CHAPTER DISCUSSION PS/SS 8 THE POTIONS MASTER

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 188278

Potioncat:
What do you think Ron was thinking about Harry's celebrity and his own place in
the scheme of things? 

Alla:

I am sure Ron was curious about Harry as celebrity at first. I seem to remember in one rounds of discussing how Ron and Harry met versus how Draco and Harry first met somebody brought up about Ron being just as eager to meet Harry the Celebrity as Draco was eager, but to me the differences were obvious: Ron was not obnoxious to Harry even when he seemed to be in awe and  he seemed to got over thinking of Harry as celebrity and somebody special very fast. I thought Ron saw kid with whom he could discuss wizarding cards and share sandwiches, NOT somebody with whom they could look down upon wrong sorts of wizarding families.

As to what Ron was thinking about his own place in the scheme of things, I am not sure what you mean here, you mean when he just met Harry or in general? I mean, we saw plenty of Ron's insecurities over having a best friend who is a celebrity over the course of the series, but if you mean whether Ron was having him 


Why don't Gryffindors treat Harry with the same sort of
awe the other students do?

Alla:

I think this is one of the reasons Hat did not plan to put Harry in any other house but Gryffindor. Oh we can see that they are initially happy to have The Harry Potter among them, but as you said, I totally agree that a lot of students do not treat Harry as celebrity, but as a housemate and some of them as friend (if Harry lets them lol). I find this to be a very commendable quality and am glad that Harry was often allowed to be just Harry even if only among Gryffindors and of course the older he got the more his status weighed on his shoulders, whether his housemates treated him as such or no.

As to why they did so? I will go on a limb and speculate that a lot of them were decent kids and empathetic enough to think that maybe celebrity status is not always the most fun thing to have, or maybe they just did not care.

Alla:
>
> AHA, yes he did, thanks for reminding me guys! So that I think does not
contradict my speculation, IF in reality it is just a name for the teacher's
position, or another name and has nothing to do with skill, Snape is massaging
his ego here, since he may have simply said something along the lines - excuse
me I am a potions teacher here.
>

Potioncat:
But if the two terms mean the same thing, how does using one mean he's massaging
his ego?

Besides, look at the context. Would you rather he'd kept his peace and allowed
Lockhart to prepare the potion?

Alla:

Thanks for explaining about British schools, guys :) However to answer Potioncat, to me Master just sounds more respectable and I totally understand that it is interchangeable with teacher, but why didn't he say I am a Potions teacher then? 

No, I would not want him to keep his peace here lol, I am glad that he shut Lockhart up, but I am still fond of my speculation.