On the trivial and the profound/Dumbledore's attitude

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 165500

> > Magpie:
> > I don't see that it really matters whether an academic advantage
> > is foremost in Harry's mind when he does it. It seems like you're
> > whole argument is that things like academic honesty are petty
> > when you're a guy like Harry who's got the weight of the world on
> > his shoulders. And that's a possible position, but these things
> > being "petty" in Harry's eyes doesn't mean Harry's not taking the
> > easy way over the right way in his Potions class sixth year.

> Lupinlore:
> Ahhh, right versus easy, the babbling of Dumbledore <g>.  Yet, what
> kind of messages is the "epitome of goodness" giving Harry with
> regard to Sluggy?

> Magpie:
> LOL! Hey, I've been trying to find an actual example of right
> versus easy (where "right" doesn't totally coincide with our hero's
> nature and so what they want to do anyway) for two books now. Throw
> me a bone here!

Bone thrown!

Let us consider this a little more deeply, however.  In the above
snippets, we go at this as if the two situations -- Harry "concealing" the source of his potions prowess and Harry trying
to get the memory, are two unrelated questions.  And they are never
explicitly brought together, it is true.

Yet, are they really separate?  What is the basis of Sluggy's
positive attitude to Harry?  Largely Harry's fame, but Harry's "talent" in his class certainly greases the wheels to a huge degree, making Sluggy even more favorably disposed to Harry.  Thus the one situation is part and parcel of the other.

What would DD say, if you pinned his slippery hide to the wall?  He
might well concede that, given his goal of retrieving the memory,
that Sluggy's positive view of Harry's potions skills is all for the
best.  This in the event that the whole HBP book episode was not part
of DD's plan -- which I doubt very much it was.

Lupinlore, noting once again as many do that Dumbledore has too many
hats on one pointy head.