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

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 151315

Joe:
> Sorry but I think it would have been an unmitigated
> disaster to tell a eleven year old boy who only 
> just found out about the magical world that he had
> to save it by killing one of the most powerful
> wizards on the planet. Either Harry would have 
> thought Dumbledore utterly mad and never had any
> confidence in him or if he had believed it he would
> have been crushed under the pressure.

Amiable Dorsai:

You may be right, though I think that you (and Dumbledore) have
misread Harry's character.  Harry seems to be happiest and/or work the
hardest when he feels he has a purpose.  Compare his normal attitude
toward schoolwork with his devotion to learning spells to teach the
DA, for example.


Joe:
> As anyone who knows anything about training
> soldiers will tell you, you first give them the
> basics, good food, exercise, and training with
> their weapons. The first years at Hogwarts did
> exactly that. Then you give them advanced training
> to make them better soldiers. I' an certain any
> other ex-military reading this will back me up
> here. Dumbledore did the only thing he could do
> compassion or not. Anything else would have been
> sheer stupidity and Dumbledore wasn't stupid.

Amiable Dorsai:
But recruits know from day one what they're being prepared for. 


Joe:
>He had to give Harry some happiness because otherwise Harry had no
reason to fight for the wizarding world. If you have nothing then you
have nothing to lose.

Amiable Dorsai:
I agree.  I simply believe that Harry would have been happy to know
that his life had a purpose other than being famous for the way his
parents died and he didn't.

Mind you, other than losing Sirius, I believe that what Dumbledore
actually did probably worked out as well as what Dumbledore planned to
do would have.  Harry's had plenty of "live fire" exercises, and he
has a pretty good idea of what he's up against.

Joe:
> Sirius wanted Harry to know more certainly but I
> am unsure that he thought Harry was read to go to
> war. I'm also not so certain how wise any councel
> from someone driven half mad by prison would be.

You misunderstood me (my fault, I used too many pronouns), I meant
that Sirius himself was straining at the leash to go out and fight.  

This is the problem I have with the various puppet master scenarios. 
If Dumbledore wanted Sirius dead, he could simply have kept sending
him out on increasingly dangerous missions until the inevitable
happened.  A martyred Sirius would have worked out very well for
Puppetmaster!Dumbledore ("Harry, Sirius would have wanted you to do
this").

No, I think Dumbledore wanted to keep Sirius safe for Harry's sake.  I
just can't see Dumbledore letting a valuable asset like Sirius
languish otherwise.  It's not like he has any trouble sending others
(or himself!) into mortal danger.

In that vein:
Alla:
> Since I am not buying at all that Dumbledore was
> angry at Sirius (Angry for what? For loving Harry
> too much? 

Catlady:
> *MAYBE* Dumbledore was angry at Sirius for getting himself
killed(despite all DD's attempts to protect him) and thus breaking
Harry's heart.

Amiable Dorsai:
I have to agree, though I think a Dumbledore who was on top of his
game would have refrained from expressing his feelings on the matter
to Harry.  That's one (of many) reasons I think Dumbledore was barely
holding it together at that point.  

Betsy:
>"You were not a pampered little prince, but as
> normal a boy as I could have hoped under the
> circumstances." (ibid p.837)

> Anyway, I'm just curious as to what was so wrong
> with what Dumbledore said about leaving Harry at
> the Dursleys, what about it read as rationalizing
> on Dumbledore's part?

Amiable Dorsai:

I don't think he was rationalizing, so much as trying to find some
little nugget of good in Harry's suffering at the Dursleys'.
Consider how frustrated Dumbledore must be by the whole thing--here is
a man who is used to literally and figuratively pulling miracles out
of his pocket, and the best solution he can find for protecting Harry
is to board him with a couple of child-abusers.

Objectively, it's the right thing to do, but emotionally, it must tear
at him.  I think his guilt over being unable to find a better way to
protect Harry explains a lot of Dumbledore's behavior.

Amiable Dorsai