Who is the adult (Was: Who's to blame for Occlumency?)

[mnaper2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 100799

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" 
<bard7696 at a...> wrote:
> 
> > And remember, in the end, occlumency wasn't important after all.  
It 
> > didn't help Harry one bit. 
> 
> Had Harry been able to block the image of Sirius being tortured, I 
think that 
> might have helped.


Ally:

Yes, it might have.  Had Harry studied occlumency over the months he 
was being taught, perhaps he would have been able to do that.  Had DD 
been up front with Harry about the reasons for occlumency, maybe 
things would have been different.

I am not trying to let Snape off the hook for his bad behavior.  He 
was wrong, no doubt.  But what I disagree with strongly is this 
implication that Snape is somehow wholly to blame for the failure of 
occlumency.  You have every character involved making a mistake here, 
and in the spirit of true literary tragedy, each individual's 
personal failure happens to come together into a spectacular and 
terrible event.

Ally:
>  So how could Snape have failed at a job 
> > that didn't really matter?  I think its strongly suggested in the 
end 
> > that DD knew about Snape and Harry's falling out and, by that 
time, 
> > had an inkling that occlumency wasn't going to be that 
important.  If 
> > he thought it was important at that time, then wouldn't he have 
at 
> > least told Harry to keep practicing on his own?  Wouldn't he have 
> > sent someone - Lupin, Sirius, etc. - to tell Harry that?  
> 

Darrin:
> As he was fleeing Hogwarts on the back of Fawkes' tail, Dumbledore 
told 
> Harry to keep studying it. That means D-Dore thought it was 
important.

Ally:

Yes, but that was before the pensive incident.  By the time the 
incident occurred - some time later - we don't really know what DD 
thought of the importance of occlumency.  But we do know that 
sometime before he ordered the lessons and he and Harry spoke at the 
end of OOTP, he realized that they were not important.  So the 
question is when?  I don't think any of us can say that for sure.  
But I suspect that if the lessons were important to DD at that point -
 when they stopped - that maybe something would have been done about 
it.

Ally:

> > I really suspect that DD hoped all along that occlumency would be 
a 
> > way for Harry and Snape to resolve some of their differences, in 
> > addition to teaching occlumency.  

Darrin: 
> Maybe if there wasn't a war on, D-Dore could indulge in such 
manipulative 
> diplomacy, but I don't agree. 
> 
> D-Dore wanted Snape to do a job and Snape couldn't or wouldn't do 
it. Harry 
> certainly didn't hold up his end, but  -- I keep returning to this -
- Snape is the 
> adult AND he knows much more of what is at stake.

Ally:

But hasn't DD always spoken about the importance of members of the 
Order working together and trusting each other?  So getting Snape and 
Harry to reach some sort of accord wouldn't have just been folly.  I 
think with the war impending, the importance of Snape and Harry 
trusting each other is greater than ever.  So if DD thought at the 
outset that Harry needed occlumency and was aware of their similar 
upbringings, why not kill two birds with one stone?  Wouldn't a great 
leader want to accomplish those two things that will BOTH help the 
Order and their side in the war?