Dumbledore the Counselor (was: Dumbledore the General)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 124362


>>Nora:
<snip>
>I'm going to venture the argument that the cold-blooded proposition 
is decidedly not in JKR's Stimmung.<

Betsy:
Oh, I completely agree.  I don't think Dumbledore or JKR are going 
for the cold-blooded, "good, now that the unstable fool is out of the 
way..."  I was just answering the rather cold-blooded, "the death of 
Sirius harms the weapon that is Harry," with a similarly cold-blooded 
answer.  I don't think JKR wrote with either argument in mind.  I 
think she's cares very much about Harry's emotional state - that it's 
important to the story and not to be brushed aside.  And I also think 
Dumbledore reflects that care.

>>Nora:
>What I would argue is that Dumbledore has practically self-admitted 
(as I believe Alla has dragged up some of the canon for) that he has 
not always really *understood* what is/was really needed for 
emotional well-being.<

Betsy:
And this is where I disagree.  The canon brought up by Alla speaks, 
IMO, to a completely different emotional worry. (One that strangely 
enough, tends to get poo-pooed by the very people who argue 
Dumbledore's deficiency of heart.) Dumbledore is reluctant to tell 
Harry that it looks like he'll need to become a killer.  This is 
something that is definitely defined by both JKR, Dumbledore, and 
even Harry, as a very bad thing.  Yes, Dumbledore's unwillingness to 
share the prophecy with Harry resulted in Sirius's death.  Dumbledore 
admits this.  And he admits that Harry may have been ready for this 
truth earlier than Dumbledore was willing to allow.  But I think his 
reluctance is meant to be understood.  Harry's desperate need for the 
prophecy to mean Neville, his horror at the idea he will have to 
kill, illustrates exactly how large a burden this is, how much Harry 
does not want it, and why Dumbledore delayed telling Harry about it.

As to Harry's general emotional state, Dumbledore showed himself 
concerned with this in the very first chapter of the very first book 
when he explains why Harry needs to be left with the Dursleys.

"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of 
his half-moon glasses.  "It would be enough to turn any boy's head.  
Famous before he can walk and talk!  Famous for something he won't 
even remember!  Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing 
up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"  (SS paperback 
p.13)

Skip forward ten years and Harry is well grounded enough, sure enough 
of himself, to argue with the Sorting Hat and get himself into 
Gryffindor.  Whether he would have wound up there without arguing or 
not, it shows a great strength of character, and a healthy sense of 
self-worth, to argue with a magical item you don't fully understand 
to make sure you're not stuck where you don't want to go.  Harry's 
rejection of Malfoy and acceptence of Ron speaks to a similar 
strength of character.  So though the Dursleys provided a less than 
ideal home, Dumbledore's instinct to keep Harry unspoiled seems to 
pay off.

Later on in the book, Dumbldore again shows himself concerned with 
Harry's emotional well-being when he confronts him about the Mirror 
of Erised.  By the end of the first book, Dumbledore has set himself 
up as Harry's guide and counslor.  It becomes the custom for Harry to 
turn to Dumbledore when he is entirely overwhelmed, and it becomes 
the custom for Dumbledore to pick Harry up, brush him off and set him 
back on the correct path.

So the pattern goes, and I think most of the readers are quite happy 
with it until we get to the end of GoF.  Suddenly the story gets 
darker.  Harry witnesses the murder of his schoolmate (someone older 
and stronger than him, as far as Harry is concerned), the return of a 
mortal enemy so powerful the entire WW refuses to say his name, and 
he barely escapes with his life.

I'm new enough to this list to not know how Dumbledore's handling of 
Harry at the end of GoF went over with folks, but I know for myself, 
I thought Dumbledore stepped up and handled things rather well.  
(Prepare for some mighty canon!)

**************
"We can leave that till morning, can't we Dumbledore?" said Sirius 
harshly.  He had put a hand on Harry's shoulder.  "Let him have a 
sleep.  Let him rest."

Harry felt a rush of gratitude toward Sirius, but Dumbledore took no 
notice of Sirius's words.  He leaned forward towards Harry.  Very 
unwillingly, Harry raised his head and looked into those blue eyes.

"If I thought I could help you," Dumbledore said gently, "by putting 
you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment 
when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would 
do it.  But I know better.  Numbing the pain for a while will make it 
worse when you finally feel it.  You have shown bravery beyond 
anything I could have expected of you.  I ask you to tell us what 
happened."

The phoenix let out one soft, quavering note.  It shivered in the 
air, and Harry felt as though a drop of hot liquid had slipped down 
his throat into his stomach, warming him, and strengthening him.

[...]

It was even a relief; he felt almost as though something poisonous 
were being extracted from him.  It was costing him every bit of 
determination he had to keep talking, yet he sensed that once he had 
finished, he would feel better.  (GoF Scholastic hardback pp. 694-695)
****************

Betsy:
Harry is emotionally cared for, once again, by Dumbledore.  And it's 
interesting to me that Dumbledore chose the hard route of making 
Harry get through the difficult bit, when Sirius would have let him 
sleep.  Dumbledore knew it was best to drain the wound, as it were, 
even though it might at first be painful.

So far so good, but then we come to OotP.  There's a problem right 
from the get go.  It's not that Harry is still having nightmares.  
Perfectly understandable under the circumstances.  Dumbledore set 
Harry on the path to healing; he didn't give him a miracle cure.  
It's not that Harry is cut off from his friends.  He's getting plenty 
of letters from Ron, Hermione, and even Sirius.  It's that Harry 
*knows* there's action going on and he wants to be a part of it.  He 
is highly resentful at being cut off from the action.

This is further illustrated by his returning frustration and 
unhappiness when he's brought to Grimmauld Place.  Harry hoped he'd 
get in on the action.  Instead he's set to cleaning.  He's surrounded 
by his friends, his Godfather, Lupin and Molly, all of the most 
comforting people he knows in the WW (except Hagrid) and Harry is 
*still* having problems.

This is where Dumbledore makes his mistake.  I'm sure he recognized 
that Harry wanted in on the action.  Harry has always been a doer.  
He's much more comfortable in the thick of it than waiting by the 
sidelines.  But for Harry to get in on the action he'd need to know 
about the prophecy.  And if Harry knew about the prophecy he wouldn't 
rest until he knew what it said.  And Dumbledore just doesn't want 
Harry to bare this burden.

Dumbledore is not clueless, nor is he uncaring, about Harry's 
emotional state.  He's made Harry's emotional well-being his priority 
from the beginning.  In a sense, Dumbledore cared too much.  He's so 
worried about how the news of the prophecy will hit Harry (who'd just 
gone through a terrible ordeal barely two months ago) that he does 
everything he can to keep Harry out of the loop.

So Harry, doing what he does best, bullies his way back into the 
loop, just as he did in PS/SS.  Only this time, someone actually 
dies.  Dumbledore knew better.  His actions in CoS shows that.  
Instead of trying to keep Harry out of harms way, Dumbledore gave him 
a way to get help when he found himself in trouble.  So yes, 
Dumbledore did make a mistake.  But it wasn't over the supposedly 
weak state of Harry's emotional well-being.  Really, it was 
underestimating Harry's emotional strength.

Betsy, who blushes at the length of this post and wonders if anyone 
will actually read this far.