....what I SHOULD have told you....

[Hollydaze]

No: HPFGUIDX 54522

grace701 wrote:
> > After reading this for the umpteenth time it sounds like Dumbledore 
> > is regretting not telling Harry something and I'm that impression 
> > from where he says "I should have told you".  As though, something 
> > has just happened that could have been prevented.  Is it just me 
> > that has read it this way?  
<SNIP>

Devika wrote:
<SNIP>
> There is one thing that Harry wanted to know in PS/SS that Dumbledore 
> refused to tell him at that time.  Voldemort had told Harry that he 
> only killed Lily because she had tried to prevent him from killing 
> Harry.  In the hospital wing at the end of the book, Harry asked 
> Dumbledore why Voldemort would want to kill him (Harry) in the first 
> place.  Dumbledore said something like, "Alas, the first question 
> you ask, I cannot answer...someday, when you are ready, you will 
> know."  (Sorry for the inexact quote; PS/SS is the only book I don't 
> have with me)
> 
> It seems like Dumbledore might be regretting not telling Harry why 
> Voldemort wanted to kill him in the first place fourteen years ago.  
> It would make sense, since this is a question that Harry asked 
> Dumbledore directly and that Dumbledore directly refused to answer--
> until Harry was ready.  Surely, Harry is ready to know now.

Your very close to the exact quote actually, it's:
"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know".

It's the structuring of this reply which leads me to conclude that this is NOT what Dumbledore is going to tell Harry. I believe this for two reasons. The first reason is kinda difficult to explain because I don't really understand why I react to it the way I do, it seems to just be a knee jerk reaction to it but there is something about the way Dumbledore says, "I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now". For some reason, that implies to me that it is something that Dumbledore really can't tell Harry, it's not just something that he has chosen not to tell Harry. When I compare it to the first quote, the "I should have told you" quote seems to imply that it is something that Dumbledore himself has decided to with-hold from Harry, something that he didn't need to with-hold but decided to anyway.

Secondly Dumbledore says "when you are ready, you will know", NOT "when you are ready, I will tell you". That quote always looked to me like something that could be interpreted in two ways, 1) That Dumbledore is saying he will tell Harry at a later date or 2) That when Harry is ready to know, he will instinctively know, (e.g. something happens to him that explains why). To me this quote implies the second idea, that Harry will instinctively know. I feel this precisely because it does not say "when you are ready, I will tell you", which would seem a more logical choice of phrasing if that were the case. It seems to be a more subtle example of JK's continued fixation with twisting things :)

There is a third reason but it is not to do with the structuring. I see this question about why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry as one of a few questions central to the plot, it is one of a few questions that run through all of the books. While most questions revolve around only a few books, e.g. (PoA) Why is Sirius after Harry? -one book- or (GoF) What is Snape doing over the summer? -to be resolved (probably) in OoP or book 6- this, "why would he want to kill me in the first place?" question is one of the questions that drives the entire story, it's one of the reasons we keep reading and so I don't think it will be answered this early in the series, it feels to me like something that will be resolved nearer the end, most likely the middle to end of book 7. Much as it is driving me mad wanting to know why V was after Harry, I think I might end up a little disappointed if it was resolved in book 5, unless knowing this piece of information plays a VERY vital role in other events in books 5, 6 and 7.

HOLLYDAZE
(Who is very glad that someone has re-awoken her ability to think about all things HP as she has been suffering from what another person on the list called "analysing block" for about 1 1/2 years! and finds it weird using the word "early" about book 5 in a 7 book series).





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