This is freaky:

[Piper]

If there is another thread on this somewhere I apologize, I just found this interview from JKR, and note the question and how she chooses to answer here:

Q. In the fourth book, when Harry tells Dumbledore about his fight with Voldemort and how Voldemort could touch him after he took Harry's blood, Harry thinks he sees Dumbledore smile slightly. Why? Is Dumbledore really on Voldemort's side after all?

A. Hmmmm....like all the best questions I get asked, I can't answer that one. But you are obviously reading carefully. I promise you'll find out!

http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm



Now check out her answer at mugglenet and the Leaky Caldron about speculation:

MA: …whether this had been planned, and since Dumbledore had this knowledge of Draco the whole year, had they had a discussion that said, "Should this happen, you have to act as if it is entirely your intention to just walk forward and kill me, because if you don't, Draco will die, the Unbreakable Vow, you'll die," and so on —

JKR: No, I see that, and yeah, I follow your line there. I can't — I mean, obviously, there are lines of speculation I don't want to shut down. Generally speaking, I shut down those lines of speculation that are plain unprofitable. Even with the shippers. God bless them, but they had a lot of fun with it. It's when people get really off the wall — it's when people devote hours of their time to proving that Snape is a vampire that I feel it's time to step in, because there's really nothing in the canon that supports that.

ES: It's when you look for those things —

JKR: Yeah, it's after the 15th rereading when you have spots in front of your eyes that you start seeing clues about Snape being the Lord of Darkness. So, there are things I shut down just because I think, well, don't waste your time, there's better stuff to be debating, and even if it's wrong, it will probably lead you somewhere interesting. That's my rough theory anyway.
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/extras/aa-jointerview2.html

So she shuts down the Snape is a Vampire theory, but not one that Dumbledore might be evil, and working with Voldermort? Does she want us to speculate that Dumbledore is Evil?

How would that work exactly? Does Snape figure it out, and decide that he has to Kill Dumbledore?

[Alz]

Are you suggesting Dumbledore is Evil :eek: :eek:
You know I would never say that ... *sniggers* :evil1:
You might want to look for a few threads and look for DiE references ... of course if you like come see me and I will make you an honorary member - we are few and far between but gathering momentum :evil1:

[Mr.Prongs]

I would like to see arguements that Dumbledore is evil, actually, is there a thread for that?

[gumshoe]

Hey all, new here.
I'd like to see a thread for that too! I'm wondering if wild speculation might be my natural home -- seems to be my niche, anyway.
Blaise, can you direct us?

gumshoe

I did a search and didn't immediately find a current thread, but now I have; is there an archived one with some good meat in it?

[Alz]

OK, the main thread for DiE is in a public joinable forum - only Mature Graduates can apply to get access - you do it from inside your UserCP/Group memberships.
You need to subscribe to the Wild Speculation Package.

There is another one here - more for HBP related findings - can be found here (http://www.maturepotter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2404)

There is also a nice article which can be found in the Articles section here (http://www.maturepotter.com/forum/articles.php) and the Article was written by Finnegan - Why Dumbledore is Evil (http://www.maturepotter.com/forum/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=18)

BTW - prepare for some fierce arguements from the other 90% of the community that wont even entertain the idea ;)

[Piper]

ok, I am going to get wild here, not about Dumbledore being evil, but about that 'gleam of something like triumph' in his eye when Harry told him that Voldermort said that Harry's blood would make him stronger, and that it made it so that Voldermort could touch him.

In PoA, when Harry tells Dumbledore that Professor Trelawny gave the second prophecy, about wormtail returning to Voldermort, Dumbledore was not a bit worried about wormtail returning to Voldermort, he says this:
"Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldermort a deupty who is in your debt... When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them.... and I'm much mistaken if Voldermort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter." he goes on to say, "This is magic at it's deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry. But trust me... the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew's life."

Dumbledore knew much more about the bond than he said apparently, he knew that wormtail would be in a fix maybe before wormtail did. Could it be that wormtail came to Dumbledore at some point, maybe after realizing that Voldermort was about to kill harry, and thus he would die in harry's place, sometime in GoF?

I would think the timing on this would be after Wormtail tries to get warning to Dumbledore by letting Mr Crouch slip off when he was guarding him. It didn't work, so he had to do something, so he went to Dumbledore, told Dumbledore of the plan, maybe like, "He wants to take blood from Potter, and then kill him! I tried to convince him that any enemy would do, but he wants POTTER!" And Dumbledore immediately realized the flaw in that using Harry's blood plan.

We have all wondered why Wormtail stood by and did nothing in the graveyard to save Harry. But maybe he helped Harry by making sure that everything went according to plan, Remember that Dumbledore knew of the wands being brothers, knew that Harry had a full soul, not a ripped soul, like Voldermort, probably knew who would win out when the wands did their thing.

