CHAPTER DISCUSSION PS/SS 8, THE POTIONS MASTER

[justcarol]

No: HPFGUIDX 188205

This message is a Special Notice for all members of

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups

In addition to being published onlist (available in webview), this post is also
being delivered offlist to email in boxes) to those whose "Message Delivery" is
set to "Special Notices." If this is problematic or if you have any questions,
contact the List Elves at HPforGrownups-owner @yahoogroups.com
(minus that extra space)

 CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone
Chapter Eight, The Potions Master

For the first time, Harry experiences the finger pointing and whispering that he will encounter throughout his years at Hogwarts. Rather than feeling flattered by this attention, he finds it distracting. He's more with finding his way to his classes amid 142 moving staircases, some of them with vanishing steps, ghosts gliding down the corridors, and Peeves the Poltergeist, not to mention Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris. Harry attends his classes for the first time and we glimpse some of his teachers and classes, including one taught by a ghost, and we learn that he has Astronomy lessons every Wednesday night at midnight though we never see that class. Harry and his friends are disappointed by Defense Against the Dark Arts. Quirrell's classroom and turban smell like garlic, and he appears to be afraid of the very creatures he's supposed to be teaching them about. Quirrell also happens to be passing by when Harry and Ron get lost and try to force their way through the door to the out-of-bounds third-floor corridor.

On Friday, Harry has his first Potions lesson. He has already encountered Snape during the opening banquet when Snape's glance appeared to make his scar hurt. Now Ron tells him that Snape is head of Slytherin House and reputedly favors the Slytherins. Snape pauses at Harry's name as he calls the roll, referring to him as "our new celebrity." He ends a dramatic and poetic speech about Potions with a remark about "dunderheads" and then asks Harry three questions, none of which Harry can answer, refusing to acknowledge Hermione's raised hand. After giving Harry the answers and ordering everyone to write them down, he takes a point from Gryffindor for Harry's "cheek" in suggesting that he call on Hermione and puts the students in pairs to make a simple potion to cure boils. When Neville somehow manages to melt his partner Seamus's cauldron and covering his nose with boils, Snape Vanishes the spilled potion, sends Neville to the hospital wing, and deducts another point from Harry for not telling Neville to take the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills. Harry leaves the class wondering why Snape hates him so much.

But the day isn't a complete loss. Harry accepts Hagrid's invitation to tea, taking Ron with him. They meet Fang and encounter Hagrid's notorious rock cakes. Hagrid tells Harry not to worry about Snape, who likes hardly any students. Then, as Hagrid and Ron chat about Charlie Weasley's work with dragons, Harry picks up a Daily Prophet and discovers that the Gringotts break-in occurred on the very day that he and Hagrid visited Gringotts. Harry leaves Hagrid's hut wondering whether Hagrid knows something about both the attempted robbery and Severus Snape that he's withholding from Harry.



Questions for Discussion:

1. Harry's Astronomy class is mentioned here for the first and last time before the Astronomy OWL in OoP. Why do you think that the class takes place so late despite the rule that no students should be in the corridors after hours? Do you think that all of the first-years have Astronomy together or is this class another attended by Gryffindors only? Do all the Astronomy classes take place at midnight, and, if so, how does Professor Sinistra fit seven (or more) midnight classes into her schedule?

2. Harry takes five core subjects—Herbology, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, along with History of Magic and Astronomy. What do you think of this set of classes for a group of eleven-year-old novice witches and wizards? Which class (setting aside the instructors since we barely glimpse any of them except Snape) would be your favorite and why?

3. Why do you think that Quirrell's turban and classroom smell like garlic? Did his blushing and confusion when Seamus asked him about fighting off the zombie arouse your suspicion? What was your initial reaction when Quirrell rescued Harry and Ron from detention with Filch for trying to get through the forbidden door?

4. Harry's first Potions class is on a Friday, "Double Potions with the Slytherins." Does Potions class meet only once a week for a double period or might there be some other reason for having the first class so late in the week? Why do you think that the Gryffindors have two classes (Potions and the not-yet-scheduled flying lessons) with the Slytherins, one class (Herbology) with the Hufflepuffs, and none with the Ravenclaws?

5. Snape asks Harry where he might find a bezoar, what he would get if he added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood, and what the difference is between monkshood and wolfsbane? Why do you think that Snape asked those particular questions? Do you think that he asks the same questions to every class or that he chose them specifically for Harry?

6. When Snape asks Harry about the bezoar, Harry wonders whether Snape expects him to have memorized every word of "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi." But the Potions text mentioned in "Diagon Alley" is "Magical Drafts and Potions" by Arsenius Jigger. "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" is almost certainly the Herbology text. How do you explain this apparent error on JKR's part?

7. Just for fun, why do you think that Snape (and, later, Slughorn) is referred to by the old-fashioned title "Potions master" when no other teacher (except the headmaster or headmistress) is called by a similar title? Why not "Potions teacher" for Snape and "Charms master" for Flitwick, for example?

8. Feel free to add your own question.

NOTE: For more information on HPfGU's chapter discussions, please see " POST DH
Chapter Discussions" at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/database?method=reportRows&tbl=33

Next Chapter Discussion, Chapter 8, The Midnight Duel, on October 27,
2009.

If you would like to volunteer to lead a CoS chapter discussion, please
contact drop a note to HPforGrownups-owner @yahoogroups.com (minus that extra
space).