Occlumency lessons WAS: Slytherins come back WAS: Re: My Most Annoying Charact

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 180413

Alla:
 Basically I cannot interpret "to open your mind further" as the fact 
> that it was necessarily opened ONLY during the lessons. I intepret 
> it as it could have been opened before lessons started by the 
> connection between Harry and Voldemort or as we know between pieces 
> of soul or whatever that was.

Pippin:
Hermione says something about this too, after the first lesson, that
it's only natural that Harry's scar is going to hurt worse after someone's
been poking in his mind, though I doubt Hermione understands that
Harry has a soul bit in him and that's what's causing the pain.

But Dumbledore knows this. He knows  that the pain isn't from 
Voldemort trying to get in but from the soul bit trying to get out.
Snape doesn't know about the soul bit, so he can't even subconsciously
want to manipulate it, while Dumbledore does know and sees that
IMO as a danger. 

I think that Neri's old distinction about "official mysteries" is a good
thing to recall. "Official mysteries" were questions which the characters
themselves raised, or which JKR hinted at in interviews. Questions
suggested by inconsistencies or lacunae in the story which the characters 
themselves seemed unaware of were unlikely to be resolved. The
missing 24 hours was a prime example of the sort of thing we were meant
to ignore. 

I think kids and casual readers may be  in a better position to
appreciate the overall impact of JKR's work than we are, because we've
trained ourselves to look at minutiae so much we're in danger of missing
the forest for the trees. 

I'm sure JKR feels DH explains adequately that Dumbledore's
confidence in Snape's loyalties was justified, and therefore whether
he could have opened Harry's mind further to Voldemort through the
lessons is a moot point. 

Pippin