The Life and Lies of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

by Irvin Khaytman

- The entirety of “The Egg and The Eye” episode following Harry’s bath in the prefects bathroom, where Harry sees “Bartemius Crouch” in Snape’s office and invisibly observes a late-night run-in of Snape, Filch, and someone he thinks is Mad-Eye Moody

  It is this last point that proves crucial. A careful read of the scene shows that the only reason Crouch Jr. is getting away with his schemes is because Snape and Dumbledore are no longer on speaking terms. Consider Snape’s showdown with the imposter Moody after Harry’s jaunt to the prefects’ bathroom. “‘Dumbledore happens to trust me!’ said Snape through clenched teeth. ‘I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!’” (GF472) This certainly sounds like Snape is being defensive about a touchy subject—it hearkens back to how much Lupin prized Dumbledore’s trust, and suggests that Snape valued it just as highly. This comment illustrates the breakdown of communication between Snape and Dumbledore. Of course Dumbledore gave no such order, and if Snape had but checked with Dumbledore, Crouch Jr.’s whole scheme would have unraveled.

  In fact, Crouch Jr. comes to rely on this. During “The Madness of Mr. Crouch,” he arrives on the scene very quickly and attributes this to “Snape said something about Crouch—” (GF561) Once again, if Dumbledore had mentioned this to Snape, Fake Moody would have been revealed as the culprit. But by this point, Crouch Jr. knows he can rely on the fact that the two are not talking.

  The rift between Snape and Dumbledore lasts through the entirety of Goblet of Fire. And not only is Snape bitter and uncommunicative towards Dumbledore, he also truly reaches the zenith of his unpleasantness and cruelty in the fourth book. While he was never a nice guy, his actions in Goblet of Fire are beyond the pale. He threatens Harry with Veritaserum. He reads Rita Skeeter’s humiliating article aloud in class—it’s the kind of thing that would get any normal professor fired (GF515). And worst of all, he insults the appearance of a fifteen-year-old girl in front of all her peers (GF299-300). This hurt Hermione so much that she permanently changed her appearance by shrinking her teeth. Almost all of the evidence that Snape is a loathsome human being comes from Goblet of Fire, when he was acting out because he was angry with Dumbledore.

  The only conversation we are aware of Snape and Dumbledore having in private this year is revealed in “The Prince’s Tale,” taking place right after the Yule Ball.

  “Well?” murmured Dumbledore.

  “Karkaroff ’s Mark is becoming darker too. He is panicking, he fears retribution; you know how much help he gave the Ministry after the Dark Lord fell.” Snape looked sideways at Dumbledore’s crooked-nosed profile. “Karkaroff intends to flee if the Mark burns.”

  “Does he?” said Dumbledore softly, as Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies came giggling in from the grounds. “And are you tempted to join him?”

  “No,” said Snape, his black eyes on Fleur’s and Roger’s retreating figures. “I am not such a coward.” (DH679-680)

  This passage can be read several ways, but I think the reading most consistent with the rest of the book is Snape and Dumbledore discussing business without any warmth and feeling out where their relationship stands. Half a year on from the Sirius Black debacle, Snape feels enough of a sense of duty to inform Dumbledore about the Dark Mark growing stronger, primarily because he has more animosity for Voldemort than for Dumbledore at the moment.

  Tellingly, however, Dumbledore feels the need to question Snape’s loyalties. He asks if Snape is tempted to join Karkaroff because that is a distinct possibility in Dumbledore’s mind. Snape has shown that he puts his personal grudges above Harry’s wellbeing. Dumbledore is aware that Snape will do almost anything out of vindictiveness. Thirteen years after Snape pledged his loyalty, Dumbledore needs to check in and see how far Snape is willing to take this conflict. This is a tacit acknowledgement of their estrangement by Dumbledore.

  The next line from Dumbledore is the single most offensive thing he says: “You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon. . . .” And with all but a mic drop, Dumbledore walks away. He implied that if any Slytherin exhibits bravery or other positive qualities, they’re in the wrong house because no good people ever go to Slytherin.

  Two layers exist here. First, Dumbledore is needling Snape; it’s well-known that Snape appears to have a lot of Slytherin pride.25 Second, Dumbledore is at his most candid when conversing with Snape, so this probably is an accurate reflection of Dumbledore’s feelings, a capstone on half a century of blatant partisanship.

