What does Slughorn knows about Dumbledore's injury? WAS: Re: CHAPDISC: HBP4

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 143414

Alla wrote:
<snip> Slughorn first tells Dumbledore that he ought to think about
retirement and THEN narrator says " his pale gooseberry eyes had 
found Dumbledore's injured hand" implies that Slughorn ALREADY knows
why DD may want to think about retirement. <snip>


Carol responds:
Hi, Alla. You're right that the "had found" is past perfect tense and
implies completed action, but it only means that Slughorn's eyes
"found" DD's hand before he spoke, and the interruption of the
dialogue by this bit of action, along with the words "I see," suggests
that he is still looking at the hand as he speaks: "Well, maybe you
ought to think about retirement yourself. Reactions not what they
were, I see." He seems to be (semi)politely inquiring about the
injury, but there's no indication that he was previously aware of it,
much less that he knows what happened. In fact, he seems to be simply
assuming that DD's reactions have slowed as the result of old age.
(Perhaps his own have slowed with age and obesity though we see no
evidence that they have?)

This (natural) assumption fits with the cover story that Snape tells
Bellatrix: DD is getting old, his reactions have slowed, and the
battle in the DoM "shook" him (HBP Am. ed. 31)--this last statement
being an out-and-out lie as far as I can see. (IMO, Snape wants
Bellatrix [and Voldemort] to underestimate both Dumbledore and Harry,
but that's a topic for another thread.) And of course, Snape conceals
his own role in saving Dumbledore from the curse that caused the
blackened hand, as well as the exact nature of the "serious injury." 
Dumbledore himself uses the slowed-reactions-of-an-old-man idea much
later in the book ("The Lightning-Struck Tower"). It's just one more
example of his persistent use of partial truths to conceal important
information. In this case, as I said earlier, DD and Snape seem to
have agreed to provide the same wholly inadequate explanation for the
"serious injury."

Dumbledore doesn't argue with Slughorn, acknowledging that he's "quite
right" (i.e., his interpretation fits the cover story and is true
enough in its way). But he takes advantage of the opportunity to call
attention to the injured hand, shaking back his right sleeve and
spreading his hands wide, saying, "On the other hand--" and breaking
off. Harry interprets the gesture as a kind of shrug and takes the
phrase OTOH in its usual figurative sense, concluding that DD means
"age ha[s] its compensations" (HBP 67). But the second- or third-time
reader, with the benefit of hindsight, understands that the silent
message is quite different from Harry's interpretation. 

As I read the scene, DD is spreading his hands to show Slughorn the 
cracked ring, which he knows Slughorn will recognize, allowing
Slughorn to make the connections between the injured hand and the
uninjured one with the ring. Essentially, DD is saying (IMO), "Tom
Riddle turned this ring, which I know you recognize, into a Horcrux. I
destroyed the Horcrux, but it destroyed my wand hand. I need your
help, Horace. There are more Horcruxes to destroy." But, of course, he
doesn't want to say any of that in front of Harry at this point, nor
does he want to mention Snape's role in saving him from the Horcrux's
curse quite yet. (Annoyingly, he never gets around to giving either
Harry or the reader the full version of "that thrilling tale," and
apparently he never informed Slughorn, either.)

As for DD retiring, that seems to me to be the last thing he wants to
do. IMO, he's trying to get as much accomplished as possible in what
he knows will be Snape's last year at Hogwarts and which he probably
suspects will be his own last year as well. (If destroying one Horcrux
does this much damage, what might a second or a third one do? And he
may well know by now that Draco is trying to kill him, too.) I don't
think he's dying at the moment, but I do think he expects to die. But
retire? Never.

Carol, who was just going to write a few words about past perfect
tense and wrote a post instead