varying views of characters

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 191168



> Rebecca:
> I don't see how it was a choice between "leave Harry alone at the Dursley's and ignore him until he's eleven" and "find somewhere else for Harry". Why exactly would Dumbledore coming to check on Harry ruin the protection? We are not given a reason why he could not come to check on him, the Dursley's certaintly wanted to raise Harry without telling him that he was a wizard, but no one knew that. Hagrid is very surprised to find out that Harry is completely in the dark about all that, wouldn't Dumbledore have mentioned that if he knew? I don't see a reason mentioned in the text why Dumbledore or someone else couldn't have gone to see Harry, even once a year (if only to give him a birthday present). I see it as Dumbledore not being all that interested in Harry's well-being, that he saw him as a weapon, not a person.

Alla:

I missed the post from Pippin and I know that we are not supposed to say what is basically 'I agree" and "Thank you", but I am going to say it anyway, because I think Pippin set up a choice which I was not arguing was supposed to be set up.

Indeed, where does it say in canon that visiting will stop protection?  How about he *tries* to make the circumstances easier for Harry if he needs the protection to be there?


Rebecca: 
> Also, there are ways to die other than at the hands of dark wizards. Children die every day from neglect and abuse. The small incidents we have seen from Vernon and Petunia don't put an accidental death that far out of the question. Its been mentioned that Mrs. Figg was in charge of keeping an eye on Harry, but IMO she does a rather poor job of it. She only intereacts with Harry once a year, and in the months before he turned 11, she wasn't available at all. In CoS she must have seen Vernon putting bars on Harry's window, and then Harry was nowhere to be seen for several days and there's no indication that she alerted anyone (Ron showed up, as I recall, because Harry hadn't written to him all summer). What if Harry got heatstroke left alone all day in the summer in the unairconditioned second-floor bedroom? (unlikely, but not impossible) I just would find this all more palatable if Dumbledore had left Harry alone because he was worried they'd turn him out if he interfered, was completely surprised by their poor treatment, and afterwards removed Harry from their home as soon as he could each summer (I think only in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows he leaves before his birthday). 

Alla:

Please, the thought of Ms.Figg as safeguard for Harry makes me laugh and not in a good way. She did NOTHING to save him from abuse, what kind of safeguard is she? And while the starving and bar on the room makes me mad every time I think about it, remember in HBP (I think?) Harry remembers that he had to turn away from Vernon hitting him? (paraphrase)? Clearly while we are not shown physical abuse in great detail even JKR hints at what happened besides what occurred in CoS.
And you are so right, imagine Dumbledore's face if his precious weapon ended up dead because of what Dursleys did to him? Supposedly protection is because Petunia's blood is near, NOT from Petunia and her relatives. 


Rebecca: 
> The nature of the protection itself is a little murky too.<SNIP of excellent summary of what I was trying to express in this thread for weeks and obviously failed> > I understand why, for the story purpose, Harry lives with relatives who are mean to him (and its one of the aspects that pulled me into the story when I first read it), but like Alla, I find it hard to accept Dumbledore's reasoning that there was nothing else he could do. It was an easy solution for him. I really can't see how he could easily toss Harry aside if he really cared deeply about him, and I really don't think it broke his heart at all. Honestly, I don't think he even thought about him again until his eleventh birthday.
> 
> -Rebecca (apologies for responding to a 12-day-old post)
>

Alla:

Ok, hopefully I added some of my examples so it is not complete I agree and me too, but THANK YOU so much and there is no expiration date on posr responses as far as I know :)