Dumbledore and DADA (Was: What mistakes Dumbledore made?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 139881

Alla wrote:
<snip>
> So, to me it is very possible that he could not see from Snape POV, 
> so to speak and did not figure out Snape's real feelings and that
his trust may have been misplaced.
> 
> Besides, we have quite a few examples of Dumbledore trusting the 
> wrong people to fulfill DADA position.
>

Carol responds:
Without going back into the question of whether Dumbledore was right
to trust Snape (I think he was right, of course), I'd like to look at
the predicament Dumbledore was in with regard to the DADA position. He
knew it was cursed (LV's wand movement in the job application memory
and the consequences for all DADA teachers from that point forward).
What should he have done?

We notice that for whatever reason, he withholds the job from Severus
Snape for fifteen years. Whether he was protecting Snape or keeping a
watchful eye on him or both, that seems to have been a wise move.
Giving him the job, however great the apparent need to hire Slughorn
for Potions (and a genuinely competent teacher for DADA) has
disastrous consequences.

We notice, too, that his other choices seem (at times) to reflect the
current crisis, or at least to make *some* sense, given the limited
pool of candidates: Lupin, the former friend of Sirius Black, is hired
when the "murderer" Black is at large; the auror Moody is hired when
the TWT is about to be held (it was not, of course, the real Moody who
taught the course, but he's the one who was hired--with the agreement
that the post would be for one year). Quirrel was a returning teacher
who had run off to Albania for a year (summoned by his master via the
DADA curse)? If he'd done his job competently two years previously,
there's no reason to question that choice. (Unless you're Snape, that
is.) Lockhart? He had an excellent reputation (nicely exposed as
fraudulent by Snape and HR). Perhaps DD thought he could actually
teach the class? And Umbridge he had no choice but to accept (unless
he wanted to give SS the post, which he chose not to do). Perhaps he
knew that the curse would dispose of her.

The question is, how could he in good conscience hire *anyone* to
teach the course? Why not abolish it since it's cursed?

First, I don't think he'd be allowed to do that by the Board of
Directors (I forget the name) or the MoM or the wizarding parents.
Defense against the Dark Arts seems to be part of the standard
curriculum. Even students who failed their DADA OWL (Crabbe and Goyle)
continue to take it--the idea being, apparently, that this course is
necessary to survival in the WW. And if it were correctly taught (as
Snape teaches it in HBP or Lupin in PoA), it would undoubtedly be
invaluable. Unfortunately, the students learn virtually nothing in
Harry's first, second, and fifth years, and perhaps more than they
should (what it's like to be under the Imperius Curse) in their
fourth. But the problem is not the course itself but the teachers,
which brings us back to Dumbledore.

The supposed "jinx" on the position is undoubtedly well-known in the
WW, which accounts in part for the shortage of applicants for the
position. It's also quite likely that genuinely qualified applicants
are few and far between. Dumbledore must hire someone. He doesn't want
 it to be Snape (who in any case would only last one year in the best
of circumstances). I think he advertises for an applicant (or notifies
the person he has in mind in the case of Lupin and Moody), advises
them of the likelihood that the position will be short-term, and gives
them the choice of accepting or rejecting the position. I would hope
that he mentions the fate of previous instructors where relevant ("Oh,
by the way, Remus, our last instructor lost his memory and the one
before that died. You understand that you are taking a great risk by
accepting this position, but given the present circumstances with
Black and the Dementors, I need your help . . . .")

So I would argue that Dumbledore has done the best he can with regard
to the DADA instructors. The only mistake I can see is giving Snape
the DADA position. There must have been some other way to get that
memory from Slughorn, or to make do without it. But the time had come,
it seemed, to give Snape his chance as DADA teacher in a time of
crisis, to end the protection he had received from Dumbledore as
Potions master. There was no one else to fill the post. Surely they
both knew the risk they were taking, one in offering and the other in
accepting the post. The curse, manifested in the Unbreakable Vow,
struck with devastating effect.

Was that Dumbledore's great mistake, not trusting Snape per se but
trusting him with the cursed DADA position, which could so easily
backfire and destroy the carefully built relationship between them--or
worse? 

Or was Dumbledore's death at Snape's hands a felix culpa, a fortunate
fault, like Snape's revelation of the Prophecy to Voldemort, which
indirectly brought eleven years of respite to the WW through the
vaporization of LV at Godric's Hollow? (I'm not crediting Snape with
any such intention; actions in the Potterverse often have unintended
consequences, and both good and evil intentions backfire, with Harry's
rescue of Wormtail and his attempt to save Sirius from LV as prime
examples of the first and LV's attempt to AK Harry as the obvious
example of the second.) 

We can only hope that Dumbledore's decision to  give Snape a position
that he knew had been cursed by Voldemort was done with full knowledge
of the possible consequences and that the apparent evil of his death
is really a good in disguise.

Carol, thinking of Dedalus Diggle setting off fireworks to celebrate
the defeat of Voldemort ("this happy, happy day") even as the Potters
lie dead and Harry is orphaned