Radio TBAY and the inconsistent behaviour of Albus Dumbledore

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 45221

(As usual, I'm not even attempting a TBAY style; I've been thinking about 
why TBAY style actually makes me uneasy at times but have yet to come to 
any conclusions; I've always considered it a bit twee for my taste, but I 
actually felt uneasy reading this one)

At 22:08 10/10/02 +0000, bluesqueak wrote:

>DUMBLEDORE: Yes, it's the kindliness that I'm having the consistency
>problem with. You see, in Philosopher's Stone, Harry gets rather
>upset in Chapter 17, and I very considerately do a little bird
>watching while he dries his eyes


His absorption with the bird is not a sign of unkindliness. Harry is 
getting a bit bleary-eyed and anyone who was ever a teenage boys knows how 
embarrassing it is to be *seen* to be crying. He could see that Harry was 
aware that he knows that Harry's on the verge or tears (IYSWIM), and 
effectively makes matters worse by pointedly avoiding the issue rather than 
by grabbing the bull by the horns, but, from a teenage Harry's POV it was 
an act of kindness to give Harry the chance to recompose himself rather 
than to dwell on the issue. It wasn't the most pedagogical thing to do, but 
it was the human thing to do.

>DUMBLEDORE: That's right. Then in the Chamber of Secrets I'm not
>remotely amused by Filch's cat being petrified. He shrieks loudly
>that he wants `to see some punishment', and I reply `patiently'.

Sorry, I don't have a clue what point you're trying to make. Was "not 
remotely amused" meant to be ironic? Because it's my recollection that it's 
Snape who seemed to be enjoying himself (or has your MAGIC DISHWASHER 
position gone so far to combine Dumbledore's and Snape's reactions?) :-) 
(I'm desperately trying to avoid re-reading any of CoS until after the 
MTSNBN comes out.)

As for Dumbledore's "patient" reply, part of the point about Dumbledore is 
that unlike most characters, he has *never* lost his composure to date. 
Snape in particular is prone to quite the opposite, of course...

>DISHWASHER would say that Snape actually led Fudge to the hospital wing to 
>prove that Harry and Hermione were visibly in their beds, with a witness 
>to say they'd stayed there all the time and couldn't possibly have used a 
>Time Turner to rescue Buckbeak and Sirius. Fudge is the Minister for 
>Magic, Hermione's
>Time Turner had to be licensed by the Ministry. Fudge has all the
>clues to *how* the escape was carried out: but he's unlikely to even
>consider the possibility that Hermione and Harry had anything to do
>with it after Snape's little rant, and after seeing Harry and
>Hermione were in their beds all the time.

Sorry, I just don't see how that follows. Fudge is indeed the Minister for 
Magic, but there is no indication that he personally authorised Hermione's 
use of the Time-Turner that year. As he enters the scene, he's under the 
impression that Sirius found some way to Disapparate. Snape disabuses him 
of that notion in no uncertain terms. As I understand MAGIC DISHWASHER, 
Snape and Dumbledore are acting in tandem here, so why on earth would they 
want to make absolutely sure that Fudge not only knows how it was NOT done, 
but plant the seed in his mind how it WAS done?

Even assuming that Fudge already knows that Harry and Hermione are best 
pals and would do anything for each other (which canon does not indicate), 
why on earth would Snape & Dumbledore lead Fudge directly to their 
bedsides, to make him see them there to underline their connection, and 
then summarise what Time-Turners do? On his return to his office, Fudge 
would think about how Sirius escaped and discover (or remind himself) that 
a very bright Muggle-born witch by the name of Hermione Granger, who just 
*happens* to be Harry Potter's (second)best friend and would do absolutely 
anything for him, just *happens* to have a Time-Turner in her possession. 
Not to mention that Fudge is known to have anti-Muggle-born tendencies even 
if, at present at least, he doesn't overtly act on them.

Sorry, I just don't see that explanation holding any water *AT ALL*. Why 
take the slightest, remotest risk that Fudge might work out how it was 
done, when he'd already worked it out for himself and jumped to the wrong 
conclusions? Surely the wisest (and easiest) way to throw him off the scent 
would be to reinforce his own incorrect suppositions? After all, Black is a 
seriously powerful and dark wizard - who's to say that he hadn't found a 
way around Hogwarts' anti-Apparition protections?

>GULPLUM: Yes, I think, Albus that you've just managed a very difficult 
>piece of misdirection

May I point out that the word "difficult" was added in there by you. I 
don't think it was difficult at all.

>­ you explain to Snape exactly how it was done, but he dismisses it. And 
>that's funny. And you know that everything is under control and while you 
>trust Snape, you don't see eye-to-eye with him about Harry and you like 
>the idea of Snape disproving his own prejudices with his own eyes.

>SNAPE: Except that in fact, I'm 100% correct about Potter. He did
>help Black to escape. So you're saying that Dumbledore trusts me,
>but doesn't trust me about Potter, and also doesn't trust me enough
>to tell me to shut up and keep quiet before I start my rant.

This may be subtle, but it's not so much that Dumbledore doesn't trust 
Snape about Potter. It's that Dumbledore knows that Snape thinks Dumbledore 
is too soft on Harry, and that Snape sometimes needs to be reminded that 
Harry isn't an awful brat who's got it in for Snape (sorry about repeating 
the names rather than using pronouns but I wanted to be clear).

As for shutting Snape up, why should he? Snape's on a roll (he's 
"seething") and ordering him to shut up will do no good. Snape needs to see 
for himself that Harry is safely locked into the Infirmary, and decide for 
himself whether or not Harry had anything to do with Black's escape.

>DUMBLEDORE: And, in fact, when I tell Severus `That will do', he
>does shut up immediately.

Because it's his first chance to get a word in edgeways! Even though Snape 
does shut up, he is still "seething" and looking from Fudge to Dumbledore. 
Indeed, Snape has little option *but* to shut up: he's in an untenable 
situation - he's just berated the Minister, he's busted into the Infirmary 
and interrupted two (in fact, three) injured pupils whom he's accused of 
heinous mis-deeds, and all because of his own prejudices. Dumbledore's calm 
reaction underlines to him that his rantings (seemingly) make no sense and 
he's left with egg all over his face and a mystery.
Of *course* he's going to shut up! He has nothing left to say!

Note that Dumbledore is not in the slightest bit condescending towards 
Snape, nor does he berate Snape for his over-emotional and (seemingly) 
unreasonable rantings. He just gives Snape a couple of pointers to make up 
his mind for himself. Snape has just made a fool of himself in front of the 
Minister and in front of the two pupils he despises the most, and he knows it.

Note also that there is no indication of Dumbledore being amused or 
twinkle-eyed at this stage in the proceedings. If, as MAGIC DISHWASHER 
would have it, he and Snape have just succeeded in befuddling Fudge, *this* 
is the stage at which we would be amused? He's not. My feeling is that if 
there had been any indication of his emotional condition, it'd be that he's 
a bit sad about Snape having lost his cool. It was vaguely amusing at the 
beginning of the scene when it was just them and Fudge, but to do so in the 
presence of pupils was a little degrading.

>PIPSQUEAK: Page 306. So you're worried Albus, that if you'd told
>Professor Snape to quiet down earlier, he wouldn't have made such a
>fool of himself. Well, you do tell him to `be reasonable', don't you?

No, Dumbledore doesn't. Fudge does.