Has anyone thought that Dumbledore knows what the outcome is going to be?

[Michael]

No: HPFGUIDX 130309

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:
hogwarts121943:"That time turner, what makes us think that he [DD?] 
has not used it to see what is going to [happen to?] Harry? He can't 
interfere with what is going to happen, but he can keep Harry safe..."

Jim Ferer: "Dumbledore *should* have told Harry about the eye contact 
thing, along with a lot of other stuff. His avoidance hurt Harry. It 
won't happen again, but some damage was done, particularly the MoM 
battle that included Sirius's death.  OTOH, the battle was a major 
defeat for Voldemort."

mggoulden: Hello all.  First time poster, so I've got my fingers 
crossed I'm doing everything right!  

Dumbledore is my favourite character in the books because he has 
always come across as deceptively complex.  Also, he's powerful, both 
physically and politically, but never comes across as arrogant or 
manipulative, although there is a definitive Machiavellian streak in 
him!  Does he know the future?  Interestingly, I have come across a 
theory - implausible - which states that he did meddle with time 
during the events of Halloween 1980 in order to keep Harry safe from 
harm: (http://www.redhen-publications.com/24Hours.html).  Add to 
this, his positively ludicrous decision to entrust an innocent man's 
fate to two 13 year-old wizards, and something is decidedly fishy.  
And yet, I just don't believe that Dumbledore would openly and 
brazenly meddle with time - he himself says it is dangerous (from 
experiece, perhaps?  You see, it's still fishy!) - but then I am 
clouded by my desire to see the old Headmaster of Hogwarts in a 
positive light.  In my opinion, he is the proverbial shrewd operator, 
who's guesses tend to be right 90% of the time.  

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I think people too often can't force 
themselves away from the "Harry POV".  Of course we want Dumbledore 
to tell the boy everything; otherwise how are we supposed to find 
out?  Contrary to this attitude, I've always fought against the 
narrow perspective JKR gives us in her stories, and the advantages 
this attitude can bring are greatest in PS and OotP, and in both 
instances, it's because of Dumbledore.  Let me explain:

I believe that in PS Dumbledore knew that Professor Quirrel was under 
the control of Voldemort.  As such, he had the Philosopher's Stone 
placed in the school to tempt Voldemort out of hiding.  Now, I'm sure 
the Headmaster didn't know Voldemort was under the turban, but he did 
know that he was around somewhere.  His trick with the Mirror of 
Erised at the end was a masterstroke, possibly designed to keep 
Voldemort/Quirrel stumped so that he could confront them.  
Unfortunately, Harry got involved.

I'm not the first to come up with this idea, but I certainly 
subscribe to it, partly because it highlights my favourite aspect of 
the stories: the mental and political conflict between Dumbledore and 
Voldemort.  

In OotP, the Headmaster utilised the same trick that he did in PS - 
he explicitly tempted Voldemort with an object the latter was 
desperate to obtain, i.e, the Prophecy.  Dumbledore knew, and 
Voldemort came to know, that only two people can take Prophecies out 
of the DoM - in this instance, Harry and Voldemort.  The two enemies 
know that Voldemort doesn't want to risk rushing into the Ministry 
himself as that would result in the exposure of his return (which is 
what happened in a roundabout way - see how Fudge was alerted?), so 
that leaves just Harry.

Dumbledore kept Harry in the dark precisely because he knew Voldemort 
was always there in the boy's head somewhere; some of Harry's anger 
was down to Voldemort, surely?  All the "cloak and dagger" stuff in 
OotP highlights this mental battle of wills between the Headmaster 
and the Dark Lord, locking horns in a way they have been doing ever 
since Dumbledore suspected Riddle of opening the Chamber.  It's 
fascinating reading OotP from this perspective; the machinations at 
play are numerous and fairly complex.  Yes, keeping Harry unawares 
hurt him and ultimately led to Sirius' death, but Dumbledore (who is 
perhaps a closet utilitarian) never lost sight of the ultimate goal: 
to reveal Voldemort's return and get the Ministry back on his side.  
Sirius may have been killed, but now the world knows You Know Who is 
back.  In light of this, I have to ask myself, would Dumbledore do 
things differently if he could go back and change things?  And even 
though he's my favourite character, I have to say that, given the 
choice, Dumbledore probably wouldn't change a thing.  

-Michael