Dumbledore's role in Sirius' death was Re: ESE!Snape (Was loads of other stuff)

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 98887

Pippin wrote:
Ah, I think this is where we come to the parting of the ways <g>

"the person Sirius cared most about in the world was you [...] you
were coming to regard Sirius as a mixture of father and brother.
Voldemort knew already, of course, that Sirius was in the Order,
that you knew where he was -- but Kreacher's information made
him realize that the one person whom you would go to any
lengths to rescue was Sirius Black." -- OOP 37

Sirius could not possibly endanger only himself. Any danger to
him was a danger to Harry, a danger that Dumbledore could not
protect against, because in Harry reposes a power "more
wonderful and terrible than death, than human intelligence, than
the forces of nature [...the power that ] took you to save Sirius
tonight." Dumbledore knew that if Sirius were captured Harry
would go after him and he would *not* be able to prevent it, any
more than he had been able to stop Harry from going after the
Stone, or entering the Chamber, or following Ron into the
Shrieking Shack.

Sirius was more heroic than we realize. By keeping himself safe,
much as he hated doing it, he protected Harry until Harry had
strength enough to survive the confrontation with Voldemort at
the MoM.


Neri:
Hmmm, so do you say that if it were Lupin or Arthur, not Sirius, 
tortured by LV in the DoM in that false vision, Harry wouldn't have 
flown to London to rescue them?

I think he would. Perhaps not with so much fervor, but had he thought 
he is the only one who can do something about it, he would. As 
Hermione accurately diagnosed, Harry has a "people-saving thing", not 
merely a "Sirius-saving thing". Heck, he even put his life on the 
line to get Cedric's body back home. It is not specifically Sirius 
who is Harry's weak spot. It's anyone in need of rescue. If Hermione 
can appreciate this, so should DD.

During most of year 5, DD didn't know that Kreacher is going to tell 
LV that the-one-person-whom-Harry-Potter-would-go-to-any-lengths-to-
rescue-is-Sirius-Black, but still he tried to overprotect and over-
control Sirius, and naturally failed. Same as he tried to overprotect 
and over-control Harry and again, naturally, failed. Sure, in the 
level of the author's intension, Sirius' fate was to die in order to 
raise that Power-that-the-Dark-Lord-knows-not in Harry. But in the 
level of the characters' motives and actions, DD failed in estimating 
the capabilities and limitations of two, or actually three of his key 
troopers: Harry, Sirius *and* Snape. Luckily he managed (as these 
things sometimes happen in RL also) to narrowly get out of this 
debacle with just one casualty, instead of total defeat, because one 
of his mistakes canceled the others: He didn't realise he can't run 
Sirius and Harry on remote control with zero information, but he also 
failed in realizing that it is Harry's heart, not his mind, that is 
his best protection. Well, as Napoleon once noted, Luck is a great 
virtue in a commander... 

Neri