What would convince Harry/canned memories

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 134496

Jody wrote:
>>In OOTP, when Snape is teaching Harry occlemency (or sabotaging his 
efforts to learn it) he is careful to hide away the memories he 
doesn't want Harry to see, in case Harry should be able to 
legilimance. When he is called out, Harry takes a peak into Snape's 
memories, and sees the scene of James tormenting Harry. However, is 
this the only memory Snape has stored away? Is that the worst thing 
he has to hide?<<

HunterGreen:
I always assumed that he didn't take the memories out to hide them 
from Harry, but rather to remove them from his own thoughts so he'd 
be less bias about Harry, and be better able to objectively teach 
him. Dumbledore gave the impression in GoF that putting thoughts into 
the pensieve removed them from your head--

["This? It is called a Pensieve," said Dumbledore. "I sometimes find, 
and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many 
thoughts and memories crammed into my mind."
...
"At these times," said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, "I use 
the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, 
pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It 
becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they 
are in this form."]

--which means, perhaps, that Snape no longer entirely (or at all) 
remembered the incident with James and Sirius that was in the 
pensieve. Since his opinion (er, hatred) of James colors his opinion 
of Harry very greatly, it would help if he forgot some of the more 
horrible memories of James when he was teaching Occulmency. If you re-
read the occulmency lessons (or at least the first one) it appears 
that Snape becomes a little less nasty after he takes the thoughts 
from his head. Heck, he even *compliments* Harry.

I thought the chance of Harry breaking into Snape's mind was very 
low. Snape siphoning out embarassing memories would make sense if he 
were teaching Harry *legimency*. Snape is rather surprised by Harry 
reversing the spell, and comments specifically on how he didn't tell 
Harry to do that, and then later reminds Harry to block him with his 
*mind* which would have no danger of *reversing* the spell.

Also, considering that Snape is supposed to be so wonderful at 
Occulmency himself, why should he be worried about Harry breaking 
into his thoughts? Harry does, but only once, and only for a few 
seconds (hardly would have been long enough to see enough of the DADA 
OWL memory to know what was going on), and one would hope that 
someone who is supposed to be able to block *Voldemort* would be able 
to keep a fifteen-year-old out of his head.

Looking objectively at it, the thoughts were safer inside Snape's 
head than they were in the pensieve, at least his mind had a defense. 
If Snape was so neurotically concerned about Harry somehow 
accidentally breaking into his thoughts and seeing a few seconds of 
that memory that he felt the need to take them out of his head before 
each lesson, then why did he so easily sweep out of the room leaving 
Harry alone with the pensieve, not once but *twice*?

Sure the memory are humiliating, and Snape certainly did not want 
Harry of all people to see it (though he never caught on that Harry 
was *horrified* by the memory, even after seeing Harry's memories of 
being bullied), but that doesn't mean that he put it there to hide it 
from Harry. Harry thinks that, but how often is he right? (before 
HBP, that is)


-Rebecca / HunterGreen