Marietta, was Slytherin's Reputation

[jkoney65]

No: HPFGUIDX 185669

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "littleleahstill" 
<leahstill at ...> wrote:
>
>Leah: 
> 
> You know, it's not exactly unheard of for a teacher to single out 
one 
> student to answer questions.  It does happen in classrooms from 
time to 
> time.  Is Snape just acting like a 'normal' teacher here? No, I 
don't 
> think that he is.  Does he have reasons for singling out Harry? Yes:
> 
> 1. It's his job to protect Harry - it would help to know what Harry 
is 
> like.
> 
> 2. The whole James/Lily thing and more specifically: Is Harry 
arrogant 
> like his father? Is he a potions whizz like his mother?  
> 
> 3. Is Harry a potential Dark Lord?  


jkoney:
It's not unheard of to quiz a student in class. Except that these 
students haven't had any study of this subject nor were they assigned 
any reading before the first class.

Snape already knows that Harry wasn't raised in a wizarding home. Not 
only does the entire WW know that, but Snape is partially responsible 
for that happening. So Harry having any knowledge of potions is a 
rather slim idea.

I'm not sure how Harry knowing potions answers will determine how 
Snape will protect him. Nor how it will help determine if he is a 
dark lord.

A smarter way would have been to observe Harry and see how he 
interacts with others and how he responds to being around a bunch of 
wizards.

Leah:
> And because we see this all from Harry's perspective, we are 
> deliberately given the impression that Snape is setting out to 
> humiliate Harry, but really, wny would Snape think Harry couldn't 
> answer the questions?  He's had his potions textbooks for a 
month,and 
> we know that in fact he has read them; we learn that when he's at 
the 
> Dursleys' and are reminded of it again while Snape is questioning 
him.  
> He just hasn't taken them in. The information required to answer 
has to 
> be in the textbooks because Hermione, a muggleborn, manages to know 
all 
> the answers. Snape also knew Harry's parents at school and very 
> probably shared classes with them. We know from McGonagall that 
James 
> was bright and did well at school, and we have Slughorn's opinion 
of 
> Lily's potions prowess, so it is not unlikely that Harry is going 
to be 
> a child who is interested and does well academically.  
> 

jkoney:
It's not the narrator that makes us think that Snape is out to 
embarrass Harry it's Snapes actions.

He starts off by singling Harry out as a celebrity and doesn't make 
comments about any other student. He asks Harry a question and Harry 
doesn't know the answer. Instead of calling on someone else he sticks 
with questioning Harry. When the other students snicker at Harry he 
doesn't do what most other teachers would do and make one of those 
people answer, he sticks with Harry and insults him by saying that 
celebrity isn't everything.


Leah:
> Unfortunately, Harry doesn't know the answers and makes matters 
worse 
> by cheeking Snape. We know this is how Harry copes with the 
Dursleys, 
> but Snape doesn't. It's just cheek and raises the James factor in 
> Snape's eyes.  From then on, it's downhill all the way.
> 
jkoney:
Harry responds to this bully like every other bully he has run 
across, with humor. And Harry didn't insult Snape, he deflected the 
issue to someone who knew the answer. Trying to take the spotlight 
off of himself. 


Leah: 
> It would be foolish to deny that Snape is never petty or vindictive 
or 
> overdoes the sarcasm. But equally his behaviour can be 
exaggerated.  
> The trio and Neville are not the only Gryffindor students in 
Snape's 
> potions class but we don't see him reacting badly with any of the 
> others.  

jkoney:
Well it could be that he has his targets already picked out.

Leah:
And yes, Snape is an adult, but he is, 
> like Sirius, a damaged and emotionally retarded adult, who gets 
> absolutely no teaching support from his headmaster.

jkoney:
As for the scene with the headmaster, I thought Dumbledore handled it 
quite well. DD responds that he has gotten good reports from other 
teachers. He could have specifically pointed out to Snape that the 
problems were caused by Snape since no one else is reporting the same 
thing as him. Instead he hoped that Snape would realize on his own.