PoA Chapter Six

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The first thing Harry notices the next day is that Draco Malfoy is doing impressions of him fainting to laughing crowds. I know this joke will soon get old and people will stop laughing? But I can’t believe they’re even laughing at it now. Either Draco Malfoy is a comic genius and we just don’t hear the routine that goes with the fainting, or wizards have been seriously warped without TV, literature or theater. What teenagers would find this funny?

I mean, as much as I hate to defend HBP!Ginny, her impression of Harry falling off his broom at least had a context to explain why it was funny. The joke was that Harry was bellowing at people when he got socked in the head with a metal ball that should have killed him. Nobody saw Harry faint and there was nothing funny going on at the time.

Pansy Parkinson has a face like a pug. And totally deserves it.

Harry consoles himself with the fact that the only time he and Malfoy faced each other at Quidditch, Malfoy definitely came off the worst. I’ll bet he feels even better when he remembers that the same is true for just about anybody stupid enough to play Quidditch with Harry.

How was McGonagall expecting Hermione to keep this secret about the Time Turner, btw? Even if she doesn’t really have any friends besides Harry and Ron, it’s not like she doesn’t make herself noticeable in class. Don’t tell me that not once during the year did two students not complain about her in conflicting classes to each other and figure it out.

My canon is now that the whole school except Harry and Ron knew that Hermione was using a Time Turner. Several of them even stole it a few times to do something fun.

Oh god, here comes Hagrid swinging a dead polecat. Because he only likes giant predators.

On their way to Divination they pass a painting that’s kind of a Don Quixote rip-off.

I don’t care what anyone says. I like the way Trelawney decorates her room.

The fog in the room makes Harry feel sleepy and stupid. Which might be the most self-aware Harry has ever been.

Harry predicts Ron might work for the MoM. He could be right. Maybe Ron’s just got 3 jobs instead of the 2 he gets in post-DH interviews.

Once again Hermione randomly decides that something is illogical while accepting that she can turn a frog into a teacup by waving a stick over it. And naturally she’s kind of right.

Or not. If Trelawney's seeing a big, black dog in Harry’s tealeaves, she’s right. And in HBP she was batting something like .397.

McGonagall then announces that Trelawney’s an idiot and Divination is worthless. Harry Potter: So awesome he makes useless subjects true!

Seriously, all Trelawney's true predictions center around Harry. Which I guess validates the centaurs views as well.

McGonagall also says Trelawney predicts a student’s death every year. Ron must be silently resenting why she had to pick Harry this year, stealing what he’d think was his one chance to be the center of interest.

I do like the implication that Hermione really does dislike Divination because she can’t be good at it, but since it really does seem to be a crock, I can’t like it that much. It seems to basically just be a class for poseurs who like putting on an act.

Ron and Hermione aren’t speaking to each other now. I'm sure the crazy hot make-up sex is the heart of their marriage.

Oh god, give me a second to gird my loins for Hagrid’s dumb class.

If you’re waiting for any parallel to be drawn between Draco’s attitude towards Hagrid and Hermione’s attitude towards Trelawney, stop. They’re exact opposites, because Hagrid’s a noble drunk and Trelawney’s a useless drunk. Or something. Also Hagrid’s a half-giant and Malfoy’s a jerk.

Yup, Malfoy’s a total jerk, even calling into question Hagrid’s being qualified to teach class.

Hagrid leads up the animals and introduces them by saying the first thing to know about ‘em is that they’re proud, so don’t insult one or it’s the last thing you’ll do. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are whispering in an undertone, the same way Harry and Hermione and Ron have done a dozen times before. Only it’s totally different to do it in this class, so what happens is totally their fault.

I have to go off on this here, because in the past I’ve gotten in tons of long, detailed lectures on how peoples’ riding instructors gave speeches on how dangerous horses were where they made sure everyone was paying attention, and made everyone show they knew the rules, and watched everyone carefully and if they did anything wrong they made them sit out for the day. Only it’s given as an explanation for how Malfoy is wrong here, as if that’s not exactly what Hagrid doesn’t do, and his whole schtick isn’t not getting how dangerous animals are so treating them as if they’re not.

Hagrid’s class isn’t really going over well, so Harry has to step in to back him up. I guess to repay Hagrid for all those times he almost got Harry killed or got Harry in trouble and felt no responsibility for it.