And what made him so sure about the ripped soul? WORMTAIL, because he was there when Voldermort killed the muggle and made Nagini the final horcrux. He heard the spell, told Dumbledore, and Dumbledore recognized it, and THAT is what makes Dumbledore say, "If my calculations are correct, he was a horcrux short the night he killed your parents, he would have wanted your death to be that final horcrux." Also, wormtail could have been the one who told Dumbledore how angry Voldermort got when he found out that Lucius had let the Diary get destroyed.

Of course having another spy besides Snape could have been a good indication to Dumbledore of whether or not he could trust Snape.....

[Boing]

Also from the Mugglenet/TLC interview:

MA: Does the gleam of triumph still have yet to make an appearance?

JKR: That's still enormously significant. And let's face it, I haven’t told you that much is enormously significant, so you can let your imaginations run free there.

ES: I think everybody realized it was significant when they read it but we didn’t see it materialize in 5 or 6.

JKR: Well, it still is.

ES:We’ve been kind of waiting for the big revelation.

JKR: Absolutely, that's for seven. That's for seven.


That definitely says that there is something to that gleam and that it is a big enough revelation that it will be extremely significant to the storyline.

I am on the fence about Dumbledore and think he might have some interesting backstory that we will find out.

As for her comment about Dumbledore and Voldemort being on the same side, she said in the quote you posted above:
JKR: Yeah, it's after the 15th rereading when you have spots in front of your eyes that you start seeing clues about Snape being the Lord of Darkness. So, there are things I shut down just because I think, well, don't waste your time, there's better stuff to be debating, and even if it's wrong, it will probably lead you somewhere interesting. That's my rough theory anyway.

So, she doesn't necessarily shut down wrong avenues of inquiry because they could lead you to someplace interesting. Plus, if she simply said, "no comment" to everything that was true, that wouldn't make it very interesting. She would basically be giving the entire story away by virtue of not saying anything.

I don't think that Dumbledore and Voldemort were on the same side, but they might each have had their own motives and Dumbledore's might not have been as pure as some people would give him credit for.

But yes, to answer your question, I think she definitely wants us to theorize on whether or not Dumbledore is as good as we are given to believe.

[Alz]

I suppose I thought I would like to add here is the demise of Dumbledore by book 6.
I think this is important in the DiE concept - it would be a lot easier for Harry to hear that Dumbledore was less than honerable when he is dead than if he was alive.
Could you imagine Harry having to face off and kill Dumbledore?
It would never happen full stop.
By having Dumbledore gone - it allow for the nasty truth to be uncovered and all Harry is left with is having to comes to terms with someone he trusted so much was in fact not much better than the 'other side'
I think of the relevance as the new MoM called Harry Dumbledore's man ... it just didnt sit right with me - in effect Harry was concealing all of Dumbledore's actions from everyone else as much as the man himself - the mask of silence is very powerful.

[Jimenem]

Ok, I came across a rather good theory.

In book four while in the maze Harry runs into an acromantula, which according to "Fantastic Beasts", utilizes a deadly (poisonus) secretion. Harry notices a secretion next to the OPEN WOUND on his leg, but pays it no mind. He has been bitten by a basilisk. . .(he may be immune.) But. . . the poison is in his blood none the less. . . Voldemort used the poisoned blood for his new body. . . Hmmmm. . . could Dumbledore have known about the confrontation between Harry and the Acromantula?? Hence the look of triumph on his face when Harry told him that Voldy used his blood? Ponderiffic!

[Alz]

Well to be fair the basilisk bite was going to kill him - it was Fawkes that stopped that happening with his tears ...
The Acromantula is a bit more interesting considering Slughorn's desire to get it from Aragog ... but given Aragog is dead I am not sure that there is room for Voldemort to happen across one as well ... and we also have to rememeber, Voldemort at this time is still invincible because of his horcruxes - he could be bitten to death but could still ressurect ... although the bones of his father would get a little thin on the ground ;)

Just popping back onto the topic which Piper started - that smile still holds a huge clue ... afterall JKR wouldnt answer it - means there is a big clue to it ...

[Jimenem]

I agree with you, the basilisk bite was going to kill him, but was healed by Fawks. Reguardless the poison was introduced to his body, and he may have developed an immunity is all I was saying.
I agree that he is invincible with the horcruxes, but wouldn't you smile too if you knew that Voldemort had used poisoned blood to return to power?

Back on track, what did Dumbledore know that we don't? He didn't really have a chance to tell us. His pensieve might be helpfull. . . (Still new here. . . this has most likely been suggested.) I'm gonna do a little more reading before I start posting again.;) :D

[Alz]

Ahh ok - yeah I get your point now :o
What you are saying is that what healed Harry was external but the poison still resided in him - maybe could weaken Voldemort internally?
I can buy that - sorry I misunderstood what you were saying mate :D