Spinner's End #1 - Lily Evans: Potions Maven?

[navygreen]

Discussion for Spinner's End #1 - Lily Evans: Potions Maven? by Lady Lupin.

(Old discussion of this article can be found HERE.)

[Emerald63]

Just a generic Spinner's End message.......

CONGRATULATIONS LADY LUPIN!!!

[waggawaggawer]

Could Snape have even been at Godric's Hollow with Voldemort that night?

Congratulations, Lady Lupin! I think you have hit the nail on the head. And yes, for a long time I have thought that Snape was at Godric's Hollow that fatal night.

According to the POA audio tapes I have, which Stephen Fry read - that part in Snape's voice, I might add, Snape was definitely at Godric's Hollow that night.

[NevilleCanDance]

Kudos to the author. After reading this, all these theories came pouring in. I really love this editorial. Kudos once again.

[XxXCissyXxX]

i was thinking maybe Lily was going to be the potions master at hogwarts...so voldie was willing to spare her as he needed a way into hogwarts...praps so he cud finally try to find some more founders relics..or sumink else...

[jereshkigal]

This theory is very believable and I am eager to find out if it is true in book 7.

[erzebetbathory]

Excellent points. You seem to wonder why Slughorn comments on Lily's potion talent. Indeed, it seems fishy to be repeated over and over again. But Harry is her son. Who else can Slughorn compare Harry to? Why compare his "talent" to Snape's? They don't have a connection other than student-teacher. Slughorn assumes Harry takes after his mother as he takes after her eyes. He's not going to say: Oh, you and Snape share the same talent. No, he'll say:" She may be dead, she was one of my fave students, but you take after her".

[Harry_the_Cat]

I' m not sure about everything you said but it did hit that HS keeps recalling Lily's talent for potions. We definitely have to give it a thought...

[lanie]

really good editorial! excelent ideas lady lupin! i had noticed that lily was mentioned alot.. jut didn't connect the scene of those 5th years at the grounds.. i do see that "bliking"in a whole new light..while i do think the "love" thing is a long shot.. it's worth reading!!..... about time you got your own column too!

[xyrax]

Pretty good editorial. Very logical and realistic. Not too much controversy, but a little.

I just wanted to comment that Voldemort probably wouldn't do Snape a favor in any circumstance, but it may not have been a favor. It could have been an exchange of some kind, however.

[raBBit]

It changes my idea of James' choices in that scene, and makes me wonder if he was, while certainly not blameless, perhaps less of a nasty bully than we might think in that moment. If Snape created those curses and used them on other students...

i dont think Snape was able use curses like sectumsempra on others, i mean these are incredibly dangerous curses if you ask and even if severus has tried that on someone, he would get caught and severly punished...i guess he was jus bullied by james and sirius

What if Lily's talent is what is in Snape's old book? Even if she didn't voluntarily make the entries, Snape might have observed and copied her.

Lily might have contributed(if we think that girly handwriting is hers) but i dont think snape copied her...we are talking about a student who was able to create curses like sectumsempra, i guess he just likes to do "experiments"

Could Snape have even been at Godric's Hollow with Voldemort that night? Could he have intended to spirit Lily away after James and Harry were dead? Is there some reason why Voldemort would have given Snape a "favor" by sparing Lily? (Hard to fathom Voldemort doing anyone a favor, but there might be a reason.) Whatever the outcome, I think that we will hear more about Lily and her remarkable instincts about Potion making.

amazing thought!!! if we think that Snape loved Lily, we can easily say that he tried to save Lily by telling Voldy that she ha a remarkable talent in potions(even if she was a "mudblood") and she can be useful in the "future".

i just loved your editorial(now im reaidng all of them), what a great observer you are

[knightlybus]

I must say you have one of the best editorials. I'm in the process of reading the last few.
I have to agree with you. I do think that Snape was at Gordric Hollow that night. Being there would explain Snape's loath of Harry; seeing that he survived and Lily hadn't.
It was odd too that Slughorn kept mentioning Lily's talent for potions, especially since this is the first time that we are hearing about this. In the past we were just told that she was a gifted witch and had a wand that was good for charms. I don't think that this necessarily means that she isn't good at potions, just that she has a connection to Snape; a basis for their friendship if they had one. I wonder...

