[HPforGrownups] Re: the Mirror of Erised/potion test

[Alex]

No: HPFGUIDX 47760

Pickle Jimmy says:
   I have wondered on numerous occasions what was protecting the 
stone prior to the mirror being "re-positioned" by Dumbledore (Did 
Big D just keep it in his pocket? Was it only protected by the other 
teacher's obstacles? Did the idea of using the mirror only come to 
Dumbledore after he saw Harry sitting in front of it? - any theories 
welcome)... BUT, IMHO it was used to protect the stone, not to make 
it easy for Harry to get, but to make it impossible for anyone of ill 
intent to get.
   If Dumbledore (who seems to show contempt for Trelawny's inner eye 
and divination in general) had enough fore-knowledge to know Harry's 
involvement in the stone, why wouldn't he have known about 
Quirrelmort and put a stop to him then and there?



Mm...first post.

I recall that at the end of the book, Dumbledore rushes back to Hogwarts. He apparently, as I interpreted it, realized what was going on midway through his journey to wherever it was he was going and came back. I think that we can assume that Dumbledore doesn't know everything that goes on at Hogwarts, but he has a pretty good idea. He might've suspected that somebody would try to steal the Stone, but he probably didn't know specifically who it was. Whoever it was, Dumbledore may have figured it had to do with ol' He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And thus, he probably decided Harry deserved a whack at him first.

He probably only rushed back because he thought Harry would be in danger. I don't think he was too worried about the Stone getting stolen - Quirrell could've sat in front the mirror for twenty years and never find it.

Kind of related, (and it may have been discussed before) but did anyone else notice how easy the first Stone-protecting obstacles were? I mean, if 3 first year students can get past them without getting killed or anything, then I conclude they must have been designed to get past with relatively little difficulty. Sort of a false sense of security thing, going through the easy little protections, and then there's this horrible confusing mirror at the end.

Alex


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