Book Two Discoveries! [Parselmouth!Harry]

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112964

> > Snape isn't that great of a wizard,
> > as far as we know. Even though he is supposed to be a good
> > Occlumens, Harry does go into his head once. 
> > 
> > Toto
> 
> 
> Harry didn't go into his head on his own; he threw up a shield charm
> ("Protego!") and Snape's own spell boomeranged on him, allowing
Harry access to Snape's memories.
> 
> Magda 

Carol agrees with Magda and adds:
Which, I think, is exactly what Snape *wanted* him to do and why he
put his worst or most important memories in the Pensieve, so Harry
couldn't access them. He is, after all, trying to teach a resistant
Harry to protect himself from intrusion into his mind.

As for Snape not being "that great of a wizard," I think Lupin, for
one, would disagree. He calls Snape a *superb* Occlumens and he points
out that Snape can make the very tricky Wolfbane potion, as Lupin
himself can't do. Snape, as we've already established in another
thread, is the Potions *master* in more than one sense of the word. In
addition, we see Snape perform a Legilimency spell, surely not a
common accomplishment and probably not a necessary part of being an
Occlumens (which involves *blocking* Legilimency spells). And surely
the ability to remove thoughts from his own head, as Dumbldore also
does, is part of what makes him not just an Occlumens but an
especially skilled one. Moreover, he has apparently memorized every
potion and antidote he teaches--a whole years' worth for seven levels
of students. When a potion turns the wrong color, he knows exactly
which step was missed, and he writes them on the board with the flick
of a wand (just one example of the silent magic he rather frequently
performs--not saying the spell out loud, just *willing* the magic to
happen. He knows and performs the countercurse against Quirrell when
Quirrell is jinxing Harry's broom. He makes a total fool of Lockhart
in the Duelling Club with a key defensive spell, Expelliarmus. He
conjures stretchers for Sirius and three students and wafts them back
to Hogwarts with a wave of his wand. He knew more curses at age eleven
than most seventh years. And these are just the instances that come
immediately to mind. I'm sure that other posters can supply additional
examples.

Not that great a wizard? Then Dumbledore had better choose someone
else as his righthand man.

Carol, who would like to see the evidence on which you're basing this
conclusion