OOTP Chapter Twenty-Four: "Occlumency"
Sep. 3rd, 2011 11:15 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslock* Harry’s dreading the prospect of returning to Hogwarts. I wonder if this is how Slytherins feel under Dumbledore’s régime?
* Sirius undermining one of Harry’s teachers and an important Order member like that isn’t very responsible, although at least irresponsible behaviour is IC for someone like Sirius.
* Later in the book Harry will remember Sirius’ flush and blame Snape for his death. (And then forget about it all in HBP.) Somehow, though, he doesn’t remember Sirius turning white when Fred (George?) called him a coward. IOIAGDI, I suppose.
* “‘Why can’t Dumbledore teach Harry?’ asked Sirius aggressively. ‘Why you?’” Wow, Sirius really is being a total dick in this scene. Not that people will remember this when they talk about how nasty Snape caused poor little Woobie!Sirius’ death.
* Harry, arrogant? Don’t be absurd, Severus!
* Also, note how it’s Sirius, not Snape, who first pulls out his wand.
* I quite like this scene. The good guys in these books ought to get put down more. It might do them some good. As well as being extremely satisfying to watch.
* Harry’s determined not to call Sirius, in case he leads him out of hiding. Ironically, it’s precisely because he doesn’t use it that Sirius is lured out and ends up dying. This would be a rather neat piece of dramatic irony, if Harry had ever been seriously tempted to use the mirror, instead of just forgetting about it until after Sirius is dead. As it is, the fact that he seemingly forgets all about till after Sirius is dead just serves to make Harry look really dumb and self-centred.
* This is, I think, the third time Harry’s ever seen Stan Shunpike, and the last time before he becomes a Death Eater. These three times are, however, enough to convince Harry that he can’t ever become a DE. Maybe people with bad Cockney accents are just too loveable to join terrorist gangs.
* You’d have thought that people who can engineer a bus to travel super fast and squeeze through tiny places would have designed it so that everybody wouldn’t be thrown off their seats every time moves, but maybe that’s just too practical for the wizarding world.
* Just before he leaves, Harry looks into Lupin’s “prematurely lined face”. I wonder that the significance of this detail is. Is it meant to be an indication that Lupin’s duties for the Order are taking their toll? Is he meant to be worried for Harry’s safety? Or did JK Rowling just want to use an interesting adjective?
* Does Harry really have to tell everybody about his “remedial Potions” lessons? Couldn’t he just say he was busy, and leave it at that?
* Also, note how Ron’s first reaction to Zacharias’ being happy at this is to jinx him from behind. Yeah, I’d totally trust a person like that to be an élite police officer. *rolls eyes*
* Also, note that there’s never any suggestion that Ron deserves to be turned into a ferret and bounced against the walls for this. That sort of punishment is reserved for those who deserve it, like Slytherins.
* Cho suggests going to Hogsmeade together “eagerly”. Because however much Harry might fancy someone, they naturally fancy him even more. He’s just that awesome.
* A slight flicker of fairness and objectivity appears here, when the narrative voice points out that Snape had good reason to suspect Harry of stealing Potions supplies, instead of complaining about how Snape is always really mean to Harry and always blames him for everything.
* “Occlumency” comes from the Latin word occludere, meaning “to shut out”. “Legilimency” is from legere, “to read”. The “-mency” suffix would probably be from mens, “mind”. So Occlumency is “shutting people out from your mind”, whereas Legilimency is “reading somebody’s mind”.
* Apparently “only Muggles talk of ‘mind-reading’." Yeah, those silly, inferior Muggles, completely incapable of understanding anything about the magical arts which are kept totally secret from them.
* I like the idea that Voldemort put a Trace on his name in the first war, so that he could send hordes of Death Eaters to attack anybody who dared say his name. That would explain why Dumbledore always felt comfortable saying it; he’s just so badass, he could fight off anybody who turned up. It would also be totally IC for him to look down on other people for not saying the name, even though they wouldn’t be powerful enough to face down a group of DEs coming after them.
* “Harry muttered, hating Snape.” Why JKR feels the need to point out that Harry hated Snape at this particular time is beyond me, given that he hates the Potions Master most of the time anyway.
* So Occlumency requires you to clear your mind, does it? Interesting. That makes it sound sort of like meditation. So does Legilimency involve seeing what you’re thinking? That would certainly be solved by emptying your mind (or else by concentrating on a useless memory), but the description of it here implies that it forces you to think of things, which wouldn’t be solved just by trying to empty your mind. Or is what you’re thinking like a handhold, which the Legilimens can use to get to the rest of your memories, and emptying your mind is a way of denying them that initial handhold so they can’t get in at all? Although Snape presumably uses Occlumency when he’s speaking to Voldemort, and he’d have to do a bit of thinking then. Maybe he’s teaching Harry an easy version of Occlumency which is good over long distances, but uses a more complex form himself which enables him to think whilst still keeping others from accessing the thoughts he doesn’t want them to see.
* Also, Harry thinks that letting go of his anger would be as difficult as detaching his legs. It’s a sign of the power of love in him, for sure.
* Snape’s losing his temper here. As, indeed, he does a lot of times throughout the books. And his childhood nickname of “Snivellus” implies that he was considered a bit of a crybaby. So if emotional people are easy to Legilimise, and the Dark Lord’s so good at it, how come Snape’s managed to survive so long?
* Harry goes off to have another conversation about the weapon, once again making it sound far more interesting than it will actually turn out to be.
