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

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 122937


>>Betsy:
>Has Dumbledore been wrong time and again?  He *was* fooled by Crouch!
Moody, and the big reveal in OotP is that puppetmaster!Dumbledore is 
a myth (thank God!) but Harry is still alive, still learning, and 
Voldemort has paid dearly for every step forward he's made, because 
of Dumbledore's actions.<
 
>>Finwitch:
>Or despite of them. Dumbledore *has* erred several times...

>PS: Dumbledore erred to follow a fake letter, supposedly from the 
Ministry. As result, Harry feels compelled to go down there and 
attempt to rescue the stone. Harry nearly dies, and was barely saved 
by his Mother's love-you-enough-to-die-for-you-mark on his skin. Of 
course, Dumbledore came back just early enough to help Harry into the 
hospital wing.<

Betsy:
Was the letter fake?  Harry guesses it is, but no one confirms this.  
Why write a fake letter when it's well known that Dumbledore is 
always being called on by the Minister for assistance?  Plus, if the 
letter was a fake the timeline gets a little fishy.  Or Dumbledore 
took his sweet time getting back to the school.

And Harry was *not* saved by his skin.  His skin hurt Quirrell, but 
Quirrell was still alive when Harry was passing out.  If Dumbledore 
hadn't arrived when he did, it's very possible that Harry would've 
died that night.  At the very least, Voldemort would have the stone.

>>Finwitch: 
>CoS: Well, there was the whole Flying-car fiasco, and Dumbledore's 
error in assuming that he'd have no choice but to expel the two if 
they ever did something against the rules... well, I don't know if 
sending Hedwig had worked - who says Dobby couldn't have intercepted 
it? He DID take all letters Ron&Hermione had sent to Harry, after 
all.<

Betsy:
Dumbledore is not omniscient.  He does not know what's going on in 
every part of the WW at every point in time.  And are you seriously 
suggesting that the headmaster of a school *not* encourage his 
students to follow school rules?

>>Finwitch: 
>The more dangerous error, however, was hiring Lockhart - this fraud 
WAS causing danger-- he nearly turned Ron&Harry into not much more 
than someone KISSED BY DEMENTOR would be near the end, before he 
removed Harry's bones, set pixies loose etc. <snip>

Betsy:
I'll let Hagrid answer this one: "[Lockhart] was the *on'y* man for 
the job," said Hagrid [...] "An' I mean the *on'y* one.  Gettin' very 
difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job.  People aren't too 
keen ter take it on, see.  They'er startin' to think it's jinxed." 
(CoS p. 115 Scholastic paperback)  The emphisis is Hagrid's and he 
makes it clear that Dumbledore had no choice.  Also he had only 2 
months (I think?) to fill the position, so he didn't have tons of 
time to search.  Lockhart is an incompetent but pixies and broken or 
even removed bones are more a nuisance in the WW than an actual 
danger.

It was Harry and Ron who chose to force Lockhart into the bowels of 
Hogwarts with them.  Hopefully they learned how dangerous a man can 
become when his back is pushed against a wall. 

>>Finwitch: 
>PoA: This one reveals several errors shared by Dumbledore & every 
single teacher/adult except for Sirius & the pet-shop worker so far 
as we can tell: believing Sirius betrayed James, despite of knowing 
how close they were. Not noticing anything odd about Ron's rat - 
living so long, lacking a finger... but most importantly, that of not 
giving Sirius a chance to defend himself (which becomes clearer in 
the GoF, but is presented here). Snape in particular is guilty of not 
listening to the truth of Peter Pettigrew. What happens: Harry almost 
gets Kissed by a Dementor, if not for Hermione's TimeTurner, and the 
Patronus Harry could now produce, thinking that he'd go live with 
Sirius... Oh well, at least Dumbledore gives Sirius a chance NOW - 
the chance he should have given him 12 years ago. No wonder Harry 
doesn't trust Snape. Not after the Events in the Shrieking Shack.<

Betsy:
I'll ignore the stuff about Snape (I've said it all before I think! 
<g>) to concontrate on Dumbledore here.  First, again you seem to 
think Dumbledore should be an omniscient god.  You honestly take him 
to task for not checking every single pet that crosses Hogwarts' 
doors?  And as pointed out in other posts, the Sirius affair was 
Crouch's baby, not Dumbledore's. 

Plus, Dumbledore was the one who suggested Hermione use her time-
turner, told her how far back in time to go, and gave the hint that 
she and Harry could save two lives that night.  Sirius owes his life 
to Dumbledore.  If he hadn't thought so quickly, Sirius would have 
been a zombie for the rest of the series. (If he lived that long.)

>>Finwitch: 
>GoF: Dumbledore failed to recognise fake!Moody (and only got it 
after Harry got himself out of danger once into danger again). 
Result: BC Jr. turns the goblet into a portkey, leading directly to 
the death of Cedric Diggory, and Harry's battle against Voldemort.<

Betsy:
Again, Dumbledore is not a god.  However, you have to give him credit 
for realizing so quickly who the Voldemort insider was and getting to 
Harry before Crouch!Moody could kill him.  Dumbledore also denied 
Voldemort a very loyal, powerful, and clever servant.

>>Finwitch: 
>OOP: All that 'don't tell Harry anything'- crap, along with keeping 
Harry at distance. Also, having Harry stay at the Dursleys (with 
watchers) all Summer was an error that may have caused the loss of 
Harry (AND Dudley) to Dementors sent by Dolores Umbridge. Plus it 
lessened available resources. Wouldn't it have been more beneficial 
and effective to have Harry stay at the 12 Grimmauld Place earlier?<

Betsy:
This is the one time when Dumbledore willfully makes a bad call.  He 
knows Harry.  He should have realized how much Harry would resist 
being kept out of the loop.  But Dumbledore wanted to keep Harry safe 
and off the battle field.  He was wrong, but I understand why he made 
the mistake he made.  

But as to the Dursleys, if Dumbledore had not sent Harry back to 
them, it would have nullified the protection their home offers.  
There are few places where Harry is completely safe from Voldemort.  
The Dursley home may be the only one.  Dumbledore would have been 
foolish to give up that protection (that Lily paid so dearly for) so 
easily.

Betsy, who wrote an answer to this earlier that was stunning in its 
brilliance, but you'll have to take her word for it because Yahoo ate 
it. =(