Not so very clever Albus...

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 45400



About the cleverness of using the mirror of Erised, I wrote:
>>But how long would it have held out? Don't you think that as 
voldmort got more frustrated and angry, a terrified Qurirrel would 
have panicked? He'd no longer be so taken by the glory of presenting 
the stone to his master, but get a desperate case of "Oh my God! I've 
GOT to find the stone, or I'm dead!!". And once that was his 
overriding desire, couldn't he have then found it?<<

To which Rotsie replied:
>>I believe the only way the Stone could be retrieved
from the Mirror was if someone wanted to find the
Stone but not use it. Hence even if Quirrell became
increasingly agitated with his inability to retrieve
the Stone, he wouldn't have been able to find it
unless he suddenly had a change of heart and repented
his desire to find it in the first place (that was a
bit wordy). So, basically, no he couldn't have found
it no matter how panicked he became about finding it. 

If/when he gave up trying to find it, then perhaps,
Quirrell could have retrieved the Stone, but not
before. <<

Me again:
Oh Rotsie! The mirror shows "nothing more or nothing less than
the deepest, most desperate desires of our heart". Quirrel never
had the desperate desire to  *use* the stone- he just saw himself 
presenting it to his master. That was his most desperate desire just
then...the approval of his master when he fulfilled the task he'd
been trying to accomplish for almost a year. But imagine Voldmorts 
reaction as he was thwarted – Quirrel would then be desperately 
afraid for his life. And I would imagine he'd latch on to his
only mode of survival- find that stone as soon as possible. When his 
most desperate desire became that of *finding* the stone – we'll
he'd have found it,much as Harry did, and no repenting of initial 
desire would be necessary. 

Unless of course, he totally lost his mind and focused on "I need
to *live*" instead of "I've *got* to find that stone".
It's Possible, but I give Quirrel more credit than that.  

Or unless it was all a trick, and Harry didn't get the stone
through the mirror either. Acrum's all-merely-practice theory
could indicate that Dumbledore just conjured it into Harry's pocket 
and let him know through the mirror...just, of course, to complicate 
things and make it a little more dangerous.

as Acrum puts it:
>> Of course there is a better way, if we let things be a bit more
complicated. Lets say that Dumbledore feels Harry needs some hands-on
experiance fighting LV, but wants to try to protect him as much as
possible while doing so. So he makes sure the defences are rigged to
cater to Ron, Hermione, and Harry's strengths (plus one for Neville
Hermione solved). Next, when both Quirrellmort & Harry have all the
information, he stages his absence from Hogwarts by borrowing a
ministry owl and sending a letter to himself, and sending out Minerva
and Severus to make sure Quirrel and Harry know he's gone. After
leaving conspicuously, he then ducks down to where the mirror is
being kept, and hides in a secret chamber there. When LV and Harry
are struggling, he ducks in the room (note that Harry didn't see him
arrive), and helps out.
This theory presumes that Quirrell/Voldemort was waiting for
Dumbledore to leave, or at least were taking advantage of the
opportunity, but, given the time frame, this seems a reasonable
assumption. Anyways, just speculation, but I like the idea of
Dumbledore having been thoroughly in control of the situation in SS<<


But I DON'T! I Don't! The whole thing would tend to present Harry
as insignificant in the story (oh, if he hadn't tried to be so
brave and come in to fight Snape/ Voldmort, no big deal – Albus was
there anyway).. .. And it makes Dumbledore too arrogant to be liked! 
How dare he toy with other peoples fears like that? This goes beyond 
the toying-with-Snape issue,cause here he'd be coldly manipulating 
Harry. Where's the ethics in that scenario? Talk about inconsistency!

Dumbledore the gentle wise manipulator is one thing – Dumbledore
the coldly calculating manipulator, quite another!.. 

In fact, this sounds suspiciously like MAGIC DISHWASHER with 
Dumbledore's primary aim being to train Harry undercover (never
mind that Harry has feelings and a right to his own decisions)–
not fight Voldmort. (Is this the plain text that Pippin calls the 
KITCHEN SINK?). I  dont think KITCHEN SINK means to make Dumbledore 
this Arrogant though... 


Errol, 
who hopes that the books do end up as "Harry Potter and.."
instead of "Dumbledore and.."