DD and Delores (Was: Bad Writing?).

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 163161

> Alla:
> 
> Yes, but all that it took to prevent Dursleys from throwing Harry 
> out was .... indeed threat from Dumbledore "Remember my last". So 
> after seeing that gentle reminder working perfectly, I am having a 
> hard time figuring out why Dumbledore could not send something 
> similar, I don't know - at least ten years earlier than that.
> 

Pippin:
I suspect it's because Petunia knew that letting Harry stay at
her home meant extra protection for Petunia and her family from
Voldemort and his servants. Dumbledore was reminding her,
I think, that kicking Harry out would put her family in more
danger, not less.  Voldemort was the threat, not Dumbledore.
Of course that was much easier for her to grasp
with Dudley just having been attacked by dementors than
it was before Voldemort returned. 

But  when Sirius, the most feared DE after Voldemort himself,
was supposedly after Harry's blood, the Dursleys refused to take 
Harry back, and agreed that he could remain a member of the  
household only if he stayed away until  the next summer, at the 
very least.  

I think canon makes it very clear that threats do not 
get predictable results even with the weakest and most
cowardly individuals -- look at Draco. And aren't we
expecting that even Wormtail will stand up to Voldemort
eventually? I would expect Voldemort to be a lot better
at using threats than Dumbledore is, but even Voldie
doesn't always get what he wants that way.

Alla:
But no matter how hard I would try to hypnotize myself, nothing can
convince me that Headmaster was powerless to stop Snape,
unfortunately. So, yeah, in this instance in my book he looks
unquestionably guilty of condoning abuse.

Pippin:
Honestly, you make it sound like Snape is programmed to
be kind and respectful to others, and all Dumbledore has to
do is push the right buttons and the program will run. 
What part of "some wounds are too deep for the healing"
is hard to understand?

Anyway, Rowling has already said that Dumbledore thinks that
teachers like Snape are a lesson in life. Evidently he believes
it would be worse to let the children  pretend that people like 
Snape don't exist or can always be avoided than to let them 
be exposed to sneers and taunts. 

It would be the lie of the golden fountain, really, that wizards
are benign and noble beings who have nothing but concern
for lesser creatures.

Are we supposed to think Snape puts the kids in an emotional 
danger zone? I don't think so. Rowling  excels at depicting that 
kind of emotional distress, and I just don't see it in regard to 
Snape.

 Neville will never love Snape's classes, but years 
and years of them never put him in the state he was in after
just one session with Fake!Moody.

As for Hermione, if she thought she was being abused, she'd
not only say so, she'd take revenge. The worst thing she's
ever done to Snape is pilfer some potion ingredients -- and
she wasn't all that afraid of what would happen to her if she
got caught, that's why she volunteered to do it.

Of course Harry thinks the worst of Snape -- just as Snape
always thinks the worst of him. That's how prejudice works.
But IMO, the situation can be resolved in one of two ways.
Either  Harry will be vindicated in his current belief that
he was right to think the worst of Snape from the beginning,
or DH will see him realize that his prejudiced mind has not
only refused to give Snape the benefit of the doubt, it has
on many occasions refused even to acknowledge that room
for doubt existed.

Pippin