Yield Not to Temptation (DH Spoilers)

I thought I knew Dumbledore until this book. I had no idea how much there was to be revealed about him, or that Rowling would choose to reveal it in this seventh book, the book after his death. But I'm glad she did. The Dumbledore we came to know in Deathly Hallows was more richly complex and more flawed, deeper than we had ever thought him. My feelings about him didn't ultimately change, except that my respect for who he was grew deeper in light of the realization of what he could have become if he had not allowed death and grief (and his responses to them) to change his heart.

One of the things I thought I "knew" about Dumbledore, sort of a given for his character, was how much he had tried to help guard Snape from temptation. Going on the assumption, as I was, that Snape's remorse over the Potters' (and especially Lily's) death was real, and that he had tried to take the "right road" afterwards (the intepretive reading of the first six books that seemed to make the most sense) I had cast Dumbledore in the light of wise mentor and guardian. He had denied Snape the DADA job for such a long time, I thought, because he knew that to be near the dark arts, even to teach defense against them, would not be healthy for Severus' soul. I still think that's true, though it's obvious there were other practical reasons for withholding the job from Snape for as long as he did, as we found out in HBP -- primarily the fact that the job was cursed. Since we now know that Albus didn't entrust Snape with the knowledge of Voldemort's horcruxes, I think it's safe to assume he never told him the job was cursed either. I have a feeling he might have preferred to have let Snape believe was I still think was the ultimate reason for denying him the job: his own safety, his own health and well-being, especially the health of his soul.

But it gets interesting when we think about Dumbledore and temptation now, doesn't it? Because all of those years he was denying Snape the job Snape most wanted, Albus was also denying himself a job -- the top job in the wizarding world, the Minister of Magic. You know, I always assumed there were benign reasons for Albus not wanting the job. I figured he knew himself best: that teaching was his true vocation, that he found politics petty and boring in comparison, that he liked the freedom he had as headmaster. All of which might or might not be true. But in DH we had it from Albus himself, the main reason why he did not ever accept the position of Minister: he couldn't trust himself with power. He had realized early on, right as he came of age, that power was his greatest temptation. He learned it the hard way, through his fascination with Grindelwald and the terrible things that led to, especially the accidental death of his sister. Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it, if he really WANTED the Minister of Magic job, if he found the pull of it mighty appealing, just as Snape couldn't seem to stay away from the fascination of the DADA position.

Dumbledore mentored both Snape and Harry, and he helped them both to learn to overcome temptations -- although he did this in very different ways with each. I want to come back to this when I have more time. But for now, I think it's enough to say that one reason Dumbledore became such a wise mentor is that he'd learned wisdom about dealing with temptation at a high and personal cost.