Spinner's End--further evidence for DDsMan!Snape??

[lolita_ns]

No: HPFGUIDX 140047

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "houyhnhnm102" <celizwh at i...> 
wrote:

>I've
> wondered if Voldemort knew, though, (via Harry) that Snape was giving
> Occlumency lessons to Harry and if he had to explain himself.
> 

Lolita:

I think he did. Remember the lesson when Harry legilemensed SS? He did 
it almost without any effort. He just cast a Protego, and the next 
moment he was able to *see* SS before him and then also see into him. 
I think this was a moment when LV visited Harry (Harry is *not* a 
Legilimens, and there is no reason a legilimens spell would backfire 
in such a way - even if Protego was a kind of a shield, it would just 
block SS's intrusion, not turn it completely the way it did, so that 
Harry would be able to see Snape's mind).

The scene continues:  "Snape was shaking slightly, and was very white 
in the face ... /.../ Panting slightly, Snape straightened the 
Pensieve in
which he had again stored some of his thoughts before starting the 
lesson, almost
as though he was checking they were still there." (OotP, ch. 26)

Now, my guess is that SS was told by DD that LV might decide to join 
him & Harry on Occlumency lesons and that he is to prepare himself. 
Why else would he keep his memories in a pensieve? I don't think he 
gives squat about *Harry* seeing sth incriminating - for that matter, 
if he thinks that a pensieve is a better place to keep his memories 
safe from a teenage boy (who is not a legilimens, but who he knows is 
as curious as a cat and will therefore take any chance to take a peek 
in the Pensieve) than in a mind of an expert Occlumens, then he is 
just plain stupid. And you will agree that he is not stupid. Quite the 
opposite.

So, IMHO, Snape used the Pensieve to shield some of his memories, not 
from HARRY, but from VOLDEMORT - in case he decided to take a peek. 
That is why SS is so shaken when he realizes what has happened.

And, oh, yes - just *incidentally*, this is the very same lesson when 
Harry, NOT KNOWING WHAT CAME OVER HIM, asks Snape whether he spies on 
DEs, and Snape smugly says 'Yes'. And a few minutes later, Harry just 
*accidentally* happens to legilimens Snape? And Snape is then so white 
and checks to see whether his memories are still in the Pensieve just 
because *Harry* saw some of his childhood memories? I don't think so.

No, I'm positive that this was LV's excursion into Harry's mind. 
Actually, he was in his mind throughout Year 5, on an on&off basis. 
And when SS said - with a smirk - that he was a spy - LV decided to 
check up on him, just in case. If I was Snape, I would be white and 
shaking too. 

And as for being punished by LV for teaching Harry occlumency - maybe 
he *was*, like Ron said, making Harry weeker. Not necessarily in the 
literal sense of the word, but maybe he just wasn't trying hard enough 
to teach him well. That was by far the most dangerous task set for 
Snape by his two masters - and he masterfully botched it and blamed it 
on Harry. 

(The scenario is as follows:

SS - Cover my arse for DD: 'The boy is not trying hard enough. He 
invaded my privacy. I won't see him again, he insulted me.' 

SS - Cover my arse for LV: 'Oh, Potter just happened to see me every 
time making such a show of storing my memories in the pensieve and 
then I was just accidentally in such a hurry to see Montague that I 
couldn't tell Potter to go away, leave the office myself and lock it? 
I just accidentally left Potter alone with my pensieve, where I stored 
the memory that would upset Potter the most, shake his ideas about his 
father&godfather and make him sympathise with *me*, of all people.') 

This *is* an instance of a master at work. He got away from this hard 
task and covered his arse both ways. LV probably congratulated him, 
and DD probably appologised.

And one more thing: Why on earth would SS make such a show of stupid 
wand waving and silly incantation when legilimensing Harry when we saw 
that he doesn't actually need to do it? In every other instance of 
legilimency, SS just looks Harry in the eye and sees what he has been 
up to. In my opinion, this is another charade for LV's sake: LV may 
know that SS is an Occlumens (if SS is ESE, then there is a strong 
possibility that LV trained him in occlumency himself), but not that 
he is a Legilimens also. 

A true Legilimens doesn't need to brandish his wand and 
mutter 'legilimens' (we saw LV in action so many times - including the 
end of PS and the battle in Mom at the end of OotP - then we can tell 
that this is indeed the case), but somebody who isn't *does* have to 
do it. So, IMHO, SS is trying to keep LV from knowing that he is both 
an Occlumens and a Legilimens.

Lolita.