Dumbledore's bad descisions?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 94202

I (Carol) wrote:
<snip> I do know that I'm just assuming, but given Sirius's violent
> > temper and general rashness, his attempt to murder Severus when
they were both sixteen, his later determination to commit the murder
he was imprisoned for, his statement at Godric's Hollow (recalled by
Hagrid in PoA) that he wouldn't be needing his motorcycle any more,
and his mad laugh as he's hauled away from the scene of Peter's crime,
I'm convinced that he intended not only to confront Peter but to get
revenge, either by killing him or by seriously and permanently
injuring him. No proof, of course, just canon evidence of his
temperament and behavior on other occasions.  Then again, I'm not a
Sirius fan and maybe I tend to judge him a bit harshly (as others
judge Snape). <snip>

Sue responded: 
<snip> Sirius simply told Snape how 
> to get into the tunnel under the tree. He did *not* offer him candy 
> and tell him there was a great treat waiting for him there. He said 
> something like "If you want to see what we are up to, just prod the 
> knot and you can find out." It was Snape, of his own free will, who 
> went into the tunnel. The *only* person who *ever* refers to what 
> Sirius did as attempted murder is Snape himself.  I cannot imagine
DD allowing a student to stay in school whom he believed capable of 
> murder for pleasure, much less trusting him enough to make him a
part of a secret organization with the sole purpose of defeating evil. 

> <snip> Just to throw this out, why cry (I'm talking JKR here) over a 
> character that would attempt murder as a teenager, trying to kill 
> someone who will, in the end, turn out to be basically benevolent?  
> No.  Sirius may be rash but he is no murderer and he never was.  If 
> Snape was stupid enough to go into that tunnel with the hope of 
> getting a few of his enemies expelled, he took his own chances.  It 
> certainly wasn't noble, but IMHO neither is much (or any) of what 
> Snape does.  They were both 16, they were both stupid and fortunately 
> for everyone involved, James had more than air between the ears.
> 

Carol:
You could be right about the Prank. Nevertheless, he did tempt
Severus, IMO a very Mephistophilean act. Was it calculated vengeance
or another case of Sirius not thinking things through, not
anticipating consequences? I don't know, but I confess that I don't
much like the young Sirius, who appears to be as arrogant and haughty
as his cousin Bellatrix or at her sentencing. (I'm not sure whether
haughty regality is in the Black blood or his upbringing. Probably
both. There are traces of it even after Azkaban.) The recklessness is
also there before and after Azkaban (turning into a dog to accompany a
werewolf on his nightly rounds is not the act of a sensible person. If
Sirius had been the werewolf, would Remus have turned into an animal
to accompany him? Would he have encouraged James to do it? Hard to
say, but I don't think so.) There's also no question that the
post-Azkaban Sirius is capable of great violence, slashing up the Fat
Lady's portrait and breaking into a room full of thirteen-year-old
boys with a twelve-inch knife in his hand to murder a rat/man, a
bloody and violent act of hatred and desperation. Given the grief and
rage Sirius must have felt at the death of his much-loved best friend
and the betrayal by another friend that he had trusted, I think that
in this instance, too, he was motivated by hatred and desperation,
with just enough awareness of consequences to realize that he should
not let Hagrid suspect his intentions and that he would not need his
motorcycle, as he would be a hunted man whether he killed Peter or
not. If Hagrid had let him take Harry, which of course he couldn't do,
Sirius might have tried to clear his name and curb his reckless
tendencies to try to be a good guardian, but with the "loss" of Harry,
too, he had nothing to live for except, apparently, vengeance. He
should have gone to Dumbledore or Remus to explain the Secret Keeper
switch. Instead he went after Peter, either to confront him, as you
say, or to kill him. Either way, not the decision of a rational man.
BTW I never said he planned to murder anyone for pleasure, only that
he's reckless, capable of great violence, indifferent to the suffering
of anyone he dislikes (Snape or Kreacher), and vengeful toward anyone
he thinks has betrayed him. I do pity him for his twelve years in
Azkaban, his loneliness, and his entrapment in a house he hates, and I
don't feel any antipathy toward him. But "murderer he never was"? He
would have murdered Peter if it hadn't been for Harry.

Sue wrote:
><snip> JKR has said we will learn more about "the 
> prank" in later books.  I hope it clears up what led up to that 
> point. 

Carol:
So do I. But it will be hard to convince me that Severus "deserved" to
be endangered by a werewolf or that Sirius was in any way justified in
endangering him in that way.

Sue wrote:
 Imagine the shock of many on the list if it turns out that 
> Snape and his good friends Bellatrix Black and the Lestrange
brothers had spent some time in the home of Sirius and Regulus Black 
> recruiting Regulus to join a certain organization bent on
eliminating all of the "Mudbloods and Muggles".  And despite a certain
older brother begging and pleading, Regulus's best friend Severus
convinced him to jinx his brother, expose his friend Lupin to the
Black family and cause Sirius to never be able to return home again. 
Just one way out speculation but the possibilities are endless.

Carol:
I very much doubt that Snape recruited Regulus Black, but I think that
Regulus's death could have been the turning point for Snape, the thing
that convinced him to turn away from LV to Dumbledore. As you say, the
possibilities are endless and we can only wait and see.
>
Sue again: 
> I'm not willing to commit myself to ESE!Snape, but I don't buy any 
> version of FallenAngel!Snape or Benevolent!Snape either.
> 
> Sue, who is absolutely not on the fence when it comes to Sirius or 
> Lupin

Carol: I absolutely don't think that Snape is a fallen angel but I
don't think he's ESE, either. He could have been a Lucius Malfoy but
he isn't. His motives are mysterious and intriguing. Sirius, OTOH, is
a damaged, flawed man whose recklessness makes him his own worst
enemy. No mystery to him, or not enough to interest someone like me.

Carol, who finds fences, whether they're picket or chicken wire,
extremely uncomfortable places and is absolutely not on the fence
regarding Snape