Dumbledore

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 42832

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Richelle Votaw" <rvotaw at i...> wrote:
Richelle:
> I have always liked Dumbledore, after all, as JKR said "he's the 
epitamy of goodness."  But there's something that bothers me about 
him.  He seems to give Harry *way* more information than any other 
student at Hogwarts, but doesn't do much to help him handle it.  It's 
hard to explain, so I'll give a couple of examples.
> 
> 1) In SS/PS, Harry's in the hospital wing.  Dumbledore tells him 
about his mother's sacrifice.  Then becomes interested in a bird out 
the window while Harry wipes away tears on the sheet.  Why pretend 
not to notice?  Sure, boys aren't supposed to cry.  But can't we get 
away from that stereotype?  Harry's never had a chance to grieve for 
his parents, let him cry and tell him it's okay.

Pip:
I think that's probably a cultural difference between the US and the 
UK. Dumbledore turning away and pretending not to notice is the 
*best* possible thing for Harry at that time - we really do find 
things like crying in public horribly embarrassing by the time we get 
to 11. 

The Headmaster of our school then giving us a good hug and telling us 
it's ok to cry would just *double* the embarrassment.

*Molly* can get away with giving Harry a good hug, but then Molly's 
the closest thing to a mother Harry's got - and that's what mother's 
DO.

Richelle: 
> 2) In GoF, Dumbledore tells Harry all sorts of things that really 
aren't his business.  Such as Neville's parents.  If Neville wanted 
Harry to know he'd have told him.  Of course, after four years the 
topic should have come up.  Although I imagine Harry avoids the topic 
of parents as much as possible.

Pip:
Dumbledore only tells Harry about Neville's parents when Harry has 
guessed three-quarters of the truth himself. Probably Dumbledore felt 
that giving Harry the whole truth was going to be a lot better for 
both Harry and Neville than a) Harry imagining things even *worse* 
than the truth or b)trying to find out the truth *from* Neville. 

The fact that he warns Harry against telling anyone else about the 
Longbottoms suggests he thinks Harry might well have talked it over 
with Hermione, Ron or possibly Hagrid.

Richelle:
> 3) Here's where I have *real* issues with Dumbledore. Harry comes 
back from the graveyard, port keys back to Hogwarts.  Harry is 
horribley dazed, still hanging on to Cedric's body.  Dumbledore picks 
Harry up and set him on the ground.  Harry's swaying on his injured 
leg, his head is pounding, he feels like he's going to throw up, and 
is just standing there.  All Dumbledore says is "Harry, stay here." 
But instead Moody/Crouch half pulls, half carries him away to his 
office and sits him down.  Gives him whatever and he drinks it, and 
things start to clear up for Harry.  Fast forward a ways, Dumbledore, 
McGonagall, and Snape all stupefy Moody.  McGonagall's even about to 
cry, tries to take Harry to the hospital wing.  Dumbledore makes him 
stay, goes on about understanding, etc.  Crouch Jr. tells all, 
Dumbledore is ready to take Harry upstairs.  Harry stands up, sways 
again, realizes that he's shaking.  Dumbledore grips his arm and 
helps him walk.   So Dumbledore knows he's hurt.  He's been hurt, not 
to mention traumatized.  No one does anything for the boy until he 
gets to Dumbldore's office and Fawkes fixes his leg and sings a note 
to strengthen him.  
> 
> Would it really have hurt for Snape to whip up a magical pain 
reliever while he's getting a truth potion anyway?  Can't someone 
*do* something to help?  I know Dumbledore's trying to take care of 
the emotional pain, but he seems to ignore the physical.  Unless of 
course he had instructed Fawkes to do something (or is Fawkes and 
using a time turner, which is way too complicated to be the key if 
you ask me) in which case he still let him suffer a while.  Is this 
a "guy" thing or is physical pain just an after thought to him?  I've 
probably got everyone else who's still reading as confused as I am, 
but every time I think I've figured Dumbledore out and he's such a 
great guy he goes and does something illogical.  Sorry, but I was 
with Minerva on this one, except I guess prolonging the retelling 
wouldn've helped.

Pip:
This does seem to be a WW cultural thing - I've joked before that if 
a REAL wizard has a choice between letting the patient rest, bringing 
them a pain-killing potion, or explaining complicated plot points to 
semi-comatose invalids, they'll go for the plot explanation option 
*every* time.

Wizards just seem to be expected to cope with physical pain. The 
magic they play around with causes physical injuries quite 
frequently - Neville's broken wrist, Harry's bones having to be 
regrown, being splashed with swelling potions. Flitwick uses cushions 
in one lesson to minimize injuries - is this the result of hard 
experience? 

JKR says it herself in GoF p.22 (UK hardback): "It wasn't the pain 
that bothered him; Harry was no stranger to pain and injury."

This about a pain that was earlier described as being "as though 
somone had just pressed a white-hot wire to his skin." (p.20)

Pip