Sirius vs. Snape

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 99612

> Mike Feemster:
> 
>    Another ket point in this whole sequence is that Dumbledore 
> should have gave Harry a means to communicate to someone in the 
> Order who is outside of Hogwarts.  Sirius gave him the mirror, but 
> Harry was too concerned for his safety to use it.

Marianne:

Dumbledore tells Harry in Chap 37 "...I should explain that members 
of the Order...have more reliable methods of communicating than the 
fire in Dolores Umbridges's office."

Evidently Dumbledore never clued Harry in to whatever this method is.
No matter that he's the hope of the Wizard world to end the Voldemort 
threat once and for all.  Why bother to give Harry information on 
communication potential ways to contact Order members in case of an 
emergency?  No, best to keep the kid in the dark.

 So, not only did Harry not investigate or use the mirror, he was 
also clueless that another method of communication existed.  Had he 
known of this method, he could have assumed that Snape would use this 
means to try to ascertain Sirius' whereabouts after Harry blurts out 
his cryptic "He's got Padfoot" message. 

And, if Snape knew that Harry knew of whatever this method is, then 
Snape would have to use it, whether he wanted to or not.  And Harry, 
knowing that Snape would use this secret OoP communication method, 
would not have had to go along with Hermione's ploy on the fly to get 
Umbridge out of the way by the time consuming trip into the Forbidden 
Forest.  

Oh, but, had Harry not been kept in the dark, then the entire 
denoument that took place in the Dept. of Mysteries could have been 
avoided. Can you say "plot device?"

Marianne