Contacting parents, Dumbledore

maria_kirilenko maria_kirilenko at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 23 18:48:09 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 55982

I wrote:
> But as for the Petrified students - Dumbledore and everyone else 
knew 
> that they were going to be alright, and that they were actually 
safer 
> than anyone else. So, uh, extrapolating from the fact that 
> Dumbledore, apparently, didn't tell the Weasleys about Pettigrew 
and 
> Sirius Black, I conclude that the parents were not contacted in 
CoS. 
> Feel free to disagree, though. <g>

Andrea wrote:
*waves hand* I disagree. :)  I think there's a vast difference between
notifying parents of Petrified students and the whole 
Scabbers/Pettigrew
debate.  The former involves an official action as the Headmaster of 
the
school, the latter only a personal action based on his knowledge of
extra-curricular events, so to speak.  He has the DUTY as Headmaster 
to
notify parents under certain instances, and I think a child being
Petrified -- whether or not there's a cure available -- is definitely 
one
of them!  (Would Dumbledore just HOPE Colin's parents don't notice 
that
their child doesn't write them from *November* on, doesn't come home 
for
Christmas, etc?  Please.)  

Me:
Ummm <sheepish look>. I hadn't thought of that. Ok, point conceded. 
Although I don't know about that "Duty as Headmaster" part... I'm not 
sure it would be the most important factor in making a decision for 
Dumbledore. He does tend to set up experiments in Hogwarts, what with 
the Philosopher's Stone and Lockhart and the Time-Turner.

>Dumbledore CAN'T take official action on the Scabbers situation, 
>because
>the official position is that Peter Pettigrew is dead and Scabbers 
>is a
>rat.  

Agreed.

>So any action he'd take is a purely personal one in which he's 
>free to use his own judgment to conclude that the Weasleys are not 
>in danger. 

Ah, but should he take such responsibility upon himself? I don't 
think so. It's still ultimately the Weasleys's business to decide if 
they're in danger or not. 

I do hope we're going to see a scene where Molly is listening to the 
explanation of *why*, exactly, Sirius Black was at Hogwarts at the 
end of GoF, and *why* Ron told her that it was okay, and *how*, they 
all know that Pettigrew is alive. I'd love to see her reaction. It 
would be rather funny, no? After all, there must a recap of the 
previous books anyway, so why not have it in this form?

>I don't think there's really any comparison between the two 
>decisions.

I suppose you're right. But I still think that Dumbledore should've 
told the Weasleys about Scabbers.

Maria, 

who double-checks the facts in books if she thinks that she's 
suffering from movie contamination, but who had completely forgotten 
that it was Percy who'd sent the owl to his parents in CoS.





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