  Did Snape ever consider defecting from Dumbledore’s side during Goblet of Fire? It’s an interesting question to ponder. If Snape had a third option to declare allegiance to, aside from Voldemort and Dumbledore, I believe he would have in a heartbeat. But much like American elections, he only had two real options, however unpalatable he might find them. And whatever slights he received from Dumbledore, whether recent or half a lifetime ago, nothing could make Snape return to Voldemort. A combination of obsessive love and an impressive ability to hold a grudge ensured that Snape would never ever forgive Voldemort for Lily’s death, and his vindictiveness ensured he would forever do whatever must be done to defeat Voldemort . . . however much he may dislike his allies.

  This conversation between Dumbledore and Snape also presents an interesting mirror to Voldemort and Wormtail’s exchange later in GoF: “May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail,” said Voldemort. (GF650) Both Dumbledore and Voldemort are speaking to followers whose loyalty has wavered before, and who are in their current position due to a betrayal of his former master.

  Dumbledore is much more diplomatic about it (questioning the servant’s continued loyalty instead of demanding it). Yet both Dumbledore and Voldemort take the opportunity to needle Snape/Pettigrew. Dumbledore makes a dig about Slytherins. Voldemort throws in a deliciously ironic verbal slap, demanding loyalty and calling him “Wormtail” all in the same sentence, as a reminder of the childhood friends he betrayed.

  But although Dumbledore is now assured that Snape’s loyalty won’t waver, their relationship deteriorates further, because by the end of May Snape seems to feel very little duty to Dumbledore at all.

  “Mr. Crouch!” Harry shouted. “From the Ministry! He’s ill or something—he’s in the forest, he wants to see Dumbledore! Just give me the password up to—”

  “The headmaster is busy, Potter,” said Snape, his thin mouth curling into an unpleasant smile.

  “I’ve got to tell Dumbledore!” Harry yelled.

  “Didn’t you hear me, Potter?”

  Harry could tell Snape was thoroughly enjoying himself, denying Harry the very thing he wanted when he was so panicky. (GF558)

  Let’s consider this. Snape has just run into a frantic Harry trying to get into Dumbledore’s office. Harry yells that a vanished Ministry official has shown up on the Hogwarts grounds and is crazy, and this high-ranking crazy Ministry official is running amok with a Triwizard champion. Snape decides to completely disregard all of this for the simple joy of tormenting Harry for a little bit.

  It’s a rather interesting way to prioritize. Snape enjoys irking Harry, but he is intelligent enough to realize that if Harry is trying to see Dumbledore, there is a good reason, and that Dumbledore would be unhappy at Snape’s interference. This is an act of deliberate defiance against Dumbledore by Snape, a full year after the events of Prisoner of Azkaban. It’s Snape being petty. After all, no one holds a grudge quite like Snape.

  All this serves to reinforce how angry Dumbledore must have been in Prisoner to risk drawing the ire of Snape—outing Lupin, obstructing Harry, and so on. Dumbledore reads people better than almost anyone, and he must know how vindictive Snape can be. Dumbledore is paying the price for not backing up Snape.

  We get a final indication of how the two have grown apart during the Third Task. With the Crouch episode fresh in Dumbledore’s mind, Snape is not even entrusted with patrolling the maze during the Task; that job is given to Moody, McGonagall, Hagrid, and Fli
twick (GF620). This is a stark departure from how Dumbledore usually operates; even earlier that year, when Harry’s name came out of the Goblet of Fire, it was McGonagall and Snape who accompanied Dumbledore (GF275). Dumbledore no longer assigns Snape any crucial tasks, and from all we know of Snape, he must have perceived this as a slight.

  However, as we’ve established, Snape’s primary goal will always be revenge on Voldemort. This is why, once the imposter Moody is unmasked and Voldemort is revealed to have risen again, Dumbledore and Snape quickly reconcile. In fact, we witness this reconciliation without realizing it. Snape, in an uncharacteristic move, immediately brushes the grudge aside, backing up Dumbledore in pursuing Fake Moody and following Dumbledore’s instructions with nary a snide comment (GF680). Dumbledore, realizing the major point of contention in their relationship, asks Sirius to come forward in Snape’s presence; this is Dumbledore silently challenging Snape as to whether Snape can put aside his hatred of Sirius. And then Dumbledore says the words Snape has been waiting to hear all year: “I trust you both.” (GF712) It is at this moment that Dumbledore and Snape are reconciled.

