Dark Devices: Albus and the Suicide Stone

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

“What was the temptation, the one that worked?” Margaret Atwood, “Marrying the Hangman”

In my essay “Death Unhallowed: The Suicide Stone,” I suggested that Albus put on Tom’s Horcrux-ring and invoked its curse because he’d been directed to do so by what appeared to him to be the spirits of the dead. But that raises as many questions as it answers, really. Severus implied that the lethal curse on the ring was utterly obvious: “It carries a curse, surely you realized that?” …

Dumbledore grimaced. “I… was a fool. Sorely tempted…”

“Tempted by what?”

Dumbledore did not answer. (DH 33)

Let’s explore this temptation a little further.

( Because )

The History of the Order of the Phoenix

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

A question that has been asked multiple times in DTCL and elsewhere is why Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix during Vold War I. Why did he need to form an independent militia to fight against Voldemort's death eaters when, at the time, he had significant power within the Ministry of Magic and the Ministry was already fighting against Voldemort? Another question that I've been pondering is what role Arabella Figg played in the Order during the first war. Since both wars seem to have been fairly limited to the wizarding world, it's hard to imagine how Arabella, a squib, might have been involved before she began monitoring Harry in Little Whinging, yet Dumbledore named her in GoF as being part of the "old crowd."

But Terri's recent essays got me thinking... are we certain that Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix in response to Voldemort, or is it possible that Dumbledore originally created it in order to fight Grindelwald? ( Read more... )