CHAPTER DISCUSSION PS/SS 8, THE POTIONS MASTER

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 188225

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:

> 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?
 
Geoff:
I don't think it's *those* particular questions. It\'s just a few random 
questions which Snape thinks will catch Harry wrong-footed and reveal 
him to the others as knowing little or nothing.

Snape has already revealed his hand by addressing Harry as "our new 
- celebrity". The way in which he says it shows a subtle sarcasm which 
is not lost on some of the other students. His follow-up dig at Harry 
"fame clearly isn't everything" underlines a total lack of sympathy or 
understanding. Does he know that Harry has only just learned who he 
is?; does he care? 

I  believe that he sees Harry as arrogant and fame-seeking and intends 
to pull the carpet from under him at this first opportunity to show Harry 
that he cannot expect to use his fame, as Snape perceives it, to gain 
privileges. 

> 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?

Geoff:
I suspect that Harry, being caught off-guard by the onslaught of 
Snape's questions, thinks of the first book which comes to mind 
out of all the ones he has,