“Do you understand what I’m saying, Mr. Lupin?” Dumbledore peered at Remus over his half-moon spectacles.
“I’m afraid I don’t, sir,” Remus replied passive-aggressively. “Why are we leaving my boyfriend with the Death Eaters? I thought that he’s one of the best Aurors we have.”
“He is, but he’s also a liability. It would be best if we just left-”
“A liability,” Remus stated, staring Dumbledore down as best as he could. “Really?”
“Yes, my dear boy-”
“I am not your boy,” Remus seethed. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think that he was being possessed by the spirit of the wolf, telling him to protect his family.
“Well then, Mr. Lupin, tell me what you suggest instead. It is either we leave Sirius with them or we risk losing Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew due to their lack of focus on the field.”
Remus almost scoffed at his audacity to insinuate Sirius was the one distracting them. “You know what, Dumbledore? I do have a suggestion. How about you go onto the fucking battlefield yourself instead of sitting here in your office and ordering us around?”
“Do not speak to me that way-”
“Then we’re getting Sirius, whether you like it or not. I don’t care if I’m not authorized- it doesn’t matter. I love him, Professor. Isn’t that what you always tell us to do? Believe in the power of love?”
Dumbledore sighed in defeat. “Fine. Get Mr. Black out. You have my permission.”
“I don’t need your permission, but thank you anyways. And by the way, if either of us send in our resignation letters after I get him back, you’re going to accept that.”
“It’s for the greater good, Mr. Lupin-”
Remus snorted derisively. “Greater good my arse. I’m done being your pawn.”
I already made a post about hating Dumbeldore but fuck it we rant again cause I've got another wind of bashing Dumbledore because of Project Hail Mary and Iron Lung -- making me remember why Dumbledore actually sucks. (So spoilers if you haven't seen it, but you can watch said movies on youtube by renting/purchasing -- ngl best purchase ever made)
And you're probably thinking, "Nizar, how tf do these incredible movies relate to you hating Dumbledore?"
Well. Its about how Eva Stratt treated Ryland Grace, and how Ava treated Simon, are two different approaches from two different yet similar scenarios, and this relationship and circumstances, in a way, relates to how Dumbledore treated 'his people' or really just people in his life...
But how he does it in a way that makes Eva and Ava seem like considerate angels. Considering, also, that Dumbledore is only trying to save at minimum the UK magical world, not the entire world (I don't even think he truly cared about the fate of the nonmagical world in the end, if we wanna be fr about it)
Eva and Ava are both rather similar in that they both don't have a very close relationship with people that they 'ask' to do these terrible, important, tasks -- for the world. They end up gaining one -- or acknowledging that theyre asking so much from one individual, and they know it sucks and is unfair, but for the fate of the world -- the universe even -- its worth it. They may die, and its unfair to make them do this, but it is worth it. It is their best chance to stop and fix things...
Ask is used VERY generously for Ava, as Simon is obviously being forced to do this or, well, die. And, either way, it's supposed to be no skin of their back, as impersonal (even if they were personal in being against him) as possible by using a convict. (Like glorified slavery using inmates to do labour, you know how that goes..) And while i don't think she really gets a deep enough connection with Simon, when she gives her name to him, its as if she finally treats him like another human. When she realizes shes going to die, she has to beg him to do the last thing, because its worth it, and its fucked up it has to happen like this, but its worth it.
Eva technically did ask Grace, after the original volunteer died, but then had to force him to do the mission because he was her LAST resort. If there was anyone else they could have sent instead, they would have, but they were running out of time. The sun was dying, and so were others, and they couldn't afford to delay longer. And while Eva had tried keeping her relationship with the crew as impersonal as possible, when she sang 'Sign of the Times', she ended up creating a personal connection, letting herself become especially fond of Grace and thus, we can see, that when asking Grace to go on this one way trip with no hope in returning... asking was no longer 'easy' as she had said it was.
So how does that relate to Dumbledore?
Dumbledore creates a personal connection with everyone somehow someway. Even with Severus, in that, he ends up using Severus connection and care of Lily to his advantage...
And continues to ask EVERYTHING of him -- of others -- year, after year, after year. With or without their consent, without regard to how they feel, because its 'for the greater good' without even ATTEMPTING anything else. WITHOUT actually delivering or trying to deliver on his own promises, most of the time.
