PoA Chapter Seven

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Malfoy returns to class acting as if he’s the survivor of some heroic battle. Which only Harry actually is, btw.

Even more shocking, Malfoy is marginally interested in girls when he plays the part of stoic sufferer to Pansy. Draco’s such a Mama’s boy.

Snape tells the class to settle down and Harry and Ron indignantly think about how if they’d walked in late they’d have gotten detention because Malfoy’s allowed to get away with anything in Snape’s class. Okay, hold on. No he isn’t. Nobody is. The Trio’s actually probably got a worse record in Snape’s class than Malfoy does—he likes Snape so he behaves.

And here, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Even if Snape would have given detention to Harry and Ron here, he’d have been wrong to do so. So it’s not like Malfoy’s getting away with anything.

Malfoy does display enough intelligence to annoy Ron. But that doesn’t take much.

Draco drawls to Snape that he needs something else done so Harry has to do it. If I was Harry or Ron here I’d have started laughing too by this point. Draco’s being a dick, but just the little stinker kind. Ron and Harry react to him like he’s being evil.

This book is generally a favorite because the Sirius reveal is great. But that gives JKR the problem of having no real villain, since Sirius isn’t trying to hurt Harry and neither is Peter. So she comes up with the Buckbeak story instead. Only the Buckbeak story is a non-issue, because it’s basically the story of an inept guy given a teaching position through favoritism who shouldn’t be hiding behind a bunch of kids to save his ass anyway. And that means the villain role falls to a kid whose crime is making a mistake in class and being unsympathetic about the consequences. Even the innocent animal isn’t innocent since it attacks Draco for the same reasons everyone else in canon does.

Harry’s shaking with anger now because Draco says his father’s made complaints about Hagrid. Even if I didn’t like Draco I couldn’t think of this as some huge injustice that Hagrid’s job is in trouble, especially when I know Hagrid is a bad teacher who can’t be fired because of Dumbledore.

This is why the series often depends on seemingly unimportant things like loving Hagrid. If you don’t see Hagrid being fired any differently than Harry sees Trelawney being fired, it’s hard to get worked up.

Oh! Here’s that big moment where Snape threatens to poison Trevor and totally would have done it too because he’s evil! I really don’t think the scene’s meant to be taken as seriously as Ron and Harry take everything in it. Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

Seamus reports Sirius has been sighted by a Muggle who thinks he’s just an ordinary criminal. Which he actually is. Okay yeah, he’s a wizard, but get over yourselves, guys. There are Muggles who have killed more people at once than Sirius.

I love the way Malfoy’s such a pariah amongst the heroes that whenever he’s needed as part of the story he’s always got to be forcing himself into a conversation between people who are glaring at him and wishing him dead.

Luckily Malfoy’s face is always twisting into various positions of “malicious,” “mean,” “nasty,” and “malevolent” so we know they’re just reacting to him like the cowardly demon he is. He should really be perched on Harry’s shoulder like an imp.

Can’t help but imagine what Ron and Harry look like from Draco’s pov. I suppose various stages of “morally outraged,” “righteously angry,” “heroically protective,” and “Crucio-level indignant.”

Draco’s bad jokes always have to over-played so Harry can notice (as if he’s not always checking Draco out), but give him a really dramatic moment and the boy knows how to play it just right. He draws Harry into the truth about Sirius “quietly,” “breathing” his lines instead of speaking them. And people wonder why H/D is so popular?

Still, why is Draco the only person telling Harry this story? Besides the obvious meta-reasons? Just like in GoF, Draco’s actually surprised that he knows more about Harry’s life than Harry does. Presidents of the fanclub probably often do!

Also, Hermione pops in and out of the scene after class, because she just Time Traveled. Despite knowing that Time Turners exist, and that they live in a world of magic, it doesn’t occur to Ron to think Hermione’s done anything magical. After all, it wouldn’t be OOC for her to have started Apparating early. (If Hermione heard that theory we all know she’d tell them you can’t Apparate inside Hogwarts.)

Lupin tells them to put away their books, which by now we know is code for “good teacher.”

Lupin mentions Filch, whom the narrator tells us is constantly waging a war against the students. By grumbling at them as he cleans up their messes.

Can’t wait until Harry starts heroically hexing the guy in a few years to put him in his place. Uppity squib janitors are the worst!

Snape leaves the teacher’s lounge when they come in, taking care to get in a last shot at Neville for letting Hermione help him in Potions. Well, really so that Lupin has a sense of what’s going on with Neville so he can give him some of that confidence that is the basis for all ability in good people.

