Disclaimer: This fic is an analysis of the canon Harry Potter series. I own nothing that is mentioned here except my own opinions. This fic is not making any money. nor do I want it to.

Author's Note

I recently wrote what is in this first chapter on my Bio because I felt like it. I found that I quite enjoyed doing so, so I decided to create this fic to address the canon series from my perspective. As such, everything contained in this fic is going to be my opinion. I know that not everyone will agree with my opinion, but I welcome you all to review and tell me your own opinions. I would like to consider this something of an open forum.

I will be starting this fic with my analysis of Dumbledore's decisions relating to Harry. Some of you may have read this in my bio, but I have altered some bits slightly. Not all that much has changed really.

I have no idea what the next chapter will be on. I will never have a set time in which to put up a new chapter of this fic because I will write when something comes to my mind. I have thought about doing an analysis of either Ron/Hermione, Ginny/Harry, Harry's reactions to Dumbledore's decisions or Petunia Dursley. Let me know what you think and I will choose. I will eventually do all of them though.

Since this is not a 'story' as such, my Author's Notes will be at the top of the chapters.

As a last note, there will be SPOILERS for all books in this fic. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read on. You have been warned.

Thank you for reading.

Beletrium

I am quite surprised at how many Dumbledore bashing, manipulative Dumbledore and evil Dumbledore fics there are. I do find some of them fun to read (the well written ones at least) but I don't think that they are all entirely warranted. I have decided to do an in-depth analysis of Dumbledore's decisions over the years to show my points. I will basically choose some points that people bring up about Dumbledore being manipulative/evil that are in relation to Harry and I will put what I think on the topic.

1. Why did Dumbledore testify that Sirius Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper?
Now, this one I can give some leniency. But nowhere in the series did it ever say that Dumbledore cast the Fidelius Charm. It was said in canon, as far as I can remember, that Lily Potter was good at Charms so wouldn't it be logical to say that she would be able to cast a Fidelius Charm herself? So if that is the case, Dumbledore need not have been involved. Also, if Sirius' idea that Pettigrew would be a less obvious choice would work, surely they wouldn't have actually told anyone about the switch. They would have let Dumbledore remain sure that Sirius was the Secret Keeper to maintain Pettigrew's status. Also, Sirius would likely have known if Dumbledore knew about the switch, so why would he trust Dumbledore when he escapes?

2. Why did Dumbledore leave Harry at the Dursleys'?
I can see why people jump on this one. If the First Book is any indication, Hagrid took Harry away from Sirius on the night of James and Lily's deaths. This means that Sirius had yet to attack Pettigrew. But you also have to remember that Dumbledore thought Sirius had betrayed the Potters so it was really the only choice he could have made at the time to take Harry away from there.
Now, to the Dursleys. I see why Dumbledore left him there. The blood wards protected Harry from angry Death Eaters, just look at what they did to Frank and Alice Longbottom. And they weren't even involved in Voldemort's downfall. Imagine what Bellatrix would have done with Harry had she found him.
Also, I think it was wise of Dumbledore to keep Harry away from the Ministry. If they had him, he most likely would have ended up in the hands of a family like the Malfoys. That would not have worked out well. I will say that I don't understand why he didn't just take Harry to Hogwarts, being the most protected place around, supposedly. Though, that may have led the Ministry to Hogwarts. It is far easier for Petunia and Vernon to take Harry because they are blood relatives and not involved in the magical world.
I understand that some people think that Dumbledore had no legal right over Harry, but that was never conclusively proven. James and Lily's wills were never talked about in canon, that I can remember, so maybe he was next in line after Sirius and, presumably, Pettigrew. Remus couldn't take him as he was a werewolf.

3. Dumbledore suspected Quirrell was in league with Voldemort. Why didn't he move the Stone or fire Quirrell?
Moving the Stone while keeping Quirrell around was not a good idea. Quirrell would know if the Stone was moved and would likely get violent, possibly killing students. That also moves on to why Dumbledore kept the Stone at Hogwarts and not somewhere else. Yes, I think that it was a bad idea. Why didn't Dumbledore put the Stone somewhere and place a Fidelius over it? That would surely have worked better. But the answer is that Rowling had not thought of the Fidelius at that point. I presume she hadn't at least.
Why not fire Quirrell? Ever heard of the phrase "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?". I think that applies to this particular moment. Dumbledore had assumed that Quirrell was helping Voldemort so why would he let the man go? Dumbledore's suspicions could have helped him prove to the Wizarding World that Voldemort was still around. I do think that it was a coincidence that Dumbledore was away when Quirrell attempted to get the Stone. By that I mean that Dumbledore was not aware he would go for it then. I also believe that Dumbledore would not let his students get in harms way so I don't believe the obstacles were a 'test' or anything like that. To his death, Dumbledore was helping students so why would he deliberately put thim in harms way? Plus, he knew Harry would likely have to defeat Voldemort so why would he risk it in Harry's first year?

4. Why didn't Dumbledore tell Harry the prophecy after the Quirrell incident?
At this point, Dumbledore still had no conclusive evidence that Voldemort was still around. Yes, he thought he was but that is not good enough. I was talking to my brother on this topic and I described Dumbledore's mindset like this. If you thought that your child might have cancer and you are getting a few tests done, do you tell them they are looking for cancer or do you tell them that they are just running a few tests? I think it would be pretty stupid to tell the child that you think they might have cancer. It would just make the child worried, or worse. Dumbledore's decision to withold the Prophecy was the right one here.

