Chapter 24: Occlumency

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 108674

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Miss Melanie 
<ms_melanie1999 at y...> wrote:
  
> Disscussion Questions
>  
> 1)  Once again we see the moody Sirius Black, what is the true 
source of his moodiness?  And what on Earth does he do locked up in 
the room with Buckbeat all day?  

Meri: I think it all goes back to Sirius wanting to be doing 
something important for the Order, not just sitting back and cooling 
his heels at No. 12. When he had Christmas company at the house it 
was easier for him to forget where he was, or at least ignore it, 
and with everyone leaving again, now Sirius is stuck in that 
wretched house with all those bad memories and no one to take his 
mind off it. And as to what he does with Buckbeak all day, probably 
feeds him, grooms him, and is reminded of that short summertime when 
he was free, between being rescued by Harry and hiding in the cave 
in Hogsmeade. 
  
> 2) Harry questions whether or not working with Snape is really 
helping to close off his mind.  Harry believes that it may be making 
it more open.  Is there any truth to Harry's thinking?  Would his 
lessons have gone differently had someone else been in charge of 
them?  

Meri: I think that his lessons would absolutely gone better had 
someone else taught him, even DD attests to this by the end of the 
book. Snape hates Harry, and Harry hates Snape, and there's no two 
ways about this. Plus there is the fact that Harry believes that 
having a link into LV's mind might be helpful at times, so maybe he 
doesn't want to lose that power. I think that Harry, like Sirius, 
feels pretty useless, too, and maybe he believes that being able to 
look into LV's mind is the one thing he can do. 
  
> 3) Sirius tells Snape that he still believes that he is very much 
a part of the Death Eaters..is there any evidence to back that up?  
What evidence do we have that he is just working for the order?

Meri: None whatsoever. Except, of course, DD's faith in Snape's 
loyalty. We still don't have all the answers to the Snape riddle, 
and hopefully HBP will provide some of those. But there is one 
thing: Snape is still alive, so for some reason LV believes he can 
trust old Sevvy. So something is going on there. 
  
> 4) JK Rowlings said that the mirror will be brought up again in 
another book.  In what capacity do you believe that it will be 
brought back?  JKR has this to say about the mirror " The mirror 
might not have helped as much as you think, but on the other hand, 
will help more than you think. You'll have to read the final books 
to understand that!"  What do you think this means?  

Meri: I don't know what the mirror will be used for. I liked the 
posted theory that only his nickname (Padfoot) would have called 
Sirius to the mirror, but then again, Harry's mirror was broken and 
will need to be repaired. (Perhaps this will entail a trip to 
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes...how cool will that be?) Maybe once the 
mirror is fixed Harry will be able to give the other to, say, Ron, 
and be able to stay in constant contact: no more writing letters, no 
more Harry slipping into depression over lack of info, something 
like that. And if there is only one mirror left (either because 
Sirius left his behind and Harry can't fix his, or because Sirius 
had his with him and Harry repaired his own) perhaps it can be 
bewitched to do other things, like spy on people, or gather 
information. 
 
> 5) Snape asked several questions about the images that were scene 
in his visions.  For example, he asked about Aunt Marge's dog. What 
purpose did he have in asking those questions?  Do they lead to 
something, stand out in his mind, or is he just merely curious about 
them?

Meri: He's probably just curious about them. Perhaps he didn't know 
the extent to which Harry was abused by the Dursleys and was, dare I 
say, slightly shocked? Even so, don't you really wish that Harry had 
asked Snape about those memories that Harry accessed? Not that he'd 
answer or anything...
  
> 6) Snape tells Harry many times in this chapter not to say the 
name "Voldemort."  Why is it that even Voldemort's own followers 
cannot say his name?  Is their significance in calling him the Dark 
Lord?  (this is just something that I have always been curious 
about..love to know what you guys think about it).
>
Meri: I don't know. This one has me stumped. Maybe LV is just an 
egomaniac who needs to know all the time that people fear and 
respect him. And perhaps calling out LV's name does have some sort 
of power. What I think is more significant is the way that DD called 
LV "Tom" in the MoM battle. That was just to damn cool. But 
remember, Trelawny also calls LV the "Dark Lord" in her prophecies, 
so I don't know what significance this might have. (On a side note, 
this is also a nickname given to Darth Vader, but that's a whole 
other thing.)