Who is Harry's guardian?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 158440

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_svirn" <a_svirn at ...> wrote:
>
> > Magpie:
> I think we're meant 
> > to read it more the way Sherry does, just accepting that this was 
> what 
> > Dumbledore thought was best and let's just not think about the 
> potential 
> > alternatives.  
> 
> a_svirn:
> Actually, I believe we are supposed to think of alternatives. I even 
> believe that the whole thing was exactly the monumental mistake 
> Dumbledore hinted about when he bragged about his brainpower.
>
Carol responds:
That's possible, of course, but I don't think so. Dumbledore is
confident that the blood protection is in place and will remain in
place until Harry's seventeenth birthday. Also, although he regrets
Harry's mistreatment at the hands of the Dursleys, he sees that Harry
has suffered no longterm psychological or physical damage from that
treatment. In fact, though this was certainly no part of Dumbledore's
plan, he has developed self-reliance and some degree of indifference
to discomfort as the result of that treatment. He can certainly
tolerate the dislike and suspicion of his schoolmates (in CoS and the
first part of GoF, for example) better than Ron can, and, unlike Ron,
he's not afraid of spiders. I'm not defending the Dursleys, just
noting that here as often in the HP books, good comes out of evil.

I do think that Dumbledore made the best choice available to him at
the time, and I think it would have been irresponsible (or, even, to
use, Lupinlore's favorite word, reprehensible) for him to risk letting
Sirius Black get hold of Baby!Harry when, as far as Dumbledore knew,
Black had just betrayed the Potters to their deaths. Not only Harry's
fate but the fate of the Wizarding World lay in Dumbledore's hands at
that moment, and he couldn't risk giving Harry to a man who might
either murder him on the spot or turn him over to Voldemort. He had to
come up with a plan that would guarantee Harry's safety, and giving
him to Sirius certainly would not have done so.

We don't have the word of anyone other than Sirius himself that the
Potters made him Harry's guardian. We know for a fact only that they
made him Harry's godfather, which is not the same thing. If the
Potters made a will, their copy would certainly have been destroyed
along with the house, and no other copy has been produced. So even if
Black was Harry's *legal* guardian rather than that being the
intention of the Potters but not put in writing, how could Dumbledore
know? And even if he did know, surely Harry's safety was more
important than Black's right to guardianship even if Black was his
legal guardian?

If Black hadn't gone after Pettigrew, if he had instead gone to
Dumbledore and explained the situation, I could see his having a
claim. As it is, I see nothing wrong with Dumbledore's actions. And if
Black genuinely cared about Harry's welfare, I think he would have
relinquished his claim after talking to Dumbledore, who had given
Harry a protection Black could not give him by placing him with his
mother's blood relative, Petunia. (BTW, I think the blood protection
protects him from real harm from the Dursleys--Petunia doesn't succeed
in hitting him with the frying pan and Vernon feels an electric shock
when he tries to choke Harry.) 

Imagine for a moment Baby!Harry placed with Sirius black, a twenty-two
year-old known for his recklessness. He rides away with Harry on his
flying motorcycle, but his mind is on revenge against Peter Pettigrew.
Should he go into hiding from the Death Eaters, who know that he's a
member of the Order and a friend of the Potters, or should he go after
Peter and seek revenge? Really, Black would have had only one sensible
choice--go to Dumbledore for help. If Harry would not have been safe
with a wiaarding family (and he would not have been able to go out on
the street without being recognized), surely he'd have been much less
safe with rash, reckless, arrogant young Sirius Black? The Death
Eaters had not been caught, and those that remained loyal would not
have hesitated to kill either Sirius Black or Baby!Harry.

Carol, believing that Dumbledore made the only choice that would
guarantee Harry's surviving to the age of eleven