Oops! Dumbledore did it again! with the addition of Bees

[erisedstraeh2002 <erisedstraeh2002@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50908

Sheryl (StarHermione86) wrote:

> does anyone else finds Harry's unwavering belief in Dumbledore's 
> powers and protection to be a little ironic? <snip> PS/SS - 
> --Dumbledore hires a teacher with Voldemort on the back of his 
> head! Voldemort had been in his school the entire year and 
> Dumbledore didn't have the slightest clue.

Now me:

Not to mention Lockhart...

But, in Dumbledore's defense, Voldemort was not in the back of 
Quirrell's head when he hired Quirrell.  Voldemort took possession of 
Quirrell later.

I'm not so sure Dumbledore didn't know that Voldemort was around in 
PS/SS.  I think the extent to which the Stone was protected is an 
indication that Dumbledore thought there was a threat present.  And 
Snape was on top of Quirrell, so Quirrell was probably identified as 
a potential threat.

Sheryl again:

> GoF- Dumbledore appears to be a better judge of teachers by now. At
> least by this time he only hires an agent of Voldemort and not 
> Voldemort himself. He allows the Goblet of Fire, which is shown to 
> be his own special responsibility, to be tampered with and a 
> younger student to be entered. He allows the Triwizard cup to be 
> turned into a portkey without his knowledge and two students to be 
> transported by it.

Me again:

Is there anyone who caught on during their first reading of GoF that 
Barty Crouch Jr. was posing as Mad-Eye Moody?  Crouch Jr. was an 
incredibly effective imposter. I can't blame Dumbledore for not 
figuring it out, especially since Crouch Jr. was presumed to be 
dead.  And since the tampering of the Goblet and the turning of the 
Cup into a portkey were as a result of Crouch Jr.'s successful 
impersonation, it's hard to find fault with Dumbledore for these 
events as well.

On a slightly different, but still related, topic, we've had 
discussions about the meaning of Dumbledore's name, since Dumbledore 
is an old English word meaning "bumblebee."  JKR has said that 
Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse was one of her favorite 
childhood books, and, after reading it, I liked it so much I decided 
to read Goudge's Linnets and Valerians.  Well, in Linnets and 
Valerians, there are bees that provide protection and guidance to the 
characters in the books.  I'm wondering if that could have been JKR's 
inspiration to give Dumbledore a name that means "bee."

There are also mandrakes and a character named Tom Biddle in Linnets 
and Valerians, but I'll discuss those another time!

~Phyllis