  Mindful of this, Dumbledore’s instructions to Snape are far politer than those for everyone else. He issues no-nonsense commands to everyone else, but to Snape he says, “Severus, you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready . . . if you are prepared . . .” (GF713) Dumbledore is rarely so delicate in moments of action (consider his briskness when confronting Fake Moody or Fudge in the OotP climax), so this is noteworthy for showcasing their newly mended relationship.

  We see their relationship is back to normal in Order of the Phoenix, because Snape actually accepts Dumbledore’s assignment to teach Harry Occlumency. While the idea of humiliating Harry on a regular basis probably holds some appeal to Snape, spending additional time with Harry is not something Snape wants to do. If Dumbledore had asked Snape to teach Harry Occlumency in Goblet of Fire, I don’t believe for a moment that Snape would have agreed . . . nor do I believe Dumbledore would have asked.

  But now Dumbledore trusts him enough to ask, and Snape attempts to oblige, until his and Harry’s enmity proves too great. Note that Dumbledore does not appear to blame Snape for the “fiasco” (HBP79) of the Occlumency lessons. He either respects Snape for trying, or he just doesn’t have the luxury of antagonizing Snape when it’s crunch time against Voldemort. Most of the rest of Snape and Dumbledore’s relationship, fascinating though it is, plays out on screen in “The Prince’s Tale,” and we will return to it in due course.

  The Winky Question

  There is one question about Dumbledore that seems so obvious, I never thought to ask it until my fifteenth reread of the series. When Dumbledore rescues Harry from the clutches of Fake Moody after Harry returns from the graveyard, he issues a host of instructions to McGonagall and Snape before he actually begins questioning Crouch Jr. Why does Dumbledore tell Snape to fetch Winky before the Polyjuice wears off of the imposter Moody?

  The obvious answer is that he knew it was Crouch Jr. masquerading as Moody, which is why I never thought twice about it. But how could he know? What is the logical leap from “There is someone Polyjuiced as Moody” to “Barty Crouch Jr. is the culprit”?

  Kearns credits the “Madness of Mr. Crouch” episode with tipping Dumbledore off, but this is the main point on which I disagree with her essay. The only thing Harry says to Dumbledore is, “[Mr. Crouch] Said he wants to warn you. . . said he’s done something terrible . . . he mentioned his son . . . and Bertha Jorkins . . . and—and Voldemort. . . something about Voldemort getting stronger. . . .” (GF558)

  Trying to look at it from the outsider’s perspective, the bit about his son seems to be the least significant portion of this sentence. He’s done something terrible in connection to Bertha Jorkins, whose disappearance Dumbledore already assumed was linked to Voldemort getting stronger. . . what could the “something terrible” be? Mentioning his son, alongside mentions of Percy Weasley, could very well be part of his raving, or a late-onset guilt trip, as Hermione points out. There’s a missing step in the logical leap from this to Crouch Jr. being alive and the culprit.

  Dumbledore has not yet put it all together, as evidenced by what we see in the Pensieve—the closest we ever get to seeing Dumbledore’s mind at work. If Dumbledore knew Crouch Jr. was the suspect at this point, why would he be reviewing the trials of Karkaroff and Bagman? He already knows they’re acting shifty, but what could he hope to glean about Crouch Jr. from reliving their trials?

  Dumbledore’s choice of memories to peruse is highly significant. He is looking for people who have grudges against Crouch Sr. (because it’s obvious there is now foul play at work). First on the list would be Death Eaters he put on trial. His chief suspects are Karkaroff and Bagman, but neither seems like the guy. Dumbledore may be intrigued enough about the mention of Crouch’s son to view the trial of Barty Crouch Jr., or he may just be doing a thorough job, but if he knew Junior was the culprit, he’d have no reason to watch the other trials. He is also still trying to figure out how Bertha and Crouch Sr. are connected, since he is examining memories of her.

  Dumbledore is also unsure about another key piece of information: whether Crouch Jr. even was a Death Eater. Prior to Crouch Jr.’s boastful confession under the influence of Veritaserum, no one really knew whether he was a Death Eater or whether he had “been in the wrong place at the wrong time.” (GF528) Sirius has “no idea” whether Crouch Jr. is a Death Eater (GF528).

