....what I SHOULD have told you....

[siriuskase]

No: HPFGUIDX 54619

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hollydaze" <hollydaze at b...> wrote:
> grace701 wrote:
> > > After reading this for the umpteenth time it sounds like Dumbledore 
> > > is regretting not telling Harry something and I'm that impression 
> > > from where he says "I should have told you".  As though, something 
> > > has just happened that could have been prevented.  Is it just me 
> > > that has read it this way?  
> <SNIP>

Yeah, I read it that way.  I think that Harry's tendency to jump into
dangerous situations with limited information has been much stronger
than Dumbledore anticipated.  Besides, a lot has changed since the
beginning of the series.  This is just another example of Dumbledore
not being the great omniscient fellow Harry and some of the groupies
would like for him to be.
> 
> Devika wrote:
> <SNIP>
> > There is one thing that Harry wanted to know in PS/SS that Dumbledore 
> > refused to tell him at that time.  Voldemort had told Harry that he 
> > only killed Lily because she had tried to prevent him from killing 
> > Harry.  In the hospital wing at the end of the book, Harry asked 
> > Dumbledore why Voldemort would want to kill him (Harry) in the first 
> > place.  Dumbledore said something like, "Alas, the first question 
> > you ask, I cannot answer...someday, when you are ready, you will 
> > know."  (Sorry for the inexact quote; PS/SS is the only book I don't 
> > have with me)
> > 
> > It seems like Dumbledore might be regretting not telling Harry why 
> > Voldemort wanted to kill him in the first place fourteen years ago.  
> > It would make sense, since this is a question that Harry asked 
> > Dumbledore directly and that Dumbledore directly refused to answer--
> > until Harry was ready.  Surely, Harry is ready to know now.


> 
> Your very close to the exact quote actually, it's:
> "Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not
now. You will know one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry.
When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are
ready, you will know".

I can interpret this statement differently, either he doesn't know or
he can't for some kind of privacy reason.  He would violate someone's
trust.  It isn't simply that he doesn't want to.
> 
> There is a third reason but it is not to do with the structuring. I
see this question about why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry as one of a
few questions central to the plot, it is one of a few questions that
run through all of the books. While most questions revolve around only
a few books, e.g. (PoA) Why is Sirius after Harry? -one book- or (GoF)
What is Snape doing over the summer? -to be resolved (probably) in OoP
or book 6- this, "why would he want to kill me in the first place?"
question is one of the questions that drives the entire story, it's
one of the reasons we keep reading and so I don't think it will be
answered this early in the series, it feels to me like something that
will be resolved nearer the end, most likely the middle to end of book
7. Much as it is driving me mad wanting to know why V was after Harry,
I think I might end up a little disappointed if it was resolved in
book 5, unless knowing this piece of information plays a VERY vital
role in other events in books 5, 6 and 7.

It wouldn't necessarily screw things up to reveal the answer (or
partial anser) to this question this "early".  Once it is out in the
open how we all came to be in this predicament, it could still take 3
books to figure out what to do about it.  I don't think that the story
revolves around this one question.  Revealing the answer might not
resolve the problem, it may just change relationships between Harry
and Dumbledore or do something else that would set the tone for the
next phase of Harry's battle with evil.
> 
> HOLLYDAZE
> (Who is very glad that someone has re-awoken her ability to think
about all things HP as she has been suffering from what another person
on the list called "analysing block" 

Why would you be glad?  don't you find all this HP stuff seriously
destractinng of your real life?

sirius kase