Snape, Harry, Dumbledore, and flaws in the books

[slgazit]

No: HPFGUIDX 106064

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "huntergreen_3" <patientx3 at a...>
wrote:
[Regarding Harry's failure at occlumency]
> Exactly. Lupin's method's worked not because he was better or because 
> the method was better (which it wasn't, that was my point, the method 
> was the *same*), but because Harry *wanted* to learn. Harry not 
> learning in this instance has very little to do with Snape's 
> teaching, it just seems like its Snape's fault because he was so 
> nasty about it (and because Harry tries to blame him).

Actually Harry had the exact same problem when he was studying the
Patronus. He failed during the lessons because he was torn between his
desire to overcome the dementors vs his desire to hear his parents'
voice. When studying occlumency Harry was torn between his desire to
not be controlled by LV and his curiosity about what the black door hid.

However, by its very nature occlumency is harder for Harry to master.
It requires one to empty themselves of all emotions (if we can trust
Snape's explanation on the matter). A patronus calls for mastering up
your happiest thoughts - i.e. use your emotions in a positive manner.
Harry is a very emotional person and I doubt could have mastered
occlumency even with a better suited teacher. With Snape he had the
added problem of having very strong (negative) feelings towards the
teacher, which made it doubly hard.

> That's true. And that's one of the things that really bothered me 
> when I was reading OotP. Harry and the others had no real plan 
> besides just walzting into the MoM, as though a bunch of kids could 
> save Sirius from *death eaters*.

Well, this actually makes sense to me. For one thing, they *are* kids.
One should not expect them to make the same level of planning and
preparation you'd expect from adults. For another, there was simply no
time - they were dealing with one crisis after the next. Besides, they
did not know that there were death eaters waiting. The vision (which
remember, Harry took for a true one) showed noone but Sirius and
Voldemort were at the DoM.

. in this instance they should have tried to find another adult 
> besides Snape to tell the story to (I'm sure they could have found a 
> way to contact at least Ron's parents).

How? It would have to be a member of the order (Sirius was viewed as
an insane murderer by anyone else) and all means of communication
except for Umbridge's office were controlled. Not only that, it would
mean that Harry would have to reveal to the incredulous adult that not
only is Voldemort after Sirius, but that he, Harry, has seen it in his
dreams - he'd be lucky to avoid St. Mungo's after that! :-) He should
have thought of Snape, true, but in light of their last encounter one
would tend to forgive Harry for passing that option over.

> The whole thing was just 
> ridiculous, I can understand Harry and Ron rushing off without 
> thinking about it, but Hermione? And then Luna, Neville and Ginny? 
> (esepecially since they barely knew what was going on).

No, this showed their loyalty and trust in Harry. Do you think they
could have just let them rush off on their own? Remember, there *was*
no adult there that they felt they could turn to, with DD, McGonagal,
Hagrid all gone and all communications controlled by Umbridge.

The failure was Dumbledore's (as he readily and rightly admitted it at
the end). Once the crisis came, there was no real way for Harry and
friends to act differently (except sadly for talking to Snape or
remembering the parting christmas gift that Sirius gave Harry).

Salit