Draco and Dumbledore/ Molly and Harry-Treated like Family

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 160166

> Pippin:
> Increasingly endangered? The mead was far less dangerous than
> the necklace. We are told that Katie could only be saved because
> her contact with the necklace was so minimal. Ron, OTOH, could
> have been saved by anyone with a bezoar handy, and if a bezoar
> was not handy, a House Elf could have fetched one in a twinkling.

a_svirn:
And who would have fetched a house-elf if Harry, Ron and Slughorn 
had drunk simultaneously? Which is how stiff drinks are often drunk. 
Besides, I didn't mean to compare the respective deadliness of the 
necklace and the mead. I meant that it has become increasingly clear 
that Draco is not going to give up, and did not care how many people 
would die before he'd get Dumbledore. 

> Pippin:
> I'm not sure what you mean by a more direct investigation. A
> search of the RoR wouldn't have revealed anything because they
> didn't know what they were looking for. Draco was questioned
> and used occlumency to hide his thoughts. 

a_svirn:
Draco wasn't "questioned". He was talked to. And very lame talk it 
was. By investigation I mean investigation. Continuous surveillance, 
questioning with and without veritaserum, with and without 
legillimecy, etc. And I don't think Draco is the only one who should 
have been questioned. Pressing chargers. Also, just because Harry 
couldn't figure out how to catch Draco red-handed in the room of 
requirement doesn't mean that Dumbledore couldn't. Or even Aurors if 
it comes to that. And last but not the least, what stopped 
Dumbledore from offering Draco the deal he offered him on the Tower? 
I honestly don't see Draco refusing it. It's one thing to hesitate 
when you have a whip hand, quite another when you are backed into a 
corner and suddenly offered a reprieve.   


> Pippin:
> Um, usually when solving a problem one tries to reduce the
> number of unknowns. At least Snape knows who Voldemort's
> agent is. But if he wanted to, Voldemort could put the Imperius
> curse on almost anyone and send them to do the task. This way
> Snape knows who to watch, and even what to watch for -- the 
> arrival of backup. There is some canon that Dumbledore
> knew where to watch as well.

a_svirn:
Is there? I'd say everything in canon points out to the opposite 
direction. 

You are certainly right about eliminating unknowns as a way of 
solving problem. The thing is, watching Draco didn't eliminate 
anything at all. They didn't know what Draco's plan was in the 
beginning of the year they still didn't have a clue in the end. As 
for other possible Voldemors agents, how did Dumbledore know that 
there weren't any? 

Moreover, Snape didn't exactly watch, did he? He tried to get in 
Draco's way, and generally annoyed him. That's not how surveillance 
works. Surveillance is what Harry did when assigned elves to shadow 
Draco unobtrusively.