Draco and Dumbledore LONGish

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 160181

 
In a message dated 10/22/2006 3:03:17 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com writes:

>  Carol responds:
> <HUGE SNIP>
That would be like murdering  Snape, whom
> Dumbledore and the students need, whether Harry knows it  or not, 
or so
> Dumbledore firmly believes (and so do I). *If* that  view is 
correct,
> how could Dumbledore possibly risk activating the  UV by 
confronting an
> unready and unrepentant (but terrified)  Draco?

Alla:

Well, that is the crux, isn't it? You seem to think  that 
Dumbledore's main objective should be keeping Snape alive, right?  
Because he needs Snape that badly, correct?


Julie:
I don't want to speak for Carol, but I also made a similar argument,
and I don't think either of us stated that Dumbledore's main  objective
should be keeping Snape alive. So that's not the crux. Dumbledore's
main objective was to keep *everyone* involved alive IMO--the  innocent
children at Hogwarts, and Snape and Draco. My argument (and Carol's
I think) is that Dumbledore had ALREADY ensured the students'  safety
by having Snape dissuade Draco from using any further indirect 
methods like the necklace, and by installing the Order to  protect
the students just in case the DEs *did* somehow get into Hogwarts.
Which left Snape, who would remain alive and fine up until the moment
Draco finally made another and more direct attempt on Dumbledore's
life, and Draco, who could only be saved at that precise moment when
he realized he didn't have it in him to kill a defenseless  Dumbledore,
not even to save his parents and himself. A moment that would have
to be a direct confrontation, one Dumbledore was sure he could  win.
 
Certainly Dumbledore played it so he could save them all, rather than
sacrificing Snape and perhaps Draco by confining Draco, but in this
process the rest of the students were never again in danger  (after
the necklace and mead attempts). I have to assume you are arguing
that this installation of the Order at Hogwarts, and the resulting  fact
that no students were attacked when the DEs invaded (except those
students who *chose* to fight the DEs), is NOT  sufficient enough
evidence that Dumbledore took the protection of the students very 
seriously indeed and did not sacrifice their safety for the  well-being
of Snape and Draco? 
 
If that is your reason, then I'm sure you won't be dissuaded, because
none of us can know what was in Dumbledore's mind. The best we can
do is take the results (no innocent students attacked) and infer from 
that Dumbledore's intent (to protect them fully). And while it's true  one
can't really prove a negative (no one attacked=no danger), it's still  a
perfectly reasonable assumption from the facts.  Or one can choose 
to assume it was blind luck, that Dumbledore didn't really do so  much,
and the DEs were fortunately too incompetent to get to the students
(whom they didn't appear interested in anyway, I might note,  something
Dumbledore may have also expected). Which you can't disprove  either.
 
It all again comes down to the way one *wants* to see Dumbledore,  I
think. You can give him the benefit of the doubt (as I do), or not.  But
what you cannot do is show any conclusive evidence that  Dumbledore
took the safety of his students lightly, or that he valued Snape's  and
Draco's safety more. 
 
Julie


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