9

Divination Nine: Godric’s Hollow

Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it … a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. (PS1)

Into the Pensieve: Harry and Hagrid arrive in the village of Godric’s Hollow, located somewhere in Dartmoor or Exmoor. There they find the site of Harry’s parents’ house, destroyed on the night of Voldemort’s first downfall. A statue of Godric Gryffindor in the Village Square reveals more about this earlier champion of ‘commoners, of Mudbloods and of Muggles’. Hagrid waits by the statue, allowing Harry to visit the churchyard alone. As he stands in front of the graves of Lily and James Potter, Harry hears a noise and turns round to see Albus Dumbledore holding a golden wristwatch in his one undamaged hand. Harry is full of wild disbelief – for a moment he even thinks of Inferi – but the Headmaster calmly reassures him: he has not returned from the dead, merely gone forward in time. Dumbledore has an explanation to make and it concerns Snape. As a Death Eater, Snape did indeed do terrible things … it was he who murdered Regulus Black on Voldemort’s orders and who betrayed the first half of the Prophecy to Voldemort. But when Harry was born and Voldemort made known his intention of killing the Potters then, aware of Snape’s thwarted passion for Lily but ignorant of the true nature of love, Voldemort offered to spare her life as Snape’s reward. Snape might have possessed Lily as Merope Gaunt deceived Tom Riddle, by means of the Amortentia potion, but he loved her well enough to know that she would not want to live in a world without her husband and child. So Snape defected, risking his life to warn of the danger to the Potters. It was Snape who passed Dumbledore the information that enabled Lily and James to go into hiding with their baby son. Harry is stunned by this revelation but Dumbledore assures him that Snape has been his constant protector and would have saved Sirius too, had Sirius listened to him. Harry bursts out that he has seen Snape kill him but Dumbledore explains that what Harry witnessed was all part of a pre-arranged plan, which Dumbledore (at this point in time, still six months away from the Lightning-Struck Tower) has yet to pull off. It was and is designed to save Malfoy from committing murder, to protect Snape from the consequences of the Unbreakable Vow and to give Harry a fighting chance against Voldemort. Dumbledore asks Harry for the full details of Malfoy’s plot and Harry begins to realise that through time travel and his own agency, Dumbledore was aware of the whole conspiracy in advance. He arranged the cave mission to keep Harry safe and further his education, while giving Malfoy the opportunity to carry out his device. Dumbledore begs Harry to understand and to trust Snape. He says that without the promise of Harry’s future forgiveness he will not be able to persuade Snape to go through with what is necessary. As a final proof, Dumbledore produces the real Horcrux locket, which (Harry is shocked to realise) has been in his possession ever since that day in Hogsmeade when Katie was injured. Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth, the barman of the Hog’s Head, retrieved it from Mundungus Fletcher. Together, Harry and Dumbledore destroy the Horcrux. Dumbledore has some last messages for Hagrid and the Weasleys but tells Harry to communicate the full contents of their meeting only to Ron and Hermione, Moody, McGonagall and Lupin. He gives Sirius’s mirror back to Harry. An emotional Harry realises this means he won’t be able to talk to Dumbledore again, but Dumbledore insists that Harry will need both mirrors to communicate with Ron and Hermione. Harry remembers that Ron is now wearing Dumbledore’s watch and a surprised Dumbledore promises to leave it to Ron. Harry and Dumbledore tearfully embrace one another in farewell and Harry finally learns what Dumbledore has seen in the Mirror of Erised: a scarless Harry, free of the burden of defeating Voldemort.

Omens & Portents: Canonical Clues & Questions

1. Concerning Godric’s Hollow…

• The Sorting Hat’s refrain, ‘Gryffindor from wild moor’ (GOF12), offers a clue to the possible location of the village and its remoteness. (Exmoor or Dartmoor would make sense, given that Hagrid and Harry flew over Bristol en route to London in PS/SS1).

