[HPforGrownups] What Did Dumbledore Know And When Did He Know It?

[Rowena Grunnion-Ffitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 27746



--- "Cindy C." <cynthiaanncoe at home.com> wrote:

> He was fooled into leaving for London.

   But quickly realizes he's been decoyed and turns
around.

> He was fooled (perhaps) about Lockhart's abilities.

   No he wasn't. His 'Hoist by your own petard'
comment to Lockhart shows he is quite aware of the
latters use of memory charms.

> He was fooled by Crouch's impersonation of Moody.

   Yes he was. Crouch was of course being coached,
(however unwillingly) by the real Moody and Dumbledore
had a lot on his mind with the Triwizard competition
and his worries for Harry. Busy with playing host to
Madame Maxime, Karkaroff and the judges he just didn't
spend enough time with 'Moody' to detect the
impostiture.

> He was fooled by the Goblet of Fire incident.

   Actually no. His defenses were set to prevent
underage students from putting in their names *not* to
protect against meddling by a mature wizard which in
all fairness he had no reason to suspect.

> He was fooled with the Cup-as-Portkey incident.

   The cup *wasn't* a portkey when it left
Dumbledore's keeping. Moody/Crouch made it one after
placing it in the maze.

> He was fooled (sort of) into letting Crouch's soul
get sucked out.

   How was he susposed to know Fudge would break his
rule and bring a dementor into the school?

> He was fooled for years by Mooney, Wormtail,
>Padfoot and Prongs.

   Or was he....I wonder if he might not have known
more about the Mauraders then they thought.
 
> Then there are the times when Dumbledore is just out
of the loop.  
> Like the existence of the Marauder's Map,

   The man's perceptive but not omniscient. There is
no particular reason he should know about the map

> the many passages into the castle,

   Who says he doesn't know about these? Just because
*Filch* knows only four doesn't mean Dumbledore does.

> Sirius letting Pettigrew be secret-keeper.

   The whole point of this was for nobody to know.
Sirius intended it as a sort of double blind. The DEs
would be after him but he can't tell because he won't
know and Pettigrew would have been perfectly safe
because nobody'd know he was the keeper.

> And the times he appears to be a bit careless
(leaving the Pensieve
> out when he knew 
> Harry would be in his office).

   Fudge shows up unexpectedly while Dumbledore is
using the Pensieve, he puts it away rather hastily and
the door to the cupboard doesn't quite latch. D
doesn't notice this, why should he? Just a little
slip.

    All these various slips prove is Dumbledore,
though a great wizard, is neither omniscient nor
omnipotent. A character who never made mistakes would
be quite dull.

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