[HPforGrownups] You're in the A rmy, now. wasFalse Alarm? Was:Re: Adults "failing" Harry (in tP)

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 120014

--- pippin_999 <foxmoth at qnet.com> wrote:
> I still say occlumency was a shot in the dark -- Snape said it 
> himself, the usual rules did not seem to apply in this case. 
> Voldemort was penetrating Harry's mind without eye contact and 
> through the walls of Hogwarts, both of which were supposed to 
> be impossible. If those things didn't stop Voldie, was there really
> much hope that occlumency would?


See, I've always assumed that the whole point was less for Harry to
learn occlumency than to get him to do the whole empty-your-mind
thing before bed every night.  According to what Snape tells us about
how occlumency works, you've got to be awake and on your toes to
successfully fog your thoughts so a legilimans like Voldemort can't
get into it.  How Harry can do this while asleep is not explained. 
Granted that the normal rules don't see to apply, as Snape put it,
it's still a little confusing if the point was really for Harry to
learn this magical art.

> Pippin:
> The other thing is that as far as everyone knew, Harry *was* 
> motivated. He was obviously terrified by the snake incident, so 
> much that  he wanted to bolt back to the Muggle world. What the 
> adults didn't get is that while Harry was horrified at Voldemort 
> being able to access his mind, he thought being able to access 
> Voldie's mind was seriously cool. It didn't occur to him that he 
> was being exposed to contamination either way -- while to the 
> adults it was so obvious as not to need explaining. A grown-up's 
> mistake.

Snape's comment that since the Arthur vision Voldemort was now aware
that he and Harry were sharing thoughts seems to have gone right past
Harry like a stiff breeze.  I think Pippin's right; it didn't occur
to the adults that Harry wouldn't connect the dots.  Just like
McGonagall got impatient with him when he kept getting detentions
from Umbridge and gave him another one so he'd get a clue faster.  

This is my biggest beef with OOTP-Harry: not so much the ANGER or the
self-pity but the inability to connect the dots and figure out that
the guy who tried to kill him in the graveyard should be repelled at
all costs from his mind and that he should listen to what people tell
him (see paragraph above for an example).  You think if Hermione had
known that Voldemort was now aware of the mind connection she
wouldn't have dragged Harry to Snape's office every week for
occlumency lessons?  Darn right she would have.  Hermione has her
faults but an inability to see the big picture is not one of them.

Magda



		
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