2. Concerning Snape, Lily & Voldemort…

• ‘Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison.’ (COS13) Why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? It is a question that has been much hypothesised; never more so since JKR informed us that the answer is a spoiler for Book 7. This effectively rules out one of the most ingenious theories – posited after HBP – that Voldemort intended to implant her with a false memory of killing her family in order to furnish himself with an alibi. Tom Riddle had indeed shown this curious habit in connection with earlier murders, but by 1981 Lord Voldemort had no hesitation about performing gratuitous violence under the Dark Mark. There are other difficulties as well. JKR has confirmed that Lily would have been allowed to live if she had stood away from her son. Yet Voldemort made little effort to keep her alive, beyond giving her the choice. If he had wanted her for something important, then wouldn’t he have been more careful? He did not know – apparently no one knew – what Lily’s sacrifice would entail and he seems to have thoroughly underestimated her power. To him, she was a ‘silly girl’, ultimately disposable; the fact that she was Muggle-born making her unworthy of life but also unworthy of interest. Recently, HPSpec has suggested – brilliantly – that Voldemort was attempting to perform the Imperius Curse on Lily in her last moments, but she (with exceptional moral courage and strength of character) proved able to resist. Here, at last, is the significance of Harry having inherited his mother’s startling green eyes – the crucial clue is supplied by Moody-Crouch: ‘Look at that, you lot … Potter fought it! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We’ll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention – watch his eyes, that’s where you see it – very good, Potter, very good indeed!’ (GOF15) Interestingly, Voldemort also attempted to place the Curse on Harry during the graveyard scene. Harry, of course, resisted, showing the same courageous defiance that was noteworthy in his mother.

• The Imperius Curse alone, however, does not account for what Voldemort was trying to do, or – more strangely still – why he was laughing when he killed Lily. A thwarted Voldemort would be unlikely to laugh; which suggests there must be something else going on … and I’m betting it’s to do with Snape’s ‘greatest regret’. For Harry is mistaken to assume (from Dumbledore’s words in HBP29) that Snape only ‘realised how Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy’ after the Potters were dead. ‘Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn’t realised what he was doing, he was really sorry he’d done it, sorry they were dead.’ (HBP29) This is a fairly significant error, since, if Snape had ‘returned’ to warn the Potters before the double murder then his ‘remorse’ becomes that much more believable. And (as Harry should remember from his first journey into the Pensieve) Dumbledore vouched for Snape having defected sometime prior to Voldemort losing his powers. ‘Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort’s downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal risk.’ (HBP30) Now, if the ‘reason’ for Snape’s defection was indeed to do with Lily then this suggests that Snape had discovered how Voldemort had interpreted the words before Godric’s Hollow. Not only that, but Snape tried to warn the Potters, who subsequently went into hiding. ‘Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once.’ (POA10)

• All this makes perfect sense: apart from the fact that it suggests Voldemort must have confided in Snape, which boy he was intending to hunt down and kill. We know that Snape was the one who overheard the first half of the Prophecy. ‘My – our – one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building.’ (OOtP37) He then relayed his information to Voldemort, who is not likely to have spread it around. ‘Naturally, he hastened to tell his master what he had heard, for it concerned his master most deeply.’ (HBP29) The evidence suggests that it was Wormtail who then reported the birth of Harry Potter at the prophetic time, without knowing the significance of this information (or having learned it through his friendship with James). ‘YOU’D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!’ (POA19) And no self-respecting Dark Lord wants his (notoriously unreliable) followers to believe there’s a possibility that he could be defeated. Voldemort knows all about the Machiavellian Slytherin mind … he is one himself, after all. So one has to ask why Voldemort would have allowed the bearer of such dangerous knowledge to remain alive with his memory intact … let alone to know that Harry Potter was his potential rival … unless he felt that Snape had a personal reason for wanting the male Potters dead.

• It’s my belief that Voldemort knew all about Snape’s infatuation with Lily and corresponding hatred of James. (Indeed, this might have been the main reason that Snape joined up, as a half-blood is unlikely to have been fully committed to the pureblood supremacist agenda.) Voldemort also knew that Snape had demonstrated loyalty in giving him the Prophecy – a self-serving Snape might have kept the whole thing to himself, with the two Dumbledores as the only other witnesses, both working for the Order – and he had an obvious incentive to retain faithful followers. So, in return for the information he had received … You-Know-Who decided to offer Snape a prize: ‘Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me … and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers…’ (GOF33). As a form of enlightened self-interest and an insurance policy, Snape was promised Lily, to be his after the deaths of her husband and son; thus, giving him a direct interest in Voldemort killing Harry and James. Otherwise, Snape was a liability who knew that Voldemort was not invulnerable and might exploit the situation to his own advantage. The Dark Lord thought that Snape would welcome the chance to keep Lily alive and in his power – as Merope Gaunt had once enslaved Tom Riddle Senior – using either the Imperius Curse or the Amortentia love potion. Voldemort preys on the worst aspects of human nature and probably wouldn’t object to one of his followers keeping a ‘Mudblood’ slave, especially when that follower is ‘as bad as’ a Mudblood himself – a half-blood boy from a deprived background like Snape, whom most pure-blood Death Eaters despise anyway. (This sort of behaviour is tolerated among the elite of corrupt regimes, even when it contravenes the regime’s ‘principles’).

