[HPforGrownups] Re: OOP: FLOOZY No.I - The Dumbledore Papers

[the firey chasm from whence it came]

No: HPFGUIDX 65805


><snip>
>Wouldn't Dumbledore dying in OOP been so much better than Sirius?
>The Dumbledore Papers thoroughly outlined some gaping chinks in
>Dumbledore's armour.

I think that Harry still really needs DD and would be too vulnerable 
without him at this point. I think DD will die, but not just yet.

>  And there is nothing like death, especially a
>sacrificial one, to cover up someone's faults.  By the end of OOP,
>Dumbledore's shine has unquestionably dulled.

True. I think that was part of the point of OOTP though, is that Harry had 
to learn that everyone has flaws, even the people he deeply admires. He 
found out negative things about a lot of people he cared about in this book 
(James, Sirius, Lupin, DD). Sirius tells him at one point that "the world 
is not divided into good people and Death Eaters", and that's probably one 
of the most important points in the whole book. He had to stop seeing 
things in such black and white terms.

<snip>
>Sirius had faults and
>we loved him because of them.  Dumbledore's faults are disturbing.


Why should DD's faults be any more disturbing than Sirius'? I found Sirius' 
faults far more disturbing, actually. He was a bully in his youth, he tried 
to kill Snape when he was 16 (I do consider purposely leading someone to a 
werewolf's lair attempted murder), and he didn't show that he was 
especially remorseful for either of these things. DD's faults on the other 
hand mostly revolved around caring too much about Harry's feelings and less 
for the overall purpose of fighting V. He was guilty of mollycoddling and 
overprotecting Harry, but this seems understandable in the light that he 
really loves him and wants the best for him. He also seemed a lot more torn 
up about it all than Sirius did about anything he'd done.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Sirius, but I do dislike some major 
things that he's done. I do think he was a good godfather to Harry and a 
likeable person for the most part. And I don't think he deserved to die or 
to never get cleared. But I do think the bad things he did do are pretty 
serious (no pun intended! ;), and certainly not "less" disturbing than 
finding out that DD has feet of clay after all! I would have found it more 
disturbing if DD were never shown to have flaws...it would have made him a 
much  more boring character.

~dream