Dumbledore Does Lie - Sort Of/Why didn't Snape turn Harry in?

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 159291

> Pippin:
> Think about it in terms of real life instead of a story; if there 
was 
> an official investigation going on behind the scenes, would the 
> authorities want a teenage boy with a grudge to help them with 
it?  
> Well, Umbridge would, but the I-Squad was horrible, right?
> 
> Now Harry forms his own little I-Squad, courtesy of Dobby and
> Kreacher, and you think the adults should cheer him on? Ick! 

a_svirn:
Well, it's a bit hard to think of it like a real-life story, 
considering that in real life the world's destiny does not depend on 
one teenager's ability to kill Hitler or Osama bin Laden in a one-to-
one combat. In fact, even in the WW Harry's situation and status are 
kind of unique. Which, I might add, Dumbledore lost no opportunity 
to emphasise. 

Also, even in real life no authority would ignore this kind of 
information. Here is a teenager who had been nearly murdered on a 
number of occasions and he stumbled on some evidence indicating that 
a son of one of his would-be killers is apparently up to no good. 
Surely in real life any authority worth their salt would say 
something like "very well, Harry, I'll look into it, don't worry". 
Or, if, they are already looking into it something like "don't 
worry, I know all about it and I'll keep an eye on him". In fact, 
Arthur Weasley did exactly the former. He was sceptical himself, but 
he knew that he couldn't afford to ignore it, so he followed Harry's 
lead. 

Now, Dumbledore, he did neither. When Harry came to him with a story 
of the UV he said, "I do not think that it is of great importance", 
which was both a flat-out lie and a dismissal. Harry, being nobody's 
fool, not even Dumbledore's, recognized both. And it hardly comes as 
a surprise that he didn't care of being lied to and dismissed. 
Honestly, it seems almost as if Dumbledore deliberately goaded Harry 
into "forming his own little I-squad". 

> Pippin:
> Naturally they want to discourage him, which, as everyone who's 
> dealt with a teenager knows, is often best done by ignoring the 
> behavior you disapprove of rather than condemning it.
 
a_svirn:
Huh? Wouldn't it be better to *explain* to a teenager the *reason* 
of your disapproval? If you just ignore, disapprove and generally 
shut a teenager out you'd likely to drive them into rebellion. Which 
is exactly what Dumbledore did in OOP and to a point in HBP.