Dumbledore & Dursleys-What DD Knew

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 123372


>>Lupinlore:
>The biggest thing?  And just how big is that?  I would say enormous. 
Witness Harry's documented inability to trust others, particularly 
adults.<

Betsy:
I'd argue that Harry's lack of trust in adults is a strength, 
especially for a boy whose actions may take down Voldemort.  (I see 
some shades of "Ender's Game" in this.)  And Harry does trust his 
friends.  I was actually surprised by how deep his trust in them 
goes.  

>>Lupinlore:
>Witness the effects on him of the summer before OOTP.<

Betsy:
That had nothing to do with the Dursleys and everything to do with 
Harry's isolation.  He would have been isolated no matter where he 
was.  Witness his anger at Grimmauld Place and at Hogwarts.

>>Lupinlore: 
>Witness his ensnarement at the Mirror of Erised.<

Betsy:
Harry's an orphan.  That's what ensnared him in the mirror.  Nothing 
can change the fact that his parents are dead.  Though I do agree 
that a loving family (foster or otherwise) may have helped, so again 
I ask how you force someone to love.

>>Lupinlore: 
>As for being kicked out and ending up with the Deatheaters, how big 
a possibility was that?  Petunia put up with scolding from a Howler 
and being threatened by the Order without putting Harry out, which 
ain't very good evidence that she wouldn't have buckled and done as 
she was told had Dumbledore chosen to exert himself earlier.<

Betsy:
How do you know?  How would Dumbledore know?  His choices were very 
limited at the time, and too much of a threat could have lead to 
complete disagreement, which he could not afford.

>>Lupinlore:
>So, on one side we have a couple of pathetic examples of Muggledom. 
On the other, the Greatest Wizard in the World.  And we're seriously 
asked to believe that DD has no way of exerting pressure on the 
Dursleys at all?
>Granted the Dursleys MIGHT have put Harry out.  Yet they didn't 
after the Howler nor after being threatened by the Order.  Strange 
for people who are so ready to kick the boy out.  No, until we are 
SPECIFICALLY told otherwise the high-hand in the situation seems to 
reside with DD, and until we are SPECIFICALLY told about why he did 
not use that hand to alleviate Harry's suffering, he remains 
complicit.<

Betsy:
Classic bargining dilemma.  The Dursleys had something Dumbledore 
desperately needed.  He could offer them nothing but danger and 
inconvenience.  So yes, at this time the Dursleys, pathetic Muggles 
though they may be, had all the power.  And they continued to have 
all the power until Harry was old enough to enter into wizarding 
society.  And if Dumbledore had used his magic to compell them to act 
in a manner of which he approved, what example would that set Harry?  
Perhaps Harry would have become a dark lord himself.

Betsy