THE B-LIST: Why Albus Dumbledore was really The Worst

If you're a millennial — or the parent of a millennial/Gen Z kid — chances are dang good that you've read the "Harry Potter" series. Or watched the movies. Probably both.

Chances are also good that you fondly remember Professor Albus Dumbledore, the silver-haired, bespectacled, twinkly-eyed Headmaster of Hogwarts and Harry's personal hero.

If so: sorry I'm not sorry, but I'm about to disillusion you.

Dumbledore was awful.

It came as quite a shock to me, too, as I was reading the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

The entire story of Harry Potter is filtered through its titular protagonist's eyes, and since Harry idealizes Dumbledore, so do we. We see him as a benevolent grandfather figure, very wise, soft-spoken and deeply caring for his students, especially Harry.

We're frequently told he's the most powerful wizard next to Voldemort, that his mere presence at Hogwarts is enough to scare away He Who Must Not Be Named.

Dear, sweet Hagrid can't stop singing his praises as the greatest man/wizard to ever live. He always seems to arrive in the nick of time to support or save Harry and Co., and he always does it with a smile or kind word.

And it's all a smokescreen. When you look at Dumbledore from a distance, with clear eyes and a rational mind, you see the truth. He may not be as actively evil as Umbridge or Tom Riddle, but he's more a villain than a hero.

Allow me to elaborate.

6. HE LETS CHILDREN GO INTO THE FORBIDDEN FOREST. In "Sorcerer's Stone," Harry and his friends are sentenced to their first detention. Rather than make them write lines on a chalkboard, like a sane teacher, Dumbledore lets them go into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid in search of something that's killing unicorns.

Pause. Rewind. Something is KILLING UNICORNS, huge horses with sharp horns on their heads, so obviously we should send 11-YEAR-OLDS out at night to look for the culprit.

I get that this is a children's fantasy series, and these sorts of adventures are par for the course. But when the guy makes a point of mentioning the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all first years, and when he knows darn well that Harry has a target on his back, how does he let the kid totter off straight into danger???

5. HE KNOWS SIRIUS IS STRUGGLING IN HIS HOUSE ARREST AND DOES NOTHING. Since Dumbles taught Sirius Black and worked with him in the Order of the Phoenix, he knows he's a man of action. But rather than give him concrete work to do that will help channel his energy, he tells him he has to stay cooped up at Grimmauld Place.

And because Sirius is chafing so much under this new imprisonment, he leaps a little too quickly into action at the Battle of the Ministry. And that rashness leads to his death when he falls through the Veil. You may think it's a stretch to blame Dumbledore for this, but it's a direct, tragic line that starts with Dumbledore's order and ends with Harry losing his godfather.

4. HE DIDN'T SPEAK OUT IN HAGRID'S DEFENSE. As Captain of the Hagrid Defense Squad, I take this one extra personally. When Hagrid was a student at Hogwarts, he was accused of sheltering an animal that killed a girl (Moaning Myrtle) and was expelled. Later, while he's groundskeeper, Minister Fudge has him dragged off to the wizard prison Azkaban when the attacks are renewed.

Dumbledore always knew Hagrid wasn't to blame. He knew Slytherin's heir — Tom Marvolo Riddle, the future Voldy No Nose — was summoning the creature.

And did he do anything to prevent Hagrid's expulsion/imprisonment? Did he speak out so Hagrid could return to Hogwarts and finish his education? N o p e.

Poor Hagrid never got to become an accredited wizard and was traumatized by Dementors because Dumbledore never did the right thing.

3. HE LETS SNAPE TEACH YOUNG CHILDREN. I am not a Snape fan, mostly because he's one of the worst, most abusive teachers I've ever had the mispleasure to read about. He bullies Neville Longbottom so terribly — tries to kill the kid's beloved pet toad! — that he becomes the boy's greatest fear. Neville's parents were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters and SNAPE is his greatest fear. Good Lord.

Snape also mercilessly taunts Hermione purely because she's smart, outspoken and Harry's friend. Grown men should not be making 11-year-old girls cry. In a decent school, that man wouldn't be allowed anywhere near children, yet Dumbledore turns a blind eye to all of the abuses in his classes or the lasting effect he could have on impressionable students.

2. HE MAKES HARRY INTO A SACRIFICIAL LAMB. What a gutpunch it is to Harry to realize that Dumbles was only helping him over the years to ensure he survived long enough to sacrifice himself in his final confrontation with Voldemort.

That's some coldblooded pragmatism; to let a little boy idolize you, knowing the entire time that you were setting him up to die. It's a total betrayal, for Harry and for us readers, and sours any of the good Albus did.

1. HE LEFT HARRY IN AN ABUSIVE SITUATION. This right here is the biggest reason Dumbledore has my unending hatred: he knew Harry was being abused by the Dursleys and he. Never. Did. A. Thing. To. Stop. It.

Don't try to defend it with, "There was that blood protection, though, so long as Harry was in Petunia's house! Harry had to go back to the Dursleys to stay safe!"

Because in a world of magic, there had to be other ways to protect that kid. Ways that didn't leave him starving, bruised, shoved into a closet, locked in a bedroom with bars on the windows, emotionally and verbally attacked by an entire family. There is never — NEVER — a good enough reason to leave children in a home where they're abused.

If Dumbledore was truly a hero, he would've made sure Harry had a happy, healthy childhood. But when he ignored the abuse, he firmly crossed the line into villainy.

• ANGIE BARRY is a page designer and columnist for The Times. To suggest future topics for The B-List, which covers pop culture, history and literature, contact her at abarry@shawmedia.com.