ChapDisc: DH 18, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

[nirupama76]

No: HPFGUIDX 182521

<Summary SNIP>

Niru writes:

Before I get on to the answers, I must say that was a most original 
and entertaining summary. :-)

> QUESTIONS:
> 
> 1. Harry hasn't been this mad at Dumbledore since OotP. Was this 
> worse? Compare and contrast this anger with Harry's rage from a 
year 
> and a half ago.

Niru writes:

Yes. In OotP his rage was more grief at losing Sirius and I believe 
Dumbledore bore the brunt of Harry venting his grief. In this case 
Harry is pretty disillusioned with Dumbledore himself.
 
> 2. Dumbledore calmed Harry in OotP by launching into the whole 
> prophecy story, and he started it by saying "I am going to tell 
you 
> everything." In light of this DH chapter, did he?

Niru writes:

No, he did not. At that time he didn't even confide his suspicions 
about the Horcruxes not to mention Hallows.

> 3. Is Harry right about Dumbledore not trusting him with the whole 
> truth? We all know about Dumbledore's penchant for secrecy, but 
was 
> he withholding any information regarding the Horcrux hunt from 
Harry? 
> Was he withholding any information that Harry needed to confront 
> Voldemort? (Let's leave out the soul bit in Harry's head for this 
> discussion, shall we?)

Niru writes:

Ah! It is pretty hard to answer this without bringing in Harry!
Horcrux. Anyway... Harry is right about Dumbledore not trusting him 
enough. For example, what about Snape? Harry has asked many times 
about Dumbledore's trust in Snape (so have others but they don't 
matter so much). Agreed that Dumbledore had promised Snape never to 
reveal his true loyalties. But couldn't he have convinced Snape to 
make an exception for Harry? Or made the exception himself? Pretty 
lucky that Harry was there when Snape died and was good enough to 
actually go to his side (I'd have walked off without looking back). 
Also fairly lucky that he went ahead to look at the memories. What 
if this hadn't happened and Snape had showed up at Harry's doorstep 
with his story about his - Snape's - love for Lily and the agreement 
to euthanize Dumbledore. Would Harry have believed him? Would he 
have even been willing to listen? I think Dumbledore took a big 
gamble there.


> 4. Did Harry have a right to know about Dumbledore's past, 
especially 
> his friendship with GG? Harry admits he may only be mad because DD 
> didn't reveal it himself, but how would that knowledge have helped 
> Harry?

Niru writes:

I don't think Harry had a RIGHT per se. That way nobody has a RIGHT 
to know anybody else's past. But it may have helped if he had known 
about Dumbledore's friendship with Grindelwald. For the only reason 
that he would have trusted Dumbledore more. In the end Harry did 
trust Dumbledore's judgement but he would probably have spent less 
time disillusioned and could have been spared some heartache if he'd 
known some of these things about Dumbledore upfront.

> 5. How much do you think Rita was stretching the truth in the part 
of 
> her book we read? It was obvious where she put in her own opinion, 
> but on the rest did you think she was telling it honestly, 
adorning 
> the truth a little, or stretching the truth beyond acceptable 
> boundaries?

Niru writes:

Rita being Rita is sitting somewhere between adorning the truth a 
little and stretching it beyond acceptable boundaries.

> 6. With regards to "For the Greater Good", Hermione said 
Dumbledore 
> changed. Did he? Though Dumbledore rejected Grindelwald's 
> interpretation of that phrase, did Dumbledore reject his own 
> interpretation?

Niru writes:

Dumbledore changed. I think he even rejected his own interpretation 
as he had put it to Grindelwald. When Aberforth asked Harry about 
whether he (Harry) is sure that he's not being sacrificed "for the 
greater good", I confess I had doubts. But, in the end, Dumbledore 
did try his best to make sure that the outcome was not only "for the 
greater good" but also for Harry's.


> 7. Rita had her own speculation. What do you think happened to 
> Ariana? Was it Albus's fault, as Aberforth contended when he broke 
> his nose, or was Albus taking the blame because he allowed the 
> circumstances that led to her death to occur?

Niru writes:

Do you mean in the circumstances of how she died? Or what happened 
to her when she was six (or seven)? I'm not sure how she died but 
Albus was taking the blame for allowing the circumstances that led 
to her death.

> 8. As Harry asked above: if Grindelwald hadn't fled, would 
Dumbledore 
> have changed his ways? Would Dumbledore have necessarily chosen 
his 
> brother over Gellert? Do you think Aberforth did something that 
> showed Albus the error of his ways, and what could that have been?

Niru writes:

Yes, I think Dumbledore would have changed his ways. Albus would 
have changed and chosen his brother when he saw Grindelwald using 
the cruciatus curse on Aberforth.

> 9. This is the only place where we see Dumbledore interacting with 
> Grindelwald. Did you see enough, were there enough hints to 
indicate 
> that Dumbledore may have loved Grindelwald for more than just his 
> mind? What about those five years it took DD to finally confront 
GG? 
> Did you think DD was gay and in love with GG after this chapter?

Niru writes:

no, I did not think Dumbledore was in love. It looked like a 
friendship, like a meeting of great minds.

> 10. OK, what's with Aberforth and the damn goats? And where is 
Mike 
> Gray <Aberforth's Goat> when you need him?

Niru writes:

:-)

> 11.  Rita had a lot more to say in her book, stuff that Harry 
wasn't 
> that interested in. Was there anything in there that particularly 
> interested you? Like the quotes from "Dogbreath" Doge, Enid Smeek, 
or 
> Bathilda Bagshot, including how she got the quotes out of Batty 
> (veritiserum)? Or the insinuations Rita made for the reason behind 
> the "coffin-side brawl"?

Niru writes:

All the usual toxic Rita Skeeter stuff. Nope. Not interesting.

Niru writes:

On another note, this chapter had one of the most touching scenes 
between Harry and Hermione when she lightly brushes his head on her 
way back to tent. Harry does acknowledge the gesture to himself, if 
not to her. He does need his friends by his side and it is good to 
have friends like Hermione (and Ron).

- Niru