Trust in Dumbledore WAS: Re: The Statute of Secrecy

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 158991


> > a_svirn:
> > Actually, the events of HBP demonstrated that that's exactly the 
> > wrong attitude. It's no thanks to Dumbledore that his students are 
> > still alive. It's because Harry didn't do as he was bid and took 
> > necessarily precautions.
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Yes, a_svirn, I agree and I still keep hoping and keeping my fingers 
> crossed that one of the lessons of the books would be that second 
> hand trust, even in the wise and powerful leader is wrong, that 
> people should be thinking for themselves. 
> 
> I am preparing the discussion for chapter 25 and I so laughed 
> through tears when I reread this quote ( I would have said Duh!, if 
> Dumbledore would not be so dead and would not have paid the highest 
> price).
> 
> "Do you think that I have once left the school unprotected during my 
> absences this year? I have not. Tonight, when I leave there will be 
> additional protection in place. Please do not suggest that I do not 
> take the safety of my students seriously, Harry." - HBP, p.550, 
> paperback.
> 
> Rrrrright, Headmaster - very seriously indeed. :(
> 
> In any event - there is actually a question I want to ask here 
> instead of saving it for this chapter discussion.
> 
> I know we discussed this one over and over, but I am drawing a 
> blank, what were the suggestions about the *additional protection** 
> Dumbledore is talking about?
> 
> Help me or send me a link to relevant post, pretty please? :)

Carol responds:
True, Harry had his friends take Felix Felicis and watch the RoR, but
what good did it do except to involve them unnecessarily in the
battle? Granted, since they werre there, it's a good thing they took
the Felix, but did they actually need to be there? Luna (who, IIRC,
didn't even take the potion) and Hermione merely took the Stunned
Flitwick up to the hospital wing (I don't believe for a moment that
Snape would have killed them if Hermione hadn't taken the potion).
Ron, Ginny, and Neville (who was injured) did fight in the battle, but
I'm not sure how much difference their contribution made. Draco tossed
the Peruvian darkness powder so that they couldn't follow him, but
theb DEs encountered the Order members, which delayed their going up
on the tower but had little to do with Harry's friends (who would
might have been killed or injured by the DEs if they hadn't taken the
Felix, but again didn't need to be there). Neither the Order members
nor Harry's friends could penetrate the spell that blocked the stairs
to the tower. So what did Harry's precautions accomplish besides
endangering his friends? Even the death of the DE who cast the  Dark
Mark was the result of a fellow DE's clumsy incompetence (or maybe we
can credit that one to Felix Felicis). But as far as I can see, the
presence of Harry's friends made no difference to the outcome. It
didn't save Dumbledore or even prevent Hagrid's house from being burned.

As for extra precautions, we know that the Order members were where
they needed to be to fight the Death Eaters (Snape excepted--IMO, DD
didn't want him involved in the fighting because it would blow his
cover). And we know that he had an anti-flying spell placed on
Hogwarts that he had to (temporarily?) remove so that he and Harry
could get to the tower. There may be additional protections like the
ones that Snape mentions in OoP protecting the students and staff of
Hogwarts. It's interesting that Bill Weasley, no longer a student and
not a teacher, is the only one on the good side who's seriously
injured. (Neville's and Flitwick's injuries are minor.) And I assume
that the locks on the gates are still in place--either they don't
prevent people from leaving, only from entering, or Snape released the
locks so that he and the DEs and Draco could get off the grounds.

I don't know how much Dumbledore anticipated, but I do know that he
knew Draco was planning to kill him, and he knew what Harry had told
him, that Draco had accomplished whatever he was trying to do in the
RoR. I'm guessing that Dumbledore knew there would be only one death
that night, and it would be his.

Carol, who agrees with Dumbledore that he would not leave the school
unprotected--he knew that Draco's target, and that of the DEs, was
himself and not the students (except Draco and maybe Harry)