Why Dumbledore made it obvious was Re: The Ghoul in the attic

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 97229

Janet Anderson:

>>Whereas I suspect that Voldemort simply put an appropriate 
goblin under theImperius spell, went to the vault with him and 
found it empty. He alsofound out who had emptied it, which told 
him where it had gone.

What I wonder about in retrospect is why Dumbledore didn't just 
put the Stone in a locked desk drawer in his office, buried in his 
sock drawer, etc.instead of placing it in a cluster of fancy spells 
which effectively provided big arrows labeled "VALUABLE 
OBJECT HIDDEN HERE" to both friend and foe?<<

Pippin explains(the following is all IMO of course):
So, you're Dumbledore, you know Voldemort  wants the Stone,  
you know that he can get it from Gringotts. He has a gift for 
finding out where things are, as you found to your loss when you 
tried to hide the Potters from him.

 So you remove the Stone, choosing the most conspicuous 
messenger you possibly could and make him even more 
conspicuous by having him accompany the WW's most famous 
personage. In other words, Dumbledore *wants* Voldemort to 
know the Stone is at the castle. 

Dumbledore  knows that Hogwarts is *safe*. Meaning, that is, 
that no student has ever suffered permanent harm there as a 
direct, intentional result of Dark Magic. (We know that, because 
on the two occasions when it was thought to have happened, the 
school was going to be closed.) So it won't endanger the 
students if Voldemort shows up at the castle looking for the 
Stone, at least no more than they are endangered by living in a 
world where Voldemort exists. And Dumbledore thinks he has a  
way to keep Voldemort busy until Harry grows up. 

Dumbledore knows that Voldemort has, like Harry, a nice thirst to 
prove himself. Knowing that there's a set of challenges designed 
by the only man he fears, Voldemort can't resist taking them on. 
He's quite childish, really. So Dumbledore set up the challenges, 
and at the end of them he placed the Mirror of Erised, with the 
Stone inside it.

The obstacles don't matter. The real trap is the Mirror. Voldemort 
can't remove the Stone without looking into it, and if he looks into 
it, he will see himself experiencing immortality. He'll be looking 
into the Mirror for a long, long, time. Or so Dumbledore hopes.

Dumbledore did *not* want Harry to go after the Stone at age 11. 
But he knew, after the Quidditch attack, that despite the 
protections surrounding the school, Harry was in danger.  It 
would be good to know that Harry would trust him in a crisis. But 
how to win the trust of this child who mistrusts adults so deeply?

 Dumbledore lets Harry find the Mirror, knowing that the barriers 
Harry puts between himself and  adults will come down if Harry 
looks into it.  

Pippin