Draco as Occlumens? (Was: Sadistic Snape, Occlumency, etc)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 140309

Elyse wrote: <snip>> 
> And dont you think it SO impossible that Draco who was taught by
such a crackpot of a teacher [Bellatrix] can withold thoughts from
SNAPE????
> This is the man who can supposedly fool both LV and DD if he wants
yet a total snotrag like Draco can close his mind from him?
> 
> Incidentally I've always been surprised that Harry could break into
Snape's mind during OOTP Occlumency lessons.
> I mean how come Snape can hold out on his memories from LV but
someone like Harry who has *no* Legilimency power can break through? I
think JKR messed up on that one.


Carol responds:
First, with regard to Harry, he's not using Legilimency (or
Occlumency) against Snape. As Pippin has pointed out, he's merely
using an instinctive Protego, which causes *Snape's* Legilimency spell
to rebound. It's not as if Harry has deliberately invaded Snape's
mind. Protego is a DADA spell requiring no more skill at Legilimency
than sticking your head in a Pensieve (the other means by which Harry
sees one of Snape's memories). Snape tells Harry that he's supposed to
be protecting himself mentally as he did from the Imperius Curse in
Fake!Moody's class, and Harry is failing utterly. Still, Snape has
authorized Harry to use his wand and protect himself and he seems to
regard this moment as a step forward in Harry's *Occlumency* training.
There's no indication that he regards it as *Legilimency*, only as
self-defense. Snape would not have removed three memories from his
head had he not expected some such defense on Harry's part.

Regarding Draco--What Draco puts up in his confrontation with Snape is
a crude and obvious mental shield that Snape detects instantly. Were
Draco to try such a trick with LV, he'd end up Crucio'd or dead.
Snape, in contrast, is a *superb* Occlumens who can use Occlumency on
Voldemort without being detected (though he pretends to have told LV
the truth in "Spinner's End").

As for Draco blocking Snape's attempt at Legilimency, I'm pretty sure
that Snape could have pushed past it if he'd wanted to, but he could
not have done so without further alienating Draco and possibly
arousing his suspicions as to which side Snape is really on. (Notice
that Snape asks, "What are you hiding from *your* master, Draco?"--not
"our master," which suggests that Snape is not the loyal DE Draco
thinks he is.) Also, given that breaking the Unbreakable Vow is a
death sentence, Snape probably doesn't want to find out exactly what
Draco is up to for fear that he'll be forced to help Draco do it
(rather than "helping" by hindering as he's done to this point). So he
just informs Draco that he knows he's using Occlumency, credits
Bellatrix with teaching him (though it could be Narcissa, for all we
know), and switches tactics. (IMO, the only thing he accomplishes in
this interview is to discourage Draco from any more crude and easily
attempts at murder. At least there are no more cursed objects or
poisoned drinks from this point forward. But as I see it, Snape can't
find out what Draco is really up to without getting involved himself.
Hence, "You take too much for granted, Dumbledore! Maybe I don't want
to do this any longer.")

To get back on topic, Draco admittedly has more skill at Occlumency
than Harry, who has no defense at all against Snape's Legilimency in
HBP, but that doesn't make him a "superb" Occlumens like Snape. I
think there's a huge difference between the crude Occlumency that
Draco is learning and the sophisticated and virtually undetectable
Occlumency that has protected Snape from death at LV's hands since his
return to LV on Dumbledore's orders at the end of GoF. As Snape
himself says in OoP, "The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows
when somebody is lying to him. Only those *skilled* at Occlumency are
able to shut down those feelings and memories that contradict the lie,
and so utter falsehoods in his presence without detection." (Am. ed.
531, my emphasis) I would be very surprised if either Draco or
Bellatrix (who never attempts to hide her feelings or opinions) had
the skill required to lie to Voldemort undetected, and in Bellatrix's
case, I doubt the motivation as well. It makes no sense that she would
 know Occlumency at all, much less be able to teach it, psychotic as
she is.
 
Maybe Snape is wrong in his guess that it's Aunt Bellatrix who's
teaching Draco (elementary) Occlumency and it's really Narcissa trying
to protect her son. Or maybe Snape suspects that it's really Narcissa
but is deliberately steering wide of the mark so that Draco won't
realize just how shrewd and perceptive he really is.

Draco learning elementary Occlumency (in contrast to Harry, who can't
learn it at all) makes *some* sense, at least in the light of the
recent JKR interview about compartmentalizing the emotions). But Draco
foiling Snape after a crash course in Occlumency makes no sense at
all. In my view, the only explanation is that Snape *could* have
broken through Draco's crude barrier but chose not to do so.
Otherwise, after all we've heard about the difficulty of mastering
Occlumency, it's a glaring Flint.

Carol