Ummm, Let's Not Use Dumbledore (was: Why is everyone so convinced

[Talisman]

No: HPFGUIDX 82282

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ratalman" <ratalman at y...> 
wrote:Robyn:
 That does beg the question, however, why the Potters would refuse 
the services of DD: did they have some reason to suspect his 
intentions, or, maybe they didn't take the threats seriously enough?

Talisman, or a boggart that looks a lot like her, popping in to say:

Recall what Moody said to Harry as they looked at the old picture of 
the original OoP: "There's Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two 
weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family." (OoP 173)

Or, Mr. Weasley telling why the Dark Mark caused such panic at the 
QWC: "The terror it inspired . . .you have no idea, you're too 
young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering 
over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside . . . 
Everyone's worst fear. . .the very worst . . ." (GoF 142)

The Potters were new parents, living through these times, and 
actively opposing LV.  I'm sure they took the threat of his plans to 
kill them or their baby, very seriously. 

You won't be surprised to hear that I have always taken their 
refusal to make DD their secretkeeper as a mark against him. Maybe 
they understood that his plans didn't necessarily involve keeping 
them alive.

Perhaps it was that spiffy rune charm (which I'm sure they knew 
about)and the whole need for sacrifical blood to activate it, left 
them feeling a little tenative about the old darling.

On the other hand, no matter how much James liked his pal Sirius, 
it's hard to believe that he--or for that matter Lily-- was blind to 
Sirius's faults.

Sirius's *just too clever* idea of switching with a weak toady 
because no one (in their right mind) would expect (or do) such a 
thing is so like the guy, who, when Lupin asked him for help 
studying for the O.W.L.s, "snorted [,] `I don't need to look at that 
rubbish, I know it all.'" (OoP 645)  

Yeah, he knows it all.  And, it's hard to believe that Lily and 
James would have gone along with the great switch idea, if they'd 
been told.  So, in granting himself the right to make the decision 
for everyone, Sirius displayed yet another act of incredible 
arrogance. 

Friendship is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't mean you don't know 
you friends limitations.  DD often says he'd "trust Hagrid with his 
life," but we all know what a blabber-mouth Hagrid is.  You can be 
sure that if DD gives Hagrid information, DD wants it spread 
around.   

Getting back to the choice between DD and Sirius, DD is supposed to 
be LV's great Nemesis, "the only one he ever feared."  If it's down 
to the lives of your loved ones, do you go with your pal--who'd die 
for you--if he didn't do something stupid first--or the greatest 
wizard of the age?

Unless the Potters were fools, they knew something about DD that 
made dear-but-full-of-himself Sirius look like their best option.

Talisman, a bona fide member of the Fellowship of the DUST 
(Dumbledore Undercover Serveillance Team).