Dumbledore's plans in HBP.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 162782

Lupinlore wrote:
> <snip> Thus <snip>
> the reprehensible failure of the adults to restrain Umbridge or
punish her after the fact, and Dumbledore's incompetence and
contemptible policies with regard to Harry being abused become very
clear -- despite JKR's attempt to rescue DD in the early pages of HBP.
<snip>

Carol responds:
Harry concealed what happened during Umbridge's detentions even from
his friends as long as possible and when Hermione did see his bleeding
hand, he refused to take her advice and tell McGonagall about it. His
hands were not bleeding during his lessons, and any teacher who saw a
pinkish spot on the back of his hand could easily assume that it was a
Quidditch injury or had occurred in one of the many dangerous classes
at Hogwarts. Also, Harry's contact with Dumbledore was extremely
limited, so DD would not have seen the injury, and he was treating it
with Murtlap essence once Hermione found out about it. (The same is
true for Lee Jordan, for whom the detention seems to be no big deal.
Certainly, he and his friends didn't tell McGonagall about it. That's
not part of their schoolboy code.) How was any member of the Hogwarts
staff to know what was going on in those detentions? AFAWK, the only
adult to whom Harry has shown the scar on his hand is Rufus Scrimgeour
in HBP. Nor did Harry report to anyone, even Dumbledore, that Umbridge
had tried to Crucio him or that she, not Voldemort, had sent the
Dementors that attacked him on Privet Drive. When he and DD talk at
the end of OoP, CAPSLOCK Harry's concerns are Sirius Black's death,
Kreacher, and Snape, whereas Dumbledore's concern is calming him down
so he can tell him about the Prophecy. Umbridge is barely mentioned
(in connection with Snape's reasons for contacting the Order) and the
Dementors are mentioned in relation to Petunia, not Umbridge. And
Harry has just come back from a battle in the DEs in the MoM, no doubt
scraped and bruised. There is no reason for DD to notice his hand, and
the subject does not come up, Harry has two opportunities to talk
about Umbridge, once in connection with the attempted Crucio and the
other in connection with the Dementors. Unless Legilimency involves
reading every thought at every moment, including those at the back of
the person's mind--and we know that Legilimency doesn't work that
way--Dumbledore has no way of knowing what Umbridge has done (with the
exception of her ridiculous decrees and her attempt to arrest Harry in
connection with the DA, an attempt that Dumbledore thwarts. He can
hardly report Umbridge to the MoM; Fudge is right there on the spot,
under the delusion that Umbridge is a valuable ally against DD's
attempt to seize power and that she's right about Dumbledore being back.

Fudge, now chastened and no longer Minister for Magic, can't do
anything about Delores Umbridge, nor does he know about her detentions
or her attempt to Crucio Harry even if he knows--and we don't know
that he does--that she sent the Dementors. Scrimgeour has seen the
scar on Harry's hand, but can hardly be expected to figure out how it
got there or that it has anything to do with Umbridge. The fact that
she's still a Ministry employee is more their fault than Dumbledore's,
but all they know is that she attempted to interfere at Hogwarts. They
have no way of knowing the extent of her sadism and ineptitude.

Carol, wondering how Dumbledore can be blamed for what he doesn't know
or has no control over