Dumbledore, Leader of Men (and Women) (was: Chapter Discussions: Chapter 4)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 83918

> Laura wrote:
> "...Also, I'm not sure all of the tensions among the Order members 
can be called petty. Yeah, Molly is way out of line throughout 
OoP...."
>  
> Paula now:
>  
> Laura, why do you say Molly is way out of line?  <snip> 

Laura:

When she made that crack to Sirius about his not being a responsible 
godfather because he spent 12 years in Azkaban, I lost my patience 
with her.  She started out as a loving, if ditzy, mom type.  And 
there's no doubt that she has been kind and welcoming to Harry.  But 
as we've seen more of her, we see that she can't let her kids learn 
independence.  She treats them all like they were 4 years old, 
including anyone she decides to treat as her kid, i.e., Harry and 
Hermione.  (Remember in GoF when she started being snotty to 
Hermione because of the story Rita wrote about Harry, Hermione and 
Viktor?  That was just wrong.) 

By the time we get to OoP, she has decided that she can ignore the 
wishes of Harry's parents and insert herself in loco parentis to 
Harry. Why? We have never seen Sirius give Harry bad or 
irresponsible advice up to the point of the conversation in the 
kitchen of GP.  He was entirely reliable throughout GoF.  (In fact, 
I can't remember Sirius ever giving Harry bad advice-he may have 
been ready to take risks himself but he didn't encourage Harry to do 
the same.) Where does she get off telling Sirius that he's an 
inadequate godfather?  It's not like Harry went to Molly for advice 
at any point throughout the 5 books.  So what makes her think she 
has any right to overrule his legal guardian?  And she never gets a 
clue throughout the book.  That's why I think she was out of line.  

Laura, trying to bring her blood pressure back to normal levels