WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:10.800 Us studious. It is the thirty first of October nineteen 2 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:13.279 eighty one. The night is quiet in a way that 3 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:16.160 nights in little Winging never are. The man in long 4 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:18.679 silver robes stands in front of a house on Private 5 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.480 Drive number four. He is holding a baby. The baby 6 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:26.039 is asleep. The man bends down and places the child 7 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.519 on the doorstep, and as he does, he takes a 8 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:30.960 letter from his pocket and tucks it into the blanket. 9 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:34.799 Then he steps back, and he watches. He does not 10 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:37.600 go inside. He does not knock on the door and 11 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:41.200 explain himself. He stands in the shadow of a nearby tree, 12 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.799 and he waits, as though he already knows what will 13 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.719 happen next, as though he has seen this scene play 14 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:49.399 out in his mind a thousand times and has simply 15 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:53.200 come to watch the final rehearsal. The autumn wind brushes 16 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.039 through the bare branches of the sycamore tree where he stands, 17 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:58.920 carrying with it the scent of damp leaves and the 18 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.759 distant exhaust of a late night lorie on the motorway. 19 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:06.159 The baby stirs, tiny fingers curling against the cold, but 20 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:08.560 does not wait. There is the precision of someone who 21 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.280 has weighed outcomes and chosen the one that costs the 22 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.040 least in the long run, even if it costs everything 23 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.920 in the short This is where it begins. This is 24 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:19.560 the first move. And here is the question that has 25 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.239 kept me awake for years, the question that made me 26 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:24.799 want to start this podcast in the first place, the 27 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:27.760 question I want to spend this entire season exploring with you. 28 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:32.079 Was this always the plan? Did Albus Dumbledore, that grand 29 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:35.280 old man with the twinkling eyes and the long silver beard, 30 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:38.640 placed that infant on that doorstep, knowing exactly what he 31 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.920 was doing, Not just the blood protection we will get 32 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:45.560 to that, but the whole thing, the cupboard under the stairs, 33 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.159 the letters, the broken glasses, and the Dudley hand me 34 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.480 downs in the eleven years of silence. Did he know 35 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:55.879 on that October night in nineteen eighty one that he 36 00:01:55.959 --> 00:01:57.959 was setting a boy on a path that would end 37 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.079 in a forest, with the boy walking fucking willingly toward 38 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.599 his own death. We are not asking whether Dumbledore was evil. 39 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.359 I want to be very clear about that from the start, 40 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:10.199 because I think it's the thing that scares people off 41 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.520 this theory, the idea that Dumbledore might have been anything 42 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:17.879 less than the warm, wise, twinkling grandfather figure that Harry 43 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:20.879 so desperately needed him to be. We are not asking 44 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:23.919 whether Dumbledore was evil. I want to be very clear 45 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:26.479 about that from the start, because I think it's the 46 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.599 thing that scares people off this theory, the idea that 47 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.759 Dumbledore might have been anything less than the warm, wise, 48 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:36.479 twinkering grandfather figure that Harry so desperately needed him to be. 49 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.759 We are not saying Dumbledore. We are saying something that 50 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.039 I think is actually worse if you think about it 51 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:45.479 long enough. We are saying that the Bullminers was a general, 52 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:50.319 that he was willing to sacrifice anything, any person, any childhood, 53 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:53.319 any individual life to win a war that had already 54 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.919 cost him more than anyone should have to pay. We 55 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.879 are saying that the warmest moments between Harry and Dumbledore 56 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.960 were real, the love was real, but that it was 57 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:06.159 also a tool, that every kindness served a purpose, That 58 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.280 the man who told Harry he was the best hope 59 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:10.680 of us all meant it, but he also meant something 60 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:14.400 else behind those words. He meant, you are the weapon 61 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.080 I need, and I am going to spend fifteen years 62 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:20.039 sharpening you. The war had shaped him in ways that 63 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:23.120 no one else could see. Dumboldoer had watched his sister 64 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:26.800 fade into madness, had watched his brother retreat into bottles 65 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:30.280 and bitterness, had watched his own hands become instruments of 66 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:33.240 destruction in the fight against grind A Wald. He knew 67 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:35.879 what it cost to hold power. He knew what it 68 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.520 