[ SECRET POST #4377 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4377 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.
[The Great Mouse Detective, BBC Sherlock]


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03.
[Harry Potter]


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04.
[Final Fantasy X]


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05.
[Aggretsuko]


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06.
[The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance]


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07.
[Elementary]










Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 47 secrets from Secret Submission Post #627.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I have never understood what the hell Dumbledore was trying to accomplish with the Occlumency lessons. Leaving aside Snape's personality and the snowball's chance in hell of him and Harry ever managing to get on literally in each other's minds ... Snape was his spy. To Voldemort. Who could, at any moment, pop into Harry's head while Snape himself was also in there. How the flying fuck was Snape supposed to explain that if it happened? I mean, yes, once Harry gets the hang of it they can both occlude/lie about it, but Occlumency is an obscure and tricky branch of magic that requires generally more control than an extremely hormonal, stressed teenager is likely to manage quickly, even without a Dark Lord who already has a foothold in his head and is mucking with his emotions before anyone ever gets there. I mean ... how was any of that supposed to end well?

It made absolutely zero tactical sense to use Snape for that. If he's training Harry well when Voldemort pops by, his cover's blown. If he trains Harry badly, his cover's safe but Harry's mind is blown. By putting them both in that situation, Dumbledore was sacrificing one or other of them from a standing start, unless an absolute miracle happened and Harry got the concept right away. Which, given Harry's volatile emotions, Voldemort's interference, and Snape's grudges, was basically never going to happen. Which anyone with basic emotional awareness could have told him.

I get that Dumbledore was afraid to do it himself, for equally tactical reasons, and that he didn't have a lot of other options. But that was basically never going to work, and risked both of them for very little reason just to attempt it.

Was there no other expert he could have called in? Like, anyone who wasn't Snape? At all?

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm. I guess Snape has probably done a lot of things that went against Voldemort on Dumbledore's orders, and Voldemort knew that and encouraged it because he thought Snape was his spy. The way Snape handled it ended up being exactly how he would have done it if he'd been loyal to Voldemort anyway. He got Dumbledore's trust, agreed to do the job himself, then bungled it and made Harry hate learning it in the process and from what I remember neither of them told Dumbledore that they weren't doing what he asked anymore.

I agree that it was a terrible plan in general. I think Snape being the only expert Dumbledore knows and trusts with that kind of information is sort of a nod to the fact that most of the Order (a small pool of candidates!) are not well-versed in more subtle magic, they're mostly former Gryffindors and Aurors, and just like Harry finds it difficult to learn Occlumency, they probably don't have the same aptitude for it that Snape does either? I felt like that would be in line with J.K. Rowling's way of thinking about it anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

While I agree that both JK and Dumbledore problably thought that Snape was basically the most subtle character in the Order and that it makes sense that a spy would be the one who'd know how to telepathically lie well enough to teach it, I'm also thinking that maybe she didn't want to introduce another character who we're supposed to miraculously trust with Harry's brain. They're sharing a book with Umbridge, they're going to be automatically suspect. If everyone's going to be suspecting them anyway, you might as well use an established character that everyone already does. That way, you don't have to come up with a twist or motivation for a new character.

It still made zero sense in-universe. That's not how you use spies, Dumbledore! Also, pay attention to people's actual personalities before you try to shove them willy-nilly into a scheme.