Obviously guilty was Re: JKR/Oprah interview

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189659

 
> Alla:
> 
> Where did you get that he was investigating for a year after Peter's "death" whether Sirius was a murderer? I thought he reached his conclusion the very same day (or few hours later)after he heard of Godric Hollow.

Pippin:
He was investigating for a year *before* Peter's "death" --  Sirius knew the spy had been active for that long. Order members were being picked off one by one, remember? As far as everyone knew, Peter was  the last in a long string of Order members murdered by the spy. Dumbledore's conviction that Sirius was a murderer didn't begin with the attack on the Potters or Peter's death -- he'd suspected it for a long time already.

> Alla:
> 
> Oh you are right of course - he will harm and hurt anything and anybody he leads, I just wanted him away from those he in my opinion harmed most visibly _ Potters family and their son, Sirius, all those men who agreed to fight under him.

Pippin:
Scrimgeour and Fudge  showed no inclination to leave either Harry  or Hogwarts alone, so I can't think why Dumbledore wouldn't involve himself. He'd still think Sirius was guilty, he'd still see Harry as a way to locate the horcrux(es) and he'd still see the Harry!crux as something that had to be destroyed eventually, for Harry's own good as well as the rest of the WW.

He probably wouldn't have placed Harry at the Dursleys though, because he'd be trusting the power of the Ministry more than the power of love. He'd want, let's see, a powerful magical family with anti-Dark Arts pro-Ministry cred.  So Harry dies before his second birthday, murdered by his foster brother Barty Jr. Oops.
 
> Pippin:
> <SNIP>
> 
> > Epilogue!Harry does not want to be anything more, IMO. But Dumbledore did -- he never stopped wanting to be the noble wizard on the pedestal, and whether he was at Hogwarts or at the Ministry, he would have surrounded himself with people who thought that's what he was -- or worse, like Grindelwald, would cynically  pretend to. 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I am not getting your point here, are you trying to prove to me that Harry is less susceptible to power corruption than Dumbledore? If this is so, there is no need, I know this lol.
> 

Pippin:
No, I am saying that Dumbledore wasn't as different from Harry as you think. He too was doing his fallible best to bring some love into the world. But he wanted to shine while doing it. He wasn't, IMO, out to humiliate, torture or kill for the fun of it and he wouldn't have done that at the Ministry. But the essential lie at the heart of the Ministry's existence needs enforcers to keep it going. If Dumbledore had succeeded in getting rid of Umbridge and the dementors, their replacements would have been just as bad. He was willing to look the other way at what Grindelwald was planning, and he knew it would have been the same at the Ministry, IMO.


> 
> Alla:.<snip> Let's also not forget that Sirius was the only one who wanted Harry to know truth about the situation and thanks to whom only Harry at least learned something of what was happening. Again, he did allow himself to be stopped by that shrieking Harpy (Molly), but you know, since I do not think that Sirius was ever completely psychologically stable after he escaped Azkaban, I will cut him slack. 

Pippin:
If he wasn't psychologically stable, then Dumbledore was right to think he shouldn't be going out on missions. And I don't get your criticism of Molly. She's on your side, she doesn't think Harry belongs in this war. Sirius, OTOH, can't wait for Harry to grow up and fight for the Order. And that doesn't mean dressing up with robes and wands and having cool adventures. It means dying for your friends. He'd have died for Peter, and he would have expected Harry to do no less. 

As for the cloak:
James himself took the cloak and wore it outside the house more than once. He obviously didn't think it was going to defend Harry and Lily. Also, Voldemort knew the Stone was in Harry's pocket. He doesn't need to see things to know where they are.

Pippin