cost to make decisions that set others to die while 69 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:42.960 he remained kind, safe, calculating. And when he looked at 70 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:45.919 Tom Riddle, the boy who had become vulmier, he saw 71 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.120 the ultimate expression of what power could do, and it 72 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:51.680 was divorced from compassion. He saw the natural end point 73 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.439 of a certain kind of ambition. And he knew, with 74 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:56.759 the cold clarity of a man who had made every 75 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:00.319 mistake possible, to see what others could not do, to 76 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:03.039 see what others could not see, to play the long 77 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.439 game when every one else was reacting to the board, 78 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.800 and the long game. For Dumbledore had a name. It 79 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.960 had a small name with a lightning scar on its forehead, 80 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:15.439 and it was sleeping on a door step in Surrey. 81 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.759 So let's go back to the beginning. Let's go back 82 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:21.720 to number four, prive It Drive and the night that 83 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:26.040 started everything. When Dumbledore leaves Harry on that doorstep, he 84 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:29.959 is not alone. Minerva mc gonagall is there, watching from 85 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.079 across the street, and she is furious. She says so plainly. 86 00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:38.000 She has been sitting on that cold pavement for hours waiting, 87 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:41.319 and when Dumbledore finally arrives, she tells him that the 88 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:44.439 boy will be miserable growing up there with those people. 89 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:49.519 And Dumbledore's response is remarkable. He says, I have watched 90 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:52.560 all of my aunt's Muggle relations, and I must say 91 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.279 her aunt was the only one of them worth any attention. 92 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.160 Then he tells mc gonigal that he is putting the 93 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.079 boy there because his aunt Pitt is the only living 94 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.680 relative who shares his mother's blood, and that blood, that 95 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:09.519 specific magical protection granting blood, will keep him safe. But 96 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:12.519 here's what we need to notice. Dumbledore does not say 97 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:16.079 because they will love him. He does not say because 98 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.480 they will give him home. He says because they share 99 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.759 his mother's blood. This is not a family. This is 100 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.759 a protection spell with a roof over it. The Dursleys 101 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:28.439 are not chosen as guardians. They are chosen as a 102 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:31.279 hiding place. They are chosen as a vessel for a 103 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:35.160 magical bond that Dumbledore has calculated down to the minute detail. 104 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:38.360 He knows that as long as Harry calls that house home, 105 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:42.480 Volnemort cannot touch him. But he also knows, and this 106 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:44.680 is the part that chills me every time I read it, 107 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:48.560 he knows that this protection has an expiration date. The 108 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:52.000 blood protection, as Dumbledore explains it later in the series, 109 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:55.959 is a strange and ancient magic. It works because Lily 110 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.759 Potter died to save her son, and that act of 111 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:02.120 love created a binding charm that ties Harry's safety to 112 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:06.639 the blood of his mother. Since Petunia, Lily's sister, shares 113 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:09.759 that blood, the charred extends to her home. He knows 114 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:13.000 that the war will not wait forever. And he knows 115 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.079 what the cold precision of a man who has spent 116 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.480 his entire life calculating the costs of war that he 117 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.399 is asking Petunia Dursley to raise a child she never 118 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:24.040 wanted in exchange for a protection that will expire on 119 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.920 her nephew's seventeenth birthday. This is not a gift. This 120 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:31.959 is a loan, and the interest on that loan is 121 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.360 paid in a decade and a half of suffering. Think 122 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:38.879 about what Harry's childhood actually looks like. Think about the 123 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.959 cupboard under the stairs, where a child sleeps in a 124 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.720 space the size of a small closet. The walls press 125 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:49.120 in on him clothes and damp, and the spider that 126 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:52.160 lives in the corner above his head has become over 127 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.600 the years a kind of roommate. He talks to it 128 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:59.800 sometimes when the Dursley had been particularly cruel, when Dudley 129 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:02.560 has broken one of his toys, or Aunt Petunia has 130 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:06.560 locked him in without supper. The spider never answers, but 131 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:10.759 it listens, and that is enough. Think about the letters 132 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.680 that pour through the cracks in the door at eleven 133 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:17.519 years old, Letters that should have come years earlier, letters 134 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.560 that should have told a boy who he really was. 135 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:23.279 