Mirror and Obstacles (why Harry...stone?)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 47579

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Melody" <Malady579 at h...> wrote:
> Sche (less a mouthful) wrote:
> 
> >Maybe the mirror was origionally not supposed to be in the 
maze, but,>because Harry found it, and showed it to Ron, 
Dumbledore decided tomove it somewhere where it could not be 
found on accident.  The heavysecurity around the third floor 
corridor may have been a red herringthis ties in to the possibility 
that Dumbledore suspected Quirrel orone of his staff from the 
beginning).  Maybe the tests were really a trap after all.  The 
potions puzzle may have been a lie, with thecorrect' drink only 
letting you go through the fire once; neitherQuirrel nor Harry go 
back through the fire on their own steam.


Melody:
> You know I like the idea.  It works with the assumptions you 
make, but(come on, you knew there would be a 'but' there <g>) 
really what harmwas there in finding the mirror by accident?  
Couldn't Dumbledore just keep it there?  The security was not 
breeched after all.  Why have the mirror at the end of the 
obstacles at all if all you wanted to do was trap them?
> 
Sche:
> > Which brings me to a Flint-like inconsistency... if there was 
only
> >enough potion for one person, how come Quirrel and Harry 
had enough
> >to drink?  Unless Quirrel planned ahead and knew what 
potion he'd
> >need...

Melody: 
> That is not a Flint.  Harry said there was only enough for either
> Hermione or himself.  This is after Quirrell is already in the next
> room, so it stands to reason that there was enough for two 
people in that rounded bottle.  Now I ask you why is that so 
convenient?  :)


The same reason there were *three* brooms. I think that is the 
best clue that the obstacles were set up as a training exercise 
for Harry and co. as well as a lure for Voldemort. Of course 
Dumbledore couldn't know that Harry and Voldemort would try to 
go after the stone at the same time. Or could he? 


The obstacles were obviously meant to be puzzles, not traps. 
If they were traps then there would have been no brooms, or 
hexed ones, and there would have been  poisonous potions in 
*all* the bottles. The lawful retriever of the Stone would   bring a 
broom and the necessary potions in with him/her. But you 
probably wouldn't need a potion to return from the Mirror room to 
the potion room any more than you needed one to enter the 
potion room in the first place.

The only obstacle which is a genuine trap is the Mirror, and it is a 
trap aimed at  Voldemort. If the Mirror had simply been left out 
somewhere, Voldemort would have had  no reason to look at it. 
The idea was, I think, to lure Voldemort on with the fair puzzles, 
and get him to look in the Mirror. In the event he was too shrewd 
to do so, but if he had looked, he would have seen himself 
experiencing immortality, and so been caught forever.

Pippin