For all the stuff about hippogriffs being proud, apparently they’re okay with Hagrid dumping a kid on their back and slapping them on the ass. I guess since it’s Harry it’s a compliment.

Harry has a big ride full of wonder, proving that if you’re a Gryffindor all animals are glorified taxi services.

Now that Hagrid’s demonstrated proper behavior by treating the hippogriff really carelessly, he sends all the kids into the paddock en masse. What would he have done if they’d all had a chance to take off?

Luckily Malfoy calls Buckbeak a “big ugly brute” (much the way one would probably speak to a beloved pit bull) and the thing rips a big gash in his arm, probably heading off a greater catastrophe. Neville was inches from a meltdown with his own animal.

The Slytherins yell about Hagrid being sacked, proving they suck. These are the type of people who would complain about their kid being petrified in school instead of seeing it as character-building. Probably like child proof medicine caps as well.

The Gryffindors, with Malfoy’s blood still wet on the grass, say it was his fault. Okay yeah, obviously the thing was reacting to Malfoy insulting it like he wasn’t supposed to, but could their little black hearts be smaller or stingier? It’s not even like Malfoy gets sympathy until his dad calls for the animal to be put down (since nobody actually cares about the animal besides Hagrid anyway). They immediately blame the victim.

Harry’s had far worse injuries healed by the nurse. All Harry’s injuries are worse, really, because Slytherin injuries don’t count. You have to have a soul to feel.

“Trust Malfoy to mess things up for [Hagrid],” says Ron, which would be okay if that didn’t seem to be the official reading of the scene. To review: the dozen things Hagrid did to create an obviously crazy unsafe environment for 13-year-olds and wild animals are mistakes any new teacher would make. Malfoy’s mild snottiness and acting like a 13-year-old is unforgivable, indicative of his evil nature and deserving of severe punishment.

In fact, obviously he planned to be attacked to hurt Hagrid. Just like he’ll intentionally force Harry to attack in OotP. Buckbeak and Harry are the real victims here. Draco’s just a master of making people hurt him.

Back at dinner, Harry thinks the Slytherins are cooking up their own version of how Malfoy got injured. Which must be where the whole “Malfoy lied” story always comes up, but I don’t see why Malfoy has to lie (even if he’s malingering, the injury speaks for itself so they can check it).

Note we never exactly hear this “Slytherin version” yet there’s always this vague implication that it’s ruining everything for poor Hagrid. Even though the attack had a dozen witnesses, one of whom was Harry Potter, and pensieves exist.

Hagrid deals with the challenge by drinking—-all the more reason his teaching job should be protected apparently.

Why is it that weakness is so often treated with total contempt while Hagrid sits crying in his beer and blaming his troubles on other people and still sits in the center of the inner circle? I think it’s because Hagrid’s like a pet or a baby so has special license to be pathetic.

Naturally the Trio’s all ready to back Hagrid up. It’s Malfoy’s fault he wasn’t listening. Just like it was Ron’s fault for getting bitten by Hagrid’s dragon. And every student’s fault they didn’t know to stroke their books.

The only reason I can even read this annoying chapter again is that at least I know JKR wrote Hagrid as an unpopular teacher that even the Trio eventually admit is terrible.

Also, weird as it sounds, Malfoy spends the rest of his school career listening very carefully in CoMC. Which I’m sure is a sign of cowardice? But is actually one of the book’s only examples of someone learning something from a mistake!

To review, since obviously this scene bugs me, I don’t have a problem with Malfoy getting a lesson in what happens when you don’t listen in class, or when you dick around with wild animals. (Even if what he did couldn’t actually be considered dicking around in any real sense of the word.) But the way Hagrid immediately gets turned into this innocent victim we’re supposed to rally around so he never has to learn anything drives me nuts. And then people wonder why there are fans who think Slytherins might as well be jackasses since the only time the heroes aren’t happy to watch them die is when they see a chance to dramatically rescue them for their own egos.