Eva had no other choice without risking all of humanity and it was not an easy choice to make. They were out of options.
Ava, well, it was too late as well. Simon had found it, and she had to, again, beg him to do this, knowing they were both fucked. Both going to die.
Dumbledore HAD choices. And he ignored so many of them and made it seem he had no other choices. He made the choice to leave Harry with the Dursleys and not check in on him at ANY point, he made the choice to leave Sirius in Azkaban WITHOUT trial (which he had to know about that, at the LEAST, regardless on how he felt about the supposed betrayal), he made the choice to basically abandon Remus and not help werewolves WHATSOEVER, and he made the choice to CONTINUOUSLY put his students and his staff at risk every year, especially during Harry's school year, without regard for their safety and wellbeing.
(I'd even go as far as to say he did the same exact shit with Tom Riddle. He made the choice to basically abandon Tom, despite Tom asking for help by not wanting to return to the orphanage. Dumbledore made the choice to ignore just about every child wanting help really, who did not want to go home for the summer. I don't know anyone who voluntarily does not want to go 'home' during the summers, year after year, as a kid. And it says a lot that they view their school as their primary home. The home they felt safe in. It says they don't feel safe or even cared for at what should be there home.)
(It seems obvious enough when being asked by a child to stay, to ask 'why?'. Why do you not want to go home? Do you not feel safe? And Dumbledore does... nothing. Ignores it, really. And I just... don't quite get why he doesn't ask 'why', or try to figure out why a child does not want to go home, and seems to just chalk it up to 'child rebellion' or 'child nonsense'.)
Dumbledore inspired trust from most people. People trusted him to know what he was doing. People trusted him to HELP. And yet, many a time, he did not deliver. And DUMBLEDORE has the AUDACITY to be disappointed when those HE FAILED don't want to do what he 'asks' of them. Demands of them, really.
And, in his pursuit of making the hard choices for the 'greater good', he fails to even ENTERTAIN other options. HE HAS CHOICES! He had a choice in at least checking on Harry, personally or by actually asking or verifying that Arabella Figgs was telling him the truth (assuming she reported to him about Harry at least biweekly or semi-annually). And! And! While he knew Voldemort would return one day, he acted as if he had all the time in the world!! Instead of being more proactive in ensuring that, should he rise again, he will not find it so easy to convert people to the 'dark' side! Like just giving a fuck about the Slytherins and showing them basic kindness. But in his inactivity, not only was Voldemort able to infiltrate the Ministry with EASE, he was able to bring in Werewolves, retake his followers from Azkaban, enlist the Dementors as well, and other beings to his side.
Unlike Eva and Ava, Dumbledore had choices -- he had time to make these choices (and he wasn't even trying to figure out how to save the UNIVERSE, as Eva and Ava's missions were) and yet... Eva and Ava did all they could for Grace and Simon respectively.
Dumbledore did not (or at least seemed to not) try to find otherways to prevent Harry's death, or prepare Harry in a meaningful way for facing Voldemort one day. I'm not sure he bothered trying to find other ways. It seems to me that he ends up trying to do what would be 'easiest'. The easiest, quickest, and 'surest' way to ensure Voldemort's death is by sacrificing Harry.
And, again, Eva had no real choice but to send Grace. She wasn't even sure he would succeed, but he was the only other choice, and the best choice she had to make, to bring about the best possible outcome for humanity -- for the universe even (even if it was not her final call assuming someone else was leading the show). Ava had her orders, she didn't run the show, she had orders, but she was willing to go down into the blood to get Simon out of there. And ofc it didn't work out, for either of them, but she Tried. And in such a short amount of time where she had to make quick decisions too. Dumbledore is only human, but so were Eva and Ava (and Ava did treat Simon as a convict), and yes, Dumbledore was remorseful for sending Harry to his death, in a way, he could have done literally anything else to help Harry, but he continued to abandon him and leave him unprepared for what he had to face. (Left a CHILD to go face his death, nonetheless. Almost like he wanted Harry to die, not because Harry 'had' to...)
Long story short, Eva and Ava were doing all they could for Grace and Simon while having to consider the fate of the universe, but Dumbledore did not do all he could for Harry, Severus, Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, or literally anyone else, while considering the fate of at least the UK wizarding world.
