Occlumency Lessons/ Harry as a Legilimens

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 108858

Finwitch wondered: 
> Are Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape truly the only ones who can 
> use a Legilimens spell? Hermione would learn, I'm sure. Why not 
> teach her (while she and Ron were at the HQ), and then let her 
> teach Harry if Dumbledore was so worried about Voldemort-possessed 
> Harry trying to kill him?

Yblitzka's thoughts:
I don't think being a Legilimens is a trait you can /learn/ really. 
Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Snape are seemingly the only ones who can 
do this, and Snape needs the spell; the other two do not. I can see 
it being like Parseltongue, but it has to be more intentional: both 
are rare, both are possibly "talents" you are born with, like a 
predetermination, or even inherited, and both don't seem to be 
something you can learn from a book. However, Parseltongue comes easy 
for Harry; he needs no training to talk to snakes. Legilimens is more 
so an accident, and he isn't trained in the art to be very good at 
it. More on this later. 

Perhaps Snape needs the spell because he is not as practiced, or he 
doesn't have the "gift." We never hear LV say "Legilimens," even in 
PS/SS when he knows Harry is lying (at the mirror, trying to get the 
stone). Dumbledore never says he uses the spell, and he doesn't say 
it when he seems to be looking right through Harry. Another point is 
a little while.

I think Snape is an Occlumens (any canon support would be 
appreciated: I think he or DD says this in OotP), so he is not 
a /true/ legilimens, but he has the strength of mind and a similar 
trait that allow him to successfully use the Legilimens spell.

My final point (mentioned above) is that /Harry/ is a Legilimens as 
well, probably the same way he became a Parseltongue: LV tranferred 
some of his power to Harry the night he got the scar. Harry doesn't 
know this because:
1) He never tried, since until OotP, he doesn't know about this
   power, and he has no clue he can do it.
2) He isn't trained to do it, so the power is unfocused, much like 
   magic in general in "magical" children.

Why do I think this? Well...

First, and weakest, Parseltongue (we believe) was tranferred to Harry 
that night, so Legilimency may have been transferred as well.
 Weakness: Pure speculation here, plus we don't know for sure that
 Harry wasn't a Parselmouth before. DD told us he got the power from
 LV, which is like JKR telling us, but it may not be true. But I 
 think it is.

Second, much stronger:
When Harry managed to fight Snape out of his head, he didn't just 
push him out, he pushed his way into /Snape's/ head. That's a big 
deal. Completely unintentional, yes, but also without a spell, like 
DD and LV. Snape was shocked, maybe even frightened a little when 
this happened. I sincerely doubt Snape (who blocks LV out of his head 
so he can lie) manages to get into LV's head in the process. Granted, 
Snape may have had his guard down at the time, but the truth be 
known, Harry's "breaking in" probably wasn't expected, and it 
probably shows us something that will play a key role in the future. 
Could this be another reason DD doesn't want to teach Harry 
Occlumency?

~Yb