Harry is a Legilimens


When Voldemort "put a bit of himself" in Harry, he passed on a very blended lump of powers. Harry can speak Parselmouth; he has a window into Voldemort's mind; he's got a strange little voice in his head; he has a curious affinity for a certain phoenix-feather wand; he's quite good at wheedling things out of people; and for some reason, he's the top D.A.D.A. student at Hogwarts.

What didn't Harry get? True, he cannot use Unforgiveable Curses nor survive death as less than the meanest ghost. But not even Dumbledore can do these things. They are matters of character and choice, not ability.

But Legilimency, now -- that belongs on the first list. Knowing nothing else, we should expect Harry to have that talent.

Harry sees more than you think


Typical Abilities of a Legilimens

Snape defines Legilimency as,

"...the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind."
(OotP 24)

Snape also notes that,

"The Dark Lord, for instance, almost always knows when somebody is lying to him."

Legilimency can also be used during combat. In HBP 23, Snape manages to block a silent incantation:

Mustering all his powers of concentration, Harry thought, Levi--

"No, Potter!" screamed Snape. There was a loud BANG and Harry was soaring backward...

There are situations where it's not as obvious because the spells are verbal. Nonetheless, the reaction times are suspiciously fast:

[Bellatrix:] "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant, I learned the Dark Arts from him..."

"Stupefy!" yelled Harry.... She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck.

"Protego!"
(OotP 36 p811)

Notice how Bellatrix stresses the source of her training right before the fast reaction. In fact, we don't have speculate on whether she can do Legilimency or not -- we know she can, because she taught Draco Occlumency in Half-blood Prince.


So the general abilities are:




Limitations for a Legilimens

Our resident expert Severus advises,

"Eye contact is often essential to Legilimency."
(OotP 24)

There are many incidents in the book which show Snape or Dumbledore making eye contact with Harry in order to perform some kind of Legilimency (I'll skip the citations unless somebody really wants them).


We do know, however, that often doesn't mean always:

Frank stared at the back of the armchair....

"Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Muggle, for he knows...he always knows...."
(GoF 1)


Onset of Ability

Harry could speak Parseltonuge (fluently, I assume) when he was ten years old. So he should've been a fully capable Legilimens by then, too, right?

Not so fast.

Remember where it all comes from: Lord Voldemort. Voldemort was also a Parselmouth at a very early age (probably from birth). It was an eleven-year-old Riddle who told Dumbledore, in HBP 13, "I can speak to snakes." And in regard to his other abilities, as Dumbledore stated,

"His powers, as you heard, were surprisingly well-developed for such a young wizard..."
(HBP 13)

But those powers don't yet include Legilimency. We have proof here:

"Professor?" repeated Riddle. He looked wary. "Is that like 'doctor'? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?"

He was pointing at the door through which Mrs. Cole had just left.

"No, no," said Dumbledore, smiling.

"I don't believe you," said Riddle.
(HBP 13 p269)

Dumbledore tells the truth and... Riddle doesn't believe him. As the passage continues, we see that Riddle doesn't even try Legilimency, but instead relies on another trick:

"She wants me looked at, doesn't she? Tell the truth!"

He spoke the last three words with a ringing force that was almost shocking. It was a command, and it sounded as though he had given it many times before.
(HBP 13)

So at this point in his life, Riddle is relying on some form of compulsion. The world's greatest Legilimens is something for his future.

In Harry's case, the ability seems to manifest itself at about the age of fifteen (but there are earlier possibilities).



Basic Examples of Harry's Use

In PoA, Harry faces a big challenge in trying to decide whom to trust in the Shrieking Shack -- Black or Pettigrew.

Let's stop and consider Sirius for a moment. Rowling has explained what makes somebody like Draco a good Occlumens while Harry is lousy at it:

JKR: Harry's problem with it was always that his emotions were too near the surface... he's also very in touch with his feelings about what's happened to him. He's not repressed, he's quite honest...
But I thought of Draco as someone who is very capable of compartmentalizing his life and his emotions...
(Mugglenet Interview)

What kind of person is Sirius Black? Repressed emotions? Hardly. Rage, love, joy, bitterness... everything bubbles right to the surface. If anyone could be Harry's first target for Legilimency, it's Sirius. Consider these passages, remembering the importance of eye contact:

"You killed my parents."

Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.

"I don't deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story."
(PoA 19)

Harry is furious, he's ready to kill, but this buys Black a lot of time.


Later:

He looked at Harry, who did not look away.

"Believe me...I never betrayed James and Lily...."

And at long last, Harry believed him.

Again there is eye contact. Contrast with Hermione, who is (undoubtedly) working out the scenarios, plausibilities, and what-ifs in her head. We know Harry doesn't think this way, so the "at long last" portion really highlights the turning point -- it is what he sees in Sirius's eyes.



