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

[aldrea279]

No: HPFGUIDX 41242

I asked:
 > Did Dumbledore have any clue how horrible the Dursley's would be 
when
> he left baby Harry there?

Richelle repled:
>>Yep, Dumbledore knew. McGonagall sat on the fence all day as a cat 
and watched them. She tells Dumbledore "You can't mean the people 
living here? Dumbledore--you can't. I've been watching them all day. 
You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got 
this son--I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, 
screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!">>

Telling Dumbledore that "They're boring Muggles! I saw their son 
throw a fit today!" is quite a far cry from "No! Don't leave Harry 
here, he'll be bullied by their fat son, doing slave labor for the 
mother, and constantly cut down by the father! And once more, he 
won't even know the truth about his poor parents until he's 11.  If 
you leave him he'll be absolutely miserable."  I don't count what 
McGonagall said as being enough of a warning.


James said:
>>Voldemort doesn't and can't understand love, or freindship, or even 
loyalty that is not based on self interest - similarly I don't think 
Dumbledore could understand the mentality of anyone as petty and mean 
spirited as the Dursleys. >>

Then that makes Dumbledore no better than Voldemort, and I don't like 
to think of him that way.  If Dumbledore can't understand such a 
mentality, then how did he/is he going to be able to deal with Voldie 
and his DE's?  He has to be able to predict atleast some of 
Voldemort's moves or he'll just be stuck as a sitting duck. In fact, 
in GoF he'd already figured out what one of Voldemort's moves would 
be and a way to hinder that:  Get the dementors out of Azkaban.  Now, 
we don't know for sure if that's what Voldemort does just yet(only 
Book 5 will tell), but we do know it's on his To-Do List. So I think 
Dumbledore can understand the petty and mean-spirited mentality.


Darrin:
>>Harry could have been raised in a loving, normal 
home and still not known anything about wizards.>>

I agree, but it doesn't seem like there was the option for that.  
Harry needed to be safe, and with his blood relations he was 
safe.  "Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic, to ensure the boy's 
protection as long as he is in his relations's care."-Voldemort.  He 
had to go to his relatives so Dumbledore could work some of that Old 
Magic that just so confuses Voldemort.  And I like the theory that 
the stronger the blood relation, the stronger the protection.  Makes 
sense, IMO.  If that gets explained to us in the books, then I'll be 
happy with that.  Harry had to go to the Dursleys because that's the 
only way for him to be safe from Voldemort/Evil DE's.  Alright, 
that's good enough for me, the boy does need to be kept alive.  And 
Voldemort said "not even I can" not "not even I could"..which means 
he still -can't-, correct?  So no, doen't seem like Harry would be 
safer with the Grangers or the Weaselys just yet.


Tim:
>>Dumbledore and McGonagall must have panicked that Privet Drive was 
not as safe as they thought: he's protected from he-who-must-not-be-
named there, but not from dementors (Voldemort's natural allies GoF 
p 564).>>

I don't know, you'd think the Ministry keeps tabs on them, they do 
have a Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
(or something like that), don't they?  Seeing how easily they can 
spot any and all charms, spells, magic of any kind that underage 
wizards might try, I'd think they'd be able to spot a rogue dementor 
wandering around Privet Drive.


Richelle:
>>Lupin told Harry to pick
ONE memory and focus on it. Maybe having fewer to choose from even 
helped
him to focus more clearly. It would help explain why he was able to 
master
the Patronus Charm when some fully trained wizards have trouble with 
it.>>

Well, if The Plan was to keep Harry miserable his whole life *just* 
to ellliminate one, possible, maybe danger for him...well, that's 
just not a very good plan.  And it certainly doesn't seem like 
Dumbledore is trying to keep Harry miserable at Hogwarts: he lets him 
play Quidditch(first years aren't normally allowed, and I'm sure 
Dumbledore could have stepped in if he'd wanted to), he gives him his 
father's Invisibility Cloak, etc.  I doubt he'd try to keep Harry 
from being happy just to keep the dementors off of him.  And probably 
the reason fully trained wizards can't master it is because it takes 
alot of will power- something we know Harry has, what with him being 
able to resist Imperius and all.


Richelle:
>>A great great grandfather or great great
uncle or something would be a blood relative, but many people 
referring to
family are looking at immediate family (grandparents, aunts, 
uncles).>>

I like the theory that says the closer they are related, the better 
the spell that protects Harry works. Aunt and cousin were probably 
the closest Dumbledore could get.  But that's going on the fact that 
James doesn't have any siblings, which we don't know for sure, I 
don't think.  

~Aldrea, who wants to see the Durlseys embarassed publically 
somehow...