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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 151307

> Alla:
> I mean, if we were to argue that while in general Dumbledore was 
> right that it is necessary to tell the truth to Harry ( and I agree 
> with it), his mood prevented him from stopping himself and NOT to 
> talk that way about Sirius ( like what Kreacher did was Sirius 
> fault, and that basically it is Sirius fault that he died - of 
> course that is just the impression I got), I will buy it.
> 
> I will buy it that Dumbledore being 150 old man had no clue how to 
> talk to grieving teenager, that he forgot the pain of loosing the 
> loved ones and only just recently experienced the scare of loosing 
> Harry and that is why he was not quite himself, but As I said I just 
> don't see self-doubting Dumbledore, unsure of himself Dumbledore, it 
> is like - yeah, I did not tell you about Prophecy in the past, so I 
> was wrong, but not QUITE so wrong, but now I am right totally right, 
> oh  and of course it is your Godfather's fault that he died. ( Not 
> to mention that I think that Dumbledore got it wrong - I think 
> Kreacher would have hated Sirius no matter what, because Kreacher 
> loved Sirius' parents and Sirius left them behind at sixteen. I give 
> Kreacher's feelings enough respect for that. I mean, I am not 
> denying that Sirius did not treat him well, but no, I don't think 
> that Kreacher betrayed him because of that. I think I agree with 
> Magpie on this again, if I did not misinterpret her.

Pippin:
Okay, now I understand where you are coming from a little better. I
guess I never expected Dumbledore to try and comfort Harry. It 
would have been like Susan Cooper's The Grey King, where Will tries
to use his supernatural Old One's wisdom to comfort the grieving
Bran. All it does is set Bran's teeth on edge. 

Dumbledore, who understands the human heart much better than
young Will,  is far too wise for that. No one could have consoled
Harry.  Harry did not *want*  to be consoled. He wanted his
beloved Sirius back, and failing that, to see him avenged. Harry is
not the sort who could mourn a murdered friend in peace when 
the killers were still at large. *That* was what made the situation
at the beginning of OOP so difficult for him to bear.

He didn't want hugs or tea and sympathy, he wanted to do something 
about Voldemort. His spirit did not really begin to mend until he 
got involved with the DA. Learning that Dumbledore did see him
as someone who could stop Voldemort was probably the most 
healing thing for him. That is why, IMO, he didn't fall apart over
Sirius. It's not that he didn't feel anger and grief, it's that this time
he knew what to do with them. He also knew that he had to stay
on top of them or they would betray him -- the occlumency lessons
did that much good at least. 

I like what was said about Dumbledore being angry at Sirius. It 
could be that he assumed Harry would be angry with Sirius as
well  when he'd learned what  had happened. He may have thought
that he needed to let Harry see that this was okay, that he could
acknowledge this anger without guilt and without meaning that
Sirius deserved to die. It could be part of his exhaustion
and slowed reaction time that he didn't see at once that Harry didn't
blame Sirius at all.

Granted that it was a bit disarming for Dumbledore to say that Harry
wasn't nearly as angry at him as he should be, I don't think that DD
was being disingenuous. I think he really did want Harry to be angry.
He was not making a clumsy attempt to comfort Harry by saying
all those seemingly insensitive things, he was trying to provoke 
Harry to put his anger out where he and Dumbledore could deal with
it.  This is not the Star Wars universe, where all anger leads to the Dark
Side. But I think Dumbledore was very concerned that Harry find the
right path for his anger. 

It is chilling, in retrospect, to hear an angry wizard with all the power
of Lord Voldemort screaming that he doesn't want to
be human. Could  Harry have escaped his pain by tearing his soul as
an animal might chew its leg off to escape a trap? Maybe Dumbledore
had a much more pressing reason that I thought to turn Harry's anger
away from Kreacher. 

Consider those trophy heads at GP. Dumbledore must have already
been aware that Harry could turn out to be Kreacher's next master. If
so, who would have had the  authority to protect Kreacher if 
Harry had decided to kill him? No one, I guess. Probably no one but 
Dumbledore would even have cared. The laws of the wizarding world 
would not have called it murder if Dumbledore had failed, but would 
the damage to Harry's soul, and ultimately to his power to defeat 
Voldemort, have been any less for that? I doubt it. 

Harry might have been far closer than he knew to making choices that
could have turned him into another Voldemort -- or another Snape.

IMO, DD wouldn't let Harry rant about Petunia because most of his anger 
was not  about Petunia. It would have been impossible to separate
his anger about her from his anger and distress over losing Sirius,
and yet, whatever she was, she wasn't the murderer of Sirius Black.

Grief and anger make it easy to be unjust. We will see now if Harry is 
able to choose what is right over what is easy without Dumbledore to 
guide him. It is to make those choices that Harry has to stand alone.

Pippin