Dumbledore pointed to the second scrawl. “The ones in this handwriting,”
he said, still in that low voice, “were written by your mother.
And the ones in this handwriting,” moving his finger to indicate the first
scrawl, “were written by me. I would turn myself invisible and sneak
into her dorm room while she was sleeping. Lily thought one of her
friends was the one writing them and they had the most amazing fights.”
…
Dumbledore was looking at him with a serious expression. “Do you
understand the implications of what I have just told you, Harry?”
…
“Ah well,” said Dumbledore, and sighed. “I suppose your intelligence
has limits after all, then. It seems I was greatly premature in my enthusiasm.
Shall we all just pretend I didn’t say anything incriminating?”
We have inferred that he got between Snape and Lily with the notes in the potions book. But Harry has no way of inferring this from the above. The only thing I can think to infer here is that Dumbledore was taking an “inappropriate interest” in Lily while she was a student.
I’m running with the theory (from Donny) that the prophecy was planted by Dumbledore as a plot to lure Voldemort into a trap, where Lily completed a dark ritual to protect Harry and destroy Voldemort should he attack Harry. Thinking further on this, I concluded that Lily would have to be in on the plot for it to have any hope of working. Then I recalled feeling that there was some “off” connection between Lily and Dumbledore, and came up with this.
What was Harry supposed to conclude from Dumbledore invisibly sneaking into Lily’s room while she was a student, besides the obvious that Dumbledore was fooling around with Lily? It almost seems like he’s trying to tell Harry he’s his father. See his sadness and disappointment later in the scene.
I’m running with the theory (from Donny) that the prophecy was planted by Dumbledore as a plot to lure Voldemort into a trap, where Lily completed a dark ritual to protect Harry and destroy Voldemort should he attack Harry.
Objection. I don’t believe Lily completed a ritual. She’s not the one who spoke the words in the correct order. I don’t think Voldemort would accidentally confer a protection upon an intended victim, either.
My version of this theory has Dumbledore creating the same setup as in canon because he thought it would lead to the same result as in canon. Not because he’d read the novels or anything, but because it looked like the logical outcome to him. He’s brilliant, but no rationalist, and he fell prey to the conjunction fallacy, formulating a complicated plot with lots of plausible-sounding detail.
Still, he got two out of three right. Lily and Snape acted as expected. If only Voldemort had been a little dumber.
ETA, just to be clear: I think Dumbledore expected Harry to be protected and Voldemort to be defeated by the power of Lily’s love, as in canon. He thinks Voldemort would be blind to an attack from this direction, because
“it is evil which does not know love, and dares not imagine love, and cannot ever understand love without ceasing to be evil.”
ETA2: Actually, the part about the conjunction fallacy is wrong. I mistook Snape’s involvement for an extraneous detail, but it’s not. For the protective magic to activate, Lily needed to have been offered the chance to survive. Snape’s role was to beg Voldemort to spare her. So every piece of the plot has a function.
We have inferred that he got between Snape and Lily with the notes in the potions book. But Harry has no way of inferring this from the above. The only thing I can think to infer here is that Dumbledore was taking an “inappropriate interest” in Lily while she was a student.
I’m running with the theory (from Donny) that the prophecy was planted by Dumbledore as a plot to lure Voldemort into a trap, where Lily completed a dark ritual to protect Harry and destroy Voldemort should he attack Harry. Thinking further on this, I concluded that Lily would have to be in on the plot for it to have any hope of working. Then I recalled feeling that there was some “off” connection between Lily and Dumbledore, and came up with this.
What was Harry supposed to conclude from Dumbledore invisibly sneaking into Lily’s room while she was a student, besides the obvious that Dumbledore was fooling around with Lily? It almost seems like he’s trying to tell Harry he’s his father. See his sadness and disappointment later in the scene.
Hmm, haven’t we seen something like that before? “I know you arranged my father’s death.” [pause] “No. -- I am your father.”
Objection. I don’t believe Lily completed a ritual. She’s not the one who spoke the words in the correct order. I don’t think Voldemort would accidentally confer a protection upon an intended victim, either.
My version of this theory has Dumbledore creating the same setup as in canon because he thought it would lead to the same result as in canon. Not because he’d read the novels or anything, but because it looked like the logical outcome to him. He’s brilliant, but no rationalist, and he fell prey to the conjunction fallacy, formulating a complicated plot with lots of plausible-sounding detail.
Still, he got two out of three right. Lily and Snape acted as expected. If only Voldemort had been a little dumber.
ETA, just to be clear: I think Dumbledore expected Harry to be protected and Voldemort to be defeated by the power of Lily’s love, as in canon. He thinks Voldemort would be blind to an attack from this direction, because
ETA2: Actually, the part about the conjunction fallacy is wrong. I mistook Snape’s involvement for an extraneous detail, but it’s not. For the protective magic to activate, Lily needed to have been offered the chance to survive. Snape’s role was to beg Voldemort to spare her. So every piece of the plot has a function.
I started writing a counter-argument and remembered the date. This is meant as an April 1st joke, right?