Slughorn and Dumbledore: possible motive

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 138229

> hg:
> Absolutely.  Harry would have to be utterly convinced of the
> death, so Voldemort would be utterly convinced, and what better
> way than to witness it?  (As you say, Voldemort might decide to
> take a visit to Harry's brain to make sure!)  But doesn't this
> sound horrible?  How could Dumbledore deceive Harry so (or Hagrid,
> or anyone else for that matter)?  The answer is this: making the
> right choice or the easy choice.  Dumbledore made the mistake (as 
> he admits in OOP) of loving Harry more than all the people of the
> world, pretty much; loving Harry more than the nameless, faceless
> people who would suffer at Voldemort's hands.  He's NOT making
> that mistake anymore.  Yes he loves Harry, but if it came down to
> deceiving Harry or sacrificing thousands of people, he'd choose to
> deceive Harry.

Jen: You know, when you first mentioned the idea Dumbledore might 
still be alive hg, my first thought was "JKR wouldn't do that!" But 
after her recent comment about making anvil-size hints, well, she 
does frequently tell us she is 'ruthless' or 'nasty' or 'evil'! 
Those could be warnings as much as a teasing, that she isn't trying 
to please anyone with her story. Not sure if that figures into your 
theory so much as it casts doubt about how far she would push the 
boundaries of the hero's journey story.

Here are the things that make me waver in my certainty Dumbledore is 
dead:

1) No body we can see at the funeral.
2) The context you mention above, that we know one of Dumbeldore's 
beliefs played out in words and actions is that the good of the 
community is more important than any one individual. Or at least the 
*emotional* well-being of any one individual. A deception would 
cause Harry much emotional distress, but we've seen Dumbledore is 
willing to sacrifice emotional well-being if he feels there's a 
greater good at work (i.e, Durselys and the blood protection, Sirius 
at GP).
3) JKR's comment in TIME magazine, July, that when she wrote the WW 
the way she did, as not overtly better than the world Harry left 
(except for his relationships), because she was trying to 'subvert 
the genre' of fantasy. The genre where the wise old mentor always 
dies??
4) The ITV interview: 

Q: "I was wondering, I heard you cried when you killed off Sirius, 
did you cry at the end of this book."

JK Rowling: "I was a bit teary with Sirius, but I was seriously 
upset at the end of this book."

Upset because she killed off Dumbledore, or upset at the deception 
that might bother quite a few people? She made it so clear she 
killed Sirius, used those words, "I killed him off" but she has yet 
to be so blunt about DD's death.

*********
Now for the other side of the coin, why I think he's really dead.

1) This is subjective I know, but the impact of Dumbledore's death 
on Harry and much of the WW, as well as the sequence of the phoenix 
song, funeral, etc., were among the most poignant scenes JKR has 
written in the entire series. To go back on that....Well, heck, JKR 
likens herself a bit to Dumbledore--is she also willing for Harry 
(and us) to suffer a little emotional pain if she can set right the 
entire story in Book 7? Evil & ruthless indeed. ;)

2) Her comment in the TLC/MN interview when Emerson says: "The wise 
old wizard with the beard always dies" and JKR replied: "Well, 
that's basically what I'm saying, yes."
 
3) Her comment in the same interview: "Yeah, well, I think if you 
take a step back, in the genre of writing that I'm working in, 
almost always the hero must go on alone. That's the way it is, we 
all know that, so the question is when and how, isn't it, if you 
know anything about the construction of that kind of plot."

Not much to go on, is it? I can't prove with canon Dumbledore died. 
Not with the Draught of Living Death around, no body at the funeral, 
the context of how DD thinks, the many reasons why a faked death 
would benefit the Order and Harry. But I do think that was DD in the 
cave and on the tower, and if his death was faked, it happened 
another way. Maybe I just need this to be true, because of the 
really sweet things Dumbledore said and did for Harry in the cave 
especially...I want those to be real.

Jen, realizing she will never be ruthless and probably unsuccessful 
at Occlumency as well.