DH reread CH 30

Carol justcarol67 at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 29 16:46:14 UTC 2009


No: HPFGUIDX 187474

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Zara" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:
>
> > 
> > "Professor McGonagall moved faster than Harry could have believed: her wand slashed through the air and for a split second Harry thought that Snape must crumble, unconscious, but the swiftness of his Shield Charm was such that McGonagall was thrown off balance" - p.481, brit.ed.
> > 
> > 
> > Alla:
> > 
> > How does Harry know what Minerva is casting here? That he expects that Snape must crumble, unconscious? Is it just due to what sort of wand movements he sees (slashing equals attack?) or something else?
> 
> Zara:
> Several spells have been described in the books as looking like bolts or jets of variously colored light. I presume Minerva chose to case the Stunning Spell, Stupefy, which appears as a red bolt of light. Severus's chosen defense, a Shield Charm, would not prevent Minerva's spell from shooting across the hall in his direction, it would merely deflect it harmlessly, so that Harry could see what she was casting from the color. This would also be consistent with his expectation that Severus would be rendered unconscious, as that is what Stupefy does.
>
Carol responds:
Must have been a *really* fast Protego (Shield Charm) if Snape cast it after she had cast the Stunning Spell if that's what it was. I think that either he used Legilimency or read her arm movements to determine which spell it was--or used a Protego because it would deflect any jinx, hex, or spell other than an Unforgiveable Curse. Harry, however, can't use Legilimency or, apparently, parry a curse with the proper countercurse by reading arm movements, both of which we know Snape can do because of his duel with Harry in HBP. I think that Harry, correctly or incorrectly, anticipated a Stunning Spell because that's what he would have used. IIRC, it was the spell most commonly cast by the Order members in the battle in the MoM. (Later, in the battle of Hogwarts, we see mostly red and green jets of light, as if everyone on each side knows only one spell, or at least highly favors Stupefy for the good guys or AK for the DEs. Expelliarmus also casts a red or scarlet light, but clearly that's not what Harry is anticipating here.)

Carol, pretty sure that Snape knew exactly what McGonagall intended but Harry was only guessing, perhaps correctly






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