Question regarding Advanced Potion-Making
Don't read if you haven't read HBP.
From HBP, US edition, page337 "Ron fell asleep almost immediately, but Harry delved into his trunk and pulled out his copy of Advanced Potion Making before getting into bed. There he turned its pages, searching, until he finally found, at the front of the book, the date that it had been published. It was nearly fifty years old. Neither his father, hor his father's friends, had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago. Feeling disappointed, Harry threw the book into his trunk, turned off the lamp, and rolled over, thinking of werewolves and Snape, Stan Shunpike and the Half-Blood Prince, and finally falling into an uneasy sleep full of creeping shadows and the cries of bitten children..."
I found this last night when I was rereading HBP. Because the book was nearly fifty years old, it couldn't have been new when Snape got it, which leads to all kinds of other questions. Was the book already maked in when Snape got it? Who did the book belong to before it came to Severus Snape?
Also, this leads us to wonder about Snape's family. From what we see in the book, Snape's mother married a Muggle. Did her family disown her like the Blacks did to the Tonks? Was the book Snape's mother's?
I doubt this... I mean, if parents often gave their children old books, why couldn't the Weasley's do that from time to time with all their kids?...Actually... I expect they do and we just don't know it.... Did Snape have to purchase books second hand? Was there already writing in this book?
Did the mystery author help Snape become good at potions long ago?
Or, erm... maybe I'm reading too far into it? Maybe Snape wrote all the stuff in it, but still. The book was 50 years old, most likely second hand, which leads to interesting speculation about Snape's home life, and finances. I'm just curious, really.
X-posted to bobsnuggles
From HBP, US edition, page337 "Ron fell asleep almost immediately, but Harry delved into his trunk and pulled out his copy of Advanced Potion Making before getting into bed. There he turned its pages, searching, until he finally found, at the front of the book, the date that it had been published. It was nearly fifty years old. Neither his father, hor his father's friends, had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago. Feeling disappointed, Harry threw the book into his trunk, turned off the lamp, and rolled over, thinking of werewolves and Snape, Stan Shunpike and the Half-Blood Prince, and finally falling into an uneasy sleep full of creeping shadows and the cries of bitten children..."
I found this last night when I was rereading HBP. Because the book was nearly fifty years old, it couldn't have been new when Snape got it, which leads to all kinds of other questions. Was the book already maked in when Snape got it? Who did the book belong to before it came to Severus Snape?
Also, this leads us to wonder about Snape's family. From what we see in the book, Snape's mother married a Muggle. Did her family disown her like the Blacks did to the Tonks? Was the book Snape's mother's?
I doubt this... I mean, if parents often gave their children old books, why couldn't the Weasley's do that from time to time with all their kids?...Actually... I expect they do and we just don't know it.... Did Snape have to purchase books second hand? Was there already writing in this book?
Did the mystery author help Snape become good at potions long ago?
Or, erm... maybe I'm reading too far into it? Maybe Snape wrote all the stuff in it, but still. The book was 50 years old, most likely second hand, which leads to interesting speculation about Snape's home life, and finances. I'm just curious, really.
X-posted to bobsnuggles