Anyway, I'd love to hear any thoughts or opinions or comparisons on this too. Maybe I've missed something, or maybe I misinterpreted something... idk, but still. Would love to hear!
hot take but i think the reason people didn't like cursed child all that much is because they aren't used to viewing love in the harry potter series as disgusting and gross and sexy and terrible and beautifully real
like in this whole franchise most portrayals of romantic love usually are "high school sweethearts" or just "oh they work well together and they're cute"
people are always so comfortable talking about sex yet they can't possibly fathom the idea of two consenting adults having sex
n just because they weren't married before having their daughter doesn't make HER initially bad
the argument is usually "oh well dumbledore said that voldemort can't feel love and that makes him weak" even though we've been knowing that dumbledore is unreliable and not always to be trusted???
dare i say theirs was the healthiest romantic relationship in the entire franchise woahhh who said thattt
"he may say our love was only half real" or whatever the geese said
ever think about how fucked up dumbledore is. like, lily and james named sirius as harrys godfather because they knew they were gonna die and they wanted him to raise harry when they inevitably did. Only for them to die and for sirius to show up for his child, and for dumbledore to take the child away from him. Plus he sent Hagrid to kidnap baby Harry so that sirius wouldn’t be able to shoot the messenger (so to speak). Then, he lets (yes LETS) sirius get arrested and sent to Azkaban so hes out of the way.
Because Dumbledore WANTED Harry raised by abusive muggles; he wanted Harry to be an abused child that never received love or validation cuz mf KNEW he was literally locked under the stairs. He wanted Harrys first taste of acceptance to be from himself and from the wizarding world so that harry would be so indebted to this new community that saved him , that he’d do anything dumbledore wanted.
Theres more reasons i hate dumbledore but this is one of my top reasons and why i HATE that harry names his child after him when hes the entire reason harry was abused. Growing up is realizing dumbledore is too morally gray for his stupid god complex
Why the fuck, when the Fidelius Charm was cast, did they not think to make a goddamn unbreakable vow !? Like, it's so obious ???
And Sirius ? They can literally take a memory into a pensine something and watch it, they have legilimency for crying out loud !! They have veritaserum ! So whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ??? It's so stupid!
And Dumbledore ! oh this sorry excuse of a human being !
He knew that Peter was the secret keeper ! So WHY IN THE EVERLY MOTHERLY FLIBBIDY FUCK didn't he said so ???
It makes me so fucking crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
And everyone that is like 'ThE BoY WhO LiVeD' 'hE DefEtEd tHe DaRk lOrD' erh, NO ?! It was thanks to LILY ?? He was just an INFANT who had the chance to be under a protecting spell created by LILY when she SACRIFIED HERSELF for her son ? Why is everybody forgeting about her ??
Oh, and don't start me about Snape !
'hE wAs BulLiEd bY JaMeS, HiS WoRsE MeMoRy iS HiM BeinG BuLliEd' Yeah, because he called Lily a slur
'hE WaS jUsT MiSuNdErStoOd' No, he was a death eater, fully believing in Voldy's BS,he only changed side because the girl he was obsessed with was in danger... Because of HIM ! People tend to forget that he was the one searching and giving the prophecy to the dArK LoRd, resulting in Lily's death.
And, 'JaMeS WaS jUsT A BulLy' We only sees him throught Snape's pov, aka, when he got 'bullies'c after he called Lily a mudblood.
And if James is a bully, doesn't that mean the Snape is one too ? No because :
-He made fun of Hermione for her teeth
-He bullies his students
-he exposed Remus when he had no reason for, since he is the one brewing the wolfsbane potion
-he hates and bullies the son of 'the love of his life' because Harry had the infortune of looking like his father, that Snape resents
-favoritism
-he was a death eater
-he is a racist
-he is a blood supremacis
-he is Neville worst fear, the boy who literally had his parents torturedby Bellatrix. Shouldn't she be his boggart ?? But noooo, it's our 'wonderful and misunderstood' Snape
-when he hugged Lily's body, while her son was crying his eyes out, being hurt, seeing his mother die, having blood on his forehead, and then leaving the house without even comforting or taking Harry to Saint-Mungos !!
-blamed James for bullying him, when he created Sectum Sempra, and was into dark magic !