5. Why didn't Dumbledore tell Harry the Prophecy after Harry's second year?
This one's fairly simple. Here, Dumbledore suspected that Voldemort had at least one Horcrux. When Harry described what happened with the Diary, Dumbledore would have thought that Voldemort could actually be dead. With this assumption, I'm assuming that if Voldemort doesn't have a proper body, destroying all the Horcruxes destroys the spirit as there would be nothing keeping it on Earth. Not much was really discussed on that topic so that is speculation. Not much had really changed about telling Harry the Prophecy from his first year, so I won't repeat myself.

6. When Harry told Dumbledore the prediction that Trelawney had made in his third year, why did Dumbledore not tell him then?
Again, nothing had really changed except that Dumbledore at least now knew that Voldemort was still around, but not a threat.

7. Why did Dumbledore keep Harry in the Triwizard Tournament?
I firmly believe that the reason given in canon is the real reason. The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract that Harry could not get out of. I have read a fic where Dumbledore declared the Tournament a draw and re-did the drawing out of the Goblet, but Harry's name came out again. I think that this would be a logical chain of events because Crouch was still Moody. So, short of declaring it a tie and not having the Tournament at all, Harry would have to have competed, but even then, Crouch would still have been around.

8. Why did Dumbledore not tell Harry the Prophecy when Voldemort returned?
This would have been the logical choice for Dumbledore to reveal the Prophecy, but I think his reasoning was fair. He knew that Harry and Voldemort shared a connection, though he didn't know what it was exactly. It would have been disasterous for Voldemort to hear of the Prophecy through Harry's mind. I mean, look at how hard Voldemort tried to get the Prophecy in Harry's fifth year. It made sense for Dumbledore to wait until Harry could protect his thoughts.

9. Why did Dumbledore not talk to Harry at all in his fifth year?
Despite what I said in the last one, I think this was purely a mistake on Dumbledore's part. Distancing himself from Harry made a little sense, in that Harry would more than likely have asked questions that Dumbledore would not answer for fear of the answers getting to Voldemort. But that did not mean that Dumbledore had to avoid Harry completely. He could have just told Harry outright why he couldn't say anything.

10. Why Snape as Harry's occlumency teacher?
This was obviously one of the ways in which Dumbledore distanced himself from Harry. It seems that Snape and Dumbledore were the only two Occlumens in the school, though I have to say I would have thought McGonagall would know it. She seems to be a very private person. I do think that this was another mistake by Dumbledore. Harry would likely have had better results with Dumbledore, but he was intent on avoiding Harry where possible. I don't see this as manipulative or evil, just a mistake.
One of my loyal readers, Shinigami, pointed out to me that Dumbledore could have gotten Kingsley Shacklebolt or Tonks to teach Harry occlumency, as they would likely have known. I would imagine that Dumbledore thought that Harry might be more comfortable with Snape rather then Kingsley or Tonks as Harry had not known them very long. Also, Dumbledore did think that Snape was trustworthy because of Lily so he might have thought Snape would set aside his hatred to help Lily's son. I think, and bear in mind that this is just my opinion, that this was a mistake on Dumbledore's part. Also, Kingsley and Tonks are aurors so they would have been busy, though I would imagine they would find the time if Dumbledore said so.

11. Dumbledore finally tells Harry the Prophecy. But right after Sirius' death? Really?
Okay, this decision really confused me. Yes, Dumbledore had to tell him. But he could have waited until the next year when Harry had gotten over his godfather's death. Dumbledore had waited five years already, what's another few months? As it was, the revelation would surely have made Harry more depressed about Sirius' death. Once again, I don't see this as manipulative or evil, though I can sort of see where people can take it that way.

Just on a side note, Dumbledore made a lot of mistakes in Harry's fifth year didn't he? I have to attribute that to Voldemort's return.

12. Why didn't Dumbledore tell Harry how to destroy the Horcruxes?
This one is fairly simple. Harry and Dumbledore had just returned from the cave when Hogwarts was under attack. I would imagine that Dumbledore was going to show Harry how to destroy the Horcruxes when he destroyed the Locket, though it turned out to be a fake. This was more of a timing error then a mistake, I think. I can't imagine that Snape would have known about the attack to warn Dumbledore beforehand. Or if he did, Dumbledore and Harry returned too for Snape to actually tell him.

13. Why didn't Dumbledore tell Harry that he was a Horcrux?
Again, this one is a simple one. If you tell a person that they have to die, there are a lot of ways that they could theoretically react. One is that they flee. They get as far away as they possibly can. Another is that they go immediately to do what has to be done. Sure, these are the two extremes, but how do you think Harry would have reacted? Personally, I think he would jump at the chance to help stop Voldemort. He would go to Voldemort straight away. But Dumbledore knew that other things had to be done, so he left it to Snape to tell Harry what he had to do when the time was right.
I think that this could be the only time Dumbledore is as manipulative as people who write evil/manipulative Dumbledore fics think he is. But despite the manipulation, it had to be done to kill Voldemort. Also, as evidenced by the conversation at 'Kings Cross', Dumbledore believed that Harry would live. Or at least had suspicions. So it was not all bad.

It has come to my attention through a fanfic story entitled 'Return of an Alpha' by Miz636 that Harry only follows Dumbledore in canon because he's in Gryffindor. I think this has its merits, but I continue to think back to Harry under the Sorting Hat which tried to place him in Slytherin. This means that Harry is at least as much a Slytherin as he is a Gryffindor. But that's just my opinion.

This is all only Dumbledore's decisions that directly involved Harry, so there are a lot of others that I will go through at a later date, i.e. How did Dumbledore not know one of his best friends was a Polyjuiced Death Eater?