• But Voldemort miscalculated … for love we are told is a brand of magic, ‘which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated – to his cost’ (OOtP37). Snape might not have cared very much whether James lived or died, but the thought of Lily kept alive against her will, with her loved ones dead, for his pleasure, probably alerted him (for the first time) to the kind of psychopath he was dealing with… Snape defected – this time for real – confiding in Dumbledore alone his horror and remorse and the secret of his forbidden love for Lily. Just how far Snape succeeded in deceiving Voldemort remains a matter of opinion. I personally doubt that Voldemort ever trusted him entirely: hence the curious fact that Snape was not told of the spy Wormtail’s identity, though the other Death Eaters seemed to know. ‘You’ve been hiding from Voldemort’s old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter … they all think you’re dead, or you’d have to answer to them.’ (POA19) (And Voldemort must have suspected that important information was being passed to Dumbledore … perhaps he blamed Regulus Black. Or maybe Snape and Regulus were in contact? And one of them was fed false information that Sirius Black was the spy, since Regulus made no effort to contact his brother after leaving Voldemort and Snape seems to have been the only one to suspect Sirius before he was made Secret-Keeper? ‘You’d have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black –’ (POA19)) In any case, I think it’s likely Voldemort had come to suspect Snape of some degree of double-dealing before that fatal night at Godric’s Hollow. So confronted with Lily’s defiance, Voldemort offered her the chance to live, believing that he was about to make himself invincible, so Snape and Lily were inconsequential. Then he killed her, stood back and laughed. After all, they say never make a bargain with the devil.

3. Concerning Dumbledore, Harry & Snape …

• Dumbledore is understandably hesitant to explain all this to Lily’s teenage son: ‘Dumbledore did not speak for a moment; he looked as though he was trying to make up his mind about something. At last he said, ‘I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely.’ (HBP25) Indeed, if Dumbledore can be criticised on any aspect of his plans so far, it is that he has failed to deal with the animosity between Harry and Snape. We know that such bitter grudges can be dangerous to those who harbour them: that, between Snape and Sirius, for example, led indirectly to the latter’s death, despite Dumbledore’s efforts as a peacemaker: Harry thought Dumbledore was asking for a near miracle. Sirius and Snape were eyeing each other with the utmost loathing. (GOF36)

• In the case of Snape and Harry, the warning is supplied by Lupin: ‘You are determined to hate him, Harry,’ said Lupin with a faint smile. ‘And I understand; with James as your father, with Sirius as your godfather, you have inherited an old prejudice.’ (HBP16) Now, unsurprisingly after what he has witnessed, Harry’s six years of accumulated bitterness against Snape are concentrated into a savage desire for revenge: ‘And if I meet Severus Snape along the way,’ he added, ‘so much the better for me, so much the worse for him.’ (HBP30) Yet if, as I believe, an alliance between Snape and Harry is essential to the defeat of Voldemort, then couldn’t Dumbledore have done more to bring about their reconciliation prior to his anticipated death at Snape’s hand? The answer is that he has already done so … in the future. For Dumbledore is a time-traveller.