Things happening twice:

Ron points out Hermione is scheduled for 3 classes at once. Later she and Harry will be in two places at once.
McGonagall mentions Animagi and turns into one, just like Sirius will. Also transformation turns Lupin into a wolf and Peter into a rat.
Ron has a Great Uncle Bilius and that turns out to be his middle name.
Draco’s attitude in Hagrid’s class, though condemned, is pretty parallel with Hermione’s at Divination.
Harry rides the hippogriff, because he’s going to have to do that again later.
Buckbeak’s slashing will be totally outdone by Harry’s own slashing of Malfoy in HBP.
Also in sixth year Draco will again wind up in a pool of his own blood due to a combination of his own behavior and a Gryffindor’s actions, and again the Slytherins will be seen as making Harry’s life hard by caring.
We meet Sir Cadogan here because he’s going to fill in for the Fat Lady later.
Harry barely listens in Transformation and Malfoy barely listens in CoMC, but everyone knows the first is normal and the second is idiotic because WILD ANIMALS!

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!.
Trelawney’s prediction to Parvati
Beware a red-haired man!
Status: Dud. If only it had been Lavender!
McGonagall’s lesson
Status: 20 gun salute. Harry barely listens to McGonagall telling them that Animagi are wizards who can transform into animals, and barely watches her demonstration as she does it herself, because it’s going to be really important.




Designated Hero
We can tell they’re the good guys because they have no compassion for kids whose injuries either benefit, amuse, bore or cause problems for them and their friends while the compassion they show to innocents is lovingly highlighted.

IITS
How come Divination is arbitrarily the one kind of magic that doesn’t really work? It’s in the script.

"Watermelon, watermelon, cantaloupe, cantaloupe"
I’m sure there were a lot of angry watermelons and cantaloupes coming from the Slytherins in that last scene.

Jabootu Score: 3

Comments

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

While I guess I was vaguely aware of the hypocrisy evident in the early days of the series - friends of Harry GOOD, Slytherins BAD - I didn't ponder overly about it. The early books were clearly in the 'simplistic' mould of children's books, where such things are exaggerated or accepted. PoA was starting to grow up a little, though.

Is a reason ever given for Hagrid being promoted from grounds keeper to 'professor'?

(And is it a truth that (simple) high school teachers are accorded the title 'professor' in the UK? I've always thought that was a bit pretentious. Certainly when reading the 'Harry becomes a DADA teacher while still a student' fan fiction stories.)

I mean, as much as I hate to defend HBP!Ginny --

As well you should --

-- her impression of Harry falling off his broom at least had a context to explain why it was funny.

Like oryx_leucoryx has said, Draco's miming of a person fainting seems to be the punch line of a 'funny story'. But yeah, it seems no worse than the brutish humour which the two-year-older Ginny employed in the sixth book, and which had Harry and Hermione often grinning or laughing. Harry laughed at/with Ginny, so GINNY GOOD. Harry doesn't like Draco, so DRACO BAD.

[epea-pteroenta.livejournal.com]

(And is it a truth that (simple) high school teachers are accorded the title 'professor' in the UK? I've always thought that was a bit pretentious. Certainly when reading the 'Harry becomes a DADA teacher while still a student' fan fiction stories.)

Love reading these but never comment but just have to pop in as resident Brit:

No. In Britain Professor is a title awarded to high achieving academics at university. The only way a high school teacher could be a professor is if he has already reached this rank in a university. This would be very unlikely as a professorship is generally awarded to those academics with excellent research credentials, not for teaching.

So basically I have no idea what JKR is doing there.

(Incidentally, why are some women called Madam? Madam Bones, Madam Pomfrey... Is it a title given to a woman who works but isn't a teacher? But that doesn't seem to be consistent. Like so many things.)

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

No. In Britain Professor is a title awarded to high achieving academics at university.

Thanks for that!

As an Australian my own societal values are normally congruent with the British - our culture lies somewhere 'in between' the UK and the USA, I reckon, although I hope/think closer to the Brits - but this whole 'professor' thing has always thrown me off. Certainly my own knowledge and experience (going through university) is exactly as you say.

So I've always wondered what Rowling was on about with all of her 'professors'. Particularly since Hagrid now possesses that title. It's reassuring to read that you, too, "have no idea what JKR is doing there". :-)

(I'm not sure anyone actually addressed Hagrid as such ... maybe Luna? Until Harry does so facetiously in HBP.)

