CHAPDISC: PS/SS 1, The Boy Who Lived

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 187685

Pippin:
> 
> Dumbledore left Harry with a note instead of actually talking to the Dursleys because he is control freak and manipulator. I can't believe that he would not even entertain a possibility that oh, I don't know, maybe just maybe Dursleys will refuse to take Harry in.

Pippin:
How would it make Dumbledore  any less a control freak and a manipulator if he spoke to the Dursleys in person? He certainly pushes them around in HBP. But JKR wants to keep the blood protection a secret from the reader while revealing it to Petunia, and  Dumbledore does not want McGonagall or Hagrid to know about it either. Any discussion might be overheard, as Dumbledore knows all too well. 

 I'm not sure what you're getting at here, though. If the Dursleys wouldn't take Harry in of their own choice, then there'd be no magical protection, so Dumbledore had to give them the opportunity to refuse, like it or not. As we know now, Petunia was perfectly capable of informing Dumbledore by Muggle post if she decided not to take Harry in.

If the Dursleys dumped Harry in an orphanage or anywhere else, Dumbledore would be able to find him as easily as Hagrid found him in the hut on the rock.  Harry is evidently not unplottable. 

> > 4. Do you think it was really necessary for Professor McGonagall to stay a cat all day?

Pippin:
A stranger hanging around a suburban house all day would attract a lot more attention and suspicion than a cat. 

Pippin
adding her thanks for the summary and questions