[HPforGrownups] Why Harry with the Philosopher's Stone?

[alicit at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 47536

Grrr... So much for my first post off of moderated status; accidentally 
pressing the 'send now' button before I'd even typed anything.  My apologies 
to the list.  Now, here's the real message:

anne said:
> 
> 
> >> He merely suspects that Harry might, indeed, go after it and 
>> so makes sure Harry understands the mirror of erised so that he will 
>> be prepared when it sends the stone into his pocket. 


I have a completely different original reading of this.  I thought that 
Dumbledore left the mirror for Harry to find because he wanted him to see his 
family in it.  Dumbledore knew that having a family was Harry's deepest 
desire, and he wanted to be able to tell Harry that he shouldn't waste away 
wishing for his family, like the men in front of the Mirror of Erised, and 
should, instead, move on with his new life with his friends.  I have such a 
sappy theory...

> 
> 
> Grey Wolf said:
> 
> This does not include that Dumbledore had 
> planned it this way: he can determine Harry's moral sense by pasivelly 
> observing him go into all that trouble, without pushing him into it. 
> But since I do believe that the "defenses" were though as a training 
> excercise, it's logical to assume that Dumbledore had the little moral 
> test at the end (after having tested resourcefulness, bravery, 
> intelligence, knowledge, etc. etc.).

I don't think that the tests were ment to be hard.  I think that the only 
test that was needed to guard the stone was the last one, and the rest were 
all tricks, of a sort.  (To follow my thinking, it is best to forget that 
Harry & co. or Quirrelmort could get through the tricks and just think of a 
random DE, like Lucius, getting through them.)  

To get through the tests, you need cunning (putting fluffy to sleep), 
resourcefulness (as you said, GW, for the devil's snare), agility (to get the 
key on a broom), Strength (to defeat the ogre), Intelligence (for 
McGonagall's chess set), and logic (for the potions puzzle).

All of these things are qualities that can be expected in a Deatheater.  They 
are certainly all things that Voldemort himself possesses, or he would not 
have gotten as powerful as he did.  I cannot believe that Dumbledore expected 
these tests to stop any full grown witch or wizard (but he was impressed with 
the 1st years' abilities, which is what makes our trio so special ^_^v)  I 
think that the tests, with the possible exception of Fluffy, because the way 
through that test was tricking Hagrid, and wasn't anything that a person 
could know on their own, were designed to make the DE think that there was a 
trick to each test, that there was a way through them all.

The DE could not know that the final test would be a test of morality, 
something that no dark wizard looking to fulfill their own ends could pass.

Even if Dumbledore, in all his infinite wisdom, suspected Quirrelmort to be 
evil, and suspected that Harry & co. would be able to get past the tests, the 
tests were set up so that no dark wizard could pass them all, and anyone 
seeking to protect the stone could get it.

Now, I shall sit back and wait for someone to punch very big holes in my 
ideas.

-Scheherazade, who is ever so sorry for the misspost


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