[HPforGrownups] Snape's Insignificant Question During Occlumency

[T.M. Sommers]

No: HPFGUIDX 77054

Buttercup wrote:
> Perhaps this has been asked and answered before. If
> so, I missed it. During the first Occlumency lesson,
> why would Snape ask Harry "To whom did the dog
> belong?" Why would he care? It wasn't anything
> important that I can see. He asks about a dog, yet he
> doesn't ask the more interesting question about the
> sorting hat telling Harry he would do well in
> Slytherin. You'd think that would interest him more.
> Who cares about his Aunt Marge's dog? I don't get it.
> Could this have been another clue?

I think he asked that particular question precisely because it was 
uninteresting.  He wanted to show Harry that he really could see his 
memories, so that Harry would take the lessons seriously.  By asking 
such an innocuous and impersonal question he got his point across 
without needlessly angering or embarassing Harry.  Since such 
consideration is unusual for Snape, it indicates to me that he also was 
taking the lessons very seriously.