* I’ll admit, this maniacal cackling scene is quite creepy. A pity the “Voldemort reading Harry’s mind” subplot stopped after OOTP, really.
* Sirius undermining one of Harry’s teachers and an important Order member like that isn’t very responsible, although at least irresponsible behaviour is IC for someone like Sirius.
* Later in the book Harry will remember Sirius’ flush and blame Snape for his death. (And then forget about it all in HBP.) Somehow, though, he doesn’t remember Sirius turning white when Fred (George?) called him a coward. IOIAGDI, I suppose.
* “‘Why can’t Dumbledore teach Harry?’ asked Sirius aggressively. ‘Why you?’” Wow, Sirius really is being a total dick in this scene. Not that people will remember this when they talk about how nasty Snape caused poor little Woobie!Sirius’ death.
* Harry, arrogant? Don’t be absurd, Severus!
* Also, note how it’s Sirius, not Snape, who first pulls out his wand.
* I quite like this scene. The good guys in these books ought to get put down more. It might do them some good. As well as being extremely satisfying to watch.
* Harry’s determined not to call Sirius, in case he leads him out of hiding. Ironically, it’s precisely because he doesn’t use it that Sirius is lured out and ends up dying. This would be a rather neat piece of dramatic irony, if Harry had ever been seriously tempted to use the mirror, instead of just forgetting about it until after Sirius is dead. As it is, the fact that he seemingly forgets all about till after Sirius is dead just serves to make Harry look really dumb and self-centred.
* This is, I think, the third time Harry’s ever seen Stan Shunpike, and the last time before he becomes a Death Eater. These three times are, however, enough to convince Harry that he can’t ever become a DE. Maybe people with bad Cockney accents are just too loveable to join terrorist gangs.
* You’d have thought that people who can engineer a bus to travel super fast and squeeze through tiny places would have designed it so that everybody wouldn’t be thrown off their seats every time moves, but maybe that’s just too practical for the wizarding world.
* Just before he leaves, Harry looks into Lupin’s “prematurely lined face”. I wonder that the significance of this detail is. Is it meant to be an indication that Lupin’s duties for the Order are taking their toll? Is he meant to be worried for Harry’s safety? Or did JK Rowling just want to use an interesting adjective?
* Does Harry really have to tell everybody about his “remedial Potions” lessons? Couldn’t he just say he was busy, and leave it at that?
* Also, note how Ron’s first reaction to Zacharias’ being happy at this is to jinx him from behind. Yeah, I’d totally trust a person like that to be an élite police officer. *rolls eyes*
* Also, note that there’s never any suggestion that Ron deserves to be turned into a ferret and bounced against the walls for this. That sort of punishment is reserved for those who deserve it, like Slytherins.
* Cho suggests going to Hogsmeade together “eagerly”. Because however much Harry might fancy someone, they naturally fancy him even more. He’s just that awesome.
* A slight flicker of fairness and objectivity appears here, when the narrative voice points out that Snape had good reason to suspect Harry of stealing Potions supplies, instead of complaining about how Snape is always really mean to Harry and always blames him for everything.
* “Occlumency” comes from the Latin word occludere, meaning “to shut out”. “Legilimency” is from legere, “to read”. The “-mency” suffix would probably be from mens, “mind”. So Occlumency is “shutting people out from your mind”, whereas Legilimency is “reading somebody’s mind”.
* Apparently “only Muggles talk of ‘mind-reading’." Yeah, those silly, inferior Muggles, completely incapable of understanding anything about the magical arts which are kept totally secret from them.
* I like the idea that Voldemort put a Trace on his name in the first war, so that he could send hordes of Death Eaters to attack anybody who dared say his name. That would explain why Dumbledore always felt comfortable saying it; he’s just so badass, he could fight off anybody who turned up. It would also be totally IC for him to look down on other people for not saying the name, even though they wouldn’t be powerful enough to face down a group of DEs coming after them.
* “Harry muttered, hating Snape.” Why JKR feels the need to point out that Harry hated Snape at this particular time is beyond me, given that he hates the Potions Master most of the time anyway.
* So Occlumency requires you to clear your mind, does it? Interesting. That makes it sound sort of like meditation. So does Legilimency involve seeing what you’re thinking? That would certainly be solved by emptying your mind (or else by concentrating on a useless memory), but the description of it here implies that it forces you to think of things, which wouldn’t be solved just by trying to empty your mind. Or is what you’re thinking like a handhold, which the Legilimens can use to get to the rest of your memories, and emptying your mind is a way of denying them that initial handhold so they can’t get in at all? Although Snape presumably uses Occlumency when he’s speaking to Voldemort, and he’d have to do a bit of thinking then. Maybe he’s teaching Harry an easy version of Occlumency which is good over long distances, but uses a more complex form himself which enables him to think whilst still keeping others from accessing the thoughts he doesn’t want them to see.
* Also, Harry thinks that letting go of his anger would be as difficult as detaching his legs. It’s a sign of the power of love in him, for sure.
* Snape’s losing his temper here. As, indeed, he does a lot of times throughout the books. And his childhood nickname of “Snivellus” implies that he was considered a bit of a crybaby. So if emotional people are easy to Legilimise, and the Dark Lord’s so good at it, how come Snape’s managed to survive so long?
* Harry goes off to have another conversation about the weapon, once again making it sound far more interesting than it will actually turn out to be.
* I’ll admit, this maniacal cackling scene is quite creepy. A pity the “Voldemort reading Harry’s mind” subplot stopped after OOTP, really.
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