TBAY: Dumbledore's feelings about Voldemort

[Grey Wolf <greywolf1@jazzfree.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51003

Melody was confortably resting in one of the armchairs in the Safe 
House, thinking that defending MD was not only a full-time job, but 
also quite lonely lately. Pip seemed to be engrosed with some proyect 
or another in her room, and no-one in the Bay had heard anything about 
Grey Wolf for months. Suddenly, a great howl shattered the calm silence 
of the Bay. Coney suddenly looked up, her eyes afraid, 2 million years 
of evolution informing her that *that* couldn't be good news.

Melody knew better
"Don't worry, Coney, I seemed to detect a happy tone in that howl. I'm 
pretty sure that soon enough we're going to see the resident werewolf 
of the Safe House. If I remember correctly, he promised to take you out 
to hunt when he came out of his reclusion"

Sure enough, in a couple of minutes, a door opened in the East wing and 
almost immediately after Grey Wolf was at the door, looking happy, 
relived and above all *relaxed*
"Finally! I thought *that* little job was never going to be finished. 
I'm sorry it took so long, I hadn't expected it to dominate my time..."

Grey Wolf stopped and started sniffing the air, a puzzled look in his 
features clearly visible
"Who's the new tenant? I can smell an unfamiliar person in the air. 
Someone has joined MDDT and I wasn't informed?"

"Not at all, Grey" answered Mel, "This is the Safe House, not everyone 
living here has to be part of MDDT, after all"

"True enough. I supose I'll meet her sooner or later, now that I'm out 
of my room. Speaking of which, come here, little one, have you missed 
me?" Grey Wolf beckoned to Coney, who delightedly jumped into his 
hands. The image of a 6' 6" werewolf petting a tiny rabbit was 
disturbing, at the very best, but Melody was used to having that sort 
of thing happening in the Safe House.

"I think I should take her out and start training her in the hunt." 
said Grey, "But before I do that, I have a theory that needs trying 
out. It's about Dumbledore and Voldemort"

"Let's hear it, then" Answered Melody, straightening in her chair.

"You see, I was working on the origins of Magic Dishwasher the other 
day, and I realised that Dumbledore fears facing Voldemort as much as 
Voldemort fears Dumbledore himself"

"Does he? I never got that impression. Explain that, please"

"Sure. Let me get some canon behind this." Grey Wolf picked up one of 
the various copies of PS lying around the living room and carefully 
manipulated it with his paws until he found the correct page.

"Here it is:
<<[Dumbledore is speaking] "I've never found any reason to fear
pronouncing the name Voldemort"
"I know you don't have that problem" Observed the proffesor McGonagall, 
between exasperation and admiration, "but you are different. Everyone 
knows that you are the only one You-know... Oh, well, Voldemort feared"
"You are flattering me" said Dumbledore calmly, "Voldemort had powers I 
never had"
"Only because you are too... good... noble... to use them>>"

"What edition is that? I don't remember that wording" asked Melody

"Probably not, no. I seemed to have picked up a Spanish edition and 
I've been tranlating on the spot. At any rate, it's from the first 
chpater of PS." Answered Grey Wolf

"Now, let me examime it: Please note that Dumbledore mentions that he 
doesn't fear *the name*, but never gives his views on Voldemort 
himself, and neither does McGonagall. Furthermore, at that particular 
time, *everyone* feared Voldemort. He was winning, after all. 

Let's dig in a little deeper. In this few lines it is established that 
Voldemort feared facing Dumbledore, but Dumbledore himself indicates 
that he didn't have as many powers as Voldemort had. McGonagall quickly 
jumps to his defence by saying that he has the raw power, but that he 
wouldn't stoop that low, so to speak. This is revealing. A person that 
has the power to use a gun but doesn't out of a moral choice will die 
just as fast when faced with someone with a smaller gun as someone who 
had no gun to begin with. Now, the example is not exact, because we 
don't really know how wizard duels work, but we can safely asume that 
one of the powers Dumbledore is not ready to use is AK, and if in a 
duel against Voldemort he doesn't use AK, he's going to have little 
chance of winning.

So, my opinion is that Dumbledore knew that, faced against Voldemort, 
he'd probably die. We are not sure how he stopped Grindelwald, but it 
is possible that, just like the MD plans against Voldemort, that 
Grindelwald was stopped by clever planning instead of being the fastest 
colt east of the Mississippi. But independently of that, Dumbledore 
knows that, faced with (pre-fateful night) Voldemort, he doesn't stand 
a chance.

Why do I think that? Let's review what was happening before the fateful 
night once more. We know that Voldemort had the WW on the brink of 
colapse. We also know that 'Hogwarts was one of the few safe places' - 
because Dumbledore was there, protected, inside his castle. However, it 
is well known that a war cannot be won from a defensive position. If 
Dumbledore had enough power to finish off Voldemort, why didn't he do 
so? After all, he had a man in the inner circle: Snape, so they *had* 
to know where Voldemort spent his time between assasinations. Once he 
had been located, it was a matter of getting toghether the old gang and 
going there in force and, while the others kept whatever DEs happened 
to be around busy, Dumbledore could take Voldemort out once and for 
all.

And yet, Dumbledore didn't do it. Because he knew that, faced against 
Voldemort, he couldn't win, unless he was playing in his own turf (i.e. 
Hogwarts). He knew that Voldemort would stop at nothing to destroy him, 
and that his (Dumbledore's) own consciense would stop him from using 
the spells that could win him the battle (and loose the war, by turning 
him into the next evil wizard). Which means that Dumbledore feared to 
face Voldemort - not out of fear for his own life (I have the feeling 
that Dumbledore stopped fearing death a long time ago), but out a real 
fear for the WW if he stopped being around to put some brakes into 
Voldemort's actions - if Dumbledore hadn't been around, Voldemort 
would've been more open and direct in his methods, almost surely"

Grey Wolf finally stopped talking, and seemed to contemplate the 
horizon through one of the windows for a moment, his eyes lost in 
thought. "I think I'll take out Coney for a lesson on hunting now. I'll 
give you some time to think about what I just said, if you want to 
disagree. I'll be out there, if you -or anyone- needs me" Grey Wolf 
pointed out of the window to the forest behind the house.

Then, Grey Wolf stooped to get passed the door, carrying Coney with 
him, and left the room, leaving a Melody lost in thought sitting in her 
chair. Suddenly, Grey Wolf pooped back and said
"Uuups, I almost forgot. Hope that helps".

Grey Wolf