• The evidence for Dumbledore’s time travel is speculative, but it is certainly there. It has been noted that the Headmaster keeps good time … arriving not a moment too soon, on a numerous occasions, in order to save the day (PS/SS, and OOtP). His timing, indeed, is precise: ‘Moody raised his wand, he opened his mouth, Harry plunged his own hand into his robes – ‘Stupefy!’ Moody was thrown backwards onto the office floor. Harry, still staring at the place where Moody’s face had been, saw Albus Dumbledore …’ (GOF35) Then, there is the fact that it is Dumbledore who advises Harry and Hermione in POA; indeed, he seems to be aware of their time travel before it has happened (if that makes sense!) We know that Dumbledore has secrets – and have never found out where he went during his brief periods of exile from Hogwarts in Books 2 and 5. He has some interest in magical horology, commenting on Molly’s ‘excellent clock’ in OOtP. And last but not least, there is Dumbledore’s watch, an intriguing artefact unnoticed since Book 1: ‘Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it … a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge.’ (PS1) Indeed, it is worth pausing here to note the gift of a remarkably similar watch to Ron Weasley as a seventeenth birthday present. ‘Seriously good haul this year!’ he announced, holding up a heavy gold watch with odd symbols around the edge and tiny moving stars instead of hands. ‘See what Mum and Dad got me? Blimey, I think I’ll come of age next year too…’ (HBP18 ) This is the only one of Ron’s birthdays to figure in the text!

4. Concerning Dumbledore’s plan…

• Dumbledore is frequently absent from Hogwarts during Harry’s sixth year, supposedly on business connected with the third Horcrux. Yet I suspect that on one of these occasions, Dumbledore journeys into the future to bid a fond farewell to Harry Potter, perhaps in his parents’ village of Godric’s Hollow. Certainly, Dumbledore is so substantial a character as to be worthy of an encore appearance in Book 7, even though JKR will not break her rule and permit him to return from death. A final rendezvous with a time-travelling Dumbledore is a particularly poignant concept, given that in a sense it has already happened. If Dumbledore has just said a last goodbye to Harry in the future, before taking him for another private lesson after Christmas in HBP, then no wonder he is so moved by Harry’s show of solidarity: ‘Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Behind Harry, Fawkes the phoenix let out a low, soft, musical cry. To Harry’s intense embarrassment, he suddenly realised that Dumbledore’s bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knees.’ (HBP17)

• Remember the locket Horcrux that was last glimpsed at number twelve, Grimmauld Place? The House is the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and the property of Harry Potter who inherited it from Sirius Black, along with all of Sirius’s personal possessions. Logically, the locket must be in one of several places:

1. still safe in Grimmauld Place
2. thrown out by Mrs Weasley to some magical rubbish heap
3. retrieved by Kreacher and kept in his den,
4. taken by Kreacher on one of his secret visits to Malfoy Manor (and hidden in the secret compartment under the dining room floor?),
5. confiscated from Malfoy Manor by Arthur Weasley and the Ministry of Magic,
6. stolen and in the home of the Order’s likeable crook, Mundungus Fletcher,
7. or stolen and sold by the said Mundungus Fletcher, prior to his incarceration in Azkaban.

• This is the basis for an apparently inconsequential subplot of HBP, which might just turn out to have greater significance … when Harry catches Mundungus selling some of Sirius’s items out of an old suitcase in Hogsmeade village. Harry is naturally furious that Mundungus has been stealing his dead godfather’s possessions and decides to inform Albus Dumbledore, the one person able to control him. Surprisingly, Dumbledore is ‘already aware’ of Mundungus’s behaviour and says that Mundungus has ‘gone to ground’, afraid of facing him, but tells Harry to ‘rest assured that that he will not be making away with any more of Sirius’s old possessions.’ (HBP30) Dumbledore’s source for this information is most likely to be his brother Aberforth, who (unknown to Harry) is the barman of the Hog’s Head, last seen in the previous chapter doing business with Mundungus. One was very tall and thin; squinting through his rain-washed glasses Harry recognised the barman who worked in the Hogsmeade pub, the Hog’s Head. As Harry, Ron and Hermione drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms. … The squat, bandy-legged man with long straggly ginger hair jumped and dropped an ancient suitcase, which burst open, releasing what looked like the entire contents of a junk shop window. (HBP12)

• What, one might ask, is Aberforth doing with Mundungus? Are they simply friends – on the fringes of respectable society, with Mundungus perhaps having procured Aberforth’s goat (!) – or is Aberforth Dumbledore actually an undercover agent for his brother, whom he has helped (in a clandestine manner) on at least three occasions so far? Was Aberforth, in fact, there to retrieve stolen goods from Mundungus, in order to give them to Albus? Now, what if one of the objects recovered by Aberforth was the Horcrux locket? Surely, Albus would recognise it immediately as one of the objects featured in his Pensieve? He would then have had time to unearth the story of the locket, if he did not know it already – perhaps even speaking to Regulus’s companion, Kreacher. But if this was the case, then why did Dumbledore not confide in Harry? And what was he doing taking Harry to the cave on the night of his death?

