Dumbledore and the Dementors

[scoutmom21113]

No: HPFGUIDX 112871

Carol:
*If* Dumbledore knew that Sirius was not the Secret Keeper, then his 
testimony to the contrary, which led directly to Sirius's twelve-
year-imprisonment, is morally reprehensible

Bookworm:
Sirius was sent to Azkaban without a trial. There was no testimony 
that led directly or indirectly to his imprisonment. 

Dumbledore was entirely unconcerned at the mention of Sirius'
name when Hagrid brought Harry to Privet Drive.  Now, this may have 
been a deliberate hiding of revealing details, but IMO a Dumbledore 
who thought Sirius was the Secret-Keeper would have been more 
concerned about how the Potters were found and how Sirius was (had 
he been imperioed? tortured?)

Carol:
But if DD knew as much as you suggest, he would not have thought any 
such thing; he would have known that Scabbers was Peter and that he 
had escaped to live for twelve years with the Weasleys as a child's 
pet. But DD says that he did *not* know that Peter, Sirius, and 
James were animagi. His words and actions throughout PoA suggest 
that he's telling the truth. 

Bookworm:
Actually, I do think it was a surprise to him. I never said 
Dumbledore knows *everything*, but he does know much more that he 
lets on.

Carol:
It makes no sense to me that Dumbledore as Chief Warlock and Supreme 
Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards (SS/Ps Am. 
ed., p. 51) could not have found a way to question Sirius before he 
was sentenced to Azkaban if he had any doubts whatever regarding his 
inocence or overrule the decision to use the abhorred Dementor 
guards at Hogwarts if he had not seen them as necessary protection 
against Harry's would-be murderer. 

Bookworm:
There was no trial, so his position as Chief Warlock (if he held 
that position at the time) wouldn't necessarily have helped. I 
suspect that he "gave evidence" after the fact in some kind
of hearing but his statement was overlooked or ignored.  Think of 
various trials when evidence was overlooked in favor of emotion. The 
wizarding world wanted a scapegoat and had one in Sirius. I also 
suspect Sirius was hustled off to prison very quickly so that no one 
*could* talk to him.

As I stated up-thread, "If Dumbledore had tried to refuse having
the dementors at Hogwarts, he would have been accused of risking
Harry's life.  He might have battled Fudge over the dementor
issue, but at what cost?"  I don't think Dumbledore was
willing to take on the Ministry directly at that time.

Carol:
And a conniving Dumbledore who allows an innocent man to spend 
twelve years in prison does not fit JKR's expressed view of 
Dumbledore as "the epitome of goodness." <snip> I think his 
*apparent* omniscience is the wisdom of age and experience, natural 
astuteness (both logical and intuitive), and power as a wizard, 
combined with a network of spies that includes both portraits and 
people. <snip> But he's not omniscient or omnipotent. He's human and 
capable of error, and in this case, IMO, he was wrong about Sirius. 

Bookworm:
I do not think Dumbledore sent Sirius to prison.  But I also do not 
think Dumbledore, or anyone else for that matter, was in a position 
to rescue Sirius from prison.  Except for Peter Pettigrew, that is.

Carol:
That is much easier for me to accept and much more in keeping with 
what JKR has revealed about Dumbledore than the unprovable 
assumption that he "must" have known about the change in Secret 
Keepers and allowed Sirius to suffer because it served his own ends. 

Bookworm:
I don't believe I ever said Dumbledore "must" have known,
just that I believe he did. A subtle distinction. What I did say 
was: "Somehow, Dumbledore just knows things.  It won't
surprise me at all that the switch in Secret-Keepers is one of those 
things."  Nor do I believe that he "allowed Sirius to suffer
because it served his own ends."  I think he either suspected or
knew Sirius was innocent but was unable to do anything about it, and
it's possible that *trying* to do something about it might have
made things worse.

Would I bet on this theory? Not with JKR still writing her sneaky 
plot twists. <bg>  There is so much that we don't know – this
was an attempt to make sense of some of the things we do know.

Ravenclaw Bookworm