DD and the rat (was:Re: Minerva McGonagall-/Dumbledore)

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 115592


Carolyn wrote:
>>So, we have three twenty-somethings, who think they are so smart,
trying to protect a toddler. All very touching. Their bright idea,
possibly found at lastminute.com, is to volunteer Peter for the job,
who unfortunately is just what he says on the tin - frightened out of
his wits at the responsibility, but they don't notice this. Sirius
instead 'bravely' discusses how long he might hold out under torture
and how much time that might give them. All Peter can think about is
that he wouldn't last three seconds if Voldie wants to know his
secret.<<

HunterGreen:
Or perhaps Peter, who's been a spy for about a year at this point, is 
happily thinking of bringing the information to Voldemort? You think 
the three of them "bullied" him into it? He could have easily 
refused, all he had to say was 'no'. The reason he didn't is because 
he was on Voldemort's side by this point, he *wanted* to be the 
secret-keeper. Remember, Peter didn't just get assigned the role of 
secret-keeper, have Voldemort find out and threaten him, and then 
switch sides and give up the information. If that was the case I 
could see the point you are trying to make. However, its not the 
case, Peter *already* was a spy, which is why the plan didn't work. 
If he wasn't Voldemort would have taken a bit longer to find out who 
the secret-keeper was. 

Carolyn:
>>So, in his distress, and worry that this is the stupidist plan he'd
ever heard of, does he go to the strongest person he could think of
to protect him - Dumbledore, and confess what he'd been doing up to
now? Or did Dumbledore get wind of the plan, and intercept Peter and
run him through the old 'it's our choices' routine?<<

HunterGreen:
I'm not seeing where the distress comes from. And if Dumbledore knew 
about the switch and knew Peter was the secret-keeper, why did 
Voldemort find out? Why wouldn't Dumbledore guard Peter, or go to 
James and Lily and insist they changed the SK to him? Whatever 
happened because of it, Dumbledore did *not* want Voldemort going to 
the Potter's house. Even if he was willing to sacrifice James and 
Lily, the chances of Harry getting killed were too high.

Carolyn:
>>Dumbledore made no effort to clear Sirius' name, or even visit him 
in prison to hear his side of the story. He'd managed to hush up the 
Shrieking Shack incident when MWPP were at school, but this time 
Sirius was an adult, and could take the consequences of his rash, 
impetuous decision.<<

HunterGreen:
Sirius was about 22 at the time, which is barely an adult (especially 
by the WW standards of long lives). Why should Dumbledore attempt to 
clear Sirius' name unless he thinks he's innocent? If Dumbledore 
believed Sirius was the SK (and all evidence points to that fact), 
and then Peter Pettigrew turns up "dead" along with 12 muggles, and 
Sirius is standing there in the middle of them, laughing insanely, 
then there's little reason to suspect his innocence, isn't there? 
Especially if Sirius was acting as guilty as he was in the Shrieking 
Shack in PoA ("I as good as killed them."), which after everything 
that just happened, he might have been. He could have easily just 
been in shock, and didn't say anything to anyone. 
Dumbledore finds out Sirius is innocent at the end of PoA when he 
talks to him. After that he gets Harry and Hermione to use the time-
turner (breaking serious rules), to rescue him. If he thought Sirius 
deserved what he got, why'd he stop then? Why not let Sirius be 
killed by the Dementors? Did escaping from prison make him less 
guilty? He did just try to kill Peter again, who according to you is 
a spy for Dumbledore, and his actions made Peter take off to 
Voldemort, which is just as bad as his bad decision getting James and 
Lily killed.