of rats, toes, and wizards (was: The Spying Game)

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 39846

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "bluesqueak" <pipdowns at e...> wrote:
> 
> What Dumbledore actually says is:
> "Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi last night. An 
> extraordinary acheivement - not least, keeping it quiet from me." 
> (PoA p. 312, UK hardback)
> 
> This is like many Dumbledore comments - it can have two meanings. 
The surface one is that he doesn't know about the Maurauders. 
However, ïf you add the following imaginary afterthought:
> 
> "Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi last night. An 
> extraordinary acheivement - not least, keeping it quiet from me."  
> [Why, it wasn't until after the Prank that I realised - 
< extraordinary a group of teenagers could manage to hide it for so 
<long]
> 
> then you will see that the line can be read as *both* 'Dumbledore 
> didn't know' and 'Dumbledore did know'.
> 

But why would Dumbledore have kept quite about it then? I mean, you 
have quite a nice theory about why he has to keep silent now, but why 
keep silent *then*? According to your scenario, Dumbledore knows that 
four teenagers that are under his charge, are breaking the law while 
putting themselves and others at risk. Breaking the law, mind you, 
not just school rules. Hermione is shocked when she hears of this and 
Lupin agrees with her completely - it was very dangerous and 
foolhardy. While we can forgive a bunch of teenagers for 
foolhardiness, should we forgive a headmaster for allowing it to 
continue?

If Dumbledore had known about the Marauders, I'm sure he would have 
put a stop to the whole thing immediately. He wouldn't have allowed a 
werewolf to wander about and he wouldn't have allowed students to 
perform illegal magic.  


Naama