Thrice Defied ... ***Spoilers***

[Alz]

I think I said above he wasnt there when Voldemort addressed the circle?
.. and no, the logical assumption everyone worked to was that Snape was the one to die ... we now know that he was well in with Voldemort - and as such he was the most loyal ... and I think someone said that a long time ago

Let's not argue with established, JKR ratified facts here ..

The DE's were sent to the Longbottoms
The DE's believed that the Longbottoms had information on Voldemort's whereabouts
The DE's were sent after the Longbottom parents - not child
The DE's torchered the Longbottoms to the point of insanity

Mind trix or not (I think not - difference between Occlumency and Legilimency - nothing says you have both skills) ... the facts speak for themselves - the DE's required torture to do their deeds - but never finished them off ...

[Somnia_Veritas]

The skills of Occlumency and Legilimency may go hand in hand to a degree, but talent in one does NOT mean one has talent in the other.

Snape's a great Occlumens, but I don't get the impression that he is a particularly good Legilimens. Why?

1) Snape needed a wand and a verbal spell, at least initially, to perform legilimency on Harry, but definitely requires eye contact, whereas Dumbledore, a very good Legilimens, does not necessarily need even eye contact.
2) Harry is NOT a good Occlumens, which means that probably anyone with any skill at Legilimency, including Snape, penetrates his defences "with absurd ease".
3) evidently, with only a few months of practice, Draco can prevent Snape from using Legilimency... either Draco is some kind of prodigy at Occlumency (which is possible, I suppose, given that he doesn't seem to be particularly good at anything else), or that Snape is not a very good Legilimens at all, at least without a wand.

So perhaps Bellatrix, like Snape, is a much better Occlumens than Legilimens, and we know she enjoys torture anyway, so it makes sense that she would rather use torture on someone unwilling to volunteer information rather than legilimency (even if she had the skill for it.) It'd be more fun for her that way.

I LOVE the idea that the Longbottoms were tortured for info on the location of the R.A.B. -stolen Horcrux, though! Good one! Maybe Regulus was able to get the locket to the Longbottoms successfully. And if Bellatrix believes she was Voldemort's "most trusted", then perhaps he WOULD have told her (after killing Regulus) what, exactly, was stolen from him, and ordered her not to share the explicit information of what he was seeking. I'm sure she must have gotten it from them, if they did know (I imagine they must have). Maybe she didn't have time to stash it anywhere safer than that cabinet in the Black family home before the Aurors got her.

Or else Regulus just put the locket in the cabinet, "hidden in plain sight", as it were.

[Piper]

The skills of Occlumency and Legilimency weren't introduced until recently, in GOF, on page 517, Snape is threatning Harry with Veritaserum to find out whether or not he broke into the potions room and took dillyweed. It was really Mr Crouch that had broken into Snape's office, and harry knows this, but Snape doesn't do any mind reading.

[Alz]

Originally Posted by Piper

The skills of Occlumency and Legilimency weren't introduced until recently, in GOF, on page 517, Snape is threatning Harry with Veritaserum to find out whether or not he broke into the potions room and took dillyweed. It was really Mr Crouch that had broken into Snape's office, and harry knows this, but Snape doesn't do any mind reading.

I suppose you could look at that a few ways ..
One is that Snape didnt want to sho Harry he could read his mind
Second is that Snape couldnt get in there - or didnt want to incase he got Voldemort
Third = oversight on JKR's behalf
Like the observation thou