Dumbledore's Motives?

[dantefyre2112]

No: HPFGUIDX 40862

Hi all.

I've been re-reading the first book recently and I've come across a 
few things that are troubling me.  I checked that FAQ and searched 
the archive as best I could, but didn't see this mentioned.  If it 
has been discussed before, I wouldn't mind being directed to the 
discussion.

What's bothering me is Dumbledore's timing as far as bringing the 
Philosopher's Stone to Hogwarts.  Did he know someone was planning on 
stealing it?  He probably guessed that the stone could be used to 
revive Voldemort from his weakened state - I mean, what else was it 
really good for (besides the whole near-immortality thing)?  But, if 
that's the case, why did he leave it in Gringotts for long?  Why 
wasn't it moved to Hogwarts right after Voldemort's defeat, when his 
followers were still floundering about?  For that matter, why wasn't 
it just destroyed?

What brought this to my attention was something McGonagall said just 
after she caught Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco wandering the 
halls after the incident with Norbert:

"...nothing gives you the right to walk around the school at night, 
especially these days, it's very dangerous..."

What?  What does she mean, "these days" and "dangerous?"  As far as 
the reader was concerned at this point, nothing very serious was 
going on at the school.  Sure, there was a troll running around at 
Halloween, but that was explained away as an isolated incident, 
right?  What I think this says is that the faculty was aware of 
*something* going on, something we weren't been told about.  This 
something probably had to do with Voldemort, but I'm not sure the 
faculty knew that particular fact.  Or did they?

Snape at the very least knew.  He was suspicious of Quirrell from the 
start, even since the first Quidditch match.  Surely he would have 
mentioned Quirrell's alarming behavior to Dumbledore, whom Snape 
respects.  I mean, he tried to kill a student!  Why didn't Dumbledore 
do anything about it?

I have a great many suspicions concerning Dumbledore's motives in the 
series, most of which are not well received.  I have this feeling 
he's manipulating everybody for some other purpose, one that isn't 
necessarily in the best interest of all concerned.  I just don't see 
how he couldn't know Voldie was stuck on the back of Quirrell's head, 
especially if Snape suspected his involvement with the Dark Lord.  If 
he DID know, then having the stone stored at Hogwarts was just asking 
for Voldemort to be revived!  

The same thing goes for Crouch.  How could Dumbledore NOT know that 
it was somebody else in a Moody-skin suit?  I thought he and 
Dumbledore were close friends.  I don't understand how Crouch, who 
had been isolated for the past twelve or thirteen years or so, could 
so easily fool Dumbledore.  Unless, of course, Dumbledore DID know, 
just like he knew about Quirrell, and was looking for subtle a way to 
get Voldemort back in power.  What better way to put yourself in 
power than to defeat some great evil and make yourself a hero?  
Dumbledore already has his vigilante fighting force (the Aurors), 
the "side of the light" on his side, and is slowly undermining the 
Ministry's power. If he manages to overthrow Voldie on his own (with 
Harry Potter, the golden boy, at his side), while at the same time 
managing to cause the rest of the wizarding world to doubt and loose 
confidence in the Ministry, I could very easily see the people 
putting him solely in charge, which is potentially dangerous.

*whew*  I'm ranting, but I really am confused.  Does anyone have any 
ideas on this?

Dante
"Creationists make it sound as though a ´theory´ is something
you dreamt up after being drunk all night." - Isaac Asimov