• I think he [Dumbledore] knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. (PS/SS17) It is my belief that Book 6 is so cleverly written as to be capable of two mutually exclusive interpretations; indeed, one might even say it is a different novel on the second reading, when one accepts that Dumbledore is directing operations! It has been conjectured –I think, rightly – that he (like Trelawney) sensed death approaching in HBP. Why else would he visit the Dursleys, for the first time in sixteen years, on purpose to ask that Harry be allowed to return next summer, before his seventeenth birthday? Why else would he plan one year’s worth of presentations for Harry on the subject of Voldemort, leading up to the Horcrux revelations? Dumbledore is in a hurry to instruct Harry about Horcruxes and is positively impatient when Harry wastes time over Slughorn. He is emotional when Harry displays loyalty and affection. He ensures that Harry accompanies him (on the seemingly pointless Horcrux mission) on condition that Harry obeys him without question, whatever command he should give – even a command that involves Harry abandoning Dumbledore to his death. (This is a most unusual order.) He makes it clear in the cave that he considers Harry’s life more valuable than his own. He then puts a freezing charm on Harry to prevent Harry interfering during his own death scene on the Tower. Even Dumbledore’s success in destroying the second Horcrux has an air of finality about it – Dumbledore is proud of the achievement, which has injured him permanently, because he suspects it to be his last.

• Yet I would choose to take this still further; arguing that almost all events of HBP conform to Dumbledore’s overall plan: the full details of which are withheld even from Harry and Snape. Hence Dumbledore’s positive impatience when questioned on the subject: ‘Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I understood everything that you told me,’ said Dumbledore, a little sharply. ‘I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood more than you did.’ (HBP17) In a way, this is the most compelling evidence of Snape’s innocence … Snape appears to be in control in HBP but actually is not! He does not go looking for Narcissa, when he learns of Draco’s mission – she finds him. Moreover, her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, accompanies her. Bellatrix is the second most dangerous person in the world to Snape, she is Lord Voldemort’s most fanatical supporter – Snape’s rival for his favour – and a dangerous murderess. We who know she has just killed Sirius should be in no doubt of her capabilities. Moreover, we find out that she already suspects Snape. He really has little option but to agree to the Unbreakable Vow – which is ultimately in the interests of the Order. (The hope is to preserve Snape’s life, save Draco from committing the crime, deliver Voldemort into Snape’s hands and secure a future for Harry Potter who (rather than Dumbledore) is crucial to the eventual defeat of Voldemort). In response, Dumbledore begins to put his affairs in orders and finally appoints Snape to the DADA position that he has coveted for fifteen years. This is both a vindication of Snape’s character and a sign that Dumbledore understands and accepts the terms of the Vow. Dumbledore knows the job is jinxed so that applicants last no longer than one year; he also knows (I suspect) that Malfoy has been given exactly a year to carry out his task.

• But then … while Snape hopes to persuade Malfoy to confide in him, Harry discovers that Malfoy is actually keeping Snape in ignorance of his plan, believing that Snape wants his glory. (Apparently, Malfoy’s Aunt Bellatrix has been teaching him Occlumency – and putting ideas into his head.) This is a source of worry to Snape and Dumbledore, who are forced to improvise their response, especially when they find out that Malfoy is involving other Death Eaters and has found a way of smuggling them into the Castle. Snape is putting pressure on Malfoy and keeping Dumbledore up-to-date as far as he can, but Malfoy has not told him about the Vanishing Cabinets. Nor is help available from the other members of the Order of the Phoenix. The fact that Dumbledore and Snape are attempting to deceive Voldemort – ‘the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen’ – means that it would be extremely ill-advised to involve others in the scheme, even if Dumbledore had a confidante who completely trusted Snape, which he hasn’t. Moreover, we can deduce from the conversation Hagrid overhead that Dumbledore has yet another problem – Snape is reluctant to go through with his part.

