Maybe not to others, but he himself would know Harry had broken Bella out of Azkaban and then lied to him about it. He would definitely force Veritaserum or Legilimency on Harry to find out the complete truth of what happened that day.
In fact, that’s a point I haven’t considered before. Why haven’t Quirrel offered to Obliviate Harry of that day’s events, maybe using a Pensieve first? This would protect them both a lot. It makes no sense if what Quirrel wanted was the lost lore of Slytherin that Bella might possess, or even Bella herself for some unknown purpose. But it makes perfect sense if Quirrel just wanted Azkaban to produce the emotional effect that it did on Harry. As a sort of prerequisite for this trial of Hermione.
The third party doesn’t need to know what the memories being obliviated are. Just that they’re being paid to obliviate everything that happened that day, and that they will be obliviated themselves of this act immediately afterwards.
The distinction is that perfect Occlumens can show false thoughts to a Legilimens; regular Occlumens, of which Harry is one, are perfectly capable of blocking Legilimens from learning anything, they just know they’ve been blocked.
We know that Occlumens can project the persona of a rock in order to thwart Legilimency. Do we also know that there is no brute-force method for getting past the defenses?
Plus—would Dumbledore even sell out Harry?
Maybe not to others, but he himself would know Harry had broken Bella out of Azkaban and then lied to him about it. He would definitely force Veritaserum or Legilimency on Harry to find out the complete truth of what happened that day.
In fact, that’s a point I haven’t considered before. Why haven’t Quirrel offered to Obliviate Harry of that day’s events, maybe using a Pensieve first? This would protect them both a lot. It makes no sense if what Quirrel wanted was the lost lore of Slytherin that Bella might possess, or even Bella herself for some unknown purpose. But it makes perfect sense if Quirrel just wanted Azkaban to produce the emotional effect that it did on Harry. As a sort of prerequisite for this trial of Hermione.
That would require bringing someone else in on the secret. Quirrell can’t cast magic on Harry directly, remember?
Obliviate the third party afterwards?
The third party doesn’t need to know what the memories being obliviated are. Just that they’re being paid to obliviate everything that happened that day, and that they will be obliviated themselves of this act immediately afterwards.
Yeah, in retrospect that’s not really much of an impediment- he could just Imperius, say, Sprout into Obliviating Harry, then Obliviate her.
Why bother? It’s been made clear that people with mental powers are commercially available. Remember Harry’s Occlumency instructor.
Harry is an Occlumens. Neither of these strategies would work.
Legilimency would work, he’s not a perfect Occlumens yet.
The distinction is that perfect Occlumens can show false thoughts to a Legilimens; regular Occlumens, of which Harry is one, are perfectly capable of blocking Legilimens from learning anything, they just know they’ve been blocked.
We know that Occlumens can project the persona of a rock in order to thwart Legilimency. Do we also know that there is no brute-force method for getting past the defenses?
I was wrong, then. Thanks.
Hmm.