Harry Potter For the Greater Good

[Dreago]

Dumbledore is supposed to be the epitome of light wizard, standing against the darkness and all that, but is quite frequently portrayed as either completely incompetent, an evil bastard, or willing to allow Harry to be abused and neglected by the Dursely's. All under guise of some nebulous "Greater Good".

I'd like to see a Dumbledore that lives up to his reputation. Maybe even be a little ruthless in order to stop Voldemort.

Say a couple years after Harry comes to live on Privet Drive, he listens to Mrs. Figg about Harry's treatment and does something about it. Whether that involves threats to the Dursely's, maybe some compulsions of some sort (that I'm sure he wouldn't like, but Harry is supposed to destroy Voldemort, so whatever it takes), or bribery, or something else. Whatever he does he gets him treated better.

Hey, he's the Chosen One, can't have him be weak or anything. With the Dursely's behaving, let's throw Harry a bit of training. Tell him about magic (spelled to secrecy because of his age, no use taking chances). Maybe give him some books on basic magical theory, Oclumency basic (basic meditation or something), Etc.. Reiterating basic here so it doesn't get too ridiculous. Even without these resources little Tom Riddle had at least some wandless skills, wouldn't hurt to see what could happen (have to find some way to prevent him from becoming a bully though).

Completely open for anyone who wants to try. I'd try it myself but but I don't have the time, motivation, or talent, just some ideas.

 

[Tentrees]

Dumbles actually being competant would make him a huge threat post war and the Ministry and the remaining Death Eaters would be suspicious of him simply because he is so powerful.

Especially if he gets the Wizengamot to require either a public truth and reconciliation session for 'imperioused Death Eaters' or the submit Veritiserum questioning. That and maybe he asked the ICW to send in Aurors to help clean up the Death Eater taint in the Ministry.

These two acts would probably either drive a few into hiding overseas, send a few more to Azkabahn and leave the Wizengamot and the Wizarding world much shaken buy the revalations and changes.

He may get a few to avoid Azkabahn buy offering them Socrates cup in exchange for a thir d of their wealth in the victims and orphans fund or the Schools scholarship funds.

More funds would allow better and more staff members. Even going as far as to Excorcise Binns.

I can see a strong willed and competant Dumbledore keeping Snape on a very short leash. And a more comprehensive set of basic instructiopn for first years.

A basic Occlumency class for every student. Both to help wth magical and mental control and allow the DMLE officer in charge to observe and evaluate the students moral compass.

The remainning members of the Order do not disband but help Dumbledore wither protect Harry or help in Dumbledores research into Tom Riddle/Voldemort. Maybe they get a whiff of the Horcrux' when the Malfoy estate is searched during a though investigation into Lucy' actions and the is diary found.

Just a few Ideas for a more on the ball Dumbledore...

 

[Archanon]

With a competent Dumbledore, there's no story: Competent!Dumbledore who isn't evil would find out about Pettigrew long before he became Secret Keeper. A giant black skull on the left arm isn't exactly subtle.

 

[Oni_kawaii]

With a competent Dumbledore, there's no story: Competent!Dumbledore who isn't evil would find out about Pettigrew long before he became Secret Keeper. A giant black skull on the left arm isn't exactly subtle.

The death of Potters might be what knocked some sense into the old guy.

Voldemort would have won the war if not for his untimely death.
Dumbeldore isn't taking chances and decides to clean house.

The power of hindsight compels him not to let this happen again.

 

[GiantMonkeyMan]

With a competent Dumbledore, there's no story: Competent!Dumbledore who isn't evil would find out about Pettigrew long before he became Secret Keeper. A giant black skull on the left arm isn't exactly subtle.

How do you know Pettigrew was marked and, for that matter, how many times does a busy Dumbledore meet with inconspicuous, suspicion free ex-pupil anyway?

Besides, in my opinion, Dumbledore is competent unless you hold him up to ridiculous expectations of omnipotence. He a 90+ year old man who works as the Supreme Mugwump and the Headmaster of the most prestigious school in Europe while juggling running a partisan war against a far more ruthless and numerous force. Jeez, what's with all the Dumbledore hate these days? Cut the man some slack; no-one's infallible.

And you're a moron with lacking imagination if you think a competent Dumbledore precludes a failed story. Read Shezza's Denarian Renegade series and you'll find a Dumbledore who kicks ass while wearing luminous green... pretty much canon, then.

 

[Archanon]

With a competent Dumbledore, there's no story: Competent!Dumbledore who isn't evil would find out about Pettigrew long before he became Secret Keeper. A giant black skull on the left arm isn't exactly subtle.

How do you know Pettigrew was marked and, for that matter, how many times does a busy Dumbledore meet with inconspicuous, suspicion free ex-pupil anyway?

Besides, in my opinion, Dumbledore is competent unless you hold him up to ridiculous expectations of omnipotence. He a 90+ year old man who works as the Supreme Mugwump and the Headmaster of the most prestigious school in Europe while juggling running a partisan war against a far more ruthless and numerous force. Jeez, what's with all the Dumbledore hate these days? Cut the man some slack; no-one's infallible.

