Whom did Dumbledore torture and killed? WAS: Re: re:Scrimgeour/WerewolfBites

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 179739

> Alla:
> 
> You never killed if you could avoid it can also mean that he never 
> killed, period, no? As in you never killed, because you could avoid 
> it?
> 
> And Harry's endorsement can also mean that Dumbledore never killed, 
> no?
> 
> This is how I read it anyways.


Magpie:
I don't know what Dumbledore's killing record is, but Harry's 
statement and Dumbledore's answer implies pretty explicitly that they 
both agree he has indeed killed. I can't imagine any person would 
have that exchange otherwise. That would be like me saying, "But you 
never beat your children unless they misbehaved!" and the other 
person saying, "True, true," if what we really meant is that the guy 
had never beat his children period. I wouldn't bring up that "if" if 
the guy never beat his children at all, and he would respond, "I 
never beat them, period," if he had never beat them at all. Both 
Harry and Dumbledore are agreeing to the same exception when it comes 
to killing--that Dumbledore did kill when it couldn't be avoided. 
Harry did just accuse Dumbledore of killing and Dumbledore agreed to 
it and apparently wanted exactly this reassurance, that the fact that 
he only killed "if he could avoid it" makes all the difference.

-m