Beedle the Bard SPOILERS The Warlock and his hairy heart

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 185172

A_svirn:
> I think the best part of the book is actually Dumbledore's 
> commentary, and the best part of the commentary is its sloppiness
and  patent insincerity. The latter is especially manifest in his
notes on  the Hollows and particularly on the Elder Wand. He writes
something  to the effect that The Wand awe-inspiring reputation is
manifestly at> variance with its own history. And yet, we know that
not only he  craved it as a boy, but he actually claimed it after
defeating  Grindenwald – so he doesn't seem to have listend to his own
advice. 
> Or he thought it applies to anyone, but himself. 

Pippin:
DD is supposed to be writing about two years before the events on the
tower, so he is simply writing with the benefit of hindsight.  JKR
says coyly in her preface that it is not clear who Dumbledore was
writing for, his own satisfaction or future publication.  But I think
that's a puzzle for the reader: JKR tells us this commentary was found
among Dumbledore's papers left to the Hogwarts Archives. And
therefore, IMO, it was intended to be read by none other than
Dumbledore's chosen successor: Severus Snape!

You see the cleverness of it -- if the Elder Wand has lost its power
as Dumbledore intended, then Snape will read the commentary for ToTB
at face value. But if the Elder Wand still works, Snape will realize
from the commentary what he has, its perils and how to deal with it.  
Snape, of course, knows that Harry Potter has inherited from James a
uniquely durable invisibility cloak and may also recognize from
Dumbledore's closing comment what it was about the ring that proved so
tempting. 
 

Pippin