What Was Changeling!Harry Actually Thinking Then He Rescued Ginny From The Chamber? She Thinks He Sees

What was Changeling!Harry actually thinking then he rescued Ginny from the Chamber? She thinks he sees her in the middle of the "good vs slytherin" dichotomy, but she can be really terrible at reading Harry. (I'm just starting another reread of the series <3)

I wrote a ficlet of The Changeling from Harry’s POV that touches on that a bit. You can read it here.

Harry doesn’t see her in the middle. Harry has some pretty black and white thinking, especially when he’s younger. Just another reason Ginny discombobulates him from a young age because Wealsey = good, but Slytherin = bad. That doesn’t average out to ‘in-between’ as much as ‘confusing as hell’. But always, always still worth rescuing and helping.

"'Professor,' Ginny says politely because for all she has learned to resent Snape, he’s her head of house, her teacher.

'Miss Weasley,' he says, head inclining the perfect amount like he’s practiced it.

She nods in response, and idly wonders what the Malfoys would think if they knew he was here.

'Did you say something?' Snape asks, eyebrow lifting.

There’s a slight buzz in her ear, but she brushes it off with a firm shake of her head. 'No, sir.'"

Is this the first time Snape uses Legilimency on Ginny? And if so, why would he look into her mind in this moment? Was it because she thought of the Malfoys, or was he listening before that?

Yes.

If you think about it, these scenes from the beginning of OOTP are the first time we see Snape The Double Agent. At this point, he’s already gone back to Voldemort and paid his respects, maybe taken his licks for not coming immediately when he was called to the rebirth ceremony. He’s engaged in the double agent work that he never actually did much during the first war. (How much time passed between him telling Dumbledore about the prophecy and Voldemort disappearing? Not much, I don’t imagine.)

So this is Snape, in the Order of the Phoenix, not just Dumbledore’s secret contact, but out in the open for all Order members to see, most of whom Snape probably doesn’t trust. And does Voldemort know he’s in the Order? Does he know he’s there and sent him there to spy? Or does he just think Snape is spying on Dumbledore, et al at Hogwarts? Hard to say. But he’s playing a really, really dangerous game. One he knows he has little chance of surviving. But he is working every contingency, and when everything has to be planned that carefully, any rogue outlier is a problem.

Ginny Weasley, Slytherin student, is an outlier. She doesn’t carefully fit and he isn’t sure if or how much of a threat that outlier might be. Even if just as a girl who might have loose lips and talk about the Order in her common room. It’s one of the reasons he starts giving her so much attention. It’s threat assessment. (Not so much threat as a dangerous witch as much as a leak or a rogue vector.)

So, yeah, he’s using legilimency on her here. He needs to understand her better, understand what she thinks about him being here. To see how much she actually understands. Keep in mind though, that legilimency isn’t mind-reading. You don’t just get to hear someone’s thoughts. It’s messier than that. He’s trying to get a general read on her.

Stay with me !!

What was the difference between Ginny’s feelings for Sean and her feelings for Harry. This might be a obvious question but there is a huge difference I just can’t put my finger on it

Logically, liking Sean makes sense on paper. Ginny can see all the reasons he would make a good boyfriend, all the things she likes about him. But she's like an observer outside of it, watching on as if from a distance. Liking him is an active choice she chooses to make, until she decides to stop. Dispassionate, almost.

Harry is not any of those things. Logic is out the window. There is no distance from what she feels, or even a clear understanding of what she feels. Just that she does. So much. All the time. Liking Harry isn't some deliberate choice, it simply is. Swamping. Inescapable. Illogical. She for once isn't thinking, she's feeling. She's inside it, her entire full messy self.

And that's the major difference.

later

secret full version of this post that i never posted cuz i was like ooooh im gonna color the sketches 🤡 lol that never happened but its fine in this house we post unfinished art

Big Bro Zagreus and Baby Sis Melinoë 🥺❤️