I kind of look at Dumbledore's failure to tell Harry anything the same way I look at Gandalf just not summoning the eagles to fly Frodo over to Mount Doom, drop the ring, and get home in time for tea. It sucks for the character, but it's the catalyst for the series.

It sucks for the character, but it's the catalyst for the series.

I do think it's thematically consistent, since so much of the series is basically hammering in that Harry cannot rely on any adults or adult institutions to protect him. However, I distrust plots that rely on someone not passing along important information--to me that's the sign of a weak plot.

Harry cannot rely on any adults

I get what you're saying with this and to a great extent, agree with it. But I do think that the exception is Molly Weasley. She tries like hell to protect Harry from himself like no other adult in the series does - most of them are content to sit back and let him be The Boy Who Lived and do whatever the heck he wants in the name of Saving Wizardingkind. Molly just wants him to be a kid. And because of that want, provides him a soft - and relatively safe - place to land and a place to be a kid/teenager.

to me that's the sign of a weak plot.

Agreed.

I kind of look at Dumbledore's failure to tell Harry anything the same way I look at Gandalf just not summoning the eagles to fly Frodo over to Mount Doom, drop the ring, and get home in time for tea.

One does not simply fly into Mordor.

Well, why the hell not? I have my 3-1-1 bag!

But I do think that the exception is Molly Weasley. She tries like hell to protect Harry from himself like no other adult in the series does - most of them are content to sit back and let him be The Boy Who Lived and do whatever the heck he wants in the name of Saving Wizardingkind.

True, except that I read Molly's mothering is explicitly positioned by the text as (especially as Harry gets older) smothering and unhelpful. Emotional support is great, but she also refuses him information--I'm thinking particularly about OotP and the huge fight with Sirius. Molly treats Harry as a child long after he's taking action with adult results--and we see with the twins how well her type of mothering actually works.

YMMV - ha! that works! Your Molly May Vary!!

Anywhoodle - I didn't read her like that. And despite their childhood shenanigans, I thought her type of mothering did work and very well, at that. All of her kids end up being sucessful in their careers and living lives that - from what information we have - are happy.

I'm willing to admit I overstated it a bit. But one of the problems I had with Molly was that she behaved as though she actually had authority over Harry, and as if she were the only person who cared about his well-being. I do think it was pretty explicit that she wasn't willing to let him make his own decisions.

OoTP is the book where absolutely no one makes a good decision. Harry makes about 15 bad ones, but Dumbledore is close behind, followed by Snape and Sirius.

OoTP is the book where absolutely no one makes a good decision.

Oh my God, this is so true. Seriously, this whole last chapter or penultimate chapter or whatever I'm in is basically about how EVERYONE FUCKED UP SO HARD.

You know who pretty much made all the good decisions, though? HERMIONE. She is particularly awesome in this book, I swear.