CHAPDISC: PS/SS 1, The Boy Who Lived

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 187696

Alla wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > Again, do I think the fact that Dumbledore would have **have to** ask Dursleys even beg to take Harry in is horrifying? Yes, I do, however this is a set of facts Dumbledore has to deal with.
> > ...
> 
Pippin responded:
> 
> I think he does deal with it. Not that he isn't arrogant -- heck, it's arrogant to oppose Voldemort at all. But the letter allows him to conceal his feelings and affect a casual air about a matter  of desperate importance to him, both for Harry's sake and for the sake of Dumbledore's plans. 
> 
>   This is Petunia we're talking about. If she knew how much it mattered to Dumbledore that she take Harry in, she'd have said no. He's the one who turned her down when she begged him to let her go to Hogwarts. She wouldn't pass up a chance to spite him for all the gold in Gringotts, IMO. <snip>

Carol adds:
Not to mention the desperate importance of providing Harry the protection that he can get only through Lily's "blood." Uncaptured DEs are still on the loose, and DD thinks that Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, who has not yet been arrested ("No trouble, was there?" DD says when he learns that Black has been to Godric's Hollow), betrayed the Potters to their deaths. It's of the utmost importance, DD thinks, to make sure that he doesn't--and if that means imposing on the Dursleys, so be it. Even if Black weren't the suspected traitor, his rashness would make him an unsafe guardian (immediately demonstrated by his going after Wormtail and getting himself arrested)--and, more important, Black, unlike Petunia, cannot provide Harry a home (away from DE pursuers and the WW in general) where Harry can be safe because of the blood protection.

If Harry has to undergo deprivation (living conditions that many children from other countries or centuries routinely endured), if the Dursleys have to endure extra expenses and inconvenience, so be it. At least Harry will be safe (and unaware of his own importance).

So, yes, DD is a manipulator. But he wants to make sure that Harry, who is surely "the one with the power," survives to confront Voldemort when the time comes. I don't think that DD yet knows about the soul bit in Harry's scar or that he's planning to raise Harry as "a pig to the slaughter." He just wants him safe and alive until he can train him himself.

Carol, who really sees no alternative for DD (or Harry) under the circumstances