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Unanswered Dumbledore Questions

by David Haber

These are elements of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that would seem to be related to either the Dumbledore or Snape mysteries, but they have loop-holes or unresovled bits of information, and we're not sure about them and are still checking into them...

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Reader Comments: (Page 12)

in the second chapter, Narcissa says do you promise to do everything in your power to help my son Draco fulfill his task, and snape agrees. the truth is, Snape did do everything in his power to help Draco, which in fact wasnt very much, as Dumbledore overrode him.

Posted by Sammi from Nottingahmshire, England on March 9, 2007 09:54 AM

karen, this is in response to your last question which was what if dumbledore has been from the beginning?

I think i more plausible theory is one suggested by Herve (i am almost positive it was Herve) is that prehaps Dumbledore has been sleeping the whole series. He would have taken the Sleeping Draught before book 1. The Dumbledore that we have met is an older future Dumbledore that came back to fill in while our present dumbledore was asleep. Now, at the end of book 6, Snape go find the sleeping Dumbledore and wake him up.

Herve, please chime in here---you said it much better elsewhere :)

Posted by Heather from NJ on March 15, 2007 9:01 PM

Not everyone was at Dumbledore's . Did you notice that Professor Trelawney was NOT there? Why, among all the less significant people mentioned in a long list, does she not appear? She is an important key I feel quite sure.

Posted by Mrs. Weasley from Indianapolis, IN on March 16, 2007 8:00 PM

The theory that started it all! After the first time I visited this site way back, I started paying attention to details that may support or disagree with the theories here. I noticed that in Half-Blood Prince, Albus _never_ removes the memory from his head as we saw him do in Goblet of Fire. The first memory (where he meets 11 year old Tom) was already in the Pensive when Harry got there. Just a tidbit, wonder if it means anything...

Posted by Monkeeshrines from Orlando, FL on March 23, 2007 11:37 PM

The only thing that I could think of it meaning, Monkeeshrines, is that someone would have been in Dumbledore's place. If Dumbledore were truly there he would have removed the memory directly.
Or perhaps Dumbledore preferred not to dawdle once Harry had arrived and just put the memory in the Pensieve earlier.
Mrs. Weasley--
I don't think that Trelawny liked Dumbledore too much. He had hired Firenze and didnt fire him when she asked him to. She thought that he didn't like her very much at her interview. She was all around just mad at Dumbledore when Harry ran into her at the Room of Requirement. I bet she just didn't want to go to his .

Posted by Ashley from Missouri on April 4, 2007 7:06 PM

While Professor Trelawny is not my favorite character, she is not a trivial one either. I think that Dumbledore is protective of her despite her imperfections and limitations and I think that JK Rowling puts her in a position of significance in each book. She is more defined than many other characters, even when compared to the other professors. We know more about her strengths and weaknesses than even Professor McGonogall, come to think of it. I might argue that her personna of being an inebriated, failed fortune teller might even be an illusion.

Posted by mrs weasley from indianapolis on April 11, 2007 5:53 PM

Someone else has suggested that Dumbledore knew he was going to and hence planned the whole scene on top of the astronomy tower.

I wonder whether he was actually mortally wounded when he tried to break the curse Voldemort had put on the ring horcrux right at the start of HBP (actually between OotP and HBP). Snape was the one who was able to arrest the effects of the curse, but not able to counteract them completely. What Snape was able to do by arresting the curse was give Dumbledore time to put his affairs in order before he d, i.e. give Harry all the information he could about horcruxes and how to find and destroy them. This then mirrors Nicholas Flammel in CoS, book 2.

It follows that when Snape made the unbreakable vow with Narcissa he already knew that Dumbledore was ...perhaps this is why his hand twitched...he was making an unbreakable vow to do something which was going to happen anyway if you see what I mean. Did Voldemort set up Draco to test Snape's loyalty...he must have known that Draco would be unlikely to succeed "when the dark lord himself...." Snape also says that he thinks Voldemort expects him to do it (Malfoy's task) in the end.

When Snape turns aside to pull the curtains he might have been checking they were not overheard...but also, preparing himself to close his mind against Bellatrix before offering to make the vow.

I also think that Dumbledore communicated with Aberforth just before he and Harry apparated from outside the Hogs Head...as someone else pointed out in another thread, the sign creaked although there was no breeze...a draft similar to the one caused by Shacklebolt's spell modifying Marietta's memory in Dumbledore's office?

Posted by Joe from England on May 8, 2007 08:59 AM

Taking a step back, for a moment, regarding 2a. If Dumbledore Is Alive, Where Is Umbridge's Portrait?

Figure for a moment, if Umbridge _should_ have a picture, then Dumbledore's picture would have been up when he was replaced. But then by that account, Dumbledore's picture should have been up when the governor's forced him to step down (Which technically means McGonagall's picture should be up for when she stepped in.)

Also, if she _should not_ have a picture because she was never in the office, would that mean McGonagall's picture is up because we can assume she used his office in his absence (I didn't see a line of text that explicitly states she was there after a quick search.)

Otherwise, it does make a strong persuasion that you do have to be and in office to have a picture..

Posted by Deebs from Sedona, AZ on May 11, 2007 10:43 AM

And that's exactly my point. The pictures could have been there, just because it is not mentioned, that does not prove they were not there. So, while it may be logical to ASSUME, we have no PROOF you have to be to be in a portrait on the wall in the headmaster's office.

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on May 11, 2007 10:57 AM

Consider for a moment, though, how much Harry hates Umbridge. If her portrait was up, surely he would have thrown it a nasty look, or burned with anger as he did at Albus' . I'm thinking Umbridge is not there, since she was not a "rightful" Headmistress according to the office itself. I don't think Minerva was there, either, since she is current Headmistress and the portraits are of previous. In Order of the Phoenix, we are never shown the Headmaster�s office while Albus is away, perhaps it was there while he was gone and, um, "taken down" when he came back. I do agree with Dave that being on the wall does not necessarily mean that that person is . It was Harry who assumed that.

Posted by Monkeeshrines from Orlando Fl on May 16, 2007 5:11 PM

When the unbreakable vow was made, I believe that the main concern was that Voldemort would not harm Draco because Draco failed. Because everyone including Voldemort believes that Dumbledore is , Draco not be punished, and the vow was kept.

Posted by thermos from Edmonton Alberta on May 17, 2007 2:54 PM

Is the reason Snape is so angry with Harry in the bathroom scene when he uses sectumsempra on Malfoy because Harry inadvertently almost scuppers Dumbledore's plan? If Snape hadn't arrived (very quickly) to heal and save Malfoy...Malfoy could have d...the unbreakable vow would have been broken...and Snape would have d.

Posted by Joe from England on May 21, 2007 2:29 PM

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