Dumbledore: All-Seeing, Really Smart, or just Lovable Coot?

[uncmark]

No: HPFGUIDX 35449

I originally posted a question on Dumbledore's omniscence:
> I have a question concerning Albus Dumbledore. He seems at times 
> all-powerful, the ONLY wizard Voldemort fears. In SSt he knows 
> immediately when Harry moved from the cubboard. (His second letter 
> was addressed to "The smallest bedroom, 4 Privet Drive".

"sothoii" <nicholson_el at h... replied
> More likely Dumbledore suspected that there would be problems 
> getting the message to Harry and kept a close watch on him to see 
> what would happen when the letters arrived.  Hagrid even says 
> that "Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of 
>[Harry]" When he and Harry meet in the hut on the rock.

So Dumbledore uses divinationation magic. I'm curious on the extent 
of his abilities. There are ctystal balls in the Potterverse and 
keeping with the 'mythology tilt' I've read in several posts, Zeus 
(or it might have been Odin)could see the entire Earth from his 
throne, but he had to sit on the throne to do it.

I posted:
> At times he seems to know everything, yet missed Voldemort hiding 
> in Querill, Tom Riddle hiding in Ginny, Pettigrew hiding as 
> Scabbers, and Crouch hiding as Moody. So how omniscient is Albus? 

"sothoii" <nicholson_el at h... replied
> With regards to the other issues, it is not necessary to be 
> omniscient to be talented.  Obviously, Dumbledore is talented 
> magically, and  seems to posess a great deal of knowledge.  
> However, he can not watch over everyone all the time.  He is 
> capable of making educated guesses, just as anyone else is, his are 
> based on a wider range of knowledge than most peoples.

I feel Dumbledore's divination is probably tops, but he would have to 
know where to look and other Wizards could probably partially block 
divination, Sort of the wizard equivalant of lead-shielding against X-
ray vision.

> With regards to the Voldemort-Quirrell, I have no idea how much 
> Dumbledore suspected, however he did know that Voldemort was after 
> the Philosophers Stone.

D. talked of knowing LV had been hiding in Albania and suspected an 
attack was coming, but LV could probably block a divination spell or 
maybe even send back a 'false reading'.

> He does know that an early version of Voldemort was opening the 
> Chamber of Secrets, because he asks Harry "how Lord Voldemort 
> managed to enchant Ginny?".  He is suprised by the use of the diary 
> to contain an early version of Tom Riddle.

My take on the Chamber of secrets was that Albus was the 
Transfiguration teacher when the Chamber was opened. He was probably 
ignored when he insisted Hagrid was not the culprit, and may have not 
had proof at the time that it was Riddle.

The Chamber probably has a divination shield of the highest strength, 
(cast by Slytherin) making it unplotable by magic maps and unreadable 
by spells. 

Fifty Years later, as one of the few that knew Riddle was Voldemort 
Dumbledore knew WHO opened the Chamber, but not HOW or WHERE it was. 
I suspect that he knew Harry was the key, however, and probably 
watched him close.

There was mention of 'ancient magic' protecting Harry on Privit Drive 
in GofF. Mrs. Figg, Harry's childhood babysiiter, may have been the 
same Arabella Figg that Dumbledore called 'one of the old crowd'. 
(This  has been reported online in several places) I believe 
Dumbledore had Harry under constant watch so he would have known that 
Harry spoke Parseltongue as soon as the snake escaped!

> As for the Pettegrew-Scabbers and Crouch-Moody I doubt that he 
> suspected until there was some reason to. 

Do you believe he was completely fooled that there were 3 
unregistered animaguses at Hogwarts? I think he may have known, but 
was fooled as much as everyone that Sirius killed Peter. In PofA he 
believed that the Fidelius charm used Sirius. If he had thought 
Pettigrew dead, he would not have looked for him. 

 No wonder he uses the Pensieve to siphon off extra thoughts.

"sothoii" <nicholson_el at h... replied
> I believe that Dumbledore's knowledge comes from a long time (150 
> years!) of observing people, fighting dark magic, and being central 
> to many events that have shaped the magical world, not being 
> omnipotent. 

Here's a wizard with well over a century of experience and secrets to 
remember. With 1000 students to occupy his time he can't watch 
EVERYTHING! I'm guessing he has several magical wards up at critical 
locations that would alert him immediately. If a wizard tried to 
apperate in Hogwart's OR someone tried to enter his office perhaps. I 
don't buy for a minute that he was unaware that HRH discovered Fluffy 
and the trapdoor in SSt or that he just 'left ajar' the cabinet of 
the Pensieve in GofF.

"sothoii" <nicholson_el at h... posted:
>  He uses the pensive to sort through the many memories to attempt 
> to apply them to the current situation.  While there are magical 
> aids, such as foe glasses, Dumbledore has never been observed using 
> any of them.


Dumbledore's no fool! Remember that each book covers an entire school 
year, but mostly from Harry's POV. If there is a magic method to do 
his job better, Dumbledore probably uses it, time permitting. I 
wouldn;t be surprised if in a critival battle he used a time turner 
to be at two paces at once! Still, Dumbledore is not intrusive and 
does not spy on his students. I'm guessing that with running the 
school, advising Fudge on the MoM, he had LITTLE time to gaze into 
magic mirrors but that he would in a pinch. Remember this is the 
wizard that subscribed to the muggle newspaper of Little Hangleton, 
keeping up on news around the Riddle Home.

Uncmark