While I'm here ... I've always found it weird, too, how Rubeus Hagrid asks everyone to call him by his last name. I dare say many readers quickly forget that 'Hagrid' is only his surname, which is usually a fairly formal or impersonal means of address. I mean, if Hagrid's name was 'Rubeus Smith', would calling him 'Smith' all the time seem as endearing?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Is it perhaps part of the 'wizards are old-fashioned' thing? Is it a reflection of some centuries old tradition somewhere? I do know that in some Spanish-speaking cultures all teachers are referred to as professors, regardless of what and whom they teach, even those who teach at preschools.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

While Rowling threw bits and pieces of common Western folklore into her series without much regard for their original native source (I'm not nearly as impressed as some star-struck fans by her 'creativity' and 'world building'; so much of it is re-worked myths you'll find any many fairy stories and the like) I don't think she spent much effort in mining foreign cultures *directly* for her material.

On the other hand ... on reading your post I seemed to recall that she'd spent part of her life in Spain, but I was mistaken; her web site states that she married and lived in Portugal:

Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth to a daughter Jessica in 1993. When the marriage ended ...

But - as an ignorant Australian - I dare say Spain and Portugal may be fairly similar in some respects? Maybe this 'Spanish-speaking' cultural idiom you mention also prevails in Portugal?

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

I didn't ponder over the hypocisy either at first. The books were entertaining, not works of genius, so I dismissed it. However the more boring and poorly written/constructed they became (I'm looking at you, Deathly Hallows) the more I started to tear them apart. Order was the first book when my dislike at some behaviour changed from while it was happening dislike to permanent dislike. It's only looking back that I've started to see signs of future problems in the earlier, enjoyable books.

I've said it before, JKR genuinely seems to feel that people's behaviour should be judged by the colour of their tie - I wouldn't want her teaching my children.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

It's only looking back that I've started to see signs of future problems in the earlier, enjoyable books.

It's like that for many of us, I think. Certainly I would have been able to analyse the earlier books and point out the pattern of dei ex machinis and withholding of critical information until the last chapter, the contradictions, the simplistic or hypocritical morality and so forth. But they were clearly written in a style for kids that wasn't intended to hold up to the real world.

But then with the later books she *did* try to make them 'serious'. But even worse, she greatly exaggerated her penchant for one-shot gimmicks, deus ex machina salvation and Dumbledore-explains-at-the-end resolutions. DH in particular has such a sheer *density* of bad writing along these lines any threshold I had with the early books for tolerating same was burnt into fine ash from the overload.

And then we look back and see that the roots of the literary failure that is DH (and HBP!) were there in the early books too ... just not as effusive. But there in plain sight with one's internal filters demolished. DH - the book that opened the eyes of a fans around the globe!

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Certainly I would have been able to analyse the earlier books and point out the pattern...

In the earlier books the pattern had a hope of turning around. Harry hates Slytherins because of the color of their ties as we've been putting it, we have a reasonable expectation that he will have to shed this prejudice while the series is not finished. He has Fortune throw things in his lap - a staple of some mythologies is Fortune withdrawing at an inconvenient time, leaving the hero to actually act on his own. Contradictions could be revealed not as contradictions but as clues to the wrong-thinking of the protagonist - the filter around the edges of the POV. What began as simple children's story tropes could have become something larger as Harry grows and learns that life isn't all about the people who like him v. the people who don't. We can't please everyone, that sort of message, and the people who can't please us are not automatically evil by default.

Those chances existed until DHs euthanized them. There was even a chance for complexity on the Slytherin issue set up in HBP with Draco's story-line and the "big" DH's "reveal" about Snape but it didn't happen. DHs certainly did open the eyes of fans around the globe or, better, to cite an old cartoon about a young, myopic mole, it gave us glasses so we could see that the pile of treasure was really a pile of trash.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Those chances existed until DHs euthanized them.

My goodness I love that sentence!!! :-)

Say what you like about DH, though, I *don't think* it actually killed any readers. Although if any book *could* ...

A lot of walls might have been damaged, though ... it was a thick book, and if thrown hard enough by the end of one's perusal ... or at the end of one's rope ...

:-)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think the only reason for Hagrid being a teacher is that he was cleared of his crimes in CoS (right?). The fact that he immediately starts being called "Professor" is just weird. I wonder if JKR just liked the sound of it? Since there's no university in the WW I guess we could just say they took that thing and applied it to school. But it's not even really a title if you just get it when you teach. I mean, it's more of a job title rather than a symbol of academic acheivement.

