Dumbledore speaks these words with a "calm, almost detached expression." Harry has already lost his temper at this point in the conversation--it is difficult to read Angry!Harry passages like this, but I suppose we don't always get to choose our modes of catharsis. I can imagine that it would be rather infuriating to engage with someone behaving so calmly when one's world has just been, yet again, so grievously upturned. The alternatives, an angry, defensive Dumbledore or a sad, regretful Dumbledore, might have stopped Harry's anger in its tracks (or perhaps, in the latter case, done some irreparable damage). Thus, Dumbledore's calmness can be perceived as an effort to allow Harry to vent some of his anger. While the portraits on the wall protest Harry's behavior, Dumbledore remains calm, giving Harry permission to rage.
He wanted to run, he wanted to keep running and never look back, he wanted to be somewhere he could not see the clear blue eyes staring at him, that hatefully calm old face.
He is clearly correct in his assessment of Harry's pain, but Harry is in no state to admit to it, in this moment, preferring instead the more productive, less intimate response of fury.
Dumbledore speaks these words with a "calm, almost detached expression." Harry has already lost his temper at this point in the conversation--it is difficult to read Angry!Harry passages like this, but I suppose we don't always get to choose our modes of catharsis. I can imagine that it would be rather infuriating to engage with someone behaving so calmly when one's world has just been, yet again, so grievously upturned. The alternatives, an angry, defensive Dumbledore or a sad, regretful Dumbledore, might have stopped Harry's anger in its tracks (or perhaps, in the latter case, done some irreparable damage). Thus, Dumbledore's calmness can be perceived as an effort to allow Harry to vent some of his anger. While the portraits on the wall protest Harry's behavior, Dumbledore remains calm, giving Harry permission to rage.
He is clearly correct in his assessment of Harry's pain, but Harry is in no state to admit to it, in this moment, preferring instead the more productive, less intimate response of fury.
--AK