Alohomora and lockpicking

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 23204

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Kbeanie13 at a... wrote:

> magical counterparts.  But this leads to a question - Why would 
Dumbledore 
> use a simple Muggle lock to guard the third-floor corridor, 
especially when 
> it guards a vicious three-headed dog?  It doesn't seem very wise of 
> Dumbledore.

Okay, how about this? The lock was only there to keep out the idly 
curious and not very bright STUDENTS who wouldn't necessarily take 
his warning seriously and who likewise wouldn't have the 
understanding and knowledge to do the Alohomora Charm. Notice that 
Hermione is the only one who knows how to do it; I think it's not 
usually a spell which no-qualification/wizards-to-be would be able to 
handle.

As for actually protecting the stone, there were plenty of other 
nifty ways he took care of that. The lock was to protect the students.

One might argue that the wards and protections weren't all that great 
if a trio of First Years could get by them with relative ease, but 
that's beside the point. One could also argue that Dumbledore is 
aware of all these goings on and allows and even orchestrates them to 
some extent, all to help Harry come into his own. But that's not a 
theory I particularly like. 

Another interesting possibility is that simple mechanical locks might 
be difficult for a wizard to understand, since he would expect it to 
be a magical device and not be able to unlock it. Note that Fred and 
George and Ron learned how to pick Muggle locks, but they said that 
many Wizards found no use in learning that kind of Muggle trick.

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon