Snape and Occlumency

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 121628


Inkling wrote:
> 
> Yes, but..why was JKR so specific about the timeframe?  Not just 
> very happy, but the happiest he had been in fourteen years.  The 
> fourteen years thing clearly connects to Harry, IMHO.

Carol responds;
Think about Voldemort's condition for the last fourteen years:
violently expelled from his own body because of a deflected AK, unable
to survive except by possessing animals until Quirrell came along,
inhabiting the back of Quirrell's head while Quirrell drank unicorn
blood to sustain them both, deserting Quirrell and leaving him to die,
living again by possessing animals until Wormtail found him,
transformed into Baby!mort and surviving on Nagini's milk, resurrected
into his old form only to be defeated in front of his DEs by Harry
Potter--what has Voldemort had to be happy about other than the
knowledge he gains from Rookwood about how to obtain the Prophecy?
there's no reason whatever to connect this happiness, such as it is,
with Severus Snape. But, yes, it relates to Harry. Everything does.
Until Harry is destroyed, Voldemort can't concentrate on his rise to
power.

Carol



> 
>  Neri:
> > Immediately before the sentence you quoted, DD says:
> > 
> > "I have already said that it was a mistake for me not to teach you 
> > myself, though I was sure, at the time, that nothing could have 
> been 
> > more dangerous than to open your mind even further to Voldemort 
> while 
> > in my presence - "
> > 
> > This implies that, had DD himself taught Harry occlumency, he also 
> > would have "opened Harry's mind even further to Voldemort". It 
> seems 
> > that this is an unavoidable part of occlumency for beginners.
> 
> Yes, but notice that he says "in my presence," that is, during the 
> lesson itself.  However the effect of Snape's lessons is to leave 
> Harry's mind more open *all the time.*  And it gets worse and worse 
> as the lessons proceed.  I'm not sure that Dumbledore himself has 
> grasped what really happened, because he has not questioned Harry in 
> detail about his experience during and after occlumency lessons. Why 
> he would fail to do this after what Harry has told him  I can't 
> fathom -- he must really trust Snape, to the point of blindness.
> 
>  > I agree with Lupinlore (in a post several days ago): Snape's 
> mistake 
> > here was that he did not warn Harry in advance (nor even after the 
> > fact) of this danger. Either he didn't know, or (more likely) he 
> was 
> > too resentful to care. The obvious result was that Harry had lost 
> > what was left of his trust in Snape. This was a bad result for 
> Snape 
> > whether he was acting on DD's side or on LV's side. So I tend to 
> > think that Snape was guided here by his emotions rather than by 
> > careful planning. This is of course rather ironic considering his 
> > lecture to Harry about subtlety and controlling emotions.
> 
> I would (believe me)like to think this is true, but the "walking 
> aerial" effect Snapes lessons produce still really bothers me.
> 
>  
> 
> > I'm not sure I was helpful ;-)
> 
> Thanks for trying! :-)