In Defense of DD (was Re: DD's dilemma)

[stickbook41]

No: HPFGUIDX 126579


lupinlore:
> Once again, I can but refer to Alla's previous post.  No one would 
> be impressed by Dumbledore yelling and screaming and throwing 
> things.  We WOULD be impressed by a show of compassion and, yes, 
> remorse for the pain his decisions have caused Harry.  Calm is one 
> thing, a cold absence of remorse in the face of what his decisions 
> have done to an innocent is quite another.  It is one thing to be 
> calm yourself in the face of pain life deals you.  It is quite 
> another to fail to show appropriate sympathy and compassion in the 
> face of someone else's pain.  
 
stickbook now:
Isn't it wonderful how we can all get such different impressions of
the same event?  Steve read Dumbledore as having a zen-like calm,
Lupinlore a cold indifference, and as for me, I read it as plain old
guilt.  Dumbledore felt guilty for not being able to see a way around
his perceived mistakes (ten years with the Dursleys, etc), hence the
single tear and the allowance of Harry to smash up his office.

Also, I got the impression that Dumbledore had been waiting for and
dreading this explosion from Harry for a long time.  He tells Harry
that he'd been dreading having to explain the whole bit about the
prophecy, but what he was really dreading was the big question that
Harry would eventually put to him: "If you're so wise and powerful,
why haven't you made my life any easier?"  More guilt; there's no
satisfactory answer.

With that in mind, I'd like to put it to Lupinlore and Alla and anyone
else who might want to jump in: What (if anything) could Dumbledore
have done or said in this scene to convince you that he was telling
the truth?

stickbook
who feels a bit naive taking the scene at such face value