Lupin might have thought he was out of practice humiliating Snape but 20 years later, Moony’s still got it!

Harry finds it hard to answer with Hermione bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet and waving her hand next to him. Hee! Hermione was so cute. A little young for 14 (which she would be by this point) but still.

I once did a post on how books 3-6 are like one book for each house? And this one’s totally the Gryffindor book, so there’s a big theme about courage. Hagrid’s class required some already, but now we’ve got a Boggart, which is pretty entirely about being able to laugh at fear.

A lot of people used to point to Snape’s being Neville’s boggart as proof that Snape really was Satan as a teacher, since he’s beating out every other fear for a kid whose parents were tortured into insanity. To me it more just says that Neville didn’t witness his parents’ torture and he’s had a relatively normal life so has a normal kid fear of a mean teacher.

I love that Harry can’t even think of how to make a Dementor less frightening. Because Nazgul rip-offs are just so terrifying they can’t be funny. Start with a pair of tap shoes and a hoodie and work from there Harry, jeez. Family Guy got a whole character out of it.

Heh. That reminds me of a LOTR fic. I think it was called “The Littlest Nazgul” where Frodo did become a wraith. The other Nazgul were annoyed at having to get him a black pony, and the fact that he called the pony Mushroom.

Seamus’ greatest fear is of course a banshee. If you cut Seamus open every Irish stereotype in the world would spill out.

Lupin’s boggart was the moon, of course.

And again with the courage theme, Harry’s still obsessing over his humiliating faint on the train and thinks Lupin kept him from facing the boggart because he didn’t trust him not to faint again.

I’m going to give some props to Lavender here for wondering why Lupin’s afraid of crystal balls. And JKR for calling attention to it without really calling attention to it.


Things happening twice:
While Ron and Hermione don’t get why, Harry becomes actually interested in Draco when he starts talking about taking action in revenge for your family, which will happen again in HBP.
Harry will also have the urge to show off for Cho the same way Malfoy is here. It just takes him a couple of years.
A Boggart shows up again in OotP.
Neville seems to have as much trouble as Draco when it comes to listening in class, and Potions has been known to also cause violent accidents. Only here it’s not Neville’s fault.

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
Lupin’s boggart
Since Lavender brings our attention to it, and we hear about everyone else’s, it’s got to be something.
Status: Fired with a mighty bang!
Malfoy’s cryptic remarks
He says if it were his family he wouldn’t just go to school like a good boy.
Status: Fired—he actually would take some action.

OMG, Hermione didn’t get to face her boggart!
What if she has to face one in the future?
Status: Fired, but harmlessly. I can’t remember if it’s at the end of this year or during her OWLS, but she can’t do it right. She should have just thought to make McGonagall’s face break out in pustules that said “Old Maid” or something.





Misdirected Answering
I know the Boggart class was an elaborate set up for a couple of things, but I don’t remember Boggarts ever really being important. Especially once the big tragic scene in OotP points out that adult fears tend to be a lot harder to make funny.

Jabootu Score: 1

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Every school should have a Snape. He teaches the kids *more* than just Potions.

Indeed, the only question is which age is appropriate. I encountered my Snape at 14. By the next year he was quite-but-not-very liked by my friends. Never the most popular teacher but well appreciated.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think that always seems very obvious with Snape too. He would definitely have his fans if he was only teaching older students. He just shouldn't be anywhere near 11 year olds.

I remember on HP4GU there was always the on-going "is Snape a good teacher" debate and people would say they never heard anybody compliment his teaching. Then when Ernie says in HBP that they just had a good class in DADA with Snape some people dismissed it with "who listens to Ernie, he's a Hufflepuff!"

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

She's never been labelled a complete bitch, but I have basically heard that idea implied about McGongall for the way she treats Neville and Parvati in those moments. I mean, not that she's a horrible monster for it, but that the way she deals with the situation is definitely a flaw in her.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

Are you channeling Dumbles here? According to JKR, part of his reason for having Snape as a teacher is that the students will learn to deal with difficult people.

Personally, I judge teachers by their ability to do their job, ie teach.

