CHAPDISC: DH30, THE SACKING OF SEVERUS SNAPE

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184507

> 8.Can Severus see through invisibility cloaks? If not, why does he
always seem to know that Harry is around? Severus never catches him in
the cloak, but he always seems aware that Harry is there.
> 
Heather wrote:  
> I have an idea about this. I think that it is Snape's Legamency (I
know it isn't spelled right) that helps him with this. It would also
explain why he never actually catches him. Everytime Harry comes
across Snape while under the cloak, he is thinking really hard "don't
let him catch me, etc..." and I think Snape picks up on that, but is
unaware of the exact place that Harry is. Just my thought.
> 
Oryomai responded:
> 
> Ooooh!  I really like that idea!  I haven't seen anyone else respond
to it, so I wanted to say something.  That actually makes a lot of
sense.  It would explain why he can't seem to figure out exactly where
Harry is spatially.  Can he use Legimency when he can't see someone? 
I can never remember if that happened in the books or there's movie 
poisoning.  It would also help to push the idea that Harry *really* 
should've used Occulmency...

Carol responds:
One point I'd like to *disagree* with is the last sentence: Harry
using Occlumency to prevent Snape from knowing where he is if Snape is
indeed using Legilimency to know that Harry is present. I think it's a
good thing that Snape know Harry is there, both on the Astronomy Tower
in HBP (although the mere presence of two brooms and his knowledge of
Harry's Invisibility cloak is sufficient to explain that one) and in
the chapter under discussion. (If only he'd gotten Harry alone and
conveyed the message to him without having to die to do it! Sidenote
here: I don't think he was waiting to see Nagini in her bubble. He
knew that the confrontation between Harry and Voldemort was imminent
and that he *must* tell Harry now. His distraction from everything
else is apparent both in his conversation with McGonagall before she
attacks him and in his conversation [if we can call it that] with
Voldemort, in which he keeps saying, "Let me find the boy.")

However, I can think of two scenes that support the hypothesis that
Snape somehow senses Harry's presence under the Invisibility Cloak,
the one in the library with Quirrell in SS/PS (before we have any
evidence that he knows about the Invisibility Cloak, though DD may
have told him) and on the stairs with Fake!Moody in GoF. (He suspects
that Harry is there because of the golden egg and knows for sure he's
there when he sees the Marauder's Map, but it's possible that he
senses of feels his presence as well.) More important to the
hypothesis, Snape says during the Occlumency lessons in OoP that eye
contact is *usually* necessary to Legilimency (the scar link and the
Legilimens spell being obvious exceptions), but it's possible that his
ability to sense Harry's presence is another exception. (Maybe he
silently uses Hominum Revelio and the cloak, being Ignotus Peverell's,
thwarts his ability to actually *see* Harry [unlike Fake!Moody, whose
magical eye can see through even that supposedly special cloak], but
not his ability to sense his presence. 

To answer your question whether Snape actually uses Legilimency when
he can't see someone, he does seem to know Harry's thoughts when he's
escorting him from the gate after the train incident with Draco: He
tells Harry not to sneak into the Great Hall under the Invisibility
Cloak. Of course, while that bit of mind reading could be Legilimency,
it could also be Snape's knowledge of Harry, who has an Invisibility
Cloak and really doesn't want to be seen at the moment. The bit about
wanting to make an entrance could result from a confusion in Snape's
mind (shared, with different results, by Sirius Black) between Harry
and James--who would, most likely, have wanted to make a dramatic
entrance (but not give away the secret of the Invisibility Cloak. for
some reason, I'm reminded here of Bilbo's dramatic *dis*appearance,
which achieved a similar effect without giving away the secret of the
Ring.)

As with Snape's loyalties (until "The Prince's Tale"), the evidence
regarding the extent of his Legilimency (in contrast to his superb
Occlumency, his mastery of Potions, his duelling abilities, and his
knowledge of Dark magic and countermagic) remains ambiguous. (the man
can fly without a broom! Who knows what else he can do?)

Carol, not sure where she stands on this question but leaning toward
this specific cloak thwarting Snape's ability to see under it combined
with Legilimency enabling him to sense Harry's presence