Snape, Legilimency and end of "Prisoner of Azkaban"

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 77880

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "psychic_serpent" 
<psychic_serpent at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "aamonn2000" 
<aamonn2000 at y...> 
> wrote:
> > Just one question : why didn't Snape used his Legilimency skills 
> > at the end of PoA to find out the thuth about Sirius and Peter 
(or 
> > to discover what happened after that ?)
> 
> What makes you think he didn't?  In fact, it seems quite possible 
> that he DID, or else I don't see how to explain his accusation that 
> Harry had something to do with Sirius getting away, although the 
> thoughts he might have been accessing in Harry's mind might have 
> been quite jumbled at the time, due to the number of things he'd 
> just been involved in, including conjuring a Patronus to get rid of 
> a huge number of Dementors.  (I think many of us used to assume 
that 
> he automatically blamed whatever he could on Harry, but his reading 
> Harry's mind is far more plausible, really, given that he CAN do 
> it.)  <snip> 
> --Barb
> 

Laura

I think maybe too much is being made of this whole legilimancy 
thing.  First, Snape:  he's got quite enough on his plate without 
going around reading random minds. SS's hatred of Harry would lead 
one to believe that he'd want less contact with him, not more.  And 
thinking of Harry would make him think of James, and we all know how 
he loves to do that.  At the end of PoA, I don't think he was in any 
state to do any sophisticated magic, being in the midst of a major 
league hissy fit.  He wouldn't want to know any exonerating evidence 
about Sirius.  This is a guy who's fueled by hatred, anger and 
resentment.  We've already seen a tiny bit of evidence in OoP that 
seeing the reality of Harry's childhood touches him, just for a 
moment.  So if he's going to be vulnerable to feelings of compassion 
and understanding as a result of legilimency, I suspect he'd avoid it 
strenuously.

As for Remus, I don't think he needs legilimency to "read minds".  I 
think he's just a deeply compassionate person who truly tries to put 
himself in the place of the person to whom he's talking.  All the 
intense looking he does at people while he's listening to them means 
he's trying to absorb all the clues he can in his effort to 
understand.  Notice that he seems to be the peacekeeper at Grimmauld 
Place.  He's able to calm people who are angry or upset (i.e., Sirius 
and Molly).  And when he steps into an argument, it's usually after 
hearing everyone speak and giving them time to express their points 
of view.  He rarely, if ever, has a bad word to say about anyone else-
Sirius says he's not too happy with Umbridge, but we don't hear Remus 
himself saying anything.  People listen to him.  And that's probably 
because he listens to them.  That kind of mind-reading is one we can 
all do!