[HPforGrownups] Dumbledore on the Dursleys in OotP (was:Re: Old, old problem.)

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 151202

> Alla:
> 
> Oh, don't get me started. Please, please, Pippin it is by no means 
> directed at you, you know I really like you and respect you, but every 
> time I remember Dumbledore's "let's blame the dead man" act (IMO of 
> course), I just get so angry. So, it is directed at Dumbledore. :)  I 
> know, it is emotional reaction again, which I never make a secret of ( 

Pippin:
But your emotional reaction to the speech seems to be coming from a
different place altogether. Pardon me if I misrepresent your thoughts, it
seems like you want Dumbledore to say  that Sirius is dead because
Puppetmaster!DD got his strings tangled, you want him to let Harry
childishly idealize his godfather  instead of helping him understand that
other adults are just as  fallible as Harry is, and you want him to
whitewash Sirius's treatment of Kreacher in order to spare Harry's feelings.



Sherry now:

Obviously, I'm not Alla.  And may I add my comments of great respect for
Pippin as well as Alla knowing my respect for her?

Here's where I can totally understand Alla's feelings on this matter.  The
time for this conversation was not right after Harry had watched Sirius die.
I can't imagine what I would have done if someone had come to me right after
my dad had died and begun to try to make me see his serious faults.  (well,
I did already know them of course, but something I didn't know.)  I would
have considered that incredibly insensitive and cruel beyond belief.  I
hadn't really thought about Dumbledore's speech too much from those terms
before, because I can't read past the death of Sirius in OOTP.  So, I've
only read that speech once and I was still reeling from the impact of what
happened at the Ministry.  But I can wholeheartedly agree with Alla, that
taking that moment, when Harry is devastated to begin to remove the glow
from his image of Sirius is or could be considered damn unkind.  Putting
myself in the emotional fog of the moment, thinking about what Sirius meant
to Harry, whether that was reasonable to an outsider's view or not, blaming
Sirius could have done more damage, turning Harry farther from Dumbledore
out of resentment and instinctive defense of Sirius.  It doesn't matter
whether we on the outside think Sirius would have been a good parental role
for Harry.  It only matters that to Harry, his one adult figure, the one who
was his, his godfather, his parents' best friend, not his best friend's
family, not his headmaster, but his only parental figure ... had just died,
and now this person who had ignored him all year is telling him terrible
things about that parental figure.  Ouch.

Sherry