Dumbledore's motive?/Dumbridge/McGonagall

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 115518



> Sophierom:
> 
--- 
> 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!
--------
> 
> 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!)  

Finwitch:

I agree completely about Dumbridge. (I like to put the D from Dolores 
so it forms Dumb with 3 first letters of her surname...)

She does not teach. At most, she leads a reading practice that's 
completely useless. She also treats the students like they were a 
decade younger in the class. Makes my teeth edge, that.

And she's also abusive when someone stands up to her (like Harry). 
Those Blood Quills MUST be Dark Arts!

Only good thing about her was that she created great demand for 
Weasley Wizard Wheezes + excellent opportunities for Fred&George to 
advertise... Don't know if they could have had such a good start 
otherwise.

I do think Dumbledore tried to find someone proper he trusted to 
teach, but could not. Alastor Moody refused flat out (Don't want a 
repeat of last year, Albus)... and Remus quit when everyone found out 
he was a werewolf.

I wonder: Aberforth Dumbledore for next DADA teacher? Maybe. 
(Hermione is not going to like him!)

Another possibility suggested in a few fanfics I've come across: 
Dumbledore (or Lupin) makes the lessonplans and is the primary 
teacher, but  Harry (who already has proven he *can* teach DADA with 
his club) becomes assistant teacher, with a duty to teach the younger
children. As assistant teacher, Harry's privileges are between that 
of a full professor and that of a student. (He can issue detentions 
and take points for example). What comes to Harry's own studies, he 
gets private education before this from McGonagall, Moony & Tonks 
just to mention a few...

Now let's bring up Dumbledore's Lemon Drops/Sherbet Lemons and 
McGonagall's bisquits. I think I know why they do that. It's a reward 
for doing the *right* thing, when they can't give you what you'd want 
(release from punishment, an answer/details about things and what 
not), and also provides as a distraction so you don't get lost in 
your anger.

Only thing that baffles me of McGonagall, is how she takes off those 
5 points. She says: 'This is not about truth and lies, this is about 
keeping your temper in check'; whereas Harry thinks: 'she took points 
off because I got a detention?'

I just don't see how Harry had lost his temper? Nothing exploded, 
right? Umbridge didn't turn into a balloon, now did she? What DID 
McGonagall expect of Harry?
 
Finwitch