OOP: Royal Albert Hall interview...

[Blaise]

Scott wrote


<<I'm sure one of you Brits can expound, is that she said she went to 
school at the Forest of Dean and that that is where Hagrid is from as 
well? Uh...where's the Forest of Dean? (Is it the name of a place?)>>

The Forest of Dean. I live quite near there, and incidentally near 
where JKR grew up. Anyway, the Forest of Dean is a forest, a large 
and ancient one, on the Welsh border just north of the Severn River.

<<she said DD thought it [teaching DADA] would "bring out the worst", 
which has certainly been theorized before, so DD said something to 
the effect of-- why don't we just try you out at potions. If Snape 
didn't *want* to teach potions, or as this suggests, hadn't even 
considered it, then why does he seem so protective of the subject 
now? Obviously something has convinced him of its (potions) 
worthiness.>>

Ooh, this is interesting! Yes, I could believe that in teaching DADA 
Snape would be encouraged to behave even less well. I'm not sure I 
want to think too hard about what his worst would be if his behaviour 
in teaching Potions is better.

And yes, he does seem quite attached to Potions. I think Dumbledore 
is right to put him there. Since he is so fond of subtlety...  

<<She also made the comment that she thought Lupin was the best 
teacher (better than McGonagall) but that his failing is "that he 
does like to be liked." I'm assuming here that she means his 
yearning for friends allowed him to disregard his better judgement 
and let them do stupid things (like becoming Animagi) on his behalf.>>

I would interpret this to mean that as a teacher, Lupin wants to be 
liked by his students and as a consequence he doesn't always 
discipline properly or stand firm on important points. At least, 
that's what always happened when I was at school with teachers who 
wanted to be liked. But yes, I would agree that this is a symptom of 
a more fundamental character - well, I'm not convinced it's a flaw, 
but certainly a weak point. 

Thank you for mentioning this! Is there a transcript anywhere, since 
I don't think I could download something so big.

Blaise