looong - musings on Dumbledore - Even Longer

[Diana]

No: HPFGUIDX 158669



> James:
> 
> > He does nothing about a man being sent to Azkaban without trial, 
he
> does nothing to free said convict when he learns the man is 
innocent. 
> 
> Hickengruendler:
> 
> Sure he does. He tells Harry and Hermione to use the Time Turner. 
> Granted, the best thing he could probably have done was using the 
> Time Turner himself. But maybe *this* actually was some training 
for 
> Harry's later mission, just like the tasks at the end of PS might 
> have been. And again, I find it problematic to think that he's 
> almighty. He might be the most powerful wizard, but he has not the 
> power to overrule Barty Crouch senior's decisions. How many people 
> did go to Azkaban without a trial? Why should Dumbledore help 
Sirius 
> and not the other ones. Maybe Dumbledore wanted Crouch to give 
fair 
> trials to everyone and Crouch simply refused. 
> 
> 
> Sherry:
> 
> I would agree with you, except for one very important fact.  It 
was the mere word of Dumbledore that kept Snape out of Azkaban.  All 
Dumbledore had to do was to stand up and declare that Severus Snape 
was not a death eater, and the whole wizengamut took his word for 
it.  Some of them may have continued to suspect Snape, but noone 
dared speak against the word of Dumbledore.  I find it impossible to 
believe that he could not have determined the truth in the matter of 
Sirius Black and have spoken that one word on his behalf too.
> It was not like in the Fudge Era.  Dumbledore was powerful and 
respected, and apparently, everyone followed his lead and took his 
word on such matters.  He did it for Snape but could not, would not 
do it for Sirius?  Hmmm.  Seems rather suspicious to me.

Diana:
Don't forget that at the time Sirius was first arrested, DD himself 
thought Sirius was guilty of betraying the Potters because DD was 
not aware that Pettigrew had been the Secret Keeper in a last minute 
switch suggested by Sirius.  Sirius was hauled off to Azkaban 
laughing his head off.  Sirius himself didn't protest his innocence, 
as far as I can tell, because he felt responsible for his friends' 
deaths.  Sirius blamed himself for suggesting Pettigrew as Secret 
Keeper, as evidenced by his admitting to Harry that he as good as 
killed Harry's parents in PoA.  By all appearances, Sirius went 
round the bend for a little bit after Lily and James were murdered.  
After 12 years in Azkaban, Sirius didn't escape to prove his 
innocence, either, he escaped to murder Pettigrew who was a direct 
threat to Harry at Hogwarts.  
Dumbledore did try to argue Sirius' case with the MoM at the end of 
PoA, but he was not going to win because Sirius' own actions made 
him look guilty, i.e. sneaking into Hogwarts and knifing Ron's 
bedcovers, etc..  DD's witnesses to Sirius innocence were three 
underage wizards (who MoM thought Sirius had befuddled) and a 
werewolf running around in the forbidden forest, none of which the 
MoM would have considered as trustworthy witnesses.  Do you think 
Fudge would have agreed Sirius was innocent just becuause DD said he 
was?  I don't think so.  Unlike when Snape was on trial many years 
before, Fudge was beginning to believe that DD wanted to take over 
the MoM, so Fudge would not have given DD any benefit of the doubt 
at the time of the events of PoA.  Snape was also a witness to 
Sirius' actions and since Snape hated Sirius, he wasn't going to 
paint anything Sirius and Lupin had said inside that shack in a 
Sirius-is-innocent light.  Dumbledore knew that he was not going to 
insure Sirius' freedom by arguing he was innocent, so he did the 
best he could by arranging for Harry and Hermione to help him 
escape. 
The Dumbledore who's word was trusted without question was losing 
his influence as Fudge and the MoM became more paranoid and 
desperate to retain their power and positions.  


Diana L.
The Plaid Toad