OoP clues? Open and Closed Mind

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 158106

> bboyminn/steve:
> 
> I actually think two separate things are going on. One
> is Harry learning the art of Occlumency, and how to block
> unwanted thoughts. The other is preventing Voldemort from
> reaching Harry and influencing him. I know...those sound 
> like the same thing, but there is a subtle difference. 
> 
(snip)
 But we need to remember that the thing
> that Dumbledore was actually worried about was that
> Voldemort would try and influence Harry. Not just access 
> his thoughts, but try and compell Harry to act, which
> as it turns out, is exactly what happened.


Tonks:
I think I might partially have an idea as to how Occlumency works.  
The closes think to it that I have experienced was when I had a 
supervisor that was a bit like Snape.  She had just the right words 
to cause a negative emotional reaction in me.  She knew just how 
to "get" to each of us. There were times (behind her back) that she 
had me in tears or so angry I could kill.  One day, somehow, I put 
up an emotional barrier within myself so that she could not affect 
me.  And it worked.  And much to my surprise, she noticed.  She said 
that she felt this barrier.  That was very surprising to me.  We 
became bitter enemies, just like Snape and Harry. And I became 
the "only one she ever feared" the day that I became the union 
stewart.

I think this illustration is one way to block LV.  In OP Harry was 
on an emotional roller coaster as LV manipulated his feeling, just 
as my supervisor did.  There appears to be more to Occlumency than 
just this, but I think that this might be the first step in learning 
it.  When someone else can manipulate our feeling, they can 
manipulate our actions. We see it all the time in the Muggle world, 
from the playground on up. It happened to Harry in OP, and it was 
his downfall.

Tonks_op