
uses on Draco doesn't have to be specific to Sectumsempra. I still 
rather think it wasn't. He had to go over the wounds three times to 
knit the wounds completely, then he still thought Draco needed 
Dittany to prevent scarring. My impression of a specific counter-
curse is that you only have to use it once as long as you hit your 
target (not a problem in this case) and that a specific counter-curse 
completely reverses the effects of the curse. No need to worry about 
scars because a specific counter-curse makes it as if the original 
curse was never cast. 

JMHO,

Mike, who does agree with Carol on questioning Lupin's comment, but 
then I question all of Lupin's comments ;-)