Half-Blood Prince
Chapter 9
The Half-Blood Prince
Harry stared at Snape. It was surely one thing to respect the Dark Arts as a dangerous enemy, another to speak of them, as Snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice?
"Your defenses," said Snape, a little louder, "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. These pictures" -- he indicated a few of them as he swept past -- "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse" -- he waved a hand toward a witch who was clearly shrieking in agony -- "feel the Dementor's Kiss" -- a wizard lying huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against a wall -- "or provoke the aggression of the Inferius" -- a bloody mass upon the ground.
"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" said Parvati Patil in a high-pitched voice. "Is it definite, is he using them?"
"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past," said Snape, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now..."
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Half-Blood Prince
Chapter 21
The Unknown Room
"Before we start, I want your dementor essays," said Snape, waving his wand carelessly, so that twenty-five scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on his desk. "And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page -- what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"
"Sir," said Seamus, "I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between and Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius --"
"No, there wasn't," said Snape in a bored voice.
"But sir, I hear people talking --"
"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."
"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," muttered Harry to Ron and Hermione. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest --"
"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape, pointing suddenly at the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."
The whole class looked around at Harry, who hastily tried to
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recall what Dumbledore had told him the night that they had gone to visit Slughorn.
"Er -- well -- ghosts are transparent --" he said.
"Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"
Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle. Several other people were smirking. Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though his insides were boiling. "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid --"
"A five-year-old could have told us as much," sneered Snape. "The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth...and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."
"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come fact-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"
There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.
pg 460
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Chapter 21
The Unknown Room
"Before we start, I want your dementor essays," said Snape, waving his wand carelessly, so that twenty-five scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on his desk. "And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page -- what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"
"Sir," said Seamus, "I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between and Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius --"
"No, there wasn't," said Snape in a bored voice.
"But sir, I hear people talking --"
"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."
"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," muttered Harry to Ron and Hermione. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest --"
"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape, pointing suddenly at the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."
The whole class looked around at Harry, who hastily tried to
pg 459
recall what Dumbledore had told him the night that they had gone to visit Slughorn.
"Er -- well -- ghosts are transparent --" he said.
"Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"
Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle. Several other people were smirking. Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though his insides were boiling. "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid --"
"A five-year-old could have told us as much," sneered Snape. "The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth...and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."
"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come fact-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"
There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.
pg 460
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