It strikes me that it's kind of funny the way that Hagrid and everyone immediately get to be professor but Pomfrey doesn't get to be a doctor.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

it's more of a job title rather than a symbol of academic acheivement.

Yes, that's clearly all it is in Rowling's world. I mean, Hagrid didn't even finish high school, let alone achieve further credentials!

Still, the use of the term 'professor' was at such odds with how I see it used in the everyday world ... my everyday world, anyway ... it would still cause me to raise my eyebrows when I saw it in the books.

One of my opinions of the USA is that it is a country that particularly endorses the practice of 'watering down' once-hallowed titles into much more generalised terms to please the public. I see this as one of the sins of 'political correctness' (the USA has much to answer for!). You know, garbage men become 'sanitary engineers', everyone is a 'consultant' or 'manager' and so forth. I still giggle a bit every time I visit a Subway here in Australia and see the staff wearing their shirts with 'sandwich artist' on their sleeves.

Anyway .... I note that Wikipedia states that the USA has similarly devalued the term 'professor' from its original exalted state as per how it is still used today in the British Commonwealth:

However, in the United States and Canada it is a title given a much larger group of senior university teachers. In the United States it is a title also given to some teachers at colleges, and is colloquially used even for high school teachers.

Maybe some Americans can tell me/us if 'professor' is *really* used for high school teachers?

In something as stubbornly British as Harry Potter, why would Rowling had adopted this American practice? It seems weird to me.

oryx_leucoryx has suggested that Spain does use the term as a general title for teachers, and I've wondered if maybe Portugal does the same ... seeing as how Rowling lived in that country for a few years.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL! Sandwich artist? Okay, that's hilarious. I didn't know people actually called garbage men sanitation engineers!

It reminds me of that part in Quiz Show where there's a whole thing about how the quiz show always calls VanDoren "professor" even though in the beginning he keeps correcting him that he's not--because he actually is a teacher at a university and knows he's not a professor. But later he comes to repeat it. There's a great moment where he dramatically says, "I am an Professor of English Literature!" and then someone sticks their head in and says, "The professor is wanted in make-up."

None of which much explains Professor Hagrid, of course. I also sometimes wonder about whether "Potions Master" just means the Potions teacher or whether that means he's got a certain level of expertise. Are there any other teachers who are called masters?

Maybe some Americans can tell me/us if 'professor' is *really* used for high school teachers?

I've never heard it used that way, but I could imagine that certain schools might use it in their own little culture? Like there might be a school where for some reason they just refer to all the teachers as professors rather than teachers. I do remember that in college I didn't make much distinction about who was a professor and who wasn't in my head, at least. When I think of my teachers I think of them as my professors. I think I called some of the Mr./Ms. and some of them Professor--perhaps that was based on their actual title or maybe it was more idiocyncratic?

I definitely don't think JKR is adopting any American practice here. It's not even really a practice in the US. If she just liked the sound of the title professor she probably could have heard it anywhere and not needed to hear it specifically used for high school teachers at a US school. It might be something she got used to in Portugal if they use it there. I guess she didn't decide to base it on traditions in British schools in the last century at least!

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

I always took the professor title as a reference to medival practices where it wasn't uncommon for a 23 or 24 year old to become a professor - meaning he had completed his studies in theology, philosphy, the Laws or medicine and then went on to teach the students (who were just a few years his juniors).

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

I think that in some kind of fantasy universe in the back of one's mind, "professor" is what you camm old-fashioned *boarding shcool* teachers. No one would think of calling a plain od day school/High School teacher "professor". But the teachers in the boarding schools in school stories somehow always got remembered as Professor.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

I guess she didn't decide to base it on traditions in British schools in the last century at least!

*** No, and why should she? She made a fantasy world fit for a children's book and put in things she thought fitting or funny, or even both.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Right, but we were talking about whether she got the idea to call the teachers professors from some real world system. Madderbrad had read this was an American tradition, but it's not. Nor is it based on the British public school system that a lot of other things from Hogwarts draw on. So she probably just liked it for whatever reason.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Professor is a title earned by receiving one's Ph.D. A full professor has tenure. Some who are not Ph.D.s can be embarrassed by students mistakenly bestowing this title - I've seen it happen. Professors can be addressed as "Professor" or as "Doctor." I've dealt with primary and secondary schools in six states (CA, MA, SD, TN, KY and SC) and the teachers are teachers, not professors. Some people might mistakenly call a college teacher a professor but that's because the person saying it doesn't understand how the title works, not because it's a custom. The teacher usually corrects the person.