I don't think wizworld kids are pampered. Parents like the ones you desribe may exist, but I doubt they're common. It's more "So your classmate hexed you? Hex him back". Neville's relatives aren't so extreme as they might seem to today's Muggles.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

IAWTC. Snape-apologism never sits well with me (at least, when people are making excuses for his ill-treatment of the kids). Neither does Dumbledore-apologism that excuses his hiring of Snape.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, Severus is a successful teacher of his subject.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Snape is a rite de passage, a whole generation of wizarding kids will have grown up daring to throw something in another kid's cauldron when Snape's back is turned, and have learned that actions have consequenses, although not the devastating consequenses Real Life mistakes would give...

I think you're spot on here. I rather think, in fact, that a key issue for Snape as a professor is exactly this: teaching his students that actions have consequences. Sometimes unpleasant ones, and sometimes ones you might not expect. So you need to think about possible consequences before you act, and decide if they're acceptable.

I bet that this stems from the extremely nasty wake-up call he got with the Potters' deaths. That must have felt like hitting a stone wall at top speed, and I imagine he'd want to prevent his students from going through that. (He's not exactly the type to rate people's feelings as the highest priority, but he does care about his students' safety and I think this would extend to helping them avoid messing up their entire lives.....) He's all about 'don't be like me,' including the 'scary DE' act.

[eir-de-scania.livejournal.com]

"teaching his students that actions have consequences."

*** I thought the key issue for him was teaching potions? Of course, if you mean "mixing wormwood with unicorn hair cases explosions", all right. But talking back to a teacher? Don't try to tell me that would give you a detention from most of the teachers at Hogwarts.

Him being sarcastic to students would prevent them to end up like the Potters? Or like himself? How? Learning to be careful when making potions doesn't equal not trusting old school friends, does it?

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

I've heard this brand of Snape-apologism before and I don't buy it at all. Snape is abusive. He tears kids down, he doesn't make them stronger. It's not funny, it's not "toughening," it's not the 1001 excuses people make for plain old shitty behavior to kids. It's not a "rite of passage," that's just cruelty. Flitwick is generally mild and nice so kids know he doesn't mean it when he tells them to write "I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick." Plus, he's telling them they're NOT baboons, they're wizards--a status to be proud of. He's being sharp but not demeaning. As for McGonagall, she's snappish and impatient and tactless, not sadistic or deliberately nasty. Kids that age can tell the difference. The gruff, snappish teacher is effective and respected; the teacher who constantly and purposely hits you where you're most sensitive is hated and ineffectual.

Snape deliberately says things to hit kids in their weakest spots. Like, "I see no difference." You don't say shit like that to a 14-year-old girl. He's not rough or blunt. He's the emotional equivalent of a finely honed knife stabbing you in the crotch. It's not "safe." It's just cruel and demeaning.

JKR has the same view of Snape that you and Dumbledore do. To me, that's a big part of the nastiness that sometimes comes through in her books.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I don't think the "I see no difference" is typical of Severus' behavior in the books. I find all but 2-3 of his interactions with students acceptable and more. He would have been well appreciated by students and teachers alike in my highschool.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I've come to the conclusion that the "I see no difference" was probably meant to make readers dislike him. I've read some thoughts that this was not about Hermione's teeth but about her teeth v. Goyle's boils. Each condition was caused by a mis-aimed spell while the students were hexing each other in the halls against the rules. I'm tending to look at it as mis-direction, in fact, since big teeth are really not as bad as painful boils. Goyle got the worse end of the deal there but we can't be sympathetic to the Designated Bad Guys. So, the Mean Teacher is called in to make it look like the poor, innocent Good Guys are dumped on worse than the Bad Guys who "obviously" deserved it.

Snape is definitely an old-school sort of teacher, the type I grew up with. They invented Tough Love. Just try saying it, though, in a lot of places and you get accused of "condoning child abuse." I've seen child abuse. Umbridge, yes, abuse, both physical and mental. Snape? No. Scenes like the No Difference speech just look too transparently like author insertion to make us dislike him. It read, to me, like OOC.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

I don't see how "I see no difference" is any worse or different than Snape's usual behavior to Neville, or his encouragement of the Slytherins in their bad behavior.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I don't really like Snape's teaching style. Still, I don't think that the text actually provides nearly as much evidence as people often think of actual misbehavior on his part as a teacher. Anyway, I primarily wanted to address the following point:

Snape deliberately says things to hit kids in their weakest spots. Like, "I see no difference."

While I didn't approve of Snape saying that at all (one of his worst moments)... *that's* Hermione's weakest spot, or one of them? Her appearance?

I'm not saying that she didn't have some insecurities over her appearance; most teenagers do. I don't think we ever see her actually worrying about looking bad, though. (Please do let me know if I'm just forgetting something, though; I could be.)

