Dumbledore

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 177395

lizzyben wrote:
> > <snip> Or why he didn't just *give* Hermione the Horcrux book
before he died. Or why he didn't just *give* Harry the Sword of
Gryffindor before he died instead of that convoluted plan. 
> 
> Bart:
> That's clearly because he didn't expect to die that night; this was
the backup plan in case death came unexpectedly. 

Carol responds:

Right. Dumbledore expected to retrieve the real locket Horcrux, use
the Sword of Gryffindor to destroy it, and then give the sword to
Harry. (At that point, he could also have given Harry the book(s) on
Horcruxes, either for his own use or to give to Hermione, though
admittedly there's no indication that he intended to do so.) But since
DD knew that Draco was trying to kill him and that he was dying from
the ring Horcrux and could die from either cause (or require Snape to
kill him for either reason) at any time and also knew that retrieving
the Horcrux would be very dangerous, more so to him than to Harry, he
needed a back-up plan (willing Harry the sword) in case he died before
his plans came to fruition. He could not, however, include the books
on Horcruxes in the will as he knew that Scrimgeour would read it and
he didn't want to give the plan away.

Carol, who would have been perfectly happy without the Harry!Horcrux
motif, which necessitated the Elder Wand subplot and all its
complications, including Snape's death :-(