If Santa Claus is aligned against Voldemort, as seems likely, then Dumbledore would want to conceal their real identity. And we already appear to know that Santa is on Harry’s side, and so presumably opposes Voldemort. (Although I did overstate the case regarding Santa Claus in that sentence- I mostly just included him for completeness.)
So, you think he’s not SC but wanted McGonagall and Snape to think he was? In that case, why carefully evade the question rather than just lie?
Some people believe actions carry more moral weight than consequences. To such a person, a lie of omission is a lesser crime than a bald faced one. They might, for example, respond “only a fool would say yea or nay” rather than actually answering a question, or quote some obscure piece of text and hope that you drew the wrong conclusion from it.
Why would Dumbledore lie about that?
If Santa Claus is aligned against Voldemort, as seems likely, then Dumbledore would want to conceal their real identity. And we already appear to know that Santa is on Harry’s side, and so presumably opposes Voldemort. (Although I did overstate the case regarding Santa Claus in that sentence- I mostly just included him for completeness.)
He carefully evaded the question of whether or not he was Santa Claus.
Nodding is not an evasion. It means “yes”.
So, you think he’s not SC but wanted McGonagall and Snape to think he was? In that case, why carefully evade the question rather than just lie?
Edit: And I don’t see
as a ‘careful evasion’ anyway.
Some people believe actions carry more moral weight than consequences. To such a person, a lie of omission is a lesser crime than a bald faced one. They might, for example, respond “only a fool would say yea or nay” rather than actually answering a question, or quote some obscure piece of text and hope that you drew the wrong conclusion from it.
I’m struggling to imagine how the Dumbledore we’ve seen in recent chapters could be such a person.