They come on the morning of July twenty fourth, and 136 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:27.120 then they keep coming, hundreds of them, thousands of them, 137 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:30.720 shoved through every gap in the house, until the Dursleys 138 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.639 flee to the sea, and Dumbledore comes himself floating in 139 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:37.839 the sky on a blue typewriter, and Harry learns that 140 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:41.000 he is a wizard. But those letters could have come 141 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.680 when he was five, They could have come when he 142 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.199 was three, They could have come the day after his 143 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:49.560 parents died, carried by an owl to a house in Surrey, 144 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:52.480 delivered to a child who was wondering why his mother 145 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:57.040 had left him. Dumbledore chose not to send them. Dumbledore 146 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:00.399 chose to wait, and that choice meant eleven years in 147 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:04.639 a cupboard, eleven years of believing he was worthless, eleven 148 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.079 years of being told every single day that he was 149 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.600 a burden and a freak, and lucky to have a 150 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.319 roof over his head. The bars are pulled against his fingers, 151 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.439 and the owl looks at him with so like a 152 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:19.519 plane that Uncle Vernon used to seal. The window and 153 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:23.199 the heat of summer makes it unbearable, and Harry lies 154 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:26.319 on his bed at night, staring at the ceiling and 155 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:28.360 wondering if this is what his life will always be. 156 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:33.360 There is a tray on the floor, and on it 157 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.039 there is a piece of bread that is so stale 158 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:39.679 it cracks when he picks it up, in a glass 159 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:42.679 of water that has been sitting so long it has 160 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.799 become lukewarm and flat. He eats the bread, he drinks 161 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:51.919 the water. He does not cry. He has learned not 162 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:56.000 to cry, because crying only makes Dudley laugh and hamp 163 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.000 Petunia tell him to stop being so dramatic. Think about Dudley. 164 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.440 The birthday parties where Harry is forced to dress in 165 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:06.559 one of Dudley's old jumpers, where he is given a 166 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:09.279 wire cut hagger as a present and made to feel 167 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:14.639 lucky for it. And the jumper is too big, the 168 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:18.519 sleeves hanging down best his wrists, and it smells like Dudley, 169 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:22.240 like sweat and sweets and the particular musk of a 170 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:25.440 child who has never been told no. Do the other 171 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.879 children stare at him, at this thin boy in clothes 172 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:31.759 that don't fit, at this boy who lives in a 173 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:35.519 cupboard and his own home. Was any of this necessary? 174 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:38.919 Was it necessary for Harry to sleep in a cupboard? 175 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.799 Was it necessary for him to be starved, to be bullied, 176 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:45.519 to be told every day of his life that he 177 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.080 was worthless, that his parents were drunks, that he was 178 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.519 a burden. The blood protection did not require cruelty. The 179 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:56.799 blood protection only required that Harry live under the same 180 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:00.480 roof as his aunt. Dumbledore could have found another family. 181 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.000 He could have found a wizarding family, or a half 182 00:10:04.039 --> 00:10:06.960 blood family, or even a Muggle family that would have 183 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.120 taken the boy in and loved him and kept him safe. 184 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.120 He could have arranged for regular check ins, for oversight, 185 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.000 for anyone to look in on the child and make 186 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:20.240 sure he was being fed and cared for. He could 187 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:22.879 have sent an owl once a month just to check. 188 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:25.759 He could have done a hundred things that would have 189 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:29.039 softened the blow, that would have given Harry some small 190 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:33.039 measure of dignity during those formative years. But he didn't. 191 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.600 And the reason he didn't is because he knew something else, 192 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:41.960 something darker, that the Deursleys were perfect exactly as they were, 193 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:46.480 because their cruelty would keep Harry humble, Their neglect would 194 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:49.720 keep him hungry for belonging. Their indifference would make him 195 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:54.240 desperate for validation, broken enough to be loyal, broken enough 196 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.840 to be grateful, broken enough to be grateful, broken enough 197 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.080 to walk into a forest at seventeen years old and 198 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.519 lay down his life without hesitation. This is the calculus. 