The Isolated Headmaster: Implications for Snape and Harry

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 163620

Pippin:
> But what if Dumbledore had always planned that Snape would appear 
to betray him once Harry was ready to leave Hogwarts? Snape is not 
going to be much use hanging around Hogwarts while Harry is off 
hunting for horcruxes, so why not send Snape back to the enemy camp 
as mole and saboteur?

Ceridwen:
This would mean that from the beginning, Dumbledore knew about 
multiple horcruxes, I think.  He probably suspected a horcrux after 
Godrick's Hollow, but the idea of multiples may only have popped up 
after CoS, when Harry destroyed one of the HXs and something expected 
didn't happen.  After DD ascertained, of course, that the diary was 
in fact a horcrux.

Pippin:
> Once it became clear that Harry would not have the acting ability 
or the skill with occlumency to guard the secret of a false betrayal, 
Dumbledore could only keep it from him. But in that case, nurturing 
trust between Snape and Harry would be no use, since it would be 
broken when the 'betrayal' took place.

Ceridwen:
I agree that it would have been a bad move for DD as head of the 
Order, to have given Harry any information about Snape, with the 
possibility, and in OotP the actual realization, of a connection with 
LV through the scar.  If I recall right, DD did know from PS/SS that 
Harry felt something in his scar when LV was around, and a connection 
always seemed likely once LV figured it out.

But he could have given Snape information on Harry.  Maybe not the 
Prophecy, since there was a chance of a future reconstituted LV 
becoming displeased with Snape and pulling a Bertha Jorkins on him.  
But, other things, things that would have affected Snape's overall 
treatment and handling of the boy.  I believe that Snape really did 
think Harry was some pampered celebrity boy when he came to Hogwarts, 
and nothing he's seen has changed his mind.  Dumbledore's assessment, 
along with examples of, say, the Dursleys' treatment of him, 
appealing to sympathy for a child who grew up without parents, 
whatever it took, might have made the relationship less strained from 
the beginning.  Since I'm one of those people who believe that Harry 
will have to let go of his overwhelming hatred of Snape (see his 
performance in Flight of the Prince, which is abysmal), I see the two-
way hate-fest to be a hiderance to the ultimate defeat of LV.

Hm.  Sorry for the tangent!  ;)  Anyway, yes, Harry is incapable of 
acting as if he hates someone he doesn't.  In the sort of covert 
planning necessary to hoodwink LV as long as possible, that is a 
negative.  He doesn't have the skill to become a good Occlumens, and 
in part because of his feelings against Snape, he was unable to 
attain even a rudimentary grasp of the subject.  But I don't think 
Dumbledore could have known that from the beginning if he had any 
idea whatsoever of the Dursleys' poor treatment of their charge.  
This is something he would have had to know from the beginning in 
order for him to have made a conscious decision not to intervene, in 
my opinion.  Your mileage may vary, of course, and be different on 
the highway than in town.

By the way, I've been swayed to agree with the idea that Harry may 
need to close his mind in order to fight the secondary bad guys, the 
Death Eaters, before facing LV.  There may be a gauntlet to go 
through aside from the HXs before that final confrontation takes 
place.  Others might take these challenges for him, because the book 
will be too long if Harry has to do everything himself, but I do 
think Snape totally believes his advice is worthwhile or he plain 
would not have given it.  Just mentioning.

Alla:
> So, does Dumbledore know everything or does he not? I mean, how 
long could he plan the betrayal if he did? Since Harry come to school?

Ceridwen:
As Head of the Order, he may have made plans as early as the day 
after Godrick's Hollow.  He didn't think LV had gone, and neither did 
Hagrid.  I thought when I first read what Hagrid said about LV's 
supposed death, that he got the idea from Dumbledore, whom he 
obviously adores.  So, yes, I could see Head of OotP Dumbledore 
making plans that early.  (Segueing into...)

Alla:
> I thought Ceridwen was saying that as a Headmaster it would make 
perfect sense for DD to step in and resolve growing hatred ASAP, 
which I am completely with her by the way and that it came into 
conflict with DD as Head of the Order.

Ceridwen:
Exactly.  As Head of Hogwarts, Dumbledore has a very different 
mission than he would as Head of the OotP.  When Harry shows up at 
Hogwarts, and LV decides to possess Quirrell in the same year, the 
two positions, which until then had not been in conflict, crashed 
head-on into each other.

All of the plans he had made were scuttled by the boy Harry turned 
out to be.  A lot of people here have mentioned that a boy raised the 
way Harry was could have turned out to be secretive.  That he didn't, 
and was as normal as he was, was good for Harry, but not good for any 
plans to let him in on strategic or tactical secrets.

Alla:
> I mean, even if DD indeed planned that betrayal for the years 
before, would it still made more sense to make sure Harry and Snape 
does not hate each other, but then for Harry to be just as shocked as 
everybody else did?

Ceridwen:
Possibly.  There's something to say for some level of bad blood 
between them, for LV's benefit, especially given the scar connection 
in OotP.  But as I said, if there was some master plan, and it seems 
there may have been because Dumbledore mentioned a plan himself, then 
Harry being who he was, changed it radically.

Alla:
> That would made his education from Snape more um... educational IMO.

Ceridwen:
Yes.  Which is why I think that Dumbledore wore too many 
Organizational Head hats.  It isn't unusual for a person to belong to 
several organizations, but I think that in Real Life, it would be too 
much for one person to be head of more than one.  Sooner or later, 
there will be some sort of conflict.

Ideally, Dumbledore should have stepped aside for someone else to 
head the Order.  But then, we get back to an isolated Dumbledore who 
has no confidantes, and also no equals.  I'm sure everyone thought he 
was the best man for both jobs, and he agreed.  Maybe another of his 
mistakes was thinking that he could manage both roles and not have 
them in conflict with one another.

Ceridwen.