"Some won't like it".

[juli17ptf]

No: HPFGUIDX 130126

Eggplant wrote:
> 
> It doesn't sound to me that Hermione knows much about Occlumency, it
> sounds to me like she's guessing and trying to cheer Harry up. This 
is
> from book 5:
>  
> 'Maybe it's a bit like an illness,' said Hermione, looking 
> concerned when Harry confided in her and Ron. 'A fever or 
> something. It has to get worse before it gets better.' 
> 'The lessons with Snape are making it worse,' said Harry flatly. 

Julie says:
 You bring up a good point. I was thinking about this last night. If 
this weakness is a normal byproduct of the Occlumency lessons, then 
certainly Snape or Dumbledore should have warned Harry it would 
happen. But the question is, does a student in training always feel 
that weakness after lessons?

Remember, there is a potentially big difference during Harry's 
lessons than during usual Occlumency lessons. Harry is *already* 
linked to another mind. If we use Snape as a student example, as far 
as we know, when DD taught Snape Occulmency he was the only one in 
Snape's mind at the moment. Snape may have felt fine after the 
lessons, as might have legions of other students. 

I think Hermoine may be right in her sickness analogy. Up until the 
lessons Voldemort was lazily strolling his way through Harry's mind 
(to use a favorite adverb of JKR's!). But once Harry started learning 
Occlumency and Voldemort felt resistance, Voldemort came instantly to 
attention. He quit goofing around and put his all into controlling 
Harry's mind. Harry only knew the Occlumency wasn't working, figured 
Snape was behind it, and quit trying. Which only gave the newly 
determined Voldemort easier access. 

Again it all depends on how Occlumency lessons affect students 
normally, and Harry is decidedly NOT normal in this case. So, either 
Snape fell down on the job by not warning Harry about the after-
effects, or Harry unwittingly sabotaged the Occlumency lessons by not 
telling Snape (or Dumbledore) that he was getting weaker, not 
stronger. 

(And, yeah, yeah, I know Harry didn't trust Snape, with some good 
reason due to their past relationship, which is where Dumbledore made 
his mistake--and that was not in expecting *Snape* to get over his 
feelings as much as in expecting *Harry* to get over his feelings, 
i.e., not recognizing Harry's inablity to put the complete trust 
required for Occlumency in a teacher who's engendered only negative 
feelings in him over the past four plus years.) 

Anyway, I hope we do see Occlumency again and learn more about it, so 
we can better judge exactly how it is taught under more normal 
circumstances, and between a student and teacher who don't have so 
much baggage with each other. It will make it easier to more 
accurately judge just where it all went wrong in OotP.

Julie