JKR's Dumbledore: Harry or Hermione (was:Re: It really annoys me ...

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 163933

> 
> Alla:
> 
> So, wait, are you arguing that Dumbledore showed Harry the mirror 
> which is really the main trap for the stone, but did not expect Harry 
> to go after the Stone?
> 
> Woudn't it be much simpler to, I don't know NOT show Harry the mirror 
> at all, if Dumbledore truly did not expect Harry to do it?

Pippin:
Um, Harry doesn't know the mirror is guarding the stone until he
actually gets to the final chamber.  Can you explain how
Harry's knowing about the mirror encouraged Harry in any way
to go through the trapdoor? Are you saying that if he hadn't known
about the mirror he wouldn't have gone through the trap door?

Knowing how the mirror works didn't change anything. At
most, it meant Harry was willing to look in the mirror without
putting up a fight. In so far as that delayed the fight between
him and Quirrell till Dumbledore got there, it probably saved 
his life. But that's just serendipity (or author contrivance) --
Dumbledore couldn't have planned that.

Dumbledore knew he couldn't prevent Voldemort and Harry
from confronting one another again because once Voldemort
has tried to kill someone he always keeps trying until that
person is dead. He knew that if Harry took after his parents,
he would want to confront Voldemort some day. But Dumbledore
could and did try to delay the confrontation. Dumbledore 
asked Harry not to go looking for the mirror again, and 
Harry honored his request. He certainly wasn't looking for 
the mirror when he went through the trapdoor.

I think Dumbledore was very curious to know what Harry would
see in the mirror -- and JKR wanted us to know. In fact, it,
like the boggart, the dementor and the patronus,  is a joke 
about the character development exercises writers use: What 
is your character's greatest desire? What is his greatest fear? 
His worst memory? What animal would you compare him to?

But back to our story....

 I think Dumbledore would have much preferred to destroy the 
stone immediately  rather than attempt to guard it at Hogwarts, 
but that wasn't his decision to make. The stone was Nicholas 
Flammel's property, not Dumbledore's. Given that Flammel didn't 
yet see the need to destroy the stone, Hogwarts was the safest 
place for it. No doubt Flammel was hoping the stone could remain 
there until Voldemort was no longer a threat (Nicholas would
be used to taking the long view, don't you think?) 

I suppose you'll tell me that Dumbledore had no right to endanger
his students by agreeing to guard the stone at all, but Dumbledore
thinks globally. The students will not be safer if the stone is
guarded less securely somewhere else and Voldemort gets hold
of it, nor will they be safer if Dumbledore takes to 
destroying things that don't belong to him. I think Dumbledore
is very aware that there is no real check on him except his own
conscience, so he's very wary of doing anything that would
weaken it.

Pippin