And you're a moron with lacking imagination if you think a competent Dumbledore precludes a failed story. Read Shezza's Denarian Renegade series and you'll find a Dumbledore who kicks ass while wearing luminous green... pretty much canon, then.

Gee, because Voldie uses Pettigrew's mark to summon the Death Eaters in the graveyard?

...Alright, I suppose you can argue that he wasn't marked until he returned to Voldemort after fleeing the Shrieking Shack, but not knowing anything about the process, that's not conclusive one way or the other. However, we do know that Voldie was extremely weak, in a homunculus body, so Occam's Razor says he was most likely marked during the war.

And it's been stated outright that Dumbledore was fairly sure there was a spy in the Order; therefore, failing to check is stupid.

However, I do actually like Dumbledore. The person I have a problem with is JK: She set up events so that, frankly, Dumbledore either had to make a large amount of dumb mistakes or be selectively malevolent in order for events to turn out as they did. I'd rather have him be on the side of good, so I go for dumb mistakes. He's a badass wizard, but I don't think he's a capable leader. Yes, you can argue that it's because he spread himself too thin, but that in itself is a dumb choice. He has competent people around him; let them help.

And a competent Dumbledore doesn't make for a failed story. It just means that the defining event of the series (the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing) wouldn't happen, realistically. You can't go "Oh I'll make Dumbledore competent" and then just pretend that everything up to that point would happen exactly the same.

Although I will give Oni's point it's due; that is a reasonable method for doing so. Although I'd like to think that it wouldn't take the downfall of Voldemort to shock him out, but rather the fact that, "gee, Voldie's winning the war and I think there's a spy here, maybe we should change our tactics?"

 

[bissek]

All you really need is for Dumbledore to take his official responsibilities seriously.

He is the British Magical equivalent of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He has the power and responsibility to ensure that every case is handled properly, with none of the actions of the war being swept under the rug.

He is the British Magical equivalent of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He has the ability to advance laws that make it clear to the public that the Death Eater mentality is no longer acceptable.

He is the Headmaster of the most prestigious (and possibly only) magical school in Britain. He is in a position to shape the mindset of the next generation so that they will not tolerate bigotry and are willing to take a stand against it.

He had fourteen years to prepare, and knew that the war would resume sooner or later. So what did Albie do will all his ideally placed positions? Nothing.

 

[Chuckg]

Besides, in my opinion, Dumbledore is competent unless you hold him up to ridiculous expectations of omnipotence. He a 90+ year old man who works as the Supreme Mugwump and the Headmaster of the most prestigious school in Europe while juggling running a partisan war against a far more ruthless and numerous force. Jeez, what's with all the Dumbledore hate these days? Cut the man some slack; no-one's infallible.

I've never accepted this excuse either.

Part of being competent at anything is knowing when you've bitten off more than you can chew, and its time to fall back and regroup/ask for reinforcements/etc.

Also, a specific part of being a competent leader is the ability to recognize/train competent subordinates, and then be able delegate authority and responsibility to them.

If Dumbledore really did have so many jobs that there simply weren't enough hours in the day to be able to do any of them, then he fails the competence test by not taking earlier action to find someone else capable of handling part of his workload for him. The man only knew everybody who was anybody in Magical Britain, after all, and he had fourteen peacetime years to work in.

He could have put McGonagall in charge of Hogwarts' day-to-day management and focused full-time on his Wizengamot duties, forex. Or he could have lobbied to have someone like Amelia Bones (or hell, even Mad-Eye) put in charge of making sure people got fair trials and competent prosecutions instead of bribe-o-rama for Death Eaters and life-without-even-seeing-a-judge for Sirius. Etc, etc. There are so many possibilities.

Instead, he did nothing. At which point... look, even if every word of your reasoning was accurate, that still only changes how Dumbledore fucked up, it doesn't change the fact that he did fuck up. Royally.

 

[Kai-]

With a competent Dumbledore, there's no story: Competent!Dumbledore who isn't evil would find out about Pettigrew long before he became Secret Keeper. A giant black skull on the left arm isn't exactly subtle.

How do you know Pettigrew was marked and, for that matter, how many times does a busy Dumbledore meet with inconspicuous, suspicion free ex-pupil anyway?

Besides, in my opinion, Dumbledore is competent unless you hold him up to ridiculous expectations of omnipotence. He a 90+ year old man who works as the Supreme Mugwump and the Headmaster of the most prestigious school in Europe while juggling running a partisan war against a far more ruthless and numerous force. Jeez, what's with all the Dumbledore hate these days? Cut the man some slack; no-one's infallible.

And you're a moron with lacking imagination if you think a competent Dumbledore precludes a failed story. Read Shezza's Denarian Renegade series and you'll find a Dumbledore who kicks ass while wearing luminous green... pretty much canon, then.

I think a more likely scenario is that he wasn't marked until after he gave Voldemort the potter's secret. As a sort of 'hey, you have earned your worth maggot' type of thing.

 

[elric]

There is also the fact that Voldemort was afraid, or at least wary, of him. Even if the courts are hopelessly corrupt, it's not like anybody could stop him from covertly murdering everyone who is known to have been a Death Eater. It would be trivial to arrange for "accidents" to befall the DE in Azkaban. Voldemort is no longer a major problem with his followers almost all dead or in hiding.