Severus Snape;a skilled Legilimens

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 180081

> biancawatanabe_123 wrote:
> > 
> > And in the GOF when Barty Crouch Jr. was stealing boomslang skin,
> > lacewing flies and other ingredients to make Polyjuice Potion 
> > from Snape, why did Snape suspect Harry of stealing them when he
> > could just read Harry's mind and figure out if it was really him
> > all along who was stealing?

Mike:
Snape explained that eye contact was very important in this type of 
communication. During that potions class, Snape was trying to bait 
Harry, but Harry wasn't biting. Harry kept his head down and was 
attending to his work. When he did look into Snape's eyes, the point 
was made that Harry was telling the truth, he had not stolen the 
ingredients. 

But, as Carol pointed out, Harry also lied, he *did* know who stole 
the ingredients. It's a mixed message for Snape to interpret. Adding 
to the confusion, Snape is looking for answers about Moody!Crouch's 
stealing and Harry is thinking about Hermione's stealing. I don't 
think Snape was even aware of the second year theft, she probably 
hadn't taken much boomslang. We know Snape was a very good Occlumens 
but we don't know how good he was at Legilimency. I can see how Snape 
could not divine exactly what Harry was or wasn't guilty of.



> Bart:
> In OOP, Sevvy was VERY specific that Legilimency is NOT reading 
> minds. At best, without actually casting a spell, it can be used
> to tell if someone is being honest, lying, or evasive. 

Mike:
I'm going to disagree here, Bart. A talented Legilimens does seem to 
be able to find considerably more information. Harry is visiting 
LV's, sorry, Morty's mind when Morty is Legilimencing Gregorovitch 
about the Elder Wand. Harry sees what is essentially a Pensieve style 
replaying of the wand being stolen by a fair haired Grindelwald. 
Obviously, that is the information that Morty is getting through 
Legilimency.

Also, Dumbledore ends up with a Pensieve-compatible <reminds you of 
IBM compatible, doesn't it? ;)> memory from Morfin after a "great 
deal of skilled Legilimency to coax it out of him". It would seem 
that a skilled Legilimens can get the same quality memory out of 
his/her subject that one gets from extracting a memory out of one's 
own mind. In fact that's probably what Dumbledore did, made Morfin's 
memory his own then extracted it from his own mind.

This part is purely speculation: I imagine that the difference 
between an accomplished and an average Legilimens is akin to 
someone's ability to cast a "corporal" Patronus versus that "white 
stuff" that Harry gets in his first attempts. Morty and DD get the 
DVD versions, while Snape and Lupin get the rabbit ears reception we 
got on our TVs back in the 60s. It probably cuts in and out as often, 
too.

It also seems that Morty's skill is such that he can read the 
emotions of lies or truth without the need of eye contact. He knew 
Harry was telling the truth about the lost prophesy before Harry even 
knew Morty was there.

Mike, who now realizes why LV didn't need a Pensieve, since he's not 
the sharing type