Snape's Body Language

[oh have faith]

No: HPFGUIDX 71523

> June says:
> 
> Not an expert or even that knowing - but for information, I have 
> read that touching the face with the hands in an eye-to-eye 
> situation means "I'm fibbing"!!  I believe its to do with the way 
> very small children often hide their faces when in trouble - in 
> other words they sort of say"I can't see you - so you can't see me 
> either".
> 
> Of course if anyone knows better- please enlighten.
> 
> June

My first thought also was that touching the face while speaking is a 
sign that someone is lying – particularly covering the mouth.  
However, it could also be a general sign that Snape is nervous and 
insecure about what he says, without necessarily meaning that he's 
lying.  If he is such a fine spy, it's likely he's not used to 
talking so openly - maybe he's trained himself so well not to reveal 
anything with a badly chosen word?  As such he feels a little 
vulnerable - especially talking to Harry, whom he obviously 
dislikes, and perhaps doesn't entirely trust.  

Actually, if you get yourself into the Snape POV (with is often a 
frightening place to be) there are a number fo good reasons to be 
nervous.  He's a very private person - and if he is spying on 
Voldemort, and V can potentially see through Harry's eyes, it 
wouldn't be surprising if he considered everything he said carefully 
in case he had to answer for it later.  We also know that he's *not* 
telling the whole truth to Harry here - he's not lying, but he is 
stopping short of the whole truth, presumably on Dumbledore's 
orders.  And if James did bully him mercilessly at school, and Harry 
does remind him so much of James, then it's understandable he might 
feel trapped in a situation where he had to engage with the boy - 
and where he has a hard time dodging direct questions that the boy 
asks him.  In which case, what worries me most is that the Order's 
most important spy is not a better liar!  

I would interpret it myself as foreshadowing for the reader; it's a 
subtle sign that Snape is always comfortable with the situation, or 
himself, because it is from exactly this setting that we'll later 
see him entirely exposed and vulnerable (in the pensieve).  It shows 
us how much he hates to be trapped, cornered, exposed, before we see 
his ultimate humiliation at the hands of James Potter.

Faith's Girl... who just had an afterthought;

... Actually I'm also now liking the idea it could have been a 
silent signal that Harry failed to pick up on - a "watch what you're 
saying" gesture.  Perhaps Snape feared Umbridge had the office 
bugged?  Further to that - a paranoid friend of mine was telling me 
recently about M15 taps on phones that allegedly kick in if you 
mention a certain key word.  Perhaps the key word was "Voldemort", 
which would explain why Snape got so upset over Harry defying him 
and saying the name aloud?