Harry Does Not See Dumbledore in M. of Erised

[terryljames76]

No: HPFGUIDX 70200

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Susan Smith" 
<atroposgryffin at y...> wrote:
 
> 
> Now, now-it is quite possible that Harry does not see Dumbledore in 
> the mirror because Dd is still alive!  After all, he does not see 
> Petunia, Dudley or Vernon either-so, sorry but they could still be 
> related.
> 
> A.G.

Also possible that the people Harry saw in the mirror, besides James 
and Lily, were entirely constructed from his imagination.  The mirror 
shows what you want to see, and what he wanted to see was his 
family.  How would the mirror know what his family looked like?  It 
would draw from his subconscious mind the memory of his parents, and 
would also know from his subconscious mind that he wanted to see more 
of his family, so it would "fill in the blanks" with made-up people 
who shared some of Harry's features.   

Otherwise we have to believe that the mirror is not an enchanted 
object which reflects what you desire, but an almost-sentient being 
that knows who you are and keeps somehow keeps track of everyone's 
family tree, just on the off-chance that somebody might peep in 
looking for a relation. 

Terry LJ