Harry left at the Dursleys (Was Re: Plot in OotP)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 118144


Alla <dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> <Snip Juli's post>
> >
> Alla:
> As I said , if this is the reason, which I am inclined to agree 
> with, I will buy it.
> 
> I will buy Dumbledore's sufferings because he sees Harry abused and 
> cannot interfere in fear for his life.
> 
> What I don't buy is that Dumbledore who left Harry with Dursleys 
> for the purpose of teaching him a lesson that life is hard and 
> children are abused in such life all the time, can be called a 
> wise man and "epithome of goodness".


Oh, certainly I agree with you Alla.  I think that the whole moral 
question about Harry and the Dursleys doesn't turn on the issue of 
leaving Harry there in the first place.  After all, if he had been 
placed in the wizarding world how would he have survived?  Hogwarts 
is supposedly the safest place in wizarding Britain and yet Harry has 
faced Deatheaters (twice), a psychopathic bureaucrat, a basilisk, 
dementors, and Voldemort himself in three different incarnations.  

The question is about why didn't interfere with the Dursleys' abuse.  
I, like you, can't buy the whole "life's lessons" argument.  Nor can 
I believe that Dumbledore is restrained by his "goodness."  It's hard 
to argue under any reasonable definition of goodness that Dumbledore 
would somehow be less noble for restraining the Dursleys than for 
letting them "make their own choices."  

The only definitions of goodness that could apply here are 1)he 
genuinely fears that if he intervenes it would lead to Harry's death, 
or 2) he feels if he intervenes it would be bad for the wizarding 
world.  Well, if we look at 2) it could be bad for the wizarding 
world if a) interfering would lead to Harry being spoiled and 
susceptible to evil, or b) it would lead to Harry not being able to 
fulfill his destiny because he's dead.

Well, 2b) is the same as 1)in terms of goal, except that the ultimate 
motivation is different.  2a) is the same one that both Alla and I 
vehemently reject.

What it all comes down to is that this whole issue needs further 
clarification.  If it is indeed revealed that Ddore was somehow 
restrained and was anguishing over the letters from Mrs. Figg but 
felt he could do nothing because it would lead to Harry's death, then 
all is well and good.  I have a feeling that JKR thinks she makes 
something like that clear when in fact she has not done so.  We will 
see.

Lupinlore