HBP Chapters 27 - 30 post DH look LONG SORRY

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 184488

Potioncat:
I'm sort of comparing apples to oranges, at least to your original
post. What I mean is...let's say JKR had been teaching at my kids'
school. She was going to allow my daughter to die and was going to
wipe my son's memory--but luckily didn't succeed.

I can assure you, I wouldn't keep her books. I wouldn't want anything
around to remind me of her. So I don't understand why Molly is still
using Lockhart's book---much less using it in front of the kids.

Alla:

Oh, now I get it. No neither do I would be keeping his books, but 
hmmm, did Dumbledore tell them everything at the of CoS? Have no book 
to check, but did he specifically inform him that Lockhart did not do 
anything for Ginny and was ready to wipe Ron's memory. Yes, if he 
did, I find it bizarre.

Thanks for clarifying.

Pippin: 
So... it would be a positive example, nay, a moral duty, to bully or
outright bribe the Dursleys for sixteen long years?

Alla:

Absolutely, since the goal of the bribery or bullying will be to 
insure that the helpless baby will not be abused or neglected, I will 
absolutely say that it IS Dumbledore's moral duty to bribe ( I guess 
I am not sure that bribes will work but I think he should have tried 
that) or bully Dursleys. 


Pippin:
Some of us seem to have very different ideas of what disgraces the
name of wizard.

What would Harry, and the soul bit inside him, make of such an
example in human relations? What would the readers think? At least
Harry has no doubt that the Dursleys are treating him badly. But if
the people who love him are bullies, too, he's apt to be as confused
about right and wrong as Draco Malfoy.
<SNIP>


Alla:
So wait, it is **good** example in human relations to let Dursleys 
treat Harry like crap, otherwise he will be confused what's right or 
wrong?

Something tells me that he may have been appreciated the result of 
that very very much, but that's just me. And if Dumbledore was 
sincerely confused about that, which I do not buy for a second, he 
did not need to make himself known to Harry, only to Dursleys.

It seems to be your view that to make Dursleys treat Harry well means 
to make Harry confused about right or wrong. I guess the results of 
what Harry endured as result of Dumbledore's non interference is just 
fine and not going to make him confused about how much he can trust 
adults, etc.

Pippin:
<SNIP>
But as I pointed out long ago in response to Alla, the
letter from Hogwarts was not intended to get Harry a decent bedroom.
It was intended to invite him to Hogwarts, a task at which it failed.
And then Harry ended up on the floor of the hut on the rock, obviously
a worse place than the smallest bedroom, and arguably also worse than
the cupboard.

Alla:

So? It did the job eventually, did it not? Wizards got the job done, 
one way or another and Dursleys did not take the bedroom back.

Pippin:
<SNIP>
Bribes might work for a while. But they have a way of getting bigger.
As Harry guesses, Vernon's dislike of magic would not extend to a big
pile of wizard gold. But Vernon's behavior does not suggest that he
has learned the value of moderation. How long before Vernon asked for
something that even Dumbledore couldn't give? And what would Harry
have learned in the meantime? It can't be a bad thing to take bribes, 
if kindly old Dumbledore is giving them out. <SNIP>


Alla:

We would not know, would we? Dumbledore **never tried**. Maybe 
Dursleys would have been perfectly happy and content with what 
Dumbledore would have offered them. He did not try. I find 
Montavilla's suggestion to give them some money to care for Harry to 
be perfectly reasonable and then if it does not work, well Mushrooms.

And let me tell you what I think Harry would have learned, that 
Dumbledore is willing to do **anything**, **anything** to make sure 
he is treated okay by his relatives. Believe me, I find Petunia's 
behavior towards Harry to be very short of monstrous, I do not think 
that she had any right to treat her nephew, her blood like she did, 
no matter what problems she had with his mother. But she cannot help 
how she feels, doesn't she?

So I think Harry would have learned that even though Dumbledore had 
no choice but to place him with Dursleys, he cared about him enough 
to stay on top of the matter and made sure Harry is treated well. I 
think he would have been smart enough to know that bribe and bullying 
in this case is a tough choice, nothing more than that.

JMO,

Alla