Dumbledore wonderings (WAS The Gleam and the Hiss)

[nyarth_meow]

No: HPFGUIDX 36239

Reepicheep (good name!)  says:
>the idea that Dumbledore is just using 
> Harry for some scheme of his is also not unlikely, and might also 
> explain his attitude. Of course, we all like to see Dumbledore as 
the 
> absolutely nice guy, and so we'd hate to find any flaw in his 
> character.

I say:
I think Dumbledore has his own agenda, though it's probably not an 
evil one. He is forever acting above the Ministry's head.   He's also 
always making decisions without explaining himself to the people 
involved. 

Dicentra said:
>For example, there's something fishy about the way Hagrid turned up 
>to collect Harry *before* the authorities arrived (muggle or magic?).

I say:
True, and Dumbledore then makes the decision about placing Harry with 
the Dursleys.  Does the Wizarding World have no equivalent of Social 
Services, who would be responsible for the fate of an orphaned 
child?  Dumbledore's decision seems to outweigh even the Sirius 
Black's.  In PoA we learn he was present too, and begged Hagrid to 
leave Harry with him.  If wizard Godfathers are like muggle 
Godfathers, then Black would technically be the legal Guardian.  
Obviously, Dumbledore had his reasons for placing Harry with his 
blood relations, but he doesn't seem to have explained this to Black, 
who invited Harry to live with him at the first possible opportunity.

Dumbledore also employs his *own* spies. We learn in PoA that 
Dumbledore had some useful spies on the Dark side.  We assume one of 
these was Snape.  Snape seems to have been Dumbledore's spy, not the 
Ministry's.  The Ministry, it seems, tried him as a Death Eater, and 
Dumbledore had to testify to get him cleared.  

Another wonderment, not really relevant to the above:
If Dumbledore's word carried enough weight to get Snape cleared, 
couldn't he now testify to clear Black's name too?  Admittedly, we 
don't know what other evidence was raised at Snape's trial, but a 
large number of witnesses (Lupin, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, 
even Snape, if someone held a gun to his head) could testify they saw 
Pettigrew alive, and that he was an animagus.  

-Nyarth