Dumbledore was a great wizard. But he had a lot of flaws. Taking into account his youth and what he’s been through, we can’t blame him.
Dumbledore became an excellent strategist, and he played people like chess pieces in an effort to win the war. But one may ask the question if Dumbledore ever cared about the main piece on his chessboard, Harry Potter.
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Did Dumbledore Care about Harry?
In the whole Harry Potter series, we’ve been watching all the relationships Harry had with other people, and having one with the great Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts was one of the strangest ones in our opinion.
Since Ron was always surprised when Dumbledore addressed him directly, we can assume that what passed between Harry and Dumbledore was unusual.
But the circumstances were also very unusual, considering the prophecy, Voldemort, and the Wizarding War, and the position Harry held in the middle of it all.
We believe that somewhere between the Boy Who Lived from the first book and the Chosen One at the end of the fifth, Dumbledore started to care about Harry a lot. And Dumbledore admitted it himself.
“I cared about you too much,” said Dumbledore simply. “I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed.”
Dumbledore also hinted that the relationship between him and Harry was more than that of headmaster and student.
Did Dumbledore Love Harry?
In our opinion, Dumbledore grew to love Harry. They had more than a regular teacher-student relationship, and although it was mostly because Dumbledore needed to prepare Harry for the challenging future, in the end, Dumbledore loved Harry like his own son.
Even though Dumbledore spent a lot of time teaching Harry how to defeat Voldemort and sent Snape to protect the boy at all costs, he also watched Harry very closely and learned a lot about the boy.
When Harry met Dumbledore after Sirius’ death, Dumbledore said that where Harry was concerned, Dumbledore acted like a person who loves someone would and couldn’t dream of being responsible for someone in that way.
“In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act. (…) I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands.”
Some people may not agree with that statement because Dumbledore let Harry sacrifice himself. But Dumbledore was still only human, making lots of mistakes, which he admitted.
Dumbledore also understood that even though he loved Harry, he still could not justify one young man’s life over the future of the entire wizarding world.
Was Dumbledore Preparing Harry?
Dumbledore was grooming Harry to defeat Voldemort. By letting Harry get into trouble and scramble out of it, learning the truth about what’s going on in the castle, doing the “detective work,” and finally showing him the memories from Tom Riddle’s past, Dumbledore was preparing Harry for the final battle in the hopes that Harry would come victorious.
Dumbledore had his misgivings about it. He acknowledged that Harry’s ordeal was more than wizards twice his age could accomplish. But in the end, he realized that because of prophecy, Harry needed to do it regardless.
Who Did Dumbledore Love the Most?
When we think about it, we can interpret the question about Albus Dumbledore’s love in different ways. We have his romantic love interest from one side and fatherly or brotherly love from the other.
After reading Rita Skeeter’s biography of Albus Dumbledore, we learned that Dumbledore had a close friendship with Gellert Grindelwald.
J.K. Rowling confirmed that Dumbledore, being gay, fell deeply in love with Grindelwald, who we know, betrayed Dumbledore.
We can’t be sure if Grindelwald loved Dumbledore back, but we know he greatly influenced young Albus. After the famous duel, Dumbledore shut himself out, and we are confident that he never loved anyone like that anymore.
As for brotherly love, we can all agree that Dumbledore loved his little sister, Ariana, the most. She was very special to him because of her fragile state and the constant danger of Obscurus acting out.
Dumbledore was devastated by her death and even more by the fact that he wasn’t sure if it was him who killed her. Until his last day, he regretted the event and mourned Ariana.
We know that Dumbledore loved Harry like he was Dumbledore’s son. Dumbledore never expected to care for someone this way because of his past, but after spending time with Harry and getting to know him, we can say that he loved Harry the most.
Final Thoughts
Some fans may see Dumbledore as a scheming wizard incapable of human emotions because of what he let Harry (and others!) go through, but we know that he was capable of good feelings like compassion and love.
Dumbledore cared a good deal about Harry, and he loved Harry a lot, but he couldn’t make any more mistakes if he wanted the war to end, and the wizarding world came out on the bright side.
He had to make the sacrifice and teach Harry how to make one as well, even if, in the end, it cost him another person he grew to love.