The Art of Love according to Albus Dumbledore (was:Harry left at the Dursleys)

[carolynwhite2]

No: HPFGUIDX 118247


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "iris_ft" <iris_ft at y...> wrote:
<cruel snippage of another lyrical post>
> Maybe Dumbledore wasn't there when the Dursleys were abusing Harry. 
> But when the boy really needs him, i.e., when he faces plainly for 
> the first time the hardest trial, the trial of his burning human 
> consciousness, he is with him. He doesn't do Harry's work. But he 
is 
> there to tell him it's possible. That's what a true master has to 
> do, before the disciple becomes a master himself.
> "I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined", 
> Dumbledore says before telling Harry the truth.
>  In other words: "I was there before you, I've passed through the 
> same trials; and for that reason, I'm always with you, though you 
> don't realize."
> These are the words of the Alchemist considering his work, his 
> disciple; but also of the tragic characters (fictional or not) 
> moving along with us since the beginning of human history.
> 
> Just the way I see it, of course,
> 
> Amicalement,
> 
> Iris

Carolyn:
You are a wonderful exponent of the alchemical explanation of HP, 
Iris. You have me nearly persuaded every time...

But consider this. Could it be that the trial that Dumbledore 
understands so well is not so much his own, personal experiences, but 
that of a previous failure with Tom Riddle ?

I keep banging on about this, I know, but it really was no accident 
that the first wand with Fawkes' feather was not only made available 
for selection, but then found such an affinity with Tom. He clearly 
was a very powerful wizard child, that later went through 'many 
dangerous transformations'. His first quest in PS/SS was, 
interestingly, for the Philosopher's Stone, not Harry. He was taught 
by DD at school, and undoubtedly found out what DD had been working 
on with Flamel.

I submit that Dumbledore failed with Tom, big time ('it's our 
choices'). It's that pain he is re-living, and which makes him take 
such a cool, clinical attitude to Harry. Not only does he have the 
detachment brought by great age, but probably he is still unsure 
whether this second child might go off the rails, and therefore by 
instinct now, trusts no one, and keeps most of his plans to himself.

Carolyn