Who knows? DD knows, that's who.

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 118055


Carolyn:
Snip: For a start, it appears that the keeper must know
what the prophecies contain, otherwise how could he have re-labelled
the orb ? If he doesn't, and was only acting on instructions, who
told him to re-label? Dumbledore? How convenient.

And what a great job. Snooping around all those shelves with a
duster, pursing your lips over so-and-so prophecy: `ha..they won't
like it when their number comes up
wonder if he's still alive
 that
was a crap seer, always gets things wrong
.serve `em right
'

Bet the Keeper gets bought a few lunches.

But does it stop at a nod and a wink? Worryingly, of the four people
we have had identified as working in the Department of Mysteries
(Bode, Croaker, Rookwood, Avery), two are DEs, and a third was easily
Imperioed, then murdered. The fourth is unpromisingly
called 'Croaker' – who's he destined to talk to?

Snow:

Where do I begin
Great Post!
I especially love the political referencing to the lobbying tactics 
of let's have lunch! 
As to Croaker being the last of the four to croak, my first response 
was to croak or fess up about what he knows but after reading 
Kneasy's response to croak, as in dead, I'm not quite sure, could be 
either. 

Carolyn:
But, intriguingly, neither Rookwood nor Avery felt inclined to tell
their master what went on at the Department before they ended up in
Azkaban all those years ago. Why not? It would have saved Voldie a
lot of grief if he'd been able to hear the prophecy in its entirety
before GH, but from the evidence of Harry's dreams, Voldemort did not
even have a clear mental picture of what the Department of Mysteries
looked like until they explained it to him 16 years later (Ch 26,
OOP). Even then, Avery got some crucial facts wrong, and delayed
Voldemort's plans by many months.

Snow:
Very nice approach never thought about it that way. So which side 
were the aurors really on? How many people are on the Dumbledore 
silent, double agent, squad? 

Carolyn:
What does the Department of Mysteries do anyway? FB&WTFT mentions
that, unlike the other six departments at the MoM, it is possibly not
answerable to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (the largest
department at the Ministry, under Fudge's direct control). So, who
does it answer to? Effectively, it's a secret intelligence service,
pursuing its own agenda, collecting prophecies about future events
from around the WW.

Who is on the circulation list for the analysis reports? Probably not
Fudge. A security risk if there ever was one. Bet he's only been
cleared for need-to-know, deniable information. But Dumbledore?
Probably acts as a specialist advisor, even though he's not formally
on the staff.

Snow:

Nor is Dumbledore Ministry Head but when Fudge, who `is', appears at 
the end of OOP, Dumbledore doesn't hesitate to suggest nor hesitate 
to tell Fudge exactly what 'he' will do. Who is running the show 
again? Oh yeah
him!




Carolyn:
It is probably more useful to view the Possession incident rather as
> a lab test, where DD is checking a hypothesis about the way Harry 
and
> Voldemort are likely to interact.
>
> Look at the calm way he says 'Are you all right?' to Harry, after
> the boy has experienced the equivalent of the electric chair. After
> pulling Harry to his feet, there's not even a brief hug, or manly
> clap on the shoulder. An 'apparently satisfied' DD moves on promptly
> to dealing with Fudge. It's a pretty clinical reaction. The outcome
> of an experiment had been correctly predicted; the subject had
> responded as expected.

Snow:

 Can I say again excellent post! Mastermind Dumbledore has assumed 
 the reaction and response to a calculated and predestined end. 



Carolyn:
> In fact when you think about it, isn't Dumbledore doing rather too
> well? Effortlessly, it seems he's a step ahead all the time. Sitting
> up there in his office, sucking sherbet lemons. He's been proved
> right about Voldie and as a result, can kick ass at the Ministry.
> They've only lost Sirius so far, who was a liability anyway. The
> kid's a bit upset, granted, but, hey, welcome to the real world; he
> needs to grow up. Various key players are all in position – the rat,
> Snape. He has a good idea who might try to betray him, or be unequal
> to their task.


Snow:

But Dumbledore will still equate that everyone has their choices. 
(Don't let the cat out of the bag about Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom Harry 
until Neville is ready to tell you.) It is about everyone's choices 
(and of course I've steered you through to the appropriate course) 
and we mustn't influence those choices by telling the truth to anyone 
because why
 they can't handle the truth
at least not until they are 
ready.

Carolyn:
Voldy, by contrast, is on his knees. None of his best curses work on
the brat, his wand's about as much use as stick of celery, and even
his trademark speciality, Possession, has left him with some nasty
burn marks all over his nice new hands. Most of his top team are
(temporarily) banged up in Azkaban; he's trapped in a cave somewhere
having to listen to the ravings of lunatic Bella, and he also still
doesn't know what's in the prophecy, dammit. The only people he can
rely on are the Dementors, and frankly they are not great company.

Snow:

Aha! Spinners End! the back-story to Voldy. Trapped in a cave with 
Bella who is begging that it isn't so that he is part
part
muggle!  
Say it isn't so Voldy
my master. Yes, Bella it is! The truth is out 
of my horrid heritage but my grandfather was Marvalo who was a 
descendant of Salizar Slytherin.

Carolyn:

But are we so very sure that we understand what Dumbledore is up
to ? People are fond of insisting that `he's the epitome of
goodness', as though no further explanation is required. Hm. By that
is meant, perhaps, a person adhering to higher moral values, who
always tries to do the right thing? Who wouldn't be satisfied with
just killing Tom Riddle and knows there are things much worse than
death ? That sort of stuff can go to your head, you know,
understanding so clearly what is right and what is wrong, especially
when there are few people to argue with you.

Snow:
To know, or counter, your enemy you must first enter their domain, 
(scary) what they are possibly thinking. In Dumbledore's world, he 
already realizes Voldy's capabilities because he knows his 
pragmatics. Dumbledore has been forewarned of Voldy's existence since 
he was born the young Tom Riddle by the magical quill. 

Carolyn:
Who thinks Kneasy is a bad influence

Snow:

Isn't it the truth! God bless him!