Dumbledore responsible for Lily & James' death?

[acoteucla]

No: HPFGUIDX 76835

I came up with this theory a while ago, but I decided it didn't work 
because it painted Dumbledore as significantly more cold and 
conniving than I believed him to be.  However, some recent posts have 
made me question just how innocent Dumbledore really is.

Evidence that Dumbledore may be a noble, but heartless and conniving 
old man:

1 - Dumbledore manufactured the entire Shrieking Shack incident.  He 
wanted Peter Pettigrew to owe a life-debt to Harry, and he did NOT 
want Sirius' name to be cleared.

The original post for this theory is 39662, "The Spying Game and the 
Shrieking Shack".

2 - Dumbledore is directly responsible for Sirius' death.  He did 
this because he (correctly) guessed that the emotions this death 
evoked in Harry would prevent LV from possessing him. 

The original post for this theory is 66983, "Guilty Dumbledore".


I would now like to add my own addition to Dumbledore's increasing 
list of heartless but necessary actions: he is responsible for James 
& Lily's death.

There has been speculation that Snape is the one who overheard the 
prophecy in the Hog's Head, and reported it to LV.  All renditions of 
this theory (that I have heard) involve Snape switching sides AFTER 
informing LV of the prophecy.  I have a different take on it.

Severus Snape, die-hard death-eater, overhears the prophecy IN ITS 
ENTIRETY when Trelawney utters it in the Hog's Head.  Lily Potter 
should be pregnant at this point.  Snape can figure out quite easily 
that the Potters' child might be born around the end of July.  His 
life-debt to James comes into play, forcing him to renounce his 
loyalty to LV and help Dumbledore.  Dumbledore recognizes the life-
debt, and thus trusts Snape's conversion.

Upon Harry's birth, the two of them cook up a plan that will help 
bring the prophecy to fruition.  Dumbledore instructs Snape to relate 
the prophecy to LV, but ONLY THE FIRST PART.  Snape is to pretend 
that he was kicked out of the Hog's Head before he could hear the 
entire prophecy.

This plan works perfectly.  LV thinks that he is supposed to go kill 
Harry now, not knowing the dangers of doing so.  Due to this mistake,

1 - LV's body is destroyed, and it takes him about 13 years to gain a 
permanent new one.  In the mean-time, Harry has a chance to grow up.
2 - LV passes on some of his abilities to Harry.  These abilities 
have kept Harry and his friends alive numerous times.

There's just one draw-back to this neat and clever plan: Lily & James 
will have to die.  Noble, heartless Dumbledore knows that this is 
well worth the price, however.  Severus Snape agrees to the plan 
because James would want it this way (so his actions do not 
contradict his life-debt to James).  Instead, his life-debt passes on 
to Harry, which is why he worked so hard to keep Harry alive in SS/PS.

Thoughts?  Criticisms?