Professor used wrongly brings to mind the old snake-oil medicine shows where a con-man, called a "professor" by his assistant, bilks a bunch of trusting souls out of their hard-earned money by palming off a useless elixer as a miracle drug. The title is supposed to engender respect and trust in the con-man to help him sell his bogus concoction.

There have been game show hosts in the past who have been referred to by this title but it was all part of the aura the show wanted to convey - highly learn-ed, you're really something if you do well on this show. Orchestra leaders have, at times, been called "professor," too. It just smacks of some respect for that person's skills at leading and, in many instances, of composing and/or arranging the music their orchestra plays. A highly skilled pianist might also get this sort of respect. The article is right that the use is often broader than the original use, but high school teachers called "professor?" I haven't seen or heard of it.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Professor is a title earned by receiving one's Ph.D.

Hmmm. Here in Australia the title earned by acquiring a PhD is 'doctor'. A 'professor' is someone who achieves high status at a university - like the Wiki says by earning a 'chair' (although I never really knew what a 'chair' really was in university speak).

Some who are not Ph.D.s can be embarrassed by students mistakenly bestowing this title - I've seen it happen.

Yes. The head of my university department, for example, wasn't even a PhD, let alone a professor - he had a Masters degree - so we couldn't call him 'professor' nor 'doctor' - he was just a 'mister'. Regular lecturers with PhDs where 'doctors'.

Well, it's interesting how your American experience belies what the Wiki says about the 'dilution' (my word) of the term 'professor' to its standard use in high schools in the USA. I'm pleased to read it. :-) But it's left me wondering why Rowling came up with it. I mean, her principal theme was being cute by plugging in magic and common western folklore right into the contemporary British setting and school system, and if high school teachers in that country aren't called 'professor' ... ???

At the start I think she got away with it by according great seniority to the teachers - Dumbledore, McGonagall, they're all ancient, presumably vastly experienced and skilled - but Hagrid? PROFESSOR HAGRID?!?!?! :-)

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

I'm rather inclined to think that Kettleburn left the school in the lurch and Albus found it easier to promote Hagrid than go hunting another CoMC teacher.

[oryx_leucoryx]

OTOH he gets Grubbly-Plank fast enough whenever Hagrid needs replacement (even in GOF, when Albus had rather short notice). So why not give her the job permanently? Either she doesn't want it or Albus really wants to repay Hagrid for taking the fall for him.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Aah Grubbly-Plank. The weird thing is: not even the text leaves any doubt that she's the better teacher by far. Yet, there is never the least inkling of laying this at Dumbledore's door - it's like a good Christian refrains to blame anything on God no matter how awful the world turns out to be.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

I suspect Grubly-Plank isn't that enthralled by Albus, either. Will work with him willingly enough, but more as a matter of service to the needs of the school than to Albus Personally.

But, yeah. Albus now does owe Hagrid.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

It strikes me that it's kind of funny the way that Hagrid and everyone immediately get to be professor but Pomfrey doesn't get to be a doctor.

*** There's no universities in the wizworld so she can't get a doctorate in nursing. :-P

Nurses aren't doctors/healers. We are nnurses, and proud of it. Most doctors can't find their arses if a nurse doesn't point it out to them.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm sure teachers are proud of their jobs too without being professors. I was just commenting on Pomfrey being one of the few Hogwarts staff who doesn't have a title. Iirc, it's her, Hootch and Filch. I guess "Madam" is supposed to mean something since Filch and pre-teaching Hagrid don't even get a "Mister."

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Madam appears to be a catch all title for any witch who has a profession of any kind other than teaching. Rosemerta's another.

Of course, we are so locked into Harry's PoV complete with muggle upbringing we have no way of knowing whether it may just be the catch all title for witches, period. We never hear anyone address Molly Weasley as "Mrs" Weasley apart from Harry and Hermione, and all of the adults just call her Molly. To the ww at large she could actually be Madam Weasley for all we know.