More About Snape and Occlumency (long)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 121723


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "inkling108" 
> Hello, Inkling here:

> Okay, it's a branch of magic.  Now, all the branches of magic 
we  have encountered so far use specific techniques and 
incantations to  do the job (with the exception of potions, where 
you don't need  incantations).  So you might expect occlumency 
to feature these as  well.<

Pippin:
Not so. It does not take any incantation to resist Imperius. We 
don't know what the orthodox techniques are, but Harry is 
supposed to, because Moody assigned it as reading- ch 15 GoF. 
He did this *after* Harry had already resisted the curse 
successfully in class, so what do you want to bet Harry never did 
the reading at all? 

And he didn't take the exams that year, so he wasn't tested on it 
either. Thus,  JKR has made sure she alone knows whether 
Harry's method of resisting Imperius is orthodox. But it does 
seem that the orthodox method doesn't require an incantation, or 
Hermione would have remarked on it. Comparing this to the 
technique for conjuring a patronus is apples and oranges.

It's a bit of  a stretch to assign Snape's white and shaky 
demeanor to his surprise that Harry used 'Protego' when Snape 
had just had some traumatic childhood memories unearthed. 
We've seen he doesn't take well to that. 

I agree that Harry's "You're not telling me how!" is a legitimate 
complaint, but I've had teachers who refuse to go over material 
the student is supposed to know already and I highly doubt they 
were servants of Voldemort.  If the  usual technique for resisting 
Imperius involves clearing your mind, then Snape has to 
assume that Harry knows how, in detail,since Harry has 
successfully resisted Imperius.

We mustn't discount Draco's intrusion as a reason the lessons 
weren't resumed. Once Draco had reported that Potter was 
getting Remedial Potions, and Umbridge had had her spat with 
McGonagall over Harry's future, ( only a week or two after the 
lessons were discontinued) Umbridge would have found a way 
to interfere.

Pippin