In defense of DD WAS musings on Dumbledore - Even Longer

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 158720

 
Magpie wrote:

It's  very important to the plot that Dumbledore have no interest in Sirius  
because the slightest effort on his part to find out what happened would  
have cleared everything up. JKR created a believable situation to make  this 
possible with Barty Crouch and Dumbledore's honest testimony about  the 
Secret Keeper.  But given the DD that we've seen, the guy happy  to explain 
everyone's actions to us, it still requires him to suddenly  become amazingly
uninterested in what went down in a situation very  important to him.  It's 
like if it were Ron going to jail under the  same circumstances after Harry's
death.  It's not enough that  Dumbledore can't get Sirius out of jail.  He 
has to be ready to  convict him on circumstantial evidence like everyone 
else.

-m  





Julie:
Just to make it a clearer analogy, it would be like Ron going to jail  after
Harry's death, with DD knowing that only a very *few* other people  could
have betrayed Harry, those being, say, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, or
Luna. The only people Harry would have trusted implicitly enough to
be his secret-keeper (and, yes, Harry might have more people  than
that, but it didn't seem James did). DD was told by Harry that Ron
is his secret-keeper. Ron is found soon after Harry's demise,  laughing
maniacally over the dead body of Neville, and is carrying away in  that
crazed state. 
 
So, in this scenario, DD thinks...what?? Oh, Ron, dear friend of  Harry
can't be guilty, it must be Hermione, dear friend of Harry, or Neville,  dear
friend of Harry. Well, except that Neville is dead too. But still,  Harry
Harry must have changed secret-keepers, suddenly and for no clear
reason, without telling anyone. All that evidence against Ron--that 
very STRONG evidence--it must be wrong! It had to be one of the other
highly trusted friends!
 
Again, it's not like the culprit could be *anyone*. There is no way 
it could be Umbridge, Fudge, Snape, Malfoy, or someone else who
has had a contentious relationship with Harry. It can only be one of
that small group of people, who are all supposedly intensely  loyal
to Harry and the Order. One of *them* did it. The evidence is  piled up
against one of them--Ron--and while it is circumstantial, it is very
strong and would get a conviction in pretty much any court in the
US or UK I'm sure. After all, Ron's only defense is his word that  Harry
changed secret-keepers at the last minute to Neville, who just  happens
to be dead now, and Ron was found standing over that dead body 
laughing maniacally. What to think, what to think??
 
I do believe that DD should and probably did feel regret after the 
events of POA, and wished he'd delved further into the matter way
back when Sirius was first thrown into Azkaban. But I just don't see 
that he bears *blame* for not doing so, when nothing in the original
circumstances gave him reason to suspect there was a change in the
secret-keeper or to suspect one of James' other friends was so much 
more likely a homicidal betrayer than Sirius. (I note also that the  other
likely suspects--Peter and Lupin--were Order members too I believe,
so those asking why Dumbledore didn't "support" Sirius as he  would
other Order members by questioning the situation further, should you
also being asking why Dumbledore would be suspecting another Order
member--you know, those folks he loves to support and protect--*was*
the culprit despite *no* evidence, rather than Sirius who was damned
by loads of evidence. Especially when one of those possible suspects  
was presumably DEAD.)
 
Okay, I'll desist now. I'm not going to blame DD for Sirius's fate,  not
even a little. I do wish he'd decided to talk to Sirius back then  and
get his story, but I can understand that the evidence seemed to say
it all, and that DD had other critical issues to deal with at a  time when 
it didn't occur to him that there could reasonable (if highly  unlikely)
doubt of Sirius's guilt. Regret that DD didn't make time to see  Sirius,
yes (as I'm sure DD does), but blame him, no.
 
Julie  
 
 
 
 


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