[ytak_s]

good idea of Snape wanting lily this could be a link with the lord of the rings in the two towers Wormtongue has been promised Eowyn as a reward by Sarauman and it would be a good bribe ie if snape helped voldemort kill james he got to keep lily and as we know from merope gaunt thier is several ways to bewitch someone into loving u and we have seen several examples of the wizards erasing memories.

[Arconia]

I haven't been on for absolutely ages but...............WELL DONE. IM SOOOOOOOOOO pleased for you that you got your place onmugglenet editorials...keep it up!

[ColourChangeInk]

Congrats. I'm a big fan of your editorials as well, especially this one!

A lot of intriguing possibilities here ...

Interesting that Hermione might have been right about it being a girl (although wrong about the handwriting!) She seldom misses a trick, that girl ...

I agree it's v. suspicious that Slughorn equates Harry with Lily, but compares him favourably to Snape. Also, I just don't see Snape showing that kind of imaginative instinct as a Potioneer. He wants the DADA job, after all.

Thinking about it, it makes perfect sense for there to be two intelligences contained within that book. Harry's secret helper doesn’t feel the same as the inventor of those nasty jinxes.

Related discussion might be:

a) How creative/intuitive a witch was Lily? We know she was good at Charms as well as Potions. (JKR said in an interview that Flitwick was fond of her.) Have we seen the scope of her talents or is there more? What are the implications for the series?
b) Did Snape and Lily actually work together, or was he copying? If so, does guilt about Lily explain why Snape might not feel entirely comfortable teaching Potions?
c) Does this lend some poignancy to Snape's initial interrogation of Harry in PS/SS? Was he trying to find out whether Harry was his mother's son or his father's? Might Harry's lack of aptitude actually be disappointing to Snape? (Although if you ask me, Snape is one of the main causes of Harry's lack of aptitude!)
d) What did Snape think when Slughorn commented on Harry's new found ability? Just how did that book end up in Harry's hands?

[knightlybus]

I just remembered that Bellatrix mentioned that Snape's favourite suject was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape is smart, but what if potions was one of his weakest areas, a great deal weaker than DADA. Maybe enough to keep that book handy with him all these years.

[Ben24]

Yes, I think that this is very probable. Maybe Lily gave him the instructions for better results and Snape copied them down. Very ingenious. Oh, and a very nice start, Lady Lupin.

[Ehmmar]

I have heard a lot of people ask why did Slughorn say that Harry was better than Snape, "Why, not even Severus..." when Harry was getting all his information and tips from Snape's old text. Surely if Harry got it straight from Snape, they would show Slughorn equal potions ability?

But I think this has a very simple explanation. Harry had the benefit of having a book that had been constantly updated and perfected. Snape, in class, may have demonstrated a natural ability for Potions, but then went back to his bed at night and thought up ways to improve them, perhaps for the exams. This is why Harry seems to be better at potions to Slughorn than Snape did all those years ago. Harry had the benefit of the hours Snape put into perfecting everything, which I very much doubt he would have done straight away in class as Harry demonstrated.

What is harder to explain is how Lily looked so good in class!

[Tristis]

I don't think Snape was at Godric's Hollow the night Voldemort killed the Potter's. In HBP it was made clear the none of the Death Eaters knew anything about the horcruxes. Now if, as Dumbledore suspected, Voldemort was going to make his last horcrux with Harry's death: Why take Snape along? Voldemort doesn't seem the type to give a shout out about his vulnerabilities.

[MagistraLatinae]

Here's a thought: If Snape and Lily were really friends/Potions partners, could Snape be "that awful boy" that Aunt Petunia recalled telling Lily about dementors? She very obviously never said it was James, and I know at least one other editorial mentioned that it could have been Sirius. But I think 'awful' fits young Snape much better than young Sirius, esp. if we go with Lady Lupin's great theory of the Snape/Lily connection.