First lesson WAS: Re: Marietta, was Slytherin's Reputation

[jkoney65]

No: HPFGUIDX 185853

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> jkoney
> > <snip>
> > It was Snape who matched Malfoy and Harry together instead of
> letting Harry and Ron practice. <snip>
> 
> Carol responds:
> 
> Which was a good plan since Ron's wand was backfiring! And pairing
> Harry with Draco gave Harry incentive to try harder than he would 
with
> Ron.

jkoney:
Snape obviously knew that Malfoy knew more than the average spells. 
It was just his way of trying to get Harry shown up in front of alot 
of people. Is it petty, yes, but that is how Snape acted especially 
early on in the series.


> Carol:
> I'm not sure about the Serpensortia spell, but it *may* have been
> Snape's way of testing to see whether Harry was a Parselmouth. It
> certainly served that purpose whether it was his intention or not. 
And
> Snape easily Vanished the snake before it could do any harm.

jkoney:
I think you are missing the point entirely. Malfoy and Harry should 
have never been chosen to demonstrate. Why would you choose two 
wizards with almost no experience for a demonstration when you have 
the upper years also there.

No this was just Snape trying to embarrass Harry. His whispers with 
Draco telling him what advanced spell to use definitely let us know 
that.

Why would Snape have thought Harry was a parseltounge? There was no 
reason for suspecting it. So no we can definitely rule out the 
testing Harry theory.

> Carol
> In addition, had Snape not demonstrated Expelliarmus to the entire
> Duelling Club, Harry might never have learned it. No DADA teacher,
> including Lupin (who specialized in magical creatures) ever taught 
it,
> nor does it seem like a spell that Harry would have needed for the 
TWT.
> 

jkoney:
Actually, Harry's year was studying magical creatures. Other years 
were learning whatever was required for their level. We just see 
Lupin teaching creatures because that is what Harry is learning.

Carol:
> Like it or not, Harry owes his knowledge of Expelliarmus to Snape--
and
> Harry acknowledges as much in CoS.
> 
jkoney:
Harry did see Snape demonstrate Expelliarmus. Who knows if it was 
taught in class. We didn't get to see it, because Harry had already 
figured it out. And Harry was just getting a dig in at the useless 
Lockhart who was running away until he was stopped by two eleven year 
olds.