Omniscient Dumbledore (Was Re: Snape's AK Failed!!!, and DADA responses)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 135297

> >>Alla:
> <snip>
> Oh, and what do you mean that Dumbledore quickly figured out that 
> Fake!Moody did something out of character?
> He was fooled for a year, no?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
But Fake!Moody didn't act out of character.  Not for the entire 
year.  And at the very moment Fake!Moody *did* act out of character, 
Dumbledore immediately suspected him.  In other words, at the moment 
there was something to suspect, Dumbledore not only entertained, but 
listened to his suspicions.

> >>Janeway:
> <snip>
> I wonder if we don't have canon evidence that Dumbledore did
> indeed fail to pick up on the "lingering resentments and dangers
> within Snape's personality" – but not because DD was a
> fool, but instead because of Snape's skill at Occlumency.
> <snip>
> That Snape hated (and had pretty good reason to hate) James. Not  
> just for saving his life, but for a sustained pattern of bullying 
> and humiliating him. If Snape has been hiding this from Dumbledore 
> all along, it's not so surprising that DD would be mistaken about 
> Snape's motives. And since Harry had seen this memory, he had     
> better insight on Snape's true feelings than DD did.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
We have canon showing that Dumbledore knew that Snape and James 
hated each other.  Dumbledore tells Harry, "they did rather detest 
each other.  Not unlike yourself and Mr. Malfoy." (SS paperback 
p.300)  So Dumbledore was well aware of his potion master's feelings 
towards one James Potter.  He also witnessed the dislike between 
Snape and Sirius in both PoA and GoF.  *And* he had the evidence of 
Snape stopping the Occlumency lessons in OotP.

All it took was one lapse on the part of Fake!Moody (during a time 
of utter chaos, no less) for Dumbledore to recognize that something 
was wrong.  If it was Snape's hatred of James that kept him in 
Voldemort's camp all of these years and Dumbledore somehow *missed* 
it...  well, he's back to being a fool, IMO.

> >>a_svirn:
> And if Narcissa to be believed Snape is pretty much Voldemort's
> second...
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
EXACTLY!!  Because this is what it comes down to. Both Dumbledore 
and Voldemort think they've got a bead on Snape.  They both feel 
like they've taken a measure of the man and come up with a correct 
answer.  Only one of them can be right, IMO.  And I honestly cannot 
wrap my mind around the idea of *Voldemort* being a better judge of 
character than Dumbledore.

In many ways these books revolve around choosing a side.  Even those 
who appear to avoid choosing (Umbridge, for example) wind up on a 
side.  (Umbridge did quite a bit to help Voldemort in OotP, even if 
inadvertantly.)  Every character ends up making a choice to side 
with Dumbledore or to side with Voldemort.  That's why I'm leery of 
the idea of Dumbledore making Snape take an Unbreakable Vow, which 
takes away Snape's ability to choose, and it's why I doubt that 
Snape is only out for himself, which is an attempt to side-step the 
choice.  Snape definitely made a choice, IMO, and somehow I doubt he 
could have fooled Dumbledore as to his choice so thoroughly and for 
so long.

> >>Valky:
> <snip>
> Its fair to say that Snape really needed to earn the trust of each
> individual himself, not have Dumbledore assure it for him. But I am
> not quite sure yet that he isn't actually trying to do that now, at
> the enormous sacrifice of being alone and in grave danger.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
It's interesting though, to me anyway, that on their final adventure 
together, Dumbledore makes a *huge* deal of Harry trusting him 
implicitly.  No matter what *Harry* thinks is going on, he must 
follow Dumbledore's orders.  And Harry does as Dumbledore asks, 
going so far as to torture his beloved mentor because Dumbledore 
*told* him to do it.  So, in a sense, Dumbledore wasn't asking Harry 
to learn to trust himself, he was asking Harry to trust in someone 
else.  Which, to my mind anyway, is more the lesson Harry needs to 
learn.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> >Snape, on the other hand, is one of Dumbledore's most trusted
> >confidants.

> >>Nora:
> Confidant is an interesting word, because that is exactly what JKR
> says that Dumbledore *does not have*, in the latest interview.
> <snip>

> >>SSSusan:
> I tend to agree with Nora on this.
> <snip>
> The other bit of evidence I believe we have that Snape wasn't privy
> to as much as we thought is that we have now been told that ONLY   
> TWO PEOPLE know/knew the full contents of the prophecy: DD & Harry.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Oops! Let me clarify.  I don't mean that Snape knows everything, or 
even most of everything, that Dumbledore knows.  However, when it 
comes to the war on Voldemort, I think Snape knows more about 
Dumbledore's plans than any other member of the Order.  Just as, 
when it comes to the running of Hogwarts, I think McGonagall knows 
more than any other staff member.  

I base this theory on Snape's overall involvement in just about 
every plan or strategy Dumbledore devises.  Other Order members come 
and go, but Snape is *always* there.  I don't think this means that 
Snape knows everything involved in those plans (I wasn't surprised 
that Dumbledore told no one about the prophecy) nor do I think Snape 
knows of all the plans Dumbledore has (or had) in motion.  But Snape 
knows more than most. 

Betsy Hp, who ruthlessly snipped and reorganized and pulled from 
several posts, and hopes it all came out correctly