Dumbledore's Decision and the Explanation for it we have yet to see

[aldrea279]

No: HPFGUIDX 41197

Darrin:
>>Dumbledore had better have a really good reason for deciding Harry 
needed to be physically and emotionally abused for the first 11 years 
of his life if he's been orchestrating all of this. And that's what 
this has been, physical and emotional abuse.>>

Did Dumbledore have any clue how horrible the Dursley's would be when 
he left baby Harry there? We know he left them a letter that was 
supposed to explain everything...so I wonder what he told them.  Do 
the Dursley's know about the terror that visited the WW and that was 
stopped by Harry?(more importantly: Does Petunia know? Her sister was 
a witch, and gew up during Voldemort's first reign...).  Maybe that's 
partially why they've always been so horrible to the boy and why they 
are so against him going to Hogwarts: They knew he'd be famous, and 
they wanted to keep that fame from him.

When Hagrid visits Harry on his 11th Birthday he's very shocked that 
Harry knows nothing about anything magical.  He knew Harry wasn't 
getting his acceptance letters, but he somehow thought Harry would 
know about Quidditch and wizards and such.  Was it because of the 
letter Dumbledore left? Hagrid was there when Harry was dropped on 
their doorstep, so I doubt he just had the misconception that Harry 
is a famous wizard, therefore he must know about wizarding things.  
But since he thought Harry knew about his heritage, then either 
Dumbledore: a) had no idea the Durlseys had decided to "stamp out" 
the magic in Harry- which I find hard to believe, considering how 
good a judge of character Dumbledore has been/is believed to be. or 
b) didn't say anything to Hagrid for his own reasons.  And that 
doesn't quite make much sense either.  So maybe Dumbledore didn't 
know how bad things were with the Dursleys.  Because, if he knew 
Harry knew absolutely nothing about the WW, why dump it on him all at 
once?  Dumbledore was concerned that growing up and having everyone 
goggle at you for your whole life would do some harm, so I wonder 
what he thought about having your whole entire universe flipped 
upside down(not to mention the goggling thing) would do to a boy.

Darrin:
>>And Harry, as he gets older, had better DEMAND that explanation. 
Because if all it is is magic protection on the Dursley household, in 
the form of a secret-keeper or something else, then Dumbledore could 
have found someplace else where Harry wasn't being beaten up by a fat 
slob (and we have hints that it was Vernon as well as Dudley) and 
emotionally abused daily.>>

I wonder how keen Dumbledore would be to using that old Secret-Keeper 
thing on Harry when it had just gone so horribly wrong on his 
parents.  I find the blood-related speculation more believable.  Some 
more of that old magic that Voldemort has forgotten in his evilness, 
even.  That would make sense and that would be a good explanation, 
IMO.

Darrin:
>>And I think it's safe to say that he had an idea of what was going 
on, if Figg was making reports back to him from her watching post.>>

It wouldn't do for Arabella, who's playing an old Muggle women, to be 
sending owls to Dumbledore every time Harry was treated wrongly.  She 
was probably placed there to keep a look out for any Death Eaters 
and/or Dark Lord's that might decide to take a stroll down Privet 
Drive.

And if she really were there to be monitoring how horrible the 
Dursleys were treating Harry, then you'd think she'd be questioning 
him when she looked after him.  Or that, if she knew about the 
troubles he was facing, she'd be kind to him for the few hours she 
could be. But all we know is that she rambled on about all her 
kitties for hours and forced Harry to look at pictures at them.  Hmm, 
not quite the concerned old witch she could be if she were taking 
notice of the Dursley's treatment of Harry.  Maybe that's it: she 
didn't know.  Far-fetched, yes, but the Dursleys so like to keep up 
their appearance of normalcy that it really could have escaped her 
notice.  When they're in public with Harry they aren't quite as cruel 
to him as when they have him alone. 

So, was everyone just in the dark about Harry's escapades with the 
Dursleys, or did they just very discreetly look the other way?  
Hmm... 

~Aldrea

(sorry if any of this has already been discussed and questioned to 
death)