This Single Line Proves Dumbledore Always Knew the Outcome of Harry vs Voldemort Final Duel

At that point, both we (readers and viewers) and they (Harry and Snape) saw it that way. After Dumbledore's revelation that Harry had to die, everything prior appeared totally different — especially the Headmaster's relationship with the boy.

For years, Dumbledore knew that Harry was to sacrifice himself, and didn't tell him a thing…

It seems cruel. This revelation made Snape go furious at Dumbledore's cynicism, and it made Harry even more determined to put an end to Voldemort even at the cost of his own life…

And it totally allowed for a new spin of good old "Dumbledore Was a Bad Guy" theories.

But what most fans never realized is that Dumbledore knew that Harry would survive. And we're not talking about his confession at King's Cross.

In The Goblet of Fire, there's one line that hints at it, but it was impossible to interpret correctly before the King's Cross meeting after Harry's presumable death.

Here it is: "For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes."

This happened immediately after Harry told the Headmaster that Voldemort used his, Harry's, blood to come back to life. What was this gleam of triumph about?

Paired with the King's Cross confession, we can safely assume it was at that moment that Dumbledore realized: Harry didn't have to die, and there was a high chance Voldemort wouldn't be able to kill him at all.

This is why he felt triumphant at that moment. He used to believe that Harry's death was the only way to destroy Voldemort completely, but since they now both shared Lily's blood, her protection magic lived on in him, and Harry was bound to live for as long as Voldemort lived.

Seeing Dumbledore's genuine happiness when he meets Harry at King's Cross shows that he did in fact care for Harry and wanted the boy to live.

This allows us to assume that the Headmaster might have had another plan on how to save Harry's life before, but he dropped its development after the news Harry told him in GoF.

And also, this must have been the reason why he explicitly wanted Harry to destroy all the Horcruxes before killing Voldemort, not the other way around.

Since Harry was safe from Voldemort thanks to the combination of the protection magic and the blood ritual, he could get rid of the Horcruxes and then wipe Voldemort out for good without his fleshless spirit existing and plotting revenge elsewhere.

So as much as the word "knowledge" can be applied to something this unique and high-tier magic-wise — yes, Dumbledore knew the outcome of Harry and Voldemort's final battle…

And he was happy to have turned out right which proves that he wasn't the heartless puppet master many fans claim him to be.