Snape, Legilimency and end of "Prisoner of Azkaban", MD

[maria_kirilenko]

No: HPFGUIDX 77883

Back from a two-month break from the list... I don't think I'll be 
reading the 17000 messages I missed during vacation. <g>

AAm 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 ?) >>>

Barb replied:
<<< 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 <snip> >>>

I find this point really interesting. There are several possibilities 
here, IMO. 

Firstly, as Laura just said, Snape was much too angry at Sirius, 
Lupin and the Trio to even try to use Legilimency in the Shrieking 
Shack. This is the most plausible variant, IMO. 

Secondly, it's possible that he *did* find out the truth about 
Pettigrew and Sirius just by "reading Sirius's mind," but chose to 
ignore that knowledge and arrange a date with a Dementor for Sirius 
anyway. (I think I'd be tempted to do that as well, had someone 
threated me like Sirius threated Snape. Or at least, I'd take 
pleasure in threatening them for a while). It's certainly possible.

Thirdly (And you knew this was coming, right? <eg>), Snape's (and 
Dumbledore's as well) Legilimency skills can be used to support MAGIC 
DISHWASHER. Unfortunately, <blushes> I can't really expand on that. 
My MD knowledge isn't very in-depth. <Mouths "help" to MDDT>

Barb continues:
<<< 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. >>>

All those times when Harry makes eye contact with Snape, definitely. 
I don't know if I like it better with the Legilimency or without it. 
Before, I'd tell eveyone who'd listen how smart and perceptive Snape 
is. At first, when I realized where Dumbledore was heading with the 
Occlumency lessons bit, I felt a little cheated. It subtracts from 
Snape's intelligence somehow.

<<< The Occlumency 
angle really puts ALL of the Harry/Snape interactions in previous 
books in an entirely new light, IMO. >>>

Oh, yes. And it also sheds new light on Snape/Dumbledore 
interactions, does it not?

----------
Snape: Headmaster, you must do something about Potter. He just tried 
to convince me that he hadn't visited Hogsmeade just now, but I know 
he had. I suggest you expell him. Oh, and you can fire Lupin as well -
 the werewolf was helping Potter. 

Dumbledore: Have a lemon sherbet, Severus. 
----------

I bet they have these conversations all the time. Don't they do 
wonders for Snape's love of Dumbledore?

Maria Alena