[HPforGrownups] Re: Old, old problem.

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 150980



> Draeconin:
> *confused frown* I don't think I ever made the allegation that
> Dumbledore was evil. IMO he was forging the weapon that he believed
> would be needed.  He was the hero that defeated Grindlewald, then an
> unofficial general of sorts in the first war against Voldemort. You
> don't become good at the latter job, anyway, without being able to
> look  at people as playing pieces.  You don't want to lose them, but
> you do what you believe is necessary in order to win the game.

    ALLA:
>  > DD makes HUGE mistakes, many of them, in my book, but I do think
>  > that he is a good man, who is in charge of Light side and simply
>  > struggles to juggle too many reponsibilities at the same time.

    KJ writes:

       I think you are both right in these two paragraphs. Frankly, it 
is canon that Dumbledore had a plan. It was a plan that made Dumbledore 
extremely sad as he became more and more attached to Harry. He even 
began to consider giving up his plan, regardless of the effect on other 
people, because of his feelings for Harry. To my mind, this does not 
bode well for Harry, and I find it hard to believe that Harry missed the 
entire point of that speech. If I had been Harry, I would have got the 
hell out of there.

       I don't believe that Dumbledore makes very many mistakes. The few 
he does make are undoubtedly major, such as flying directly to the tower 
instead of perhaps taking another route. In that case, he would never 
have been able to even get up to the tower, and his death would not have 
occurred. Why would he fly into a dangerous area taking a sixteen year 
old kid with him????
     He is very flexible and is able to maneuver around people like 
Umbridge. He did not consider her much of a threat, nor did leaving 
Hogwarts temporarily seem to concern him.

       Considering the fact that Dumbledore had been studying Voldemorte 
for so many years, the prophesy would have given him the hope of 
defeating him, and yes, Harry would have been considered a weapon in the 
fight. I wonder if the stone was brought to Hogwarts for the specific 
purpose of luring Voldemorte out of hiding. As soon as the words "the 
heir" were written on the wall in CoS, Dumbledore would have known that 
Voldemorte was involved. Why was Harry unprotected so much of the time?
In PoA, Dumbledore gives Harry and Hermione instructions to use the 
time-turner. They were only 13 year old kids. I couldn't trust my kids 
to do the dishes at that age without screwing up. I think that 
Dumbledore could also have kept Harry out of the tournament, but he uses 
Harry like a lure. The "gleam" of triumph meant that something went 
right, not that he was surprised by the outcome.

        At the end of HBP everything was set in motion. Harry and Voldy 
share blood, Snape is the most trusted servant of Voldemorte, Harry has 
been pointed at Voldemorte as the person who killed his parents and is 
trying to kill him, and all the chess pieces are in place. Manipulative 
should not be considered a bad thing. All leaders manipulate. Dumbledore 
is gentler than most, but his decisions were accepted as final.

KJ