Dumbledore's motive?

[sophierom]

No: HPFGUIDX 115492


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ohnooboe" <hautbois1 at c...>
wrote:
> 
> Here's a half-formed idea perhaps some could help me hash out...
> 
> Why is it that Dumbledore have such a hard time appointing a DADA 
> teacher in 15 YOOH (Year of our Harry)?  While it's seemingly been
a 
> hard position to fill, it's always had a prof.  Why NOW can he not 
> fill it?  How many people must DD know who could have at least
filled 
> in for a year?  He filled Trelawny's position in what seemed like 
> minutes...with a centaur, no less.  Why was it "hard" for him to
fill 
> this position?
> 
> My thought is that perhaps DD had some motive for not hiring a 
> teacher?  Did he WANT the MoM in Hogwarts?  Was this his way of 
> keeping a closer eye on Fudge and the Ministry?  I'm sure he KNEW 
> (from Fudge's reaction at the end of GF) that Fudge would be poking 
> his nose around Hogwarts and FERVENTLY denying any LV stories of 
> new.  Was the hullaballo before DD left in OotP staged in someway?  
> Did DD know something like that would happen after the MoM stuck
it's 
> nose in at Hogwarts?  Perhaps that was his excuse to make a "grand 
> escape" and get the truth about Voldemort's return out in the open.
> 
> Just a thought or two...
> 
> Patrick

Sophierom:

These are good questions. And I think there's some canon support for
your ideas (see timeline below.) 

However, before I get to that, I do wonder if DD would have found the
consequences of Umbridge worth the eventual outcome.  Because DD has
to make a great escape, he's not there to counsel Harry. Neither is
McGonagall or Hagrid or any of Harry's traditional allies because
Umbridge makes sure to get rid of them all once she takes over.  Only 
Snape is left, and Harry doesn't trust Snape. Hence, Harry runs off
the the MoM. While in the end, the MoM scene does force Fudge to
accept Voldemort's return, it comes at a very high price, and I would
sincerely hope that DD was holding out for some other way of  alerting
the public to LV's second rise. 

I always assumed that DD, powerful as he is, simply wasn't able to
find someone before Umbridge/Fudge came up with their plan to
infiltrate Hogwarts. Remember, Dumbledore can't just choose anyone at
this point. I think he's realized, after Crouch!Moody, that if 
he's not extremely careful, he could bring an LV supporter into the
safety of Hogwarts.  By the timeline below, DD probably didn't have
anyone by August 30, the day the Ministry passes the law stating that
it can appoint a professor if the headmaster can't find anyone.  
I'm wondering if Dumbledore was, at this point,  either 1. trying to
convince the real Moody to take the job or perhaps trying to finagle a
way for Lupin to return or 2. willing to let the position remain open,
perhaps having various professors fill in, perhaps filling in
himself?, until he could find someon he trusted.  Then  again, he
could, as Patrick has suggested, have left it open on purpose.  Or, 
worst of all, it could simply be a plot device to allow evil Umbridge
into the picture!

In any case, here's a timeline of events for those interested in
fleshing out their theories about Dumbledore's motives for the DADA
position in OotP.

August 2 - Umbridge sends the Dementors to Privet Drive in order to
discredit Harry Potter.  That night, Harry receives the letter from
the Ministry that declares he must turn in his wand and that he has
been expelled from Hogwarts.  This obviously catches DD unawares, and
he has to move quickly in order to stall the ministry, forcing them to
give Harry a hearing.

August 12 - Harry's hearing.  Here's a telling exchange between Fudge
and Dumbledore at the hearing: 

Fudge: "And I haven't even started on what he gets up to at school - "

Dumbledore: "-but as the Ministry has no authority to punish Hogwarts
students for misdemeanors at school, Harry's behavior there is not
relevent to this inquiry."

Fudge: "Oho! Not our business what he does at school, eh? You think
so?"

Dumbledore: "The Ministry does not have the power to expel Hogwarts
students, Cornelius 
...Nor does it have the right to confiscate wands until charges have
been successfully proven ... Inyour admirable haste to ensure the law
is upheld, you appear, inadvertently I am sure, to have overlooked a
few laws yourself."

Fudge: "Laws can be changed." (OotP, Am. ed, 149)

This can be read in two ways: Fudge gets the idea, hey, what if we
could deal with what goes on in Hogwarts ... or, Dumbledore provokes
Fudge into thinking this.  Also, we have to remember that Umbridge,
evil witch, is at the hearing as well.  Even if Fudge didn't take 
the leap from "Laws can be changed" to "Let's inflitrate Hogwarts" I'm
sure that toady did.

August 30 - MoM passes Educational Decree #22, allowing Minstry to
appoint professors if headmaster can't find anyone. (got this info
from the Lexicon - I haven't located the reference in OotP, however)

August 31 - Booklists arrive, finally.  As Ron says, "About time, I
thought they'd forgotten, they usually come much earlier than this." 
The only two new books: Standard Book of Spells Grade 5 and Defensive
Magical Theory. Booklists couldn't arrive until there was a 
DADA professor to assign texts, and apparently this didn't happen
until August 30, when the Ministry passes Educational Decree #22,
effectively appointing Dolores Umbridge to be quite possibly the worst
DADA teacher ever.  

(I say this because Quirrell!Mort probably did teach the students at
least a few basic things; Lockhart is ridiculous, true, but at least
he starts the duelling club wherein students can see Snape practice
defense at work (Harry learns the "expelliarmus" spell from Snape's
duel with Lockhart); Lupin is of course a wonderful teacher (well,
that's mine and Harry's opinion); and Crouch!Moody, evil as he was,
did actually allow the students to learn some important DADA lessons.
 Umbridge's only contribution: she forces the creation of the DA
because she refuses to teach (having them read from textbooks is not
teaching!). Okay, I also say that Umbridge is the worst because I
simply cannot stand the woman!)  

Sophierom