what was Dumbledore's plan, really?

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 137936

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mari" <mariabronte at y...> wrote:
<snip an excellent summary of the goings on in the Ww under DD's
watchful eye>

> Could 
> JKR be leading us towards a similar conclusion, that what looks 
> like failure may well be the very opposite when we have all the 
> information? This ties in rather well to the idea of last judgement 
> love, and the theme which is evident throughout the series that 
> the truth is not always what appears on the surface.
> 
> Well, enough babbling from me for now ;-) 
> 
> Mari.

Valky:
I have been thinking this since two hours after my first reading of
HBP. I totally agree Mari. The illusion of failure is a such a perfect
disguise for a successful plan. A sleight of hand, we already know, is
a DD specialty. He is excellent at distraction, and I remember that
many of us were coming round to think that this was DD's tactic after
our readings of OOtP. In his end of OotP speech DD pretty much wrote
off the prophecy as useless, and we were all beating our heads
wondering "*WHY* Harry didn't you ask what all the protection and
weapon nonsense was about then?" A long forgotten stream of thought
tht ran through these threads but I'd like to bring it up again
because Mari definitely touches on what we were thinking then, and
probably *should* be thinking now. 

Waaaay back then, we here at HPFGU wondered to ourselves if the whole
Order Guard at the DOM was little more than an elaborate distraction
while DD and a few others went personally and deliberately after the
real target. Well I think Mari points out that we *were* right about
that. DD spent the best proportion of OOtP chasing down Toms history
and trying to get his hands on the clues to the Horcruxes. 
DD found *two* Horcruxes, deduced that Nagini might be another, began
gathering together more of the information he needed to identify
others for Harry. DD was busy for the past two years, and he got a
*bit* done. I have been wondering if it wasn't actually a *lot* more
than we know at this stage. And all cleverly disguised as doing sweet
bugger all. Brilliant!

The other train of thought that this lead me to was that I wondered
and mused hopefully that if Dumbledore had died within the framework
of his plan, with the glad benefit that it would make Voldies own eyes
betray him into thinking he was winning, then perhaps the same could
apply to Sirius' journey beyond the veil. 

In the Mugglenet interview JKR vindicates us Sirius fans our
unwavering faith in his loyalty and his claim that he would give his
life for Harry. Yeah it was a point I clung to with both hands. "I
KNEW It!" thought me, Sirius *would* lay down his life to protect
Harry and his dear friends. So there is yet, a chance that he DID! And
I ponder that to this day. What actually did cause Sirius to go out in
a Blaze of Glory on that day in the MOM, was he *really* still under
strict orders from Dumbledore to stay put at Grimmauld Place, or did
DD give him a job to do? I cling to the tiny shred of hope that this
might be the case and Mari's post has renewed that hope. DD assumes
full responsibility for Sirius' death to Harry in his speech at the
end of OOtP. Harry is *not* listening to him when he does it, he's
still angry as hell about it, but DD indeed says I am to blame. He
goes on to talk about the kind of man Sirius was, and then covers for
Harry the matters of Kreacher and the way Voldie had *tricked* Harry.
He says very little more about his hand in Sirius' death except that
he could not take the *whole* of the blame for a person like Sirius
running out to meet his death bravely as he did.

Here is the quote:
....Harry roared.'I don't want to hear *anything* you've got to say!'
'You will,'said Dumbledore stedily. 'Because you are not nearly as
angry with me as you ought to be. If you are to attack me, I would
like to have throroughly earned it.'
'What are you talking - ?'
'It is *my* fault Sirius died' said Dumbledore clearly. 'Or should I
say, almost entirely my fault - I will not be so arrogant as to claim
responsibility for the whole. ...' OOtP 729

DD goes on to establish how brave and energetic Sirius was. Implying
in the conclusion that part of the blame lies in *credit* to Sirius.
This certainly doesn't sound like a meaningless death to me.

So yeah, I am with you there Mari, I think we'd been not looking real
hard if we called the outcome of HBP just another tragedy. 

Cedric was a tragedy, I believe. The saddest thing of all. The one to
be remembered as the innocent sacrifice who *needn't* have died.
Sirius and Dumbledore we are reminded carefully, are men with purpose
and courage the kind who would give their own lives completely,
wouldn't become ghosts or try to avoid giving the gift that selfless
actions could provide to those they love. These are not the simply
miserable tragedies that they first appear. 

So what exactly *are* they?

Valky