Question 4 and 5 are both plot twists, not inconsistencies in the series.
Disappointing, yekke2. Simply writing these questions off as an inconsistency is not the same as addressing them. A ???? in basic ???? is as pertinent as any stirah. Despite this, as you can see, I broadly agree as far as Q4 is concerned. Although…
I wasn’t writing off the questions. I answered one. I don’t have an answer for the second.
Finally, there is the Prophecy. The prophecy dictated that it would be Harry who would finish off Voldemort, if anybody would ever. Dumbledore had to try arrange that to the best of his ability.
You of all people should know that a prophecy is open to interpretation. Perhaps Voldermort marked Harry out as his equal, which led to a simple ???? that one must end up killing the other, but that does not mean Harry, or indeed Dumbledore, had to take the prophecy in any particular way. So no, not ‘dictated’.
Of course. That is the entire point of my answer. Dumbledore, knowing that the Prophecy required Harry to finish Voldemort off, tried to facilitate that the Prophecy would cooperate with his plans by arranging them to suit him. Dumbledore chose this as the easiest interpretation open to manipulation.