Couple of questions after CoS reread

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 125479


> Valky:
<snip>
> First, I agree that DD was trying to find out how Riddle was in 
> Hogwarts this second time, and I also found it didn't sit well 
with 
> me that he didn't *find out* sooner, I was a regular user of The 
> Magic Dishwasher (See Fantasic Posts).
> 
> With such an annoying itch, one must scratch so I came up with 
some  thoughts when discussing Time-turning and that led me to a new 
point  of veiw regarding what Omniescent Dumbledore would have been 
doing  during COS. I now approach the question from this angle. It 
*wasn't*  luck that nobody died!
> 
<snip>
> Now lets put ourselves in DD shoes. One relatively omniescent 
> personage in a *very* big house with a *lot* of young muggleborns 
in 
> his care, two important objectives to achieve. 
> 1. Find out how Riddle is doing it. 
> 2. Make sure noone gets killed.
> Which priority is highest?
> 
> So solving the case is secondary priority to saving kids. Which 
> means he has to spend a lot more time watching the muggleborns 
> closely, this doesn't include Ginny Weasley, so she's able to slip 
> under his nose for a while and carry on as Toms puppet without DD 
> being suspicious.
> 
> A big clue to DD having been a protective prescence is Colin's 
> petrification. He was saved by his camera. In the Entrance Hall. 
> After the Quidditch match. 
> 
> An assumption Colin was actually taking photographs at this time 
> doesn't add up. Colin undoubtedly already has plenty of pictures 
of  the Entrance Hall, and besides he just went to Quidditch, surely 
he  used all his film on that.
>  
> Then we have Dumbledore coming down the stairs for a refill of hot 
> chocolate at the same moment. Well maybe. But then maybe he had 
some  of his silver instruments aligned to detect lone muggleborns 
roaming  the castle and was rushing downstairs after hearing the 
alarm bells. 
> hmmm that makes more sense. Did Dumbledore conjure up some really 
> cool magical illusion ahead of him to make Colin put his camera to 
> his face? I think *at least* so.
> 
> The staff all seemed to know that it was DD that was preventing 
the  muggleborns from being killed, I take that very much for 
granted to be authoritative.
> 
> So my theory, Dumbledore wasn't testing Harry. Harry just managed 
to  make himself very helpful. Dumbledore *was* trying to handle the 
> incedent himself, although he intuitively knew that Harry was on 
the  case and did all he could to leave behind some help for Harry.

Hannah:  I really like this theory, Valky.  I hope it's true!  The 
bit with Colin particularly works well for me.  It does seem a huge 
coincidence otherwise.  Also I like the idea of DD having a machine 
that alerts him when a Muggle-born/ half-blood student is wandering 
round alone and in danger.  

Perhaps NH Nick (and the other ghosts) were helping DD, by 
patrolling round, maybe getting to the students quickly when there 
was an alert?  We've seen them help out at other times, for instance 
when they patrolled areas and kept watch for Sirius Black.  Having 
the ghosts to help would be essential during the day (like when 
Justin was attacked) as there would be likely to be several at-risk 
students wandering round in different places at a time.  

This seems to fit in well with DD's omniscience, without making him 
sound like a bad guy.  And while I might lean towards the 
puppetmaster!DD theory, I can't believe that he's actually ESE.  I 
think maybe an element of testing Harry came in right at the end, 
when he hints about help being available to those who need it, while 
looking right at Harry and Ron.  But he couldn't have known that 
Harry and Ron would actually end up in a situation where they needed 
that help.  In fact, he may have guessed that Harry would become a 
target, so he was doing his best to arm him in case the need arose.  
Great theory, anyway :-)

Hannah