[HPforGrownups] Re: Flitwick's broomsticks - "Flint"

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 19150

rja.carnegie at excite.com wrote:

> Maybe Dumbledore likes all those other fantasy novels where this sort
> of folderol takes place.

Maybe Dumbledore was making use of his own reputation, figuring that
this trap to flush out Voldemort's ally would be interpreted by said
ally as an oddity of Dumbledore's rather than any danger to himself.

> I think Snape agrees to help Quirrell just to see what he'll do.

Where did you get the idea that Snape is helping Quirrell? What with?
Snape is trying to stop Quirrell, at every turn.

> Btw, am I right in thinking that not enough information is given for
> the reader to solve the potions puzzle?

You are correct. Another complaint my husband made, that without a
visual, the best a reader can do is narrow it to (I believe) three
choices. Me, I'm lousy at that sort of puzzle, I just read it and took
Hermione's word.

>  As for, for instance, simply hiding the Stone in a drawer and casting
> a Fidelius Charm with Dumbledore as Secret-Keeper - Dumbledore isn't
> invulnerable either, and maybe the Fidelius Charm doesn't work on
> every secret - doesn't work, for instance, on a powerful Philosopher's
>
> Stone.

For no reason I can think of, I thought the Fidelius Charm was a charm
for hiding *people*. Dumbledore could have hidden Flamel, but not an
object. Is this right? Where did I get this impression? Same place as
Snape/Lily?

> As for not destroying the stone - we could say that this either
> shouldn't or perhaps actually couldn't be done without Flamel's
> consent.  But when Voldemort nearly got the stone, nearly killed
> Harry, and had escaped to try again, Flamel agreed to let the stone
> go.

The production of the Elixir of Life is probably not the only benefit
the Stone can produce. They're probably letting a bunch of other stuff
go with it as well, which had caused them to hesitate before. In
addition, what seeker after pure knowledge and good could help but
hesitate to destroy the Stone, sought by thousands over hundreds of
years, emblem of the completed quest for self-discovery and
improvement--the only one ever achieved? Small wonder they waited until
little other choice was left.

--Amanda


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]