Chapter 24: Occlumency

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 109110

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...>
wrote:

> If that weren't bad enough, Sirius undermined any trust Harry might
> have placed in Snape and the Occlumency lessons by giving him the
> two-way mirror--*to use to contact him if Snape gave Harry a hard
> time!* (The fact that Harry didn't open the package or use the mirror
> is irrelevant.) Sirius could--and should--have taken the opportunity
> to explain what Occlumency was and why it was needed (to the best of
> his ability, not being an occlumens himself). He should not have
> allowed his animosity toward Snape to interfere with Dumbledore's plan
> for Harry to learn occlumency through the best teacher available. But
> resentment or jealousy or immaturity or whatever it was kept Sirius
> from accepting the possibility that Snape could and should be trusted
> with the occlumency lessons, and rather than keep his misgivings to
> himself, he reinforced them by using *Snape* as his reason for giving
> Harry the mirror (bad timing, bad motivation, and more secrecy No
> wonder Harry didn't use it when it was most needed).
>> Carol

imamommy:
I think this is indicative of Sirius regarding Harry as a mixture of
brother and son, and perhaps there is a strain of parental instinct
here that causes Sirius to act as he does.

If your child had a math teacher who was as horribly unfair to him as
Snape is to Harry, would you say, "Well, he's a wonderful
mathematician, and you need to learn math to succeed, so it doesn't
matter that he makes you so paralyzed with fear you can't learn a
thing in his class"?  Sirius is acting like a parent; Lupin has the
luxury of being a bit more detached.  Sirius is still really upset
when he finds out that the lessons have stopped.  Sirius really
doesn't have a lot of freedom here.  DD only wants him to say so much.
 He can't contact Harry in any usual manner.  I think he is desparate
to help Harry, and it causes him real pain to think of what Harry's
going to face back at school. What parent would do less? 

I also think this is resultant of DD's Big Mistake--he should have
communicated things better, even if through somebody else.  To
paraphrase, "I should explain, members of the OOP have more reliable
ways of communicating than through a teacher who scares Harry witless."

imamommy