DD's Knowledge (was Re: Nice vs. Good, honesty,)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 153367

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> 
wrote:
>
<SNIP>
> 
> Pippin:
> Well, Harry's problem, IMO, is that his parental instincts have 
> been activated too soon, because he's basically had to parent 
> himself. There's no way to undo that, as Dumbledore sadly 
> discovered. But Harry doesn't have the experience or the mental
> development to parent wisely, so the series is, I would say, 
> giving him the opportunity to develop these things and meanwhile 
> showing how he suffers for the lack of them.

Okay.  So we have the following scenario, I believe.  At least, the 
following chain of events and causation seems to match with this set 
of ideas.  I'm not arguing for or against this chain of causation or 
the ideas you put forth, I'm just trying to see how this might play 
out with regard to the events we know of:

1)  DD leaves Harry with the Dursleys for whatever reason.

2)  Harry shows up at Hogwarts.  DD tries to make the best of it, 
but is surprised/horrified/disturbed/guilt-stricken/whatever about 
how all this has turned out.

3)  DD knows he needs to tell Harry about the prophecy, but his 
horror/guilt/whatever keeps derailing the process.  Perhaps he even 
discourages other people from speaking with Harry about the past, 
not wanting the poor boy to be upset by his possible fate and not 
wanting him to become depressed and brooding through thinking of 
what he has lost.  This would explain why McGonagall, Lupin, 
Sirius, and even Snape are remarkably close to the vest with details 
about Lily and James.

4)  The events of PoA and GoF highlight the danger Harry is in but 
also deepen DD's quandary, leading him to take steps to fix things 
by instituting draconic measures to keep Harry safe and Sirius 
alive.  But it's too late and the damage from (1) can't be undone.

5) After OOTP, Dumbledore comes as close as he can, given his 
temperment and the overall situation, to lashing out in 
frustration.  Basically, his confrontation with the Dursleys was as 
close as he could come to saying "This is all YOUR fault and thank 
you very much."


> I do think that Dumbledore might at least wonder whether
> Harry was bullying Draco. After all, Draco often seems to come out
> the worst in these encounters-- he wouldn't be trying to get 
> himself beaten up, would he?


DD's attitude toward Draco is, I have to admit, even more of a 
migraine-inducer than his attitude toward Harry.  If he believes 
Draco is being bullied and that Draco is a reasonably competent, 
rational human being, then why on Earth does DD let Draco run around 
committing attempted murder?  If he thinks Draco is basically a 
screw-up, that would explain why he isn't surprised that Draco keeps 
getting the worst of things.**  But it still doesn't explain why he 
treats the matter of Draco's mission with such kid-gloves.  After 
all, if he thinks Draco is essentially incompetent then letting the 
kid run around Hogwarts on a murder mission is like giving a chimp a 
loaded gun and letting it run loose.

** Scene with staff over breakfast:

DD: I was reviewing the House Point awards.  I see there was another 
encounter between Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy yesterday.

>McG and SS look at each other cautiously<

DD:  Let us do this the easy way.  Minerva, where is Harry?
McG:  In Gryffindor Tower.
DD: Severus, where is Mr. Malfoy?
SS: In the infirmary.

>DD facepalm<


Lupinlore