The Stone and the Mirror(was; Riddle and Astronomy)

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 43608

Arcum askes;

<< The big question, naturally, is why Dumbledore wanted Harry to reach

the stone, since obviously they could have put better defences around

it. (An variant of the age circle, for example, keeping anyone under

600 out.)

 >>

Yes, it certainly SEEMS clear that either someone intended that Harry and his 
friends reach the Stone, or the chain of coincidences which permitted it is 
just too long and too perfect to be believed. Which I think may be a flaw in 
the plotting of the first book. It plain doesn't make logistic sense on the 
part of the staff if the intention was to keep anyone from getting to the 
Stone. The more ways of getting at something the more likely it is that 
someone is going to succeed at it. The whole lead up of each task being 
uniquely suited to one of the (four) children just frankly makes me balk. 
(Who was the Troll task supposed to be set for? Or was that to be a treamwork 
exercise?)

Because the Stone was safe -- as long as Harry and Co. stayed away from it! 
Dumbledore's conundrim had Quirrelmort completely stumped. Albus read 
Riddle's mindset loud and clear. Riddle would NEVER have been able to 
retrieve that Stone from the Mirror. And Quirrel was too tied up in knots to 
be able to manage it either. The set dressing of the other tasks was exactly 
that, set dressing. A series of solvable tasks which would slow progress 
enough to make interception (and capture -- there was no other way out of 
those chambers once one had entered them) more possible. But the Stone in the 
Mirror would have kept the invader there trying to figure it out until he 
gave up and made a run for it. 

Now, as to the flute, which is a complete side-issue, and not my main point; 
I cannot recall whether Hagrid had already been told that the kids had met 
Fluffy before Christmas. I seem to think that he had, and it throws off this 
mini-theory if he hadn't. But he thinks Fluffy is a fine pet. He can't see 
why the children might not want to make friends with his monster dog, and the 
flute was just a useful gift to enable them to do so. (Note; we've been told 
nothing of what became of Fluffy after the first book did he really exist or 
was he a hoax created from a transfigured something else and palmed off to 
Hagrid so he could play his part in the comedy?)

As to whether Dumbledore intended to let Harry know how to retireve the 
Stone; Yes, actually. I believe that Dumbledore did exactly that. And very 
carefully, too. He knew from Hagrid that Harry knew that Nicholas Flammel had 
some part in the puzzle. He gave Harry his father's cloak at Christmas. The 
Mirror was set up in a room close to the Library over the Christmas break (I 
don't believe that it was there during the previous school term) and 
Dumbledore staked the place out until Harry showed up. He continued this 
watch until the first shock opf the discovery wore off and Harry started 
reaching the point where he was open to suggestions regarding the Mirror and 
what made it work. Then he planted his clues and left Harry to mull it over.

Now, what I think might have reasonably been intended by all this was to set 
up a nice, safe little opportunity for Harry to have a nice safe chance at 
five minutes of glory after the threat was past, and it was time to take the 
Stone out of the Mirror to destroy it. Because while Dumbledore could hide 
the Stone in the Mirror, it is less than conclusive that he would have been 
able to get it out again by himself. After all, once the Stone was 90% safely 
out of the way of mischief-makers, I very much doubt that the dearest wish of 
Dumbledore's heart would have been to have it back out in the world again. 
What he saw in the Mirror is more likely to have been the vision of himself 
destroying it. And he knew this. To set up an adventure for a child to gain 
approval of his elders by retrieving a valuable object for them from its 
hiding place, has a much more certain chance of being able to extract it. And 
that's what I tend to think the whole Mirror of Erised was about. Dumbledore 
intended for Harry to be the one to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror -- 
after all the excitement was over.

Unfortunately, Murphy got into the act.

-JOdel