Moving to the next book, Igor Karkaroff presents a fair target because he is deceptive about his emotions. It is also suggested that he's not a very good wizard, which would imply poor Occlumency. Harry doesn't ferret out any secrets, but he continually relies on Karkaroff's eyes to observe the difference between Karkaroff's phony emotion and his real feelings:

...Harry noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd.
(GoF 15)
...said Professor Karkaroff. He was wearing a steely smile, and his blue eyes were like chips of ice.
(GoF 17)
...said Karkaroff, his steely smile still in place, though his eyes were colder than ever.
(GoF 17)

Harry's first reading of Dolores Umbridge is very similar:

...she said with a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever.
(OotP 8)

By Order of the Phoenix, Leglimencing an easy target like Sirius is no problem for Harry:

There was a pause in which Sirius looked out of the fire at Harry, a crease between his sunken eyes...

"I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs," said Sirius, but Harry was sure he was lying.
(OotP 14)

It's always the eyes. In fact, Harry seems able to detect the eyes of others when Harry himself cannot see them. Once again, Sirius is subject before Harry's ability has developed very far. When Sirius watches Harry from the dark shadows of Magnolia Crescent,

A funny prickling on the back of his neck had made Harry feel he was being watched...
(PoA 3)

By the time Harry is fifteen, he can do this with other people as well:

Feeling Mrs. Weasley's eyes on the back of his head...
(OotP 6)

And,

He had the strangest feeling that Dumbledore had been watching him a second before
(OotP 26)



How to Fool Harry: Avoid Eye Contact!

It's as simple as that. Let's consider the people who have fooled Harry:

First, one way or another, is Snape. But he's the world's greatest Occlumens (he can fool Dumbledore at the least, and probably Voldemort) so he doesn't count.

Then we have the secret servants of Voldemort who held the D.A.D.A. job: Barty Crouch Jr. and Quirrell. We can guess that both were employing Occlumency because they fooled Dumbledore. Furthermore, the imposter Moody had that constantly-distracting electric blue magical eye which kept Harry from getting a proper reading. Coincidence?

Once more, the best example comes in OotP after Harry's skill has developed. From chapter 32:

Kreacher the house-elf came creeping into view.

"It's the Potter boy's head in the fire," Kreacher informed the empty kitchen, stealing furtive, oddly triumphant glances at Harry....

Kreacher stopped in his tracks. Harry could just make out the back of his bald head...

Not once does the description (which comes from Harry's point of view) mention Kreacher's eyes. The house-elf is avoiding eye contact, and that is why he is able to lie about Sirius's location. (Note that even during the furtive glances, Harry catches a hint of Kreacher's emotion - "oddly triumphant".)



Learning Spells and Engaging in Combat

When Harry learns a spell using the "Hermione method," as when she taught him the Summoning Charm, Harry is capable. But he isn't fast. When he uses Legilimency -- unintentionally, of course -- he can learn a spell with lightning speed.



We can be sure that Harry is good at dueling. Even though the action is too fast-paced to tell for sure, he may be using Legilimency. One probable example occurs in HBP 24:

Harry slipped as Malfoy, his face contorted, cried, "Cruci --"

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" bellowed Harry from the floor, waving his wand wildly.

Later discussions with Hermione, Ron and Ginny (as well as the live action) all suggest that Harry only tried sectumsempra because Malfoy was attempting the Cruciatus Curse. This is truly amazing, as you can demonstrate by practicing with a friend. Let them say "cruci," then try to bellow out "sectumsempra" before they can get to the "o". It's nearly impossible.

More likely, we are getting this from Harry's perspective and Harry doesn't realize he read Malfoy's thought before Malfoy started saying the incantation.



Advanced Usage

Finally, we have two strong examples of Harry extracting thoughts and memories.

Snape didn't manage to teach Harry Occlumency (it was hopeless), but he seems to have brought Harry along with his Legilimency as a side effect. During a lesson in OotP 26, Harry uses a Shield Charm and finds himself seeing Snape's memories:

"Protego!"

Snape's staggered; his wand flew upward, away from Harry -- and suddenly Harry's mind was teeming with memories that were not his -- a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner... [etc.]

"ENOUGH!"

Harry felt as though he had been pushed hard in the chest; he took several staggering steps backward...

Can a Shield Charm do this by itself? It can deflect a spell and change the target; but the examples given are jet-of-light, dueling-type spells. Legilimency does not "strike" a target, it has to operate in connection with the spell caster.

Harry shouldn't have been affected at all. If Snape's spell had been deflected, he should have been looking into his own mind. We might even say that legilimens opens a person's mind -- but Harry would still need to be a Legilimens to read it.

Also note that Harry makes such strong contact that Snape (of all people!) has to resort to force to break it.


While taking his O.W.L.S., Harry, quite blatantly, hacks into Parvati Patil's mind:

He gazed blankly at the back of Parvati's head again. If he could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls...

Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll hunting... That was it.
(OotP 31)

Note the "glowing red" connected to the eyes, suggesting the ability comes from Voldemort (Harry's actual eyes are not glowing red; this would be a clue from author to reader).

Harry manages this without eye contact, thanks to his visualization. Imagination and visualization are valuable tools in magic. The "window" that Harry imagines bypasses the need for eye contact (eyes are the windows to the soul, hence the memories... but that's another theory). It probably helps that Parvati is thinking hard about History of Magic, too.




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