But really, Hermione's weakest spot is the need to excel academically, and her desperation for acknowledgment from her teachers that she's intelligent and a good student. That's why she tries to hard to answer as many questions as possible in class, and that's why her boggart was a teacher telling her she'd failed all of her classes.

As inappropriate as Snape's comment was, I can't really consider it "a finely honed knife stabbing you in the crotch."

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think it was the unexpectedness of it coming from a teacher that was partly what made it so hurtful to her. (Though we do know she was aware of her teeth and wanted them fixed.) The thing about saying that Snape is teaching kids something when he acts that way is that he's basically siding with the Slytherins and encouraging their behavior, which isn't admirable at all. Not to mention, it's not helpful to them.

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

It's her most humiliating spot. "Weakest" is a bit of an unclear word; what I meant wasn't necessarily what scares the students the most, but what would make them feel demeaned the most, and what would be hitting them "below the belt." A negative comment from Snape about her academic achievement wouldn't humiliate her nearly as much as the comment about her looks. In part, that's because of it's inappropriateness. Commenting on her academic achievement would be appropriate and fair game from a teacher.

Re: one

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

The author wants us to believe that to have authority (over Our Designated Hero and his cronies) is the same as *abusing* that authority.

Well, no. The author shows us the teacher abusing his authority by calling the students names, insulting their physical appearance, etc. I really wouldn't be surprised to see Snape abusing a helpless geriatric under his care.

You seem to be distinguishing between Snape As He Really Is (or perhaps Snape As He Has The Potential To Be) and Snape As JKR Shows Us. If I understand you, you're saying that Snape's nastiness is an authorial contrivance to get us to dislike Snape, while Snape's heroism is the truer or better reflection of his character. I understand that perspective. Rowling stacks the deck in a lot of ways. Personally I take a different approach and give equal weight to all aspects of Snape's character--including the authorial contrivances, if that's what they are.

Re: two

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

Your argument seems to be because there are things he could be doing to Neville that he doesn't, and because he picks on Harry, he's not a sadist. But it's proof enough of sadism to pick on a clumsy and insecure kid the way he does. He doesn't know that Neville is "lazy." All he knows is that he's a bumbler. Picking on bumblers is sadistic. And some bullies do pick on those they see as uppity or a challenger--like Harry.

As for "I see no difference," I think it's obvious he was referring to Hermione's teeth and not the difference between the Slyths and the Gryffs. I wasn't even aware anyone read that differently.

Re: McGonagall calling Neville stupid, yes, she sometimes bullies Neville too. Everyone does, really. The wizarding world is full of bullies. Snape is just more of a bully than the rest.


Seriously, this is the *only* supposedly personal remark any Snape-hater can come up with to illustrate his 'sadistic nastiness'. The *only* one, in *seven* books.

Untrue. I'm not a big Snape-hater--I enjoy his character till book 7--but I do think he's a bully and sadistic. And off the top of my head: he threatens Neville's pet (which is what I was thinking of when I called him cruel; if you don't find that cruel, perhaps you should get a grip on the concept of cruelty), he calls Hermione an insufferable know-it-all for answering a question, he threatens a 14-year-old boy with Veritaserum. More generally, he terrorizes Neville to the point where he's the kid's boggart. Neville is used to being called names and mocked, yet Snape still terrifies him--precisely because there's a difference between Snape and the ordinary meanness.

Re: three

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Minor correction: in GoF, when the ferret-bouncing incident happened, Lucius wasn't in prison. Still, Barty Crouch Jr. probably believed that Voldemort would protect him from anything that Lucius might do, since Lucius hadn't tried to help Voldemort.

Re: three

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

Sure, there are plenty of people far worse than Snape. The wizarding world is full of psychos. I'm not trying to say he's the Worst Person Ever. But I also think it's a stretch to say he "dedicated his life to the safety of his students."

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

This isn't a reply to anyone in particular. Since not everyone has access to the books, I thought I'd post the relevant part of the scene we're discussing the most:



"And what is all this noise about?" said a soft, deadly voice.

Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamored to give their explanations; Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir -"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"- and he hit Goyle - look -"

Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said. "Look!"

He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth - she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, "I see no difference."

Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight.

It was lucky, perhaps, that both Harry and Ron started shouting at Snape at the same time; lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however.

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

Harry's ears were ringing. The injustice of it made him want to curse Snape into a thousand slimy pieces.