• Eventually Dumbledore decides on a plan – he will leave the castle in the hope that his departure will persuade Malfoy to act, taking Harry with him both for Harry’s own protection and to prevent Harry from thwarting Malfoy’s plan. Or possibly, Dumbledore knows that Malfoy is ready and decides to act accordingly – hence, the suspicious coincidence of Malfoy’s whoop in the Room of Requirement just before Dumbledore tells Harry that he has discovered the third Horcrux. (In the meantime, taking Harry to the cave will provide a practical course in Horcrux detection.) Either way, Dumbledore suspects that Malfoy will use the Dark Mark to lure him back to Hogwarts – note the way that Dumbledore congratulates Malfoy on this ploy as if Malfoy was showing him an ambitious piece of homework (HBP27). Dumbledore has of course stationed members of the Order of the Phoenix in the school to protect the students (and Harry has thankfully given his friends the Felix potion). Dumbledore ensures that he returns to the school badly injured having taken the potion, thus making it easier for Snape to kill him in front of Malfoy and the Death Eaters. (Harry is not supposed to be present, having just been dismissed by Dumbledore when the door opens. That there is a non-Death Eater around to witness Snape’s act and to alert the entire wizarding world to Snape’s supposed treachery, and that this person should be Harry Potter, is plainly not what Dumbledore had in mind. Nor can Dumbledore account for the fact that on the very afternoon in which the plan is to be carried out Trelawney inadvertently reveals Snape’s role in the death of Harry’s parents, with no time for Dumbledore to repair the damage. This supremely unfortunate coincidence accounts for Dumbledore’s uncharacteristic agitation during the scene.)

• There is definitely more going on in the cave chapter than meets the eye. Consider the following questions …

1. Why when Horcruxes are so hard to find does Dumbledore confidently expect to discover the whereabouts of the third Horcrux and then conveniently do so within a few weeks? b) Why should Dumbledore decide to pursue the third Horcrux on the very same evening that Malfoy finally succeeds in working the Vanishing Cabinets? Too much of a coincidence, surely?
2. Why is it that although Dumbledore has good reason to suspect Malfoy that night, he first leaves the Castle and then allows himself to be lured back to his death, just as Malfoy intended? Ok, he leaves members of the Order of the Phoenix behind … but why does he go himself? (The Horcrux mission might be dangerous, but we have no reason to believe it is urgent.) And why does he ignore Harry’s tip-off about the Room of Requirement? Surely Harry can’t know more than Dumbledore about the danger to Hogwarts? The last time we thought this was the case was in Book 1 and it turned out not to be true. As Harry said then, ‘He’s a funny man, Dumbledore. … I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know.’ (PS17)
3. Why should Dumbledore instruct Harry to obey him without question – this is not like Dumbledore’s style of leadership? If Harry has earned the right to accompany Dumbledore to the cave, then surely Dumbledore considers that his input might be useful?
4. Why does Dumbledore dismiss Harry’s fears about him being seen leaving Hogwarts (despite making Harry wear the invisibility cloak), but go out of his way to see Madam Rosmerta (under the Imperius Curse) who is able to alert Malfoy to his absence? (For what Dumbledore may or may not know about Rosmerta, see below.)

• During their conversation on the Tower-top, Dumbledore confirms to Malfoy that he was ‘sure it was’ him, who almost killed Katie Bell and Ron Weasley. Moreover, he seems to be aware that he was the target of Malfoy’s assassination attempts and that Malfoy was given the task of killing him by Lord Voldemort. He has never let on to Harry that he suspected Malfoy – nor has he confronted Malfoy himself, since he knew that Malfoy would be murdered by Voldemort if the latter found out that Dumbledore suspected him. When Malfoy asks why Dumbledore didn’t try to stop him, Dumbledore replies that he has been keeping watch over him through Snape. Harry must be surprised, though, that suspecting Malfoy as he did, Dumbledore could have been so blasé about his crucial Room of Requirement tip: ‘You’re leaving the school tonight and I’ll bet you haven’t even considered that Snape and Malfoy might decide to –‘ ‘To what?’ asked Dumbledore, his eyebrows raised. ‘What is it that you suspect them of doing, precisely?’ ‘I, … they’re up to something!’ said Harry and his hands curled into fists as he said it. ‘Professor Trelawney was just in the Room of Requirement, trying to hide her sherry bottles, and she heard Malfoy whooping, celebrating! He’s trying to mend something dangerous in there and if you ask me he’s fixed it at last and you’re about to just walk out of school without –’ ‘Enough’, said Dumbledore. (HBP25) In spite of this, Dumbledore does not seem unduly disturbed to find Malfoy waiting for him on his return. However, there is a further mystery. Dumbledore claims ignorance of Malfoy’s ‘ways and means’ – requiring him to talk through the whole plot (for our benefit) – while making some rather too rapid deductions from what Malfoy is saying. ‘We all like appreciation for our own hard work, of course … but you must have had an accomplice all the same … someone in Hogsmeade, someone who was able to slip Katie the – the – aaaah…’ Dumbledore closed his eyes again and nodded, as though he was about to fall asleep. ‘… of course … Rosmerta. How long has she been under the Imperius Curse?’ ‘Got there at last have you?’ Malfoy taunted. In fact, the wonder is not that Dumbledore ‘Got there at last’, but that, having apparently failed to work this out in the eight months since Katie was poisoned, he should arrive at this conclusion in seconds when talking to Malfoy, who has not given him any new information.

