Dumbledore's decisions (was:Re: Depth? Things to take on their face value...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 139824

> >>lupinlore:
> > > Yes, I think Harry would have been better off.  I agree with   
> > > Alla 100% that this is one of Dumbledore's egregious mistakes.

> >>houyhnhnm:
> > What would have been the right choice, then?

> >>Sherry:
> What about having a family like the Weasleys raise him? Or perhaps 
> having bothered to find out the truth about Sirius and then letting 
> Harry live with his true guardian, the one his parents chose for    
> him?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Why, Sherry, I thought you *liked* the Weasley family and Sirius! 
<g>  Don't you think what Bellatrix and her boys did to Neville's 
parents would have *paled* in comparison to the vengence she'd have 
visited upon those protecting the boy who killed her master?  Crucio 
would have just been a start I think.  And I'll bet she'd have 
started with Ginny and worked her way up the Weasley child chain. 

Sirius is tough, yes.  But Neville's parents were both Aurors.  He'd 
have gone down, just as they did.

And the story would have ended much sooner, I think.  "There once was 
a boy who lived.  Until one day, he didn't."

> >>Sherry:
> Don't get me wrong, I love Dumbledore.  But he is a far more       
> interesting character with flaws, one who makes huge mistakes, than 
> as the epitome of perfection and always being right.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I think in this case, Dumbledore was like Churchill in WWII, allowing 
a British town to be bombed into oblivian (people included) to keep 
the fact that they'd broken the German code a secret.  Both men faced 
a horrible decision that had no "perfect" solution.  They did the 
best they could with what they had, and IMO, they made the right 
call.  One I'm grateful I've never had to make.  But the very fact 
they had to live with their decision and I'm sure hated that they had 
to make that sort of choice means that neither are "the epitome of 
perfection".

Betsy Hp