Snape's liability

[rowena_grunnionffitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 100656

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "(Mrs.) Lee Storm (God Is The 
Healing Force)" <n2fgc at a...> wrote:

> Well, if I had to work with a teacher who I knew hated me and had 
given me
> no reason to feel confident or comfortable around him/her, I would 
have a
> very difficult time.  I'm a rather sensitive person; if I had been
> constantly humiliated and berated in my potions class by Snape, how 
in all
> Hogwarts could I feel even remotely comfortable at the thought that 
this
> hateful, nasty, horrid person could read the essence of my
> thoughts/memories?  No matter how important it might be for me to 
learn
> Occlumency, the last person in the universe I'd want teaching me 
would be
> my--uh--nemesis.

   I personally would be strongly motivated to work hard at learning 
occlumency in order to keep said unfriendly teacher out of my head. ;)
I wonder if DD had that in mind too....
 
> So, there would be two ways to tackle this: 1) Do everything I 
could to keep
> this horrorhead out of my mind; 2) Get really flustered and not be 
able to
> handle Professor Horrorhead.

   Right. The kid who can handle Voldemort, Dementors and imminent 
threat of death can't handle being in the presence of a disliked 
teacher. I don't think so. In fact Harry not only successfully 
blocked 'Professor Horrorhead' on at least one occasion, but got 
through SS's own defensives more than once. Obviously he could 
function in SS's presence.
 
> The biggest thing I see is that Snape didn't really prepare Harry; 
he didn't
> tell him plainly enough, IMHO, what to expect when the 
word "Legilimens" was
> spoken.

   The first "Legilmens" would have told Harry everthing he needed to 
know about that.
 
> Really, if one is going to teach something that requires clearing 
the mind
> and, in essence, centering oneself, Snape should have taken a bit 
of time to
> help Harry to get into that preparatory state.

   Why? When teaching the Patronus charm Lupin simply told Harry to 
find a happy memory, asked if he was ready and launched the 
boggart/dementor on him without further ado. He then repeated the 
process until Harry got the hang of it. I don't see how this is any 
different. Snape tells Harry what he must do, then challenges him to 
do it. If Harry had *wanted* to master occlumency as he wanted to 
master the Patronus he would certainly have done so in short order. 
Unfortunately he didn't.

> Does any of this sound understandable?  I think both Harry and 
Snape did
> wrong things, but a personality clash can certainly make a working
> relationship miserable and, sometimes, futile.

  Now here we are in complete agreement. Harry and Snape's miserable 
relationship is the fault of both, though rather more Snape's since 
he is the grown-up.