199 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:05.919 This is the first clue that we are not dealing 200 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.879 with a kindly old man who loves children. We are 201 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:11.000 dealing with a general who has looked at a battlefield 202 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:14.039 and seen exactly what he needs to win the war. Now, 203 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:16.639 let's talk about the people Dumbledore placed in Harry's life 204 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:20.320 because they are not random, they are not accidents. Every 205 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.440 significant adult who enters Harry's world enters it because Dumbledore 206 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:26.360 allowed it, or arranged it, or at the very least 207 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.639 failed to stop it. And when you look at the 208 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.960 three most important figures Haggrid, Loupah, and Snape, you see 209 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.840 something remarkable. Every single one of them owed Dumbledore something. 210 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.120 Every single one of them was in debt to the 211 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.799 headmaster in ways that made them loyal beyond question. Rubus 212 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:44.320 Haggard is the easiest example. He is the one who 213 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.639 comes to get Harry on his eleventh birthday. Caggard is 214 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:51.879 warm and genuine and absolutely devoted to Tembler. Then buliber 215 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:54.399 gave Haggard a job when no one else would hire him. 216 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:58.000 Then Bulibery kept his secret when he was expelled from Hogwarts. 217 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:00.879 Den Bler gave him a cottage on the grounds and 218 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:04.080 a purpose in life. And Haggard has repaid that debt 219 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.320 a thousand times over by doing whatever Dumblore asks without question. 220 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:12.480 The day Haggard comes to get Harry, he bursts through 221 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.080 the door of the hut on the rock like a 222 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:18.559 thundercloud made flesh all Beard and Moleskin and trembling hands, 223 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.720 and he cries and cries and cries over Lily and James. 224 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.120 And Harry does not know what to do with a 225 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.360 man who is crying over people he never knew, people 226 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.440 who are supposed to have been drunks and failures and 227 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:36.240 terrible parents. But Haggard tells him the truth. Haggard tells 228 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:39.159 him that his parents were good and brave and kind, 229 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:43.679 and that Volmanor killed them, and that Harry is a wizard. 230 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.320 And Harry believes him because there is nothing. Not because 231 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:51.720 he loves Harry yet, but because Dumbledore asked. When Dumbledore 232 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:55.440 needs someone to deliver a Lhilosopher's Stone, he trusts Haggrid 233 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.600 to play back up to the three headed Dog. When 234 00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:01.240 Dumbledore needs someone to ass court Harry to safety in 235 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:04.240 the chaos of Book seven, he sends Haggrid on a 236 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:10.919 flying motorcycle. Hagrid never asks why, Hagrid never hesitates. Hagrid 237 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.799 loves Harry, yes, but he also loves Dumbledore, and those 238 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.000 two loves are tangled together in a way that makes 239 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.600 it impossible to tell where loyalty ends and affection begins. 240 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:26.320 Dumbledore knew that Dumbledore counted on it Remus. Lupon is 241 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.639 a more complicated case. Lupon is a werewolf, the only 242 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.360 one of his kind for most of his life to 243 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.879 hold a position at Hogwarts. Dumbledore hired him, despite the risk, 244 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:41.399 despite the fear, despite everything the ministry and the public 245 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:45.120 and the other professors might think. Dumbledore gave him a job, 246 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.639 a home, a place in the world. And Lupon, who 247 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.279 had spent his entire life being treated like a monster, 248 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.080 was so grateful that he would have done almost anything 249 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:58.000 Dumbledore asked. The first time Lupon walks into the defense 250 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:01.000 against the Dark Art's class room, Harry noticed that his 251 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:04.600 robes are shabby and patched, that he looks tired, that 252 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:06.960 there is something in his eyes that seems old beyond 253 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:12.039 its years. Dumbledore gave him a job, a home, a 254 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:17.120 place in the world. But when Lupebi smiles when he teaches, 255 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.200 when he touches what it means to be afraid of yourself, 256 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:22.960 he sees a man who understands what it means to 257 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.519 be afraid of yourself. He sees a man who knows 258 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:28.519 what it is like to be hated for something you 259 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:33.320 cannot control. And when Lupbai teaches him, the patronis charm 260 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:36.200 When he tells Harry to think of the happiest moment 261 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.039 of his life. Harry thinks of the moment he first 262 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:44.399 learned he was a wizard. But Lupi, Lupi is thinking 263 00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:48.440 of something else. Lupai is thinking of the moment Dumbledore 264 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.679 hired him, the moment someone looked at a werewolf and 265 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:55.120 saw a teacher instead of a monster. That is the 266 00:14:55.159 --> 00:14:58.159 moment that makes him happy. That is the moment that 267 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:02.039 Jerry to stand away the dementors, and that is the 268 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:06.840 moment that binds him to Dumbledore