Legilimens and Occlumens and Snape's Reasons

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86325

> Zinaida:
> 
> I don't think that Snape is an agent of Voldemort or a dementor :).  
> But I think he is *behaving* as a dementor during Occlumency lessons 
> with Harry.  It seems to me that Snape is using the "that's-what-
> Voldemort-would-do-to-you" explanation ("you are handing me 
> weapons... Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves... 
> stand no chance against his powers!") as an excuse to do at these 
> lessons what he is always doing to Harry at his regular lessons.  Why 
> I think that?  All that Snape says is true, but if he were more 
> concerned with teaching Harry Occlumency than with accessing his 
> uncomfortable memories per se (note, I don't say he wasn't concerned 
> with the former  - it's just a matter of comparison), 
> (1) he would not have done what Voldemort might do at the first 
> attempt of the first lesson, increasing the difficulty gradually (as 
> he does at his potions classes) and allowing Harry to build on his 
> successes;
> (2) he would have *first* explained to Harry in detail what he should 
> do rather than later at Harry's demands;
> (3) he would have given him time to prepare at first, again allowing 
> for gradual increase of difficulty.

Carol:
I think you're forgetting that Harry doesn't trust Snape and doesn't
want to be there. Snape obviously knows Harry's feelings and resents
them, but it's also quite likely that if he had tried to present Harry
with a logical explanation, Harry would have been even more suspicious
and would not have been any more cooperative. Also, Dumbledore doesn't
want Harry to know why he's taking the lessons. It's a lose/lose
proposition for both of them.

Zinaida:
> (Not to mention that the normal and decent thing to do in such a 
> delicate situation would be to provide Harry with a pensive as well.)

Carol:
Since occlumency is such a rare skill, I seriously doubt that
pensieves are just lying around among the school supplies. I suspect
that Snape borrowed Dumbledore's to prevent Harry from seeing his most
painful memories. There was no way to teach Harry occlumency without
accessing *his* private thoughts. He had to learn to block Snape's
legilmency, which could only be done if he had memories that needed to
be hidden. Not to mention that Harry doesn't know how to remove his
private thoughts and put them in a pensieve even if one were available.

> I think that , although Harry was curious about the mysterious door 
> at MOM, he wanted to and did make an effort to learn Occlumency

Carol:
On the contrary, he wanted to see what was beyond the door in his
dream. He made no effort to follow Snape's order to clear his mind at
night and he did not practice occlumency between sessions. If anyone
is at fault here, it's Dumbldore for not explaining things in a note.

<snip>
Zinaida:
> I apologize if my previous post (or this one) gave offense – I 
> certainly didn't mean to condemn Snape as the necessary future 
> traitor, merely speculating – what his various motives might be and 
> whether his passion for revenge against supposed allies might not 
> *accidentally* take him too far at some point.  But no, I think it 
> very unlikely (although not 100% impossible) that he'll ever return 
> to Voldemort's service.      


Carol:
No offense taken. I'm glad we at least agree that Snape isn't "the
necessay future traitor" (I'm still waiting for an explanation for why
everyone thinks there's going to be one). I don't fully understand
Snape's motives and I don't always approve of his methods, but I'm
convinced that he will never return to Voldemort's service: "I will
remain at Hogwarts" (GoF).

Carol