Snape giving Occlumency lessons

[historygrrl1]

No: HPFGUIDX 81053

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "president0084" 
<president0084 at y...> wrote:
> I for one find it hard to believe that Snape is the only person in 
> the order that could off possibly taught Harry Occlumency.
> 
> everyone I think are in agreement that Snape is a spy. the fact 
that 
> he reported to the Order during the summer aswell as harry 
> saying "spying of Voldemort, that you job isn't it" don't have 
book, 
> but it was something along that line.
> 

I don't know if this issue has been discussed before or not, but I am 
not at all certain that Snape is spying on Voldemort.  

In Book 1, Snape worked against Quirrell, and therefore against 
Voldemort, who was riding around on the back of Quirrell's head.  
Snape may be able to sheild his thoughts against Voldemort's 
intrusion, but he can hardly sheild Voldemort's own memories.  At the 
end of Book 1, Voldemort tells Harry it was convenient to have Snape 
providing an evil-looking distraction, but it must also have been an 
obstacle to V's goals.  Quirrell/Voldemort knew that that Snape was 
directly thwarting him in a variety of ways, including guarding the 
Philosopher's Stone.  I don't see how Snape could walk in to a 
gathering of Death Eaters and pass himself off as a loyal supporter.  
Surely, even if Snape didn't actually encounter Lord V in the process 
of spying on him, V would pass the word to his loyal followers to be 
on the lookout.  If Snape is spying on Voldemort, he must be doing it 
in some sort of disguise or from hiding.  Occlumency alone wouldn't 
be enough.

That said, I think Snape's exceptional abilities as an Occlumens are 
probably a large part of what makes him valuable to the Order.  
Whatever he's doing, it seems to involve risk of contact with 
Voldemort.  But should that contact ever happen, I don't think Snape 
has any chance of making Voldemort believe that he's still loyal.  
The best he'll be able to do is protect what he knows about the Order 
and its plans.  I think Snape's main function as a secret agent is 
probably something like sabotage or analysis, with intelligence 
gathering taking a back seat.  He could be monitoring known DE 
gathering spots, but it seems unlikely that he is working as a double 
agent. 

(Have to add, there are ways to be a spy without being a double 
agent, but as Snape is one of the few people who can lie to 
Voldemort, his sources are likely to be forced to give him away and 
it doesn't seem like a particularly viable option.)

I think Snape was picked to teach Occlumency to Harry for three 
reasons:
1) Dumbledore couldn't do it himself - Voldemort and the MoM were 
both looking to exploit his connection with Harry.
2) It had to be someone at Hogwarts, with whom Harry could have 
regular contact in an unremarkable way.
3) It also had to be a member of the Order.

So Snape is pretty much the only available candidate.  Even if 
McGonagall is any good at Occlumency (and nothing that we know about 
her indicates that she is or isn't), Harry does just fine in her 
class and it would be difficult for her to explain his regular non-
class-related visits to her office.

Just my thoughts,
-Ellen