Philosopher's Stone set-up?

[foxmoth at qnet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29232

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Susanne Schmid 
<pigwidgeon37 at y...> wrote:
> 
>  
>   shanerichmond at h... wrote: 
> <I've seen this alluded to on the list but can't find a full 
> <discussion, so I wondered what people's thoughts are on the 
<notion 
> <that the Philosopher's Stone puzzle might be a set-up to test 
<Harry? 
> <Perhaps Dumbledore wants to test Harry's power?
> 
> <snip the chain of evidence>
> 
> But that would make one hell of an experiment to put an eleven 
year-old through, wouldn't it? 

I agree it was a set-up, but the testing  was incidental to the 
purpose, which is to *train* Harry.  It's not a question of sending 
an eleven year-old into mortal peril. Harry *is* in mortal peril 
already, and has been since he was one year old. 
Dumbledore's 
job is to teach him to survive.  Unlike a lab rat, Harry needs to 
test *himself* in order to learn the limits of his  abilities and how 
to use them. 
    Most of us feel that Harry's closest friends would be in danger 
whether they took part in his adventures or not, so the same 
need for testing and  training applies to them.
    There's  no indication that any of the traps would have been 
fatal even if Harry had got caught in them. Just because a bottle 
is supposed to contain poison doesn't mean it actually does, 
especially in the Wizarding world.
     The test did turn  out to be more perilous than Dumbledore 
expected, I think. He can't have realized that Voldemort had 
penetrated the school. We're left in the dark about the end of the 
unicorn incident, but if Harry told Hagrid everything that 
happened, and Hagrid in turn told Dumbledore, then they 
probably concluded that Voldemort had possessed a Lethifold. 
This would have sent them off on a wild goose chase, which 
probably culminating in whatever message lured Dumbledore 
off to London. Perhaps Quirrel faked a message from the 
Ministry saying the Lethifold was caught. 
   Dumbledore had no more evidence to link Quirrel to the attack 
on Harry than he did to link Harry to the attack on Mrs. Norris. 
Therefore Snape's suspicions wouldn't be enough to justify 
using veritaserum or some other form of coercion and we've 
seen that searches of the teacher's rooms (and presumably 
their persons) would be considered improper too.

Pippin