CHAPDISC: DH33, The Prince's Tale

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184838

Joey wrote: 
> Hmmm, interesting point indeed... but if Voldy can show Harry a
false vision of Sirius being crucio-ed why can't Snape do something
similar to both Voldy and Harry? He could have "shown" something
seemingly true but actually false - he was always mentally prepared
for performing occlumency, whether it was with Voldy or Harry. Yet he
seems to have chosen to show the real one to Harry. 
> 
> 
> I doubt that Harry *accidentally* saw the memory given that Snape
was known to be an excellent occlumens. Even if we consider the
possibility of Snape having remembered his horrible childhood memories
after seeing those of Harry's, Snape was prepared for the lesson and
the legilimency that Harry was about to perform on him. For a person
who can look back calmly into Voldy's face while people around are
unable to stand the ferocity of Voldy's gaze, this kind of slip with a
boy totally new to legilimency/occlumency seems quite odd to me. May
be one explanation is that this was just a weak moment for Snape.
Another *remotely* possible reason could be that he did soften a bit
and gave in to an impulse to indeed share a similar memory with Harry.


Carol responds:
I agree with Zara and zanooda that these memories were *not* meant to
be seen and that Snape did not choose them. Occlumency doesn't work in
this situation because harry isn't using ordinary eye-to-eye
Legilimency--his Protego has turned Snape's very powerful Legilimens
*spell* back on its caster, so that spell has exactly the same effect
on Snape that it does on Harry except that snape can stop it more
quickly. Of course, if he'd been anticipating the Protego, he could
have blocked them much faster. But he seems to have expected something
of the sort to happen; otherwise he would not have put three
memories--SWM and two others that we don't get to see--in the Pensieve
so Harry won't see them if he casts a Protego (or, heaven forfend, a
successful Legilimens spell, which seems not to have occurred to him).
He tells Harry to prepare himself, but *he* isn't fully prepared to be
hit by his own spell.

I also like zanooda's suggestion that seeing harry's miserable
childhood experiences brought Snape's own miserable childhood to the
forefront of his mind--and that's all to the good--better those
memories than memories of his DE days!

Carol, who's quite sure that Snape didn't want *any* of his memories
to be seen on that occasion but also that he protected the most
important ones just in case