Snape's DE past

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 111516


Magda wrote:

> 
> 
> Stopping the occlumency lessons did not leave
> >Harry any more vulnerable than he already was.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> We don't know that. Yes, of course there is a big chance that he 
> still could have that vision, OR he might have accomplished better 
> results in Occlumency by that time.
> 
> I think it left him significantly more vulnerable
> 

We can't really know if Harry would have improved if he'd continued
the Occlumency lessons, but I tend to think he wouldn't have, at
least not enough to keep the visions away. But when it comes to
blame, I place it pretty equally on all three involved--Dumbledore,
Snape and Harry.

After the MoM disaster, Dumbledore tells Harry that he blamed
himself because he thought Snape could overcome his feelings
about James. But why didn't Dumbledore take into account 
*Harry's* feelings about Snape, and the entire past relationship
between the two? Why did he believe Harry could trust Snape 
enough to let his least favorite teacher into his mind? And more,
why didn't Dumbledore recognize how strong these visions were,
and how easily a 15 year old boy might be seduced by them?

Also, while Snape certainly let his feelings about James impel
him to end the Occlumency lessons, the reason Harry hadn't
achieved good results to that point is because Harry didn't
*want* to achieve results. He didn't want to practice, and he 
wanted the visions to continue. Even if Snape had resumed 
the lessons after the Pensieve business, there's not a lot of
reason to believe Harry's attitude would have changed, or that
he would have learned what he needed to know.

While a bad teacher can make it difficult to learn, nothing is as
detrimental to the process as a student who doesn't want to
learn. That's what Dumbledore should have realized, after the
fact if not before. Dumbledore may have given Snape a task
to do, but it wasn't really achievable, due to the factors mentioned
above--Snape's inability to forget the past, Harry's inability to 
fully trust Snape, their entire past relationship (largely Snape's 
doing of course), and Harry's lack of interest in learning. 

Clearly Dumbeldore isn't all-seeing, but he is usually right in the
end, so maybe in blaming himself he is placing the blame where
it most belongs, after all!

Juli



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