DD as manipulator? A long response.

[eggplant107]

No: HPFGUIDX 174547

 justcarol67 Wrote:
 
> [Dumbledore] always had hope for 
> Harry, who nevertheless had to face
> Voldemort believing that he was going
> to die [
] thanks to the shared drop
> of blood, he is almost certain that Harry won't die 

When they met in the Forbidden Forest Harry didn't die because
Voldemort didn't die, but Voldemort was hurt by the encounter, he was
knocked unconscious for as long as Harry was hence the ugly baby at
King's Cross. The reason Voldemort was only injured and not killed is
that one Horcrux remained, the Snake. Dumbledore had not expected this
"If I know him [Harry] he will have arranged matters so that when he
does set out to meet his death, it will truly mean the end of
Voldemort". If things had gone according to Dumbledore's plan both
would have died right then. 

I don't believe Dumbledore dreamed Harry had the slightest chance of 
survival until the King's Cross scene, and that's why he's so happy.
And I'm still not convinced that the Dumbledore at King's Cross was
really Dumbledore and not Harry's mind working out the last pieces of
the puzzle.

> He can't let Harry know about the shared
> drop of blood or the willing sacrifice
> will not work. 

But Dumbledore didn't let Snape know about it either and even sneered
at Snape is for being reluctant to be as pragmatic as he is. 

> it seems to me that DD *appears* 
> to be ruthless and is without 
> question manipulative, but he is
> not heartless or unloving. 

That is true, Dumbledore was not heartless or unloving, far from it,
but when he needed to be he could be utterly ruthless. It is necessary
for The Greater Good.

 Eggplant Gellert Grindelwald