Dishwashers , Puppy hunts and werewolf excursions

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 39870

Grey Wolf said:
>> There is no direct relation  between Sirius dog-form and 
MAGIC DISHWASHER that I can think off, and 
I just wrote the re-cap post!<<

According to MAGIC DISHWASHER Dumbledore has known the 
animal forms of the Marauder animagi ever since they were in 
school. :-) If he doesn't know that, then he doesn't know that 
Pettigrew is a rat, and can't connect  him with the Prophet picture. 
Of course, if you want to invent a reason why Dumbledore knew 
about Pettigrew but not about Black, go right ahead :-) But it 
would be pretty far-fetched if Dumbledore knew about the rat and 
missed the humongous dog, particularly since the rat is known 
to be a very poor student of Transfiguration. 

Grey Wolf:
>>I  don't think Dumbledore would have volunteered 
the information at a point where half the ministry was working for 
or Imperioed by Voldemort's forces.<<

The other half is still on Dumbledore's side. Half an army is 
better than none, as far as catching Sirius.   Also, see Cindy's 
post #39868 on Voldemort's ability to boost his followers' power 
to use  the Imperius curse so it can  control more than one 
person at a time. That power disappeared at Voldemort's 
disembodiment. It's one of the ways people knew he was really 
gone. "People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 
em came outta kinda trances."-- Hagrid, PS/SS ch.4.


Pipsqueak:
>>>There's another implication from something Hagrid says:
 "Never occurred to ter me what he [Sirius Black] was doin' there. 
I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James' Secret Keeper"  (p. 153 PoA)
- which is that Dumbledore was giving all his concentration to 
keeping the Last of the Potters safe and hadn't yet considered 
the need to find and expose their betrayer. He certainly hadn't 
considered the need to warn Hagrid about Sirius Black.<<<

 At the time of the Potters' deaths, all that Dumbledore knows is 
that something has gone wrong. He's not yet aware that Sirius is 
missing, much less that he might be a fugitive from justice. As 
we learned in GoF, there are many ways a spell can fail. Maybe 
someone made a mistake with the "immensely complex" 
Fidelius charm, or Voldemort  knew of  a way to break it.  
Dumbledore isn't about to say anything against Sirius to Hagrid, 
who talks too much,  until he knows more. He's very alert to the 
power of rumors, and isn't going to spread them unnecessarily.

 The situation changes when Sirius turns up missing and  
evidence is found that  he planned to declare himself openly  for 
Voldemort when the Potters died. Then Dumbledore wants 
Sirius found. The Ministry has far better resources for a 
puppy-hunt  than Dumbledore has, once they bestir themselves. 
It doesn't make sense for Dumbledore to hold back any 
information that will help locate Black. Better to find him first, and 
*if* he turns out to be innocent of betraying the Potters, and *if* 
the Ministry is able to substantiate that Black is an animagus, 
then Dumbledore can worry about helping Black beat the 
unregistered animagus rap. 


Pipsqueak:
>>By the time Dumbledore had finished arranging the Safety Net 
for Harry, Black had been caught anyway, and the puppy-hunt 
was over. <<

Well, I'm not sure. In the first place, it all depends on what you 
think Rosmerta meant by "the next day." I know I'm disagreeing 
with the lexicon here, but as Steve himself says, the owls don't 
start flying till the morning of November 1st. Logically, if  Fudge 
and Rosmerta  remember that the Ministry caught up with Sirius  
the day after they heard about the Potters' deaths, it   would  have 
been November 2nd. Especially since Dumbledore says that 
"today", November 1, will be known as Harry Potter Day.  That 
would give Dumbledore time to finish his spell work, see Harry 
safely to the Dursleys' doorstep and be interviewed by the 
Ministry, all before Sirius is caught. 

I could be wrong. However,  in any case either the Ministry 
questioned Dumbledore about  Sirius, or he volunteered 
information to them. If the Ministry had already caught Sirius,  
why would they question Dumbledore? They're not bothering 
with a trial so they don't need evidence.  And if Dumbledore is a 
spymaster who gives out information on a need to know basis 
only, why did he volunteer information  about the Secret Keeper 
spell when  Sirius had already been caught?

Pipsqueak:
>>
Black was off to Azkaban - exposing him as an illegal animagi 
would also involve exposing the genuinely heroic James and the 
supposedly heroic Pettigrew as law-breakers. <<

Nice try <g> But  all Dumbledore has to say is, "I have an 
unconfirmed report that Sirius Black is an animagus. He can 
take the shape of a large black dog. Please tell your people to be 
careful."  


Pippin