The blackened hand again - why not covered?

[Claudia]

No: HPFGUIDX 148956

Julia:
> So here is my question - what was a real purpose of not covering 
the blackened hand by 
> DD?  Is there something we have missed?
> 

Claudia:
In Austria we have a retired politician whose hand was blown apart by 
a letter bomb. From that day on he always covered it in a piece of 
cloth, matching the colours of his tie. While I very well understand 
that he didn't want to show the remains of his hand to every Tom, 
Dick and Harry, the covering still seemed to me like a sign of 
weakness. As if he had to hide something. Or to be ashamed of 
something.
So I read the not-covering of DD's hand simply as a sign of his inner 
strength – he doesn't have to hide anything. He can bear the people 
staring at it, whispering about it.

On the other hand, DD's being so evasive about how he obtained the 
injury was to me a clear sign that he was in fact dying from it.

Another sign that his time was running out was for me the briskness 
with which he treats Harry prior to their trip to the cave. I don't 
think he would have dismissed Harry's news about the celebrating 
Draco as curtly as he had, if he didn't feel he was running out of 
time.

Claudia