Communicating by Legilimency (Was: Trial of Severus Snape /Harry IS Snape)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 141428

Alla wrote:
<snip>
> > I don't remember anything in canon pointing out that you can 
> > converse telepathically using Legilimency.
> 
Pippin responded:
> This has become conventional wisdom apparently, but it's flat wrong.
Harry saw and heard complete dialogues via legilimency, real time, on
at least four occasions:  <snip>
> 
> Snape, of course, need only be good enough at legilimency to receive
the message-- he does not have to be able to send one by the same means.
> 
Carol adds:
While I agree with Nora that these four conversations are peculiar to
the Harry/Voldemort link in OoP and don't constitute typical
Legilimency, I think Pippin's last remark is well taken. We don't need
to imagine a conversation taking place between Snape and Dumbledore,
only DD *sending* and Snape *receiving* brief messages in the form of
images. (I do think that Snape could send a message that DD could read
with no effort whatever; in fact, he controls the images that LV sees
in his mind through Occlumency if I'm reading OoP correctly, but in
this instance, he needs only to receive DD's messages/images and
interpret them correctly.)

DD has clearly indicated with his "Severus. . ." that he has something
to communicate, and Snape meets his gaze, as he needs to do in order
to see into another's mind. We know that he can see images in other
people's minds with very little effort (the Potions book incident
cited by zgirnius) unless that person is using Occlumency (as Draco
attempts to do when Snape confronts him), and in this instance DD
certainly would not be trying to block Snape's efforts to see into his
mind. Quite the opposite, if we're correct.

We know from Snape's Occlumency lessons in OoP that seeing such images
can enable a Legilimens to determine whether someone is telling the
truth (not relevant here since DD would hardly be lying), but the
images also indicate the emotional state of the person whose thoughts
or memories are being glimpsed--the particular thing a person fears or
whatever concern is uppermost in his mind (Legilimency on Narcissa in
"Spinner's End" would no doubt have revealed the DEs AKing Draco).
Dumbledore could have chosen particular images to convey his fear of a
particular outcome (say, Harry rushing into the fray and being killed)
or a sense of urgency in getting Snape to do what he needed him to do
(to cast an AK-like spell to send DD over the wall, to use zgirnius's
example) or simply to convey that he was dying (the poison in the cave
example cited by zgirnius). Seeing such images could certainly account
for the abrupt change in Snape's own emotional state, reflected in his
expression, from darting eyes taking in the scene to a look of
revulsion and hatred as he gazes into Dumbledore's eyes (but does not
raise his wand till Dumbledore says "Severus, please. . . ," HBP 795).
Whether the words mean, "Severus, please obey my last order" or
"Severus, please, we have no more time" or even, "Severus, please kill
me," it's probable that Snape understands the meaning and Harry, who
thinks DD is begging for his life, does not.   

Yet, ironically, Harry himself attempted something similar with Snape
in OoP, *willing* Snape to read his mind: "His cold, dark eyes were
boring into Harry's, who met his gaze unflinchingly, concentrating
hard on what he had seen in his dream, willing Snape to read it in his
mind, to understand. . . ." (OoP Am. ed. 744-45). Harry then tries
staring at Snape and thinking, "Voldemort's got Sirius in the
Department of Mysteries." Snape, of course, is in the process of
denying Umbridge's demands for Veritaserum and is pretending to ignore
Harry, who finally resorts to shouting, "He's got Padfoot in the place
where it's hidden!" (745) forcing Snape to state coldly that if he
wants nonsense shouted at him, he'll give Harry a Babbling Beverage
(746). Now it's possible that Snape didn't get the point until Harry
"babbled" it, but knowing what we do now about Snape's abilities as a
Legilimens, along with the fact that Harry was *willing* him to see
the image from his dreams, I'm guessing that Snape did indeed see what
Harry wanted him to see and was able to give the Order a fairly
accurate description of what Harry thought was happening based on
Harry's deliberate communication through Legilimency.

If that's the case, then Dumbledore willing Snape to see what happened
in the cave or what he wished Snape to do is neither far-fetched fan
speculation nor a new idea without precedent in earlier books. In
fact, the incident appears to be nicely foreshadowed by the passage
just cited.

Carol, noting that even the DE Amycus thinks that Dumbledore is "not
long for this world," more evidence that DD is indeed dying (594)