forever. Dumbledore sent loop 269 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:09.720 By to teach Harry in the third year, but he 270 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.360 also sent him with a very specific task to befriend 271 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:15.799 Harry told it or hired him again in book five 272 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:18.759 as an Order member, as a fighter in the war, 273 00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:25.000 as a soldier in Dumbledore's army. And then there is Snape. Oh, 274 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:29.799 there is Snape. Snape is the most difficult, the most painful, 275 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:34.720 the most extraordinary piece of this puzzle. Snape, who bullied 276 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.759 Harry's father and then spent seventeen years taking out that 277 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:41.799 anger on Harry. Snape, who loved Lily Evans since they 278 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:45.320 were children, who begged doubledore to save her, who watched 279 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:47.480 her die, and then spent the rest of his life 280 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:52.159 atoning for his failure in the only way he knew how. Snape, 281 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.960 who was a death eater who switched sides only because 282 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.840 Volmiter killed the woman he loved, who spent the next 283 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:00.639 fourteen years as a double agent, livedving a lie so 284 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:03.960 deep that he could never tell anyone the truth. The 285 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.399 first time Harry sees Snape, he is in the Potion's classroom, 286 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:09.440 and Snape is looking at him with a hatred so 287 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.559 deep that it seems to burn. There will be no 288 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:15.360 foolish want waving in this class to meme the saints 289 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:20.840 who fave Lily the seventeen years his Magen. Snape has 290 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.200 the good liby of the Landage others. Harry does not 291 00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:25.840 know that Snape loved his mother, that he is unfair, 292 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:28.759 that he is unfair, that he takes points from griefand 293 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.919 for breathing and gives them to Slytherin for existing, and 294 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:34.360 Harry learns to hate him in return. That is what 295 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.799 Snape wants, That is what Dumbledore needs, because as long 296 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.799 as Harry hates Snape, he will trust Dumbledore. As long 297 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:43.080 as Snape as the villain Dumbledore can be the hero. 298 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:46.919 Snape owed Dumbledore his life after the Potters were killed. 299 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.279 After Snape came to Dumbledore, broken and begging, Dumbledore took 300 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:53.360 him in. He gave him a job, He kept his secret. 301 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:56.320 He protected him from the Ministry, from the death Eaters, 302 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.440 from everyone who might have wanted him dead. And in return, 303 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.080 Snape did whatever Dumbledore asked. He taught at Hogwarts, feeding 304 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:06.799 Dumbledore information about the students, about the staff, about everything. 305 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.240 He played the villain, the cruel professor that everyone hated, 306 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:13.160 so that Dumbledore could remain the beloved headmaster who always 307 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.400 knew best. He kill Dumbledore when the tam came, and 308 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.519 a scene so painful that I still cannot read it 309 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.200 without my hands shaking. The scene in the Tower is 310 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:24.680 the worst. Dumbledore is debt severs, he says, and his 311 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.759 voice is weak, but his eyes are flies, and Dummerdore 312 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:31.000 falls and the students are screaming, and Harry is screaming, 313 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.720 and Snape is running, running away from what he has done, 314 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.200 running toward a life that will never let him rest. 315 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.359 But before he goes, he turns and he looks at Harry, 316 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:41.640 and there is something in his eyes. That might be grief, 317 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:44.160 might be anger, might be the weight of a lie 318 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:47.039 so large that it has become indistinguishable from the truth. 319 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.119 You have your mother's eyes, he says, and then he 320 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.640 is gone. And the worst part, the part that makes 321 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:55.359 this theory so difficult to accept, is that Snape was 322 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:57.440 good at his job. He was so good that he 323 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:01.119 fooled everyone, including Harry, including up us as readers. He 324 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.519 was the perfect spy, the perfect soldier, the perfect tool. 325 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:07.039 And Dumbledore knew exactly what he was doing when he 326 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:10.039 placed Snape in Harry's life. He knew that Snape's cruelty 327 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:13.039 would make Harry distrustful. He knew that Snape's hatred would 328 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.920 make Harry desperate for approval from other adults. He knew 329 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:18.599 that Snape's presence would create at tension in Harry's life 330 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.359 that would never quite resolve, and that that tension he 331 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:24.440 built a world around Harry in which every adult was 332 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.039 in his debt, and which every adult was a piece 333 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:31.200 on a chess board that only one person could see clearly. Tonks, 334 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:34.720 