Dumbledore in CoS

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 162158

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Inge" <Elvishooked at ...> wrote:

> Is it just me - or did Dumbledore know everything that went on in the 
> Chamber after Harry entered it? Didn't he send the bird and the sword 
> at the exact moment, he realised Harry needed these 2 things?
> 
> And finally - wouldn't Dumbledore have stepped in and taken over, if 
> at any point he feared Harry couldn't handle the situation? (Much as 
> he did in PS in the end).
> 
> My daughter's view is, that Harry was totally on his own in the 
> Chamber and that Dumbledore most likely didn't even know that Harry 
> had entered it.

Geoff:
My reading of the book is opposite to what you suggest:

'Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire.

"Sit down, Harry." he said and Harry sat, feeling unaccountably nervous.

"First of all, Harry, I want to thank you," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling 
again. "You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. 
Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."'
(COS "Dobby's Reward" p.244 UK edition)

Dumbledore's wording, to me, implies that he did not send Fawkes and 
that the phoenix has the power, the intelligence and some sort of innate 
way of sensing events which allow him to make his own decisions.

We do know from later books that he seems to possess other powers, 
for example  the ability to Apparate or something similar.