...once again Dumbledore!Abuse - a Balanced Approach

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 142954

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > ...especially since Dumbledore is trying to downplay his         
> > personal interest in Harry (something that ends at the          
> > conclusion of OotP, IIRC).

> >>a_svirn:
> Somehow I didn't notice that he ever tried anything of the sort.

Betsy Hp:
I thought Dumbledore said he was doing just that in OotP, but he was 
only talking of that specific year. (To which I say darn, because it 
was excellent canon, in my head. <g>)  However, until HBP, 
Dumbledore does little to unquestionably show an interest in Harry.  
It's other professors (usually Snape) who try and keep Harry safe.  
Dumbledore rarely visits with Harry during the school year.  And his 
annual hospital visits generally occur after visiting hours.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > That Harry uses his newly discovered power to intimidate Dudley 
> > into leaving him alone, and his new connections to let the      
> > Dursleys know that there are folks watching out for him, is      
> > Harry's business. It's an internal struggle rather than an       
> > outside one. If that makes any sense.

> >>a_svirn:
> I don't see what difference it makes for the Dursleys. From where
> they are standing they are still being intimidated by wizards.
> Whether the wizards in question are aurors or convicts is of little
> importance to them. The point is that they are all magical and the
> Dursleys don't want to have anything to do with magic.

Betsy Hp:
But Harry is family.  So yes, there's a power struggle (one Dudley 
pretty much gives up on by book 3, I think), but it's a family 
struggle.  I think it would have made a difference, especially at 
first before the Dursleys saw Harry as a sort of their own, if a 
stranger had come along threatening them with magic.

[That they see Harry as a sort of family is shown, I think, in the 
Dursleys desperate flight from the Hogwarts letters and in their 
being there to pick up Harry at the end of his first year at 
Hogwarts.]
 
> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > I mean, why not just give Harry up and good riddance to bad     
> > rubbish? Why go through all the trouble of trying to hide him    
> > from the WW?]

> >>a_svirn:
> I think we know the answer to this question. Getting rid of Harry
> simply isn't an option. When Vernon had been pushed beyond        
> endurance and tried it in OOP, Dumbledore threatened Petunia,     
> didn't he? And in HBP the main object of the Dumbledore's "well-  
> mannered" visit was to ensure that Harry would be able to return   
> one last time.

Betsy Hp:
Ah, but Vernon was pushed beyond his endurance in PS/SS wasn't he?  
I mean, he plucked out half his mustache in PS/SS and in OotP.  The 
big difference in OotP is that his own son has been threatened, and 
so Vernon finally decides that Harry is too big a risk.  Though he 
is talked out of it pretty easily by Petunia (a few words and he 
changes his mind).

It is a bit of mess, though, I agree.  That's why I'm hoping Petunia 
will give us some information to tie it all together.  Maybe there 
was a deal that they'd take Harry in but absolutely no wizards could 
come by until he was eleven?

Betsy Hp