Thestral / Acromantula / Albus / Baby on Doorstep / Albus / Snape / Albus

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 184327

Pippin wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184274>:

<< But wizard-born children won't have seen Fantasia and wouldn't
have our preconceived idea about what a black flying horse ought to
look like. >>

But many of them will have seen non-invisible flying horses, such as
flying palominos, the Abraxan breed that that pulls the Beauxbatons
carriage, so they will have the preconceived idea that a black flying
horse looks like the other kinds of flying horse, except for its color. 

(It never before occurred to me to wonder if Abraxas Malfoy and
Abraxan flying horses were named after each other. They could be named
after him if it were he who established the breed. He could be named
after them if his parents were really into them. )

Still, I appreciate your elaboration on the traditional 'be glad that
horses don't fly' joke.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184275>:

<< I doubt that any parents would want their children to attend
Hogwarts until the entire [Acromantula] colony had been wiped out. >>

One thing about wizarding parents, they are not overprotective.

Alla wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184243>:

<< 11. Were you surprised by any of Aberforth's revelations? Did they
affect your view of Albus? >>

To which Potioncat replied in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184279>:

<< By this point, Albus Dumbledore has fallen far from the pedestal
many of us once thought he stood on. >>

Part of Aberforth's story that shocked me was that Albus had been such
an suck-up little swot in his school days. I had thought he had been a
Gryffindor troublemaker like James and Sirius or some such. I can't
deny that Rowling provided a clue to this: Albus never found the Room
of Requirement until like November of GoF, when so many other students
and teachers had found it long before. However, James and Sirius were
among the students who *hadn't* found it, as shown in OoP when Harry
was seeking a location for his Defense club.

Montavilla47 wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184310>:

<< when he was the one who left a baby on their doorstep in the first
place. Without even ringing the doorbell. For all he knew, Harry could
have been eaten by the neighborhood schnauser before Petunia even
opened the door. >>

Not to defend Dumbledore or anything, but surely he left the baby
wrapped in protective spells as well as a little blanket. I don't mean
fabulous dramatic powerful spells to protect him from Lord Voldemort,
but ordinary child care spells any wizarding nanny would use, so that
dogs wouldn't bite him and he wouldn't toddle out of bounds and to
clean his diapers instantaneously. Maybe they were even built into the
baby blanket when someone bought it.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184313>:

<< not just his (hypocritical) lack of sympathy for Snape, who was
worried about Lily but not about James or their son. Considering that
DD (snip) indifferent to the suffering and deaths of unknown people if
he could only keep Harry safe >>

DD intended his concern for the suffering and deaths of unknown future
people to be expressed by raising Harry with brainwashing and
manipulation to be a suicide weapon against LV. 

He expected to feel no guilt or compassion or qualms about this
because because he would feel emotionally attached only to his Plan,
not to the child right there in front of him. 

I think his willingness to sacrifice the child in front of him as long
as his Plan succeeded, is a better parallel to young Snape not caring
whether James and baby Harry died as long as Lily lived, than is his
willingness to risk the Plan in order to let Harry thrive for a couple
of years of semi-normal childhood.

I had a similar reaction to Pippin's
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/184292>:

<< I think we are meant to look to Dumbledore for a clue to Snape's
feelings: pity for Narcissa, mingled with disgust at her lack of
concern for other innocent lives. >>

I question whether 'disgust' is the right word. To me, disgust is a
visceral rather than intellectual emotion, so Snape would feel
'disgust' at Narcissa's lack of concern for other lives only if his
concern for those lives was also visceral. I think even heroic Snape
doesn't go in for compassion and empathy (words for feeling other
people's pain as a visceral feeling). I know he saves people when he
can in preference to standing there watching them die, but I think he
does it out of a sense of duty, or because he decided intellectually
that he will do it, not because standing there watching people die
nauseates him or breaks his heart. (Which incidentally answers
Scarah's question of why he bothered to save Lupin.)

For the same reasons, I question whether DD really felt disgust when
he said 'You disgust me'. Whether he felt it or not, he said it to
manipulate young Snape. This is the DD who sent trusting adults on
what they didn't know were suicide missions all the time without
feeling nauseated or grief-stricken and expected to do the same with
little Harry as I mentioned in my above comment to Carol. Not a whole
lot of visceral compassion and empathy.