Book Two Discoveries! [Parselmouth!Harry]

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112981

redlena_web (I think) wrote: 
<snip>
> Now, you seem to be implying that Harry *does* unwittingly use
Legilimency to get some information for the O.W.L. test from the mind
of the student in front of him.  I don't think this is the case.
<snip excellent canon support>
 
> Harry doesn't really need to use Legilimency to come up with an
answer to this question; he's just very tired and having trouble
focusing.  Looking at the student in front of him was another place to
look other than his blank piece of paper while he thought, though it 
> turns out to be a bit distracting.
<snip more good support>
> But he's gradually able to remember a bit more from Hermione's
notes...(pg. 725-726) <snip>  but in his extremely tired state he's 
> having trouble remembering all the details so he stares ahead of him
"at the back of Parvati's head again" and idly wishes for a shortcut
through his struggling. "If he could only perform Legilimency and open
a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that
had caused the breach..."  But he can't perform Legilimency, and even
if he could, he'd most likely need to make eye contact with Parvati,
not just stare at the back of her head.
<snip> 
> Harry comes up with the answer on his own, once his eyes are closed.
 I don't think any Legilimency helped him get the information.

Carol adds:
I agree that Harry not only did not but could not have used
Legilimency in this situation, and not only because he couldn't make
eye contact with Parvati. Clearly, Harry has not fully processed
Snape's distinction between the Muggle concept of mind reading, in
which the mind reader can supposedly read another thoughts as if the
mind were a book he could open at will and Legilimency, which allows
the Legilimens to see memories and detect emotions. If Harry had
succeeded in entering Parvati's mind, a very unlikely proposition, he
would only have sensed her own fear and frustration. He would not have
seen the words she was writing or thinking.

Snape sees some of Harry's memories, apparently wholly random and
mostly bad, after casting a Legilmency spell. Harry sees Snape's after
an accidental Protego and later, when he very unwisely looks into the
Pensieve. Neither incident indicates Harry's skill or even his
potential as a Legilimens. We may see it later; certainly it would be
a helpful skill to acquire if he could. But there is no Legilimency,
not even an accurate understanding of the concept, in the Parvati
incident.

Carol