Obsession

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 138831

> >>Jen Reese:
> > After thinking about HBP as a whole, how it fits into the       
> > series, I realized one of the major themes is obsession.
> > <snip> 
 
> >>SSSusan:
> I agree with you that this obsession with Draco DID distract      
> Harry. 
> <snip>
> OTOH, I have to wonder about this particular part of the 
> obsession "message."  You're right that it distracted Harry,      
> slowed down the process DD was working on with Harry, but for once 
> it turned out Harry was RIGHT.  So was it bad to have obsessed    
> about Draco?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
This raises an interesting question (at least, IMO).  Yes, Harry was 
right about Draco, but did his interest or obsession help anything 
at all?  IOW, would anything have gone down differently if Harry 
*had not* been so obsessed with Draco?

At the present it doesn't seem like Harry's suspicions and knowledge 
changed anything.  Draco would still have brought Death Eaters into 
Hogwarts.  Bill (who was there under Dumbledore's orders, I believe) 
would still have been attacked by Fenrir.  Dumbledore would still 
have confronted Draco and been killed by Snape.

The only things that would not have occured, at least as far as I 
can tell, would have been the times Harry confronted Draco: the 
train incident, the Apparation lesson, and the fight in the bathroom.

Which leads to another question: Was there any benefit (or will 
there be any benefit) from those three confrontations?

> >>SSSusan:
> <snip>
> Could it also be that DD was so focused/obsessed because he KNEW  
> time was short?  We still can't agree around here on whether the  
> green goo was killing DD anyway, I know, but there are also       
> members who think that the ring hx damage was also slowly         
> weakening & perhaps killing DD.  Did DD know that, green goo or    
> not, his days were numbered?  Is that why he was so single-       
> mindedly focused on the horcruxes?

Betsy Hp:
That's what I think.  I think Dumbledore spent the entire book dying 
and preparing for his death.  It explains the feeling of hurry, 
hurry, hurry, Dumbledore consistently expressed.  It explains why he 
put his most trusted spy in a position guaranteed to take him from 
his side (which in turn explains why it was so important Slughorn 
come back to Hogwarts).  It explains why he had his "final words" 
with the Dursleys, setting Harry up for his final stay and getting a 
few things off his chest.  And it also explains why Dumbledore felt 
the need to go after the horcrux in the cave that night, despite 
Harry's warning about Draco having succeeded at something dangerous.

> >>Jen: 
> > You know, I just realized something--we didn't get our          
> > Dumbledore explanation at the end of HBP. Wah. 

> >>SSSusan:
> Wah, indeed! :-(  And we won't get one in Book 7 either.  The most 
> we can hope for, I suppose, are bottled memories for the pensieve 
> or for portrait-talk, but it's not the same, is it?

Betsy Hp:
Maybe that will be the final sign of Harry's adulthood.  He'll wrap 
it all up for us at the end of book 7, and then offer us a lemon 
drop.  :)

Betsy Hp