Film Theory: Dumbledore Was Secretly Weaponising Harry Potter

2. The "Problem" Of The Protective Charm

The biggest counter-argument against Dumbledore weaponising Harry to become an Obscurial is probably the fact that he placed him under a blood-tied protective charm in Petunia Dursley's care. He basically extended the same charm that had kept Harry alive when Voldemort tried to use a Killing Curse on him as a child. So there can't have been any way he wanted to put him in harm's way - it would have been counter-productive.

But what if the specific terms of the charm actually suited Dumbledore's plan?

As is revealed in the books, a protective charm on Harry would cease to work only when he left Privet Drive permanently (hence him having to return every summer) or when he turned 17 and became "of age". That might look decidedly inconvenient to someone seeking to put him in as much danger as possible, but Dumbledore actually needed Harry's progress to be slow.

He needed his repressed feelings and his traumatic experiences to build and brew: he needed his recipe for an Obscurus to be like a Polyjuice Potion - deliberately crafted and patiently allowed to develop correctly. When the charm was placed, Voldemort was in no position to return and even a couple of years into Harry's time at Hogwarts, it looked unlikely that he could find a way back. Turning Harry into a weapon before his target was remotely ready would have been an almighty waste.

And think about it: Harry was placed purposefully with the most repressed, most stereotypical Muggle family possible. They lived in a house of identical homes, cars, personalities where keeping up appearances was paramount - where being as Muggle as possible was valued highest of all. He knew what the Dursleys were and knew that that house was a deeply hostile environment for a magical child, particularly when they knew that he could become just like his mother.

In the Dursleys' home, Harry was subject to the same rigid patterns of behavioural control as Credence was with his foster mother. He was encouraged to abide by "rules" of decorum, good manners, respect - all Muggle constructs designed to limit difference, individuality and creativity. For Harry, all designed to limit his magical potential. He was forced to be normal, before he knew he was a wizard and even long after, all while his powers within sought to find a way out.

So, in effect, Dumbledore allowed Harry to be trapped by the very charm that was supposed to protect him. By ensuring that he had to return to the Dursleys every summer, even after he knew of the abuse and neglect Harry was subject to (he knew well before Harry revealed it thanks to his spies, let's be honest), all he did was put Harry in a gestation chamber of hate that he couldn't escape from until he was 17, either through his own choice through some devastating Obscurial-based event. It was all part of Dumbledore's slow-burning genius.

So, why didn’t it work in the way Dumbledore planned?