Dumbledore-Puppetmaster

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 135808

   I think that we tend to under-estimate Dumbledore in trying to 
explain his death and activities. He is as single-minded in his 
endeavors as Voldemort is in his.

1.	Dumbledore has been watching Voldemort since before he went to 
Hogwarts, somewhere around 55 years. He has amassed a great deal of 
knowledge about him. He has kept Snape in a position to return to 
Voldemort if required for fifteen years. He has maintained contact with 
all of the Order of Phoenix members. He has twice refused to become 
Minister of Magic because he needed to remain at Hogwarts, both to keep 
an eye on Harry and because Voldemort finds it important. He has 
invested over a third of his life in watching or fighting Voldemort.

2.	Dumbledore has no hesitation in asking or demanding sacrifice from 
people. The Flamels were required to destroy the stone, thereby ending 
their lives, in the effort to prevent Voldemort from getting his hands 
on it. Hagrid was sent to the Giants, a very dangerous mission, Lupin 
was sent to the Werewolves, also a very dangerous mission and painful 
due to the fact that he was in direct opposition to the werewolf that 
bit him. Snape was sent back to Voldemort, late, knowing that Voldemort 
would likely torture him and could well have killed him before he got a 
chance to get his story across. He left Harry at the Dursleys', in a 
hostile environment as the lesser of two evils, but did nothing to 
prevent them from abusing Harry, even after he knew what was going on. I 
don't believe that Dumbledore would hesitate for a moment in sacrificing 
his own life to further the cause against Voldemort, which he did in the 
acquisition of ring horcrux and in what he thought was the locket 
horcrux. He would not hesitate to demand that Snape kill him if 
necessary, and not out of kindness to Malfoy. It would serve no purpose 
for Malfoy to be allowed to kill him. He has completely thrown Snape to 
the wolves. Even if he manages to survive to see Voldemort defeated, he 
has no hope of a life. He will be the wizard who killed Dumbledore. He 
has set a sixteen year old boy, knowing that he might also have to die 
to fulfil the prophesy, against the other most powerful wizard of the 
age, half prepared, with vague instructions, little effective 
assistance, and yet he says that he loves Harry. I have a little trouble 
with that.

3. 	Considering the fact that Dumbledore was well aware that no DADA 
teacher had ever lasted longer than a year, he must have had some idea 
that Voldemort had cast that hex for a reason. Obviously it was so that 
he could insert his supporters into that spot. Dumbledore would have 
been suspicious of any teacher accepting that position. Snape must have 
been aware of it as well as he also kept a close watch on the DADA 
instructors. As it became clear that Voldemort was returning, Dumbledore 
tried filling the position with his own people, Lupin and Moody. There 
must have been some suspicion of Moody because Dumbledore said that he 
hadn't been sure until Moody took Harry out of his sight. Umbridge, like 
Lockhart,wasn't a real problem. It allowed him to delay using one of his 
own people for a year and he knew Umbridge would be gone by the end of 
the year. Once his hand was damaged, and he was possibly dying, it 
became time to put Snape in the position. They both would have known 
that the hand-writing was on the wall. There is no way that Snape would 
be stupid enough to apply for the DADA position every year for fourteen 
years knowing that there was a hex on the job. He applied because 
Voldemort had told him to do so, they needed to maintain the fiction 
that Snape was still doing what Voldemort told him to do, and Dumbledore 
refused to  accept the applications so as to keep Snape in his position 
as long as possible.

4.	It is interesting to note that Snape uses Dumbledore's Pensieve and 
not one of his own. This could be for a couple of reasons.  He could not 
be seen constantly going to Dumbledore every time he had been to a 
Deatheater gathering. It would allow for complete memories to be viewed 
by Dumbledore rather than information passed on second hand and allow 
for things to be missed. It would also allow Snape to deposit any 
thoughts or memories that could not be seen by Voldemort if he chose to 
go through Snape's mind. No matter how skilled an Occlumens Snape was, 
there was always the chance that he might not be able to protect 
himself. Much better to get rid of anything before-hand. This would also 
explain why Dumbledore trusts Snape, if he has had access to Snape's 
memories all this time. One wonders what Dumbledore does with his own 
thoughts and memories while Snape has his Pensieve.

KJ