Draco and Dumbledore

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 160151

Pippin: 
> I've mentioned this a couple  of times and not gotten a response, but
> I'm really interested in what others would have to say about this,
so I'll
> try again. When Snape says, "I see no difference" IMO, that's JKR 
> showing us how cruel and wrong it is not to distinguish between a 
> lesser evil and a greater one. Does the fact that Hermione's teeth
> weren't pretty to begin with excuse Snape from doing anything 
> about the fact that they'd been cursed? Does the fact that Draco 
> was not a very nice person to begin with excuse Dumbledore from 
> trying to save him from Voldemort?

Renee:
Actually, I don't understand what you're asking here. What is the
lesser evil and what the greater evil in either case? 

<snip>
> 
> Pippin:
> > Finding traces of a rat in the baby's cradle is bad, but the thing 
> about rats, as with Death Eaters, is that there's always a lot more
than 
> one. So which protects the baby better: getting rid of a lone rat? 
> Or keeping watch and hoping it will lead you to the hole?
> 
> And they did find the hole! The way into Hogwarts 
> through the vanishing cabinet was discovered and no
> child was killed or bitten. Would that be the case if Draco was
> hustled off and the problem was deemed solved?
<snip>

Renee:
As long as Draco hadn't succeeded in repairing the Hogwarts cabinet,
there was no danger of DEs entering Hogwarts, so I don't think this
particular argument works as a defense of Dumbledore's choice. If
Draco had been hustled off early enough (say, in March, after the
poisoned mead incident), there wouldn't have been any hole - unless
you assume the presence of other youthful DEs who knew about Draco's
assignment and would be prepared to take over for him. 

The analogy fails for another reason as well: that no students were
killed or bitten was *not* because the hole was discovered in time and
stopped up, preventing any more rats from entering: it wasn't found
until after the rats came in. (You might just as well exonerate Lupin
 for not telling DD how Sirius entered the castle, because no student
was killed...)

And it's not as if finding the hole had any positive effect, or why
else would there be a discussion about closing the school?  

Renee