• Snape would not have chosen for Dumbledore to die when he does – double agents seldom wish to break their cover in a battle in which both sides expect their help. Indeed, it is confirmed that McGonagall and Flitwick are the ones who alert Snape to the Death Eaters arrival at Hogwarts – he has no prior knowledge of the scheme. Nor, however, does he have a choice – to save the plan, he must be the one to kill Dumbledore in front of the Death Eaters and Dumbledore must behave as though deceived by Snape. Dumbledore is magnificently in control throughout the scene – from the first he behaves as if Malfoy and the Death Eaters are part of his device, not the other way round. Severus Snape, although he plays his part well, is merely reacting to events – the one thing he actively chooses to do (although it is barely noticed) is to save Harry yet again from the Death Eaters at the end.

Legilimency… what is JKR thinking?

‘Let’s go again … on the count of three … one – two – three – Legilimens!’ (OOtP24)

• “Real sleuths” might be able to guess what happened to Sirius’ motorbike. [JKR, World Book Day, 2004 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• JKR: “My editor didn’t notice, I said to her haven’t you noticed any connection between where Harry’s parents were born, not born, where they lived, and one of the Hogwarts houses and she’s sitting there going erm… I’m not being rude about Emma she’s a brilliant editor, the best I’ve ever [had]. But no she didn’t pick that up either. You’re a bit good you are.” [JKR, CBBC Newsround interview, 2000 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• Dumbledore has heard and believes Snape’s story as to why he should be trusted. [JKR, World Book Day, 2004 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• Quite a few boys were attracted to Lily. “Like Ginny, she was a popular girl.” JKR won’t confirm if Snape was one of them! [JKR, Mugglenet/TLC interview, 2005 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• To people like Lucius Malfoy, a Muggle-born is as bad as a Muggle, so Harry is considered Half-Blood because of his mother’s parents. In effect, a Muggle Grandparent “pollutes” the blood. (Read the rest of JKR’s response here to see how this relates to the Nazi’s attitude to Jews.) [JKR, website – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• Why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? JKR: “Can’t tell you.” [JKR, Mugglenet/TIC interview, 2005 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• If Lily had stood aside and let Voldemort kill Harry, she would have been allowed to live. She had a very clear choice and very consciously laid down her life. [JKR, Mugglenet/TIC interview, 2005 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• JK won’t tell us if Dumbledore was planning to die. “I have to give people hope.” [JKR, Mugglenet/TLC interview, 2005]
• Though he might play some part in Book 7, Dumbledore will not “do a Gandalf;” he is truly dead. [JKR, RCMH2, 2006 – Madam Scoop’s Index]
• Dumbledore is the “epitome of goodness.” [JKR, CBC Hot Type, 2000 - Madam Scoop’s Index]
• Dumbledore’s “wisdom has isolated him … where is his equal, where is his confidante, where is his partner?” [JKR, Mugglenet/TLC interview2005 - Madam Scoop’s Index]
• ‘I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks.’ … ‘It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought … it had been quite a personal question.’ (PS/SS12) JK won’t tell us what Dumbledore would see in front of the Mirror of Erised, or what his Boggart is, though we might be able to guess the Boggart from clues in Book 6. [JKR, Mugglenet/TLC interview, 2005]
• We won’t need prequels by the time she’s done with the series. [JKR, World Book Day, 2004]

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