Potterworld grown-ups are a sorry lot

[lupinesque]

No: HPFGUIDX 31088

Annahunny wrote:

> The cream of the grown-ups are ineffectual at best. 

cough*RemusLupin*cough

I think there is some truth in what you say, and my guess is that the 
grownups in HP suffer from the authorial need to put children at the 
center of this drama.  As a reader, I don't want the grownups to step 
in and take charge; I'm enjoying watching these kids handle things.  
Dumbledore can show up and save the day as long as he doesn't ruin the 
story.

That said, reports of the grownups' inefficacy are greatly 
exaggerated.  There are solid reasons why Harry has to live with the 
Dursleys and why Dumbledore can't tell him everything that's going on; 
in the latter case, it seems likely that the more Harry knows, the 
worse off he'll be.  There are real-life exigencies that prevent Lupin 
from sticking around to save the day; ditto Sirius.  That much is very 
realistic.  In our world, the adults who ought to run things and seem 
so omnipotent to children are prevented from doing all they might:  by 
illness and prejudice (Lupin), by early death (James and Lily), by the 
threat of death (Sirius).  In our world, kids have to grow up "too 
fast" because the grownups who want to protect them aren't omnipotent. 
 Things are no different for the wizarding world.  

> Dumbledore withholds all kinds of  information from Harry which 
could 
> seriously help in his fight with  Voldemort.  And if he's the most  
> powerful wizard in the world, why  doesn't he just take Harry under 
> his wing, so to speak, and teach Harry what he needs to know while 
> giving him the protection he needs?  

Well, which is it?  Should Harry be granted a normal life to the 
greatest extent possible, in which case the adults should conceal most 
of the truth from him and let him go along blithely for as long as he 
can, or should he be instructed that like it or not, he's on the front 
lines, and trained up in the Warrior mode?  We'll have to see as 
things unfold, but it looks as if Dumbledore recognizes that Harry 
will continue to be at the center of any conflict with Voldemort, but 
that he doesn't want him to be there until he's older and closer to 
ready--in terms of magical strength and emotional strength.  He needs 
to know his place in this world, and fate (not Dumbledore) has made it 
impossible for him to begin to learn it until age 11.  Now he's 
playing catch-up.

There is real ambivalence among the adults about whether he should be 
at the center.  Sirius, predictably, wants to protect him; he urges 
Harry to get on with the tournament and not play detective, is 
horrified and angry about his ordeal at the end of GF, wants Harry not 
to have to retell the story of what happened in the graveyard, etc.  
He doesn't give a damn about anyone's desire to have Harry the 
hero--he wants this child to have protection and, as far as possible, 
a normal life ("Let him have a sleep.  Let him rest," GF 36).  But he 
himself is a soldier in this conflict, and needs to balance that role 
with his godfather role (hence his departure, despite reluctance, in 
GF 36--"You'll see me very soon, Harry . . . I promise you.  But I 
must do what I can, you understand, don't you?").  As for protecting 
Harry from assassination, it's not a simple matter of staying in dog 
form; the Death Eaters know that he is an Animagus and so sticking 
around means taking a serious risk of being discovered either by them 
or (via a tip-off) by the MOM.  Sirius reluctantly leaves Harry in the 
care of Dumbledore and Hogwarts, where he believes that he is as safe 
as he would be anywhere--"[Voldemort] cannot hope to lay hands on you 
while you are under Dumbledore's protection" (GF 31).  He does 
nevertheless take a great risk in hiding in the cave, and urges Harry 
to be cautious.

There are a few things going on with Dumbledore.  One is that I am not 
convinced Dumbledore knows how central Harry will continue to be.  He 
doesn't know the future; he has hopes that Harry will not have to be 
the wizarding world's champion, even though those hopes are fading.  
(I could have this totally wrong.  Books 5-7 will probably tell.)  
Beyond that question, Dumbledore is of two minds and settles them by 
slowly introducing Harry to his role.  He largely wants to protect 
him, and is clearly shocked and horrified by the events of GF, from 
the choice of Harry as Champion to the Portkey out of the protection 
of Hogwarts.  On the other hand, in both PS/SS and CS he allows, even 
encourages, Harry to take on Voldemort.  I think we are seeing the 
training of a leader here.  Harry, not Professor McGonagall, not 
Snape, is to be the next Dumbledore, the next greatest wizard of his 
era, so it's Harry who gets the hint about pursuing the Chamber clues 
(CS 14).  (In that chapter, I hasten to note, Dumbledore doesn't sic 
him on Riddle; he directs him to remain loyal and seek help--it's 
coincidence and Harry's own pigheadedness that keep him from seeking 
it in the obvious place, namely McGonagall or such, so that when he 
finally asks for help no one but Dumbledore himself [that is, his 
agent Fawkes and the sword] is there to answer.)

Thanks to this off-the-cuff training, by the time he faces Voldemort 
again in GF, an encounter emphatically *not* hoped-for, still less 
planned-for, by Dumbledore, Harry is ready in a way he could not have 
been without the previous crises.  He thinks as much a year and a half 
earlier:  "Did they think he couldn't look after himself?  He'd 
escaped Lord Voldemort three times, he wasn't completely useless . . 
." (PA 4).  He is slowly accumulating experience, confidence, and 
know-how to add to his native courage.  I believe that the graveyard 
scene is a quantum leap beyond Halloween 1981, the confrontation with 
Voldemort in PS/SS, or the realization of his links to Voldemort in CS 
in teaching Harry that he has a unique role to play (his unique wand 
being a symbol of this fact), but would we want Dumbledore or anyone 
else to have dumped this load of bricks on him at age 11?  In June 
1995, he is ready in a way that he would not have been four years 
earlier.

Amy Z

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 December 7

 It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
 great task remaining before us; that government 
 of the people, by the people, for the people, 
 shall not perish from the earth.
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