Dumbledore the Counselor (was: Dumbledore the General)

[whizbang]

No: HPFGUIDX 124404


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <bob.oliver at c...> wrote:
> 
> <SNIP>
> > 
> > Whiz:
> > 
> > But Harry is a tool, or maybe more specifically, a weapon.  And there
> > are those who would try to wrest control of this weapon from
Dumbledore.
> > 
> > We know that emotions are involved in some spells, happiness for the
> > patronus, humor for the ridikulus and a certain sadism for the
> > cruciatus.  We also know that when Harry gets emotional, he sometimes
> > makes stuff happen, so called wild magic.  So controling Harry's
> > emotional state is a means of controling the weapon that he is.  This,
> > I believe is Snape's goal.  
> > 
> > But Dumbledore has other goals.  We see Dumbledore putting Harry in
> > situations where he must control his emotions, he has to calm down and
> > think, he has to evoke emotions that are not the ones that come
> > naturally in given situations sometimes, just to survive.  Controlling
> > Harry's emotions is controlling a power tool or weapon.
> > 
> > For Snape, wresting control of Harry from Dumbledore is very
> > important, because Snape  needs Harry to free him from Voldemort.  He
> > uses Harry for his purposes.
> > 
> > For Dumbledore, helping Harry learn to feel and control his emotions
> > is also empowering him to control the powerful forces at his disposal.
> >  Dumbledore knows what he's doing.
> 
> If he does no what he is doing, under this scenario (which,
> incidentally, I think is very far from what JKR intends, for what
> that's worth) he is heartless and manipulative and deserves the
> severest consequences possible.
> 
> Lupinlore

It's not impossible that you know far more than I about JKR's
intentions.  

Nevertheless.
OotP, ch 37:

 . "Do you see, Harry? Do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan
 . now? I had fallen into the trap I had foreseen, that I had
 . told myself I could avoid, that I must avoid."

 . "I don't -" 

 . "I cared about you too much," said Dumbledore simply. "I 
 . cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth,
 . more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life
 . than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In 
 . other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools
 . who love to act."

 . "Is there a defence? I defy anyone who has watched you as
 . I have - and I have watched you more closely than you can 
 . have  imagined - not to want to save you more pain than you 
 . had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless
 . and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the
 . vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and 
 . well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a 
 . person on my hands."

If anything, Dumbledore admits that he erred on the side of being too
concerned for Harry rather than heartless enough, and he knows that
the consequences of his affection for this one child may well spell
disaster for many others.

I expect that like Harry's love for Sirius casting Voldemort out of
his body, Dumbledore's affection for Harry will, in the end, prove to
be important to Harry's ability to save them all.  Our choices reveal
us, and Dumbledore chose to love.  :)