bmull Wrote:"You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condeming you to ten dark and difficult years."Bob Schroeck Wrote:As for 1, well, Dumbledore had some idea what he'd put Harry into, vis-a-vis his aunt's family and their attitudes -- he did admit and apologize for that in the denouement of one of the books, though I can't remember which one.I don't remember this, he apologized for keeping Harry in the dark about the Prophecy in book 5 and then for not telling Harry about the Hallows in book 7.
Dumbledore says this to Harry in chapter 37 of Order of the Phoenix. I did err in that he never really explicitly apologized. He expressed regret and sadness, and made some justifications, but never actually said "I'm sorry for doing that to you." A lot of fic writers have seized upon this passage as proof of a malevolent Dumbldore, when all it really is is proof of a pragmatic one -- is it better to put 1-year-old Harry into a family that will treat him well, only for him to possibly be killed by the remainders of Voldemort's movement within months, or put him in with a possibly abusive family that will nonetheless guarantee his survival? Dumbledore chooses a living Harry over a dead one. Period. He regrets the side effects, but they do not come into consideration for him at all.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.