"I trust him".

[kmcbears1]

No: HPFGUIDX 116708


<snip>
> Juli(e) adds:
> 
> I don't think the Occlumency incident affected DD's trust in Snape. 
DD
> was disappointed that Snape couldn't overcome his animosity toward 
> James and approach Harry as a separate person in his own right. Had
> Snape done so, he might have recognized Harry's disappointment in 
> James' behavior, rather than simply assuming Harry would react just
> like James. And the Occlumency lessons might have been salvaged
> despite Harry's misplaced curiosity. 
> 
> Still, there was no betrayal of trust in Snape's failure. It was 
just 
> human failure, which DD should have foreseen as a possible 
> outcome. (I won't say probable, only because DD couldn't have
> foreseen Harry's violation of Snape's privacy, which changed the
> dynamics of the situation.) And while DD's told Harry before that 
> he completely trusts Snape, pressing the point wouldn't achieve 
> much while Harry is emotionally distraught over Sirius's death. 
> 
<paste from previous email in this thread>
catkind wrote:
I think that the way DD trusts people is one of his greatest
strengths. He trusts Sirius again after the Prank; he trusts
Hagrid when noone else does. He chooses to trust Snape despite his
dubious history, and Snape has become a strong weapon on DD's side.
Admittedly, Snape has failed his trust with the Occlumency, and is
hopefully feeling properly guilty about is - I sincerely doubt DD
will stop trusting him because of it, and suspect it will only make
him more loyal.

kmc adds:
The failure of the Occlumency is due to a trust issue but Harry is 
the guilty party here not Snape?

Harry knows what the Pensive is used for and knows that Snape is 
putting memories in it that he does not want Harry to see.   
When Snape is called away from his office, Snape trusts Harry not to 
invade his privacy.  Harry betrayed that trust.  

JKR has only shown us one of the memories that Snape put in the 
Pensive.  What if it had been something different than a childhood 
memory of Snape's?  What if Snape had put memories of what the order 
is doing to combat Voldemort in the Pensive?  Snape knows that Harry 
has not been practicing.  Snape is actually quite friendly to Harry 
during the lessons.  He does not use the knowledge gained through the 
lessons when he is ridiculing Harry during potions.  Snape even gives 
Harry some instruction on what to do to learn Occlumency.

The skills are similar to fighting off the Impervius Curse, emotions 
get in the way, emptying the mind helps.  Snape also tells Harry that 
he is wasting time and energy "yelling".  Occlumency is training the 
mind.  You cannot demonstrate it just like you cannot demonstrate 
relaxation techniques. But IMO they are similar, I use relaxation 
techniques to control my Asthma but I cannot teach my sister to do 
them.  She cannot block thinking about her to-do list just like Harry 
cannot block his resentment of going to Snape's office for these 
lessons.

In addition to Harry, I think Sirius planted the seed for the 
failure.  Sirius plants the seed of mistrust in the kitchen at 
Grimmauld Place.  If Sirius had taken a positive stance on the 
lessons, such as, telling Harry that Professor Snape needs to be 
really good at Occlumency because of his work for the Order... but 
that what's makes the books so good is that JKR has created 
believable characters and realistic storyline.  It allows us to 
discuss the results of choices because we can discuss the what-ifs.

kmc