Occlumency lessons

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180419

> bboyminn:
> 
> I think Dumbledore thought when the cause was great enough
> Snape and Harry could set aside their differences and work
> toward a common goal. BOY WAS HE WRONG! Lessons, especially
> with Snape have the effect of enraging and frustrating
> Harry. The very emotions he need to control to protect
> himself were being inflamed by the humiliation of Snape
> digging into his deepest and most private memories.
> 
> So, regardless of the actually Occlumency lesson, it was
> that they were being taught by Snape that inflamed the
> sitiation and made it impossible for Harry to effectively
> practice Occlumency.
> 
> Also, I think Snape tends to rely on the 'brute force' method
> of teaching. Some one with more patience and much to Snape's
> discredit, someone with more of a sense of subtly, and
> Harry would have been a fair Occlumens. 
> 
> Note Harry is not completely without talent in this area. 
> One of the problems was that Harry was just as interested
> as Snape in seeing these memories come wandering by, but
> when a truly private memory began to appear, Harry cut it
> off immediately. If Snape had been a better and less 
> emotionally involved teacher he would have picked up on 
> that and built on it. Instead, he just used it as an
> excuse to bully Harry even more.
> 
> Also, note that Voldemort emotions, thoughts, feeling, and
> sense of excitement are also rising during this time. That 
> combined with the other frustration confronting Harry 
> (Umbridge, Cho, Quidditch, etc...) and Harry was, in my
> opinion, emotionally near the breaking point. None of this
> is helping at all, and it all explains why Harry appears
> to be getting worse at blocking access to his mind instead
> of getting better. 

Carol responds:

Setting aside what JKR said in an interview about Harry's inability to
compartmentalize his mind, I think you're forgetting at least two
things here. Yes, Harry was angry and the fact that Snape was his
teacher, invading his mind, could not have helped his mood. Nor did
his distrust of Snape and Snape's dislike of him help the
teacher/student relationship. But Harry wasn't trying or practicing
because he *wanted* to have those dreams, and Snape *did* praise
Harry's efforts, more than once. "For a first attempt, that was not as
bad as it might have been" may not be high praise coming from
McGonagall or Flitwick, but from Snape, it's the equivalent of "Good
job, Potter." At least he's acknowledging that Harry's attempt, in
effect, exceeds expectations. And Snape controls his anger when
Harry's Protego reveals *his* memories, reserving his outbursts for
those times when Harry is seeing memories that belong to Voldemort
rather than Harry himself. And it's apparent from subsequent remarks
from Dumbledore that Snape is reporting to DD regarding Harry's
progress (or lack thereof)--and the LV-related memories, whose content
DD could not have known had Snape not told him. And let's not forget
that the lessons ended because Harry deliberately invaded Snape's
memories in the Pensieve.

Carol, wondering if the Pensieve incident contributed to Snape's last
brainstorm (showing Harry all the relevant memories, including,
perhaps, the two that had been hidden before)