Occlumency was RE: Sirius vs. Snape

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 99499

> Snow:
> Did you ever consider the possibility that this whole 
occlumency  thing could have very well been created by DD for 
the specific purpose of using Snape and his pencieve memory 
purely for Harry's  emotional response? Nothing else was 
obtained by the actual lessons. 
> When DD learned about Snape's refusal to further teach Harry, 
DD did  not pursue it. Could that have been because the lesson 
that needed to  be taught, was taught? (IMO) <

Dumbledore says at the end that it was a matter of great urgency 
that Harry master Occlumency and that it was a mistake for him 
not to have taught Harry himself. So I think the lessons were a 
genuine attempt. But I also think they were stopped purposefully.

I mean, the more I think about that set up with the Pensieve, the 
more it smells. Harry is careless, and so he never thinks it's 
significant when someone else makes a careless mistake. But 
Snape is obsessively *not* careless--it's what makes him an 
excellent potion maker and a successful spy. Do we really 
believe that he was so distracted by Montague's plight that he 
ran out of his office leaving Potter and a Pensieve full of highly 
dangerous memories behind him?

There's a lot about the Occlumency lessons that we don't know. 
Harry was having them every week, but we see only three or four.   
The impression is that Snape discovered Harry's vision of 
Rookwood, Dumbledore decided Occlumency was more 
important than ever, and Snape threw him out the very next 
lesson. 

But in between is the chapter about Firenze, where he tells Harry 
that Hagrid's attempt is not working and it should be abandoned.  
Dumbledore is forced from office. March blurs into April.  Harry is 
still constantly dreaming about the corridor and still dwelling on 
his dream of being Voldemort. And there may have been more 
than one. Canon is vague about it. We don't actually know how 
many lessons or visions there were between the Rookwood 
vision and Harry's look into Snape's past. 

But we do get a hint that an attempt which is not working may be 
abandoned. It could be that Dumbledore  realized the lessons 
weren't working and instructed Snape to find a way to abandon 
them without causing Harry to ruminate on why they had 
failed--lest Voldemort dwell on this too. Why reveal a weakness 
to the enemy?

Of course Snape does seem really angry with Harry when he 
finds him in his memories. But you don't have to be a devotee of 
MAGIC DISHWASHER to notice that Snape goes on the warpath 
in situations where it would be very inconvenient for him to 
answer questions. 

IMO, he doesn't want to tell Harry *why* he's stopping 
Occlumency, so he arranges to  fly into a towering rage instead. 
Of course he couldn't have planned for Montague to turn up when 
he did, but  Snape could have taken advantage of it to do 
something he was planning to do already. Let Potter see what 
his sainted father was really like, and at the same time, end the 
lessons in such a way that Harry will not wonder if  his failure to 
learn is what caused it. 

Of course Dumbledore couldn't tell Harry all this without 
admitting how closely he and Snape are working together. It's 
not time for that yet.

Pippin