Dumbledore's serious errors & what did he do to make up for it/Harry's trust

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 122914


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman"
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
> 

> 
> Lupinlore: 
> > This raises an interesting question.  WAS DD HEAD OF THE WIZENGAMOT
> > WHEN SIRIUS WAS SENT TO AZKABAN?
> > 
> > If he was not, then I tend to agree that I am still disappointed in
> > him.  However, if he WAS, then the questions of morality become
> > monstrous.  
> 
> 
> SSSusan:
> This is, indeed, The Big Question in this area, isn't it?
> 
> Do you think it's just one of JKR's "didn't think that one through so 
> fully" areas that no one used Veritaserum or Legilimency on Sirius 
> after his arrest?  [Not that JKR has said she has these areas; but 
> many an HPfGUer has remarked about them.]  


Oh, I think this is definitely one of those "didn't think through that
very far" episodes that tend to bedevil JKR.  


<SNIP>
> 
> SSSusan:
> Is this "incompetence" due to an overreliance on magic, do you 
> think?  To a feeling that they've had no need to learn about many 
> things because magic can take care of everything?

I think that it comes from several factors, perhaps most specifically
an overwhelming and totally unacknowledged fear.  Wizards must be
constantly aware of being a tiny minority living in a sea that would
rise as a hurricane if their existance were ever publicly revealed. 
Their society seems totally dependendent on Muggles for any basic
invention or insight not associated directly with magic.  Hogwarts is
nothing more than a Muggle king's palace magically grown to enormous
size.  The robes wizards wear in most cases are only slightly more
elaborate versions of the dress used by muggle scholars and legal
professionals in certain eras, which in its own turn was derived from
religious robes.  Even the more elaborate Wizard robes such as
Dumbledore's look to be direct rip-offs from the medieval clergy. 
They speak muggle languages, eat muggle foods (by and large) and have
art and paintings done in readily recognizable muggle styles.  Their
government employs terms used in muggle law and constitutional theory,
and even their titles and the the organization of institutions such as
hospitals and schools have a distinctly muggle air -- albeit often an
antiquated one.  Given this, I think they have an enormous
psychological pressure to cling to whatever they have that is unique,
and to rely on it for everything.  And even this brings no clear
comfort, as persons with their powers regularly appear DE NUOVO in the
Muggle world (i.e. the Muggleborns), while they produce Squibs who
might be reasonably expected to bear little love for the Wizarding
World (while having enormous intimate knowledge of it) and who might
be reasonably expected to side with the Muggles should push come to
shove.  


> 
> You say the MW would have nothing much to fear from wizards.  I'll 
> bet, though, that if their already-impossible-for-Muggles-to-
> duplicate magical skills were accompanied by an introduction to 
> Muggle technology such as Uzis and AK-47s, it would level things out 
> a bit.  Though that may not have been your point. ;-)
> 

Given the time and ability to change, that's true.  However the
Wizards have not shown themselves to have a great ability to change
swiftly.  Most Squibs, with their enormous knowledge of the Wizarding
World, might well be willing to throw in with the Muggles.  And the
true wild cards of course are the Halfbloods and Muggleborns.  If
there were ever an open rift could the Wizards really count on 100%
loyalty, or would large numbers of Half-Bloods and Muggleborns be
willing to lend their services to the other side of their ancestry? 
You make the point that Muggles can't duplicate magic, which is true.
 However, they might very well find themselves with allies that could
provide the magic they lack.  Many other Half-bloods and Muggleborns
would likely drag their feet and generally sap the strength of the
Wizarding World (and there have to be very large numbers of
Half-bloods and Muggleborns, as Hagrid indicated that were it not for
them Wizards would have long ago become extinct).  Thus things would
come down to a numbers game, at which point the wizards lose unless
they are willing to press the issue all the way to mass destruction.

I rather suspect that most wizards have an instinctive understanding
of these things.  Most of them understand that, should push come to
shove, they can't hope to win in a fight with the Muggles because the
Half-bloods and Muggleborns wouldn't allow it.  And I think this is
the true source of the fear and hatred that families like the Malfoys
direct at "Mudbloods."

Lupinlore