I love the scene where Snape comes to Grimmauld Place to tell Harry that he'll be teaching him Occlumency. I love the way Sirius puts Snape in his place by reminding him that it's his house when Snape dares to order his godson around. The fact that he does it at all is great, but the deliberately lazy way he does it makes it even better. I'm glad Sirius decided to stay for that conversation because he knows how Snape treats Harry and wants to protect him (something almost no one else ever did). For once, someone is actually standing up for Harry in front of Snape. And when Snape points out that Sirius shouldn't even be there, Sirius says it even louder. When Harry first walks in, he notices an open letter in front of Sirius. It was obviously from Dumbledore. I wonder what it said. Too bad we'll never know.
Sirius asks a perfectly reasonable question: why is Snape teaching Harry instead of Dumbledore? And he's right. Sure, Dumbledore was afraid Voldemort would spy on him through Harry (which I don't consider a good enough justification), but assigning Snape to teach him was one of his stupidest decisions. His excuse made me so angry: that he forgot some wounds run too deep. Damn it, Dumbledore, you know perfectly well that Snape hates Harry with every fiber of his being. He may "protect" him, but at the same time he does everything he can to make Harry's life miserable. Of course he was never going to teach him properly. And Harry could never relax in Snape's presence or feel safe around him. Occlumency requires clearing your mind of emotion. Harry already struggles to do that on his own, and then he's forced to learn from someone who humiliates him during every lesson and mocks his memories. Didn't Dumbledore see this outcome coming? It's hard to let go of your emotions in such a toxic environment. If Occlumency was really that important, Dumbledore should have done everything he could to make sure Harry was actually able to learn it (and maybe properly explain why he needed it in the first place). He should have asked McGonagall, for example. Maybe she wasn't a master Occlumens like Snape, but I'm sure she knew something. It would have been better for Harry to learn the basics than nothing at all. Or Flitwick. Yes, he wasn't in the Order, but Dumbledore could have asked him. After all, he asked Firenze to become the Divination teacher even though he knew what it would cost him (which was pretty awful in itself). But I'm getting sidetracked—back to Sirius.
He warns Snape not to mistreat Harry during those lessons. Once again, someone finally steps in because of Snape's disgusting treatment of Harry. As I've said before, none of the adults had ever stood up for Harry before; they all turned a blind eye to it. But not Sirius. He understands the situation perfectly (he knows how Snape feels about him and James, and he saw how Snape treated Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban), and he tries to protect his godson, including by giving him the mirror. And Harry does the same in return, refusing to use that mirror, no matter how much Snape torments him, because he wants to protect Sirius...
And then there was the duel that almost broke out because Snape insulted the two people Sirius loved most...
I love him. 💔
P.S. I’m sharing my emotions on my account. If you disagree with this post or have nothing kind to say, please just scroll past and don’t start a discussion. Thank you.