  When Crouch Jr. was captured, he “can’t have been more than nineteen,” (GF528) so he would have been a fairly new recruit, without much of a Death Eater reputation. Crouch Jr. certainly put on a convincing performance of innocence during his trial. Voldemort made sure the Death Eaters didn’t know each other, so no Death Eater can provide negative confirmation of Crouch Jr. being one of them. In any event, when Dumbledore is puzzling this out, he is not on speaking terms with the one Death Eater he could ordinarily ask about these things: Snape. All this combines to make Dumbledore unsure whether Crouch Jr. even is a Death Eater, so it would be a huge leap from that to “Junior faked his death and is the evil mastermind at work.”

  A possibility that we should not discount is that this is as far as Dumbledore ever got in figuring it out. In this scenario, Dumbledore did not know about Crouch Jr. until the moment the Polyjuice wore off, and he called for Winky because he knew the Crouch family would be somehow involved. It’s a plausible alternative to what I believe actually happened, so it bears mentioning.

  However, assuming Dumbledore is as resourceful and determined as we know him to be, there is still one avenue of inquiry he can pursue to find out what was going on with Mr. Crouch. Even if that would not tie in to whatever else was going on, once Dumbledore knew something was very fishy with Crouch Sr. (and had exhausted all other lines of inquiry like watching Pensieve memories), Dumbledore would have gone to Winky and used Legilimency on her. This is likely because we know of at least one other instance when Dumbledore used Legilimency on a house-elf to get crucial information: Kreacher at the end of Book 5 (OP832).

  So if this happened, what would Dumbledore glean from this? He would know nothing about Crouch Jr. impersonating Moody or working for Voldemort, because Winky was fired before that happened. At most, this would tell Dumbledore that Crouch Jr. was still alive. He would also learn of the Quidditch World Cup episode and of how Bertha’s memory was damaged. But none of these things answer any of the questions that Dumbledore needs answered: who put Harry’s name in the Goblet, and how, and why.

  If one reads Dumbledore’s interrogation of Crouch Jr. under Veritaserum assuming he knows all that Winky’s mind had to offer, parts of it seem superfluous. Dumbledore could have expedited the questioning about Barty’s faked death and the World Cup episode if he knew it all already. However, Dumbledore is going through the whole story more for Harry’s benefit than for his own and is being thorough for that purpose. (And if I may break the fourth wall, we should also con
sider that Rowling is going through it for the readers’ benefit.)

  I think it probable that Dumbledore did read Winky’s mind to glean all she knew, otherwise he just wasn’t as thorough as we’ve come to expect from him. And he is definitely curious about what Crouch Jr. is up to now that his father’s gone crazy and disappeared. But it would then take quite an impressive logical leap to assume that Crouch Jr. is the mystery Death Eater involved in Voldemort’s scheme. If anyone is capable of making that leap, it’s Dumbledore. . . but it’s more likely that until the very last moment, Crouch Jr. is just an additional suspect on the list alongside Bagman and Karkaroff.

  When Fake Moody whisks Harry away after the third task, Dumbledore’s mind begins whirring. It’s time to use process of elimination! He’s reasonably confident that the real Moody can throw off the Imperius Curse, especially after a year, so it has to be Polyjuice Potion at work. Both Bagman and Karkaroff have been present at the same time as Moody (right after Harry’s name came out of the Goblet of Fire, for example). So if it isn’t either of them, it has to be another Death Eater—all of the ones presumed alive have been accounted for at some point during the year. Wormtail can be ruled out by Harry’s dream (GF599). That leaves three options, however far-fetched, for the mystery Death Eater:

  - Crouch Jr.—Still a definite possibility.

  - Bertha Jorkins under the Imperius Curse—Dumbledore does not know that she is dead, as Harry only tells him that Crouch Sr. mentioned her. However, pulling off this kind of ruse for a year while under the Imperius Curse would be stretching the boundaries of plausibility.

  - Yet another Death Eater returned from the dead—Dumbledore has now discovered that two Death Eaters thought dead are very much alive, all in the span of a year; he has to be wondering if there are yet more out there.

  Of the three options, the simplest and likeliest one is Crouch Jr. Dumbledore tends to trust his guesses, because his “guesses have usually been good.” (DH710) And that is how, at the very last possible moment, Dumbledore figures out that Crouch Jr. is masquerading as Moody and calls for Winky to be present at his unmasking. It’s a testament to both Crouch Jr.’s skills and Voldemort’s scheming that it took Dumbledore this long.