who was polyjuiced and placed in Harry's fourth year for 335 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:39.160 reasons that still feel invasive and wrong, Tonks, who was 336 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:41.319 sent to the order and then to the school to 337 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.440 watch Harry, to report back, to keep him safe in 338 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:49.480 ways that sometimes felt more like surveillance. Dumbledore's web was vast, 339 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:53.200 and every strand connected back to him. Now let's go 340 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:55.880 to the first year, because this is where the theory 341 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:59.680 becomes undeniable. This is where we see for the first 342 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:04.160 time exactly what Dumbledore was willing to do. It starts 343 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:07.839 with the mirror of a racid Harry finds it by accident, 344 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.960 in a room that should not exist, in a corridor 345 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:14.039 that is not on any map. The room is dusty 346 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:17.799 and forgotten, full of broken furniture and moth eaten curtains, 347 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:20.319 and in the center of it stands a mirror that 348 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:25.160 reaches the ceiling. The frame is god intricately carved, and 349 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:28.880 at the bottom are words that Harry cannot read. He 350 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.359 steps closer, and he looks, and what he sees makes 351 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:37.480 him cry out. He sees his family, his parents, James 352 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:41.720 and Lily, standing in the crowd behind him, his grandparents, 353 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.599 people he has never met, smiling and waving relatives. He 354 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.960 does not recognize people who look like him, and his 355 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:51.319 hand goes through the glass and they do not seem 356 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:55.359 to notice. They are not real, they are only a reflection. 357 00:19:56.440 --> 00:19:58.640 But they are also the most real thing he has 358 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:02.519 ever seen. He goes back night after night just to 359 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:05.400 see them, just to stand in the presence of people 360 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.720 who love him. The room is cold, and the mirror 361 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.519 is cold, and his breath fogs in the air as 362 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:16.039 he stands there, hour after hour, just watching. He does 363 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:19.039 not tell any one. He does not tell Ron, who 364 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:22.759 would not understand. He does not tell Hermione, who would 365 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.920 tell him it is unhealthy. He keeps it to himself, 366 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:29.839 this one secret, this one thing that belongs only to him. 367 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:35.200 And then Dumbledore finds him, and Dumbledore tells him something remarkable. 368 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:38.960 He says, it does not do to dwell on dreams 369 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.039 and forget to live. He says, I have been many things, 370 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.200 but I have never been able to use the stone. 371 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:48.200 He tells Harry that he is lonely, that he wants company, 372 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:52.000 and Harry, who is eleven years old and desperate for 373 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:55.160 an adult to trust, would not be the last. But 374 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.480 here's what we need to understand. Dundebar already knew what 375 00:20:58.519 --> 00:21:01.880 the mirror showed Harry. He had known for years. He 376 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:04.640 had placed the mirror in that room, in that corridor, 377 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:07.960 where only someone with very specific qualities would find it. 378 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:10.559 He had designed the mirror to show anyone who looked 379 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.799 into it their deepest desire, and he had designed the 380 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:16.680 room to keep it hidden. And then he let Harry 381 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:21.039 find it. Why because he wanted to see what Harry desired. 382 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:23.319 He wanted to see if Harry was ready for what 383 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:28.519 was coming. And when he saw that Harry desired family, love, belonging, 384 00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:31.200 when he saw that Harry's deepest wish was to not 385 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:34.559 be alone, he did not comfort the boy. He did 386 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.240 not tell him the truth. He used that knowledge to 387 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.519 manipulate him. He told Harry that the stone would be moved, 388 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.759 that it was not safe, and then he sent Harry, 389 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:46.960 an eleven year old child, into a trap designed to 390 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:50.200 kill Voldelmort. He sent Harry into a challenge that was 391 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.000 meant for a fully trained wizard, and he did it 392 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:57.000 knowing that Harry might die. But Harry did not die. 393 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:00.559 Harry succeeded. He found the stone before Snape could get it. 394 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:06.039 He faced Voldemort, the darkest wizard of the age, the 395 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:09.359 man who had killed Harry's parents, his willingness to die 396 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.079 for others. His willingness to walk into death rather than 397 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:16.880 give up the stone. That is what saved him, that 398 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:21.039 is what termed Voldemort's curse back on himself, and Dummaldore's 399 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.920 response to this is telling. When Harry comes out of 400 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:29.680 the encounter, exhausted, traumatized, holding the stone, Dumbledore does not 401 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:32.519