Dumbledore "wrote" Book 1

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163940

Carol:

I'm going to take a shot at Dicentra's post because, like BetsyHP and
Pippin, I don't believe that Harry was right about Dumbledore wanting
Harry to go after the Stone, nor would he have wanted him to suspect
Snape if he knew about it.

Docentra:
> 1. It cannot be a coincidence that Harry was with Hagrid when he
recovered the stone. Dumbledore sent Hagrid to collect Harry and get
the stone at the same time.

Carol:
Of course he did. He (DD) wanted to kill two birds with one stone
(sorry--unavoidable pun). He trusted Hagrid, and he had two important
pieces of business that required a visit to a Gringotts vault. It
makes perfect sense that he would ask Hagrid to take care of both of
them at the same time. Harry would probably have forgotten all about
the small package in the second vault if he hadn't read in the Daily
Prophet the next day that the very same vault had been broken into.
(Now I wonder how Voldemort knew where the stone was and how Quirrell
got into such a heavily guarded vault. Maybe he kidnapped a goblin and
forced him to open it, but how did he get away? I doubt that you can
Apparate into or Disapparate from any part of Gringotts. But that's
something we'll never know. We just have to suspend our disbelief.)

Dicentra: 
> 2. It is also no coincidence that the stone was retrieved the day
Quirrell broke into Gringotts. Dumbledore must have known what had
happened to Quirrell in Albania and what Voldemort was up to.  He
brought the stone to Hogwarts to protect it, yes, but he also knew
Voldemort would follow it. Perfect opportunity to let Harry confront him.

Carol:
It's hard to say how he knew that the Stone was in danger, but I agree
that he suspected Quirrell. (Voldemort was not yet inside Quirrell's
head when Harry encountered Quirrell earlier that same day, but DD's
spies must have told him that both Quirrell and Voldie were in
Albania.) But what better way to keep an eye on Quirrell, via Snape,
than to have him at Hogwarts? DD could set up protections and keep an
eye out for Quirrell or anyone else who came near the third-floor
corridor (not the whole third floor, Betsy!). Anyone who got past
Snape and Filch, not to mention all the protections (and I don't think
that just any wizard could have figured out Snape's riddle) would be
thwarted because the Stone, if it was already in the mirror, was not
even in the corridor at first and, later, the Stone was protected by
an enchantment that only an innocent person could break.

There was no reason for Harry or any other student to enter that
corridor just to find out what was in the package even if they
suspected it was there. The three-headed dog was enough to deter HRH
and Neville until they began to suspect Snape. And meanwhile, Snape
was watching Quirrell, whose intentions he suspected from the beginning.
> 
> 3. As has been mentioned, the Mirror of Erised was the only real
protection the stone had. Quirrell and Voldemort would have no problem
getting through the other kinds of "protection" surrounding the stone
(though it did slow them down some). The mirror was kind of a monkey
trap--you can't pull your hand out until you let go of the fruit--that
Voldemort could never foil.

Carol:
True. but that's not a reason why Harry would go after the Stone. It's
a reason why Voldemort wasn't worried that it would be stolen even if
Quirrell (whom he surely realized was being controlled by Voldemort
once he put on that ridiculous turban) would fail to get it. I don't
see any argument here. The protections aren't "tests" for Harry, who
would have failed all but the flying keys and the mirror if it weren't
for Hermione, ron, and Hagrid.
> 
> 4. Dumbledore gave Harry the Cloak of Invisibility for Christmas,
> telling him to "use it wisely." What could that mean except "go
> roaming about the school after hours to figure out this mystery"? 

Carol:
As Betsy has said, he meant exactly what he said: "Use it wisely."
Which does *not* mean entering forbidden corridors guarded by
three-headed dogs to catch a teacher (Snape, Quirrell, or anyone else)
who's in league with Voldemort. Harry could very easily have died or
been forced to give Quirrell the Stone. The trap works much better if
no child is present.
> 
> 5. It's therefore no coincidence that Harry found the Mirror of
Erised. After Dumbledore tells Harry how the mirror works, he says
"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you
not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will
now be prepared."  At the time, Harry probably thought the last
sentence meant that he wouldn't waste away in front of it, but I think
he was referring to the confrontation with Voldemort. <snip>

Carol:
I disagree. DD knew that Harry was wandering around at night in his
Invisibility Cloak and likely to encounter the mirror. He also knew
that the mirror was dangerous in itself. ("Men have wasted away in
front of it.") He allowed Harry a glimpse of his parents, but he made
sure that he didn't go looking for it. Harry never expected to find
the mirror in the corridor along with the Stone, and he would have
seen the Stone in the mirror whether he knew how the mirror worked or
not. He had to "be prepared" to avoid being lured by the mirror,
confusing reality with desire, an important lesson that had nothing to
do with the Stone.

Dicentra:
> 6. Some have suggested, with reason, that the tests required the
cooperation of all three to pass and were deliberately set up this
way. The only test that didn't have this quality was the troll, which
Dumbledore knew would have been defeated by Quirrell before Harry met
up with it.

and

> 7. That the test was ultimately meant for Harry alone is shown in
> Snape's potions test. Only one person can make it through to the
> mirror. Dumbledore counted on that one person being Harry. (If no
one was meant to get to the stone, ALL the vials would contain poison.)

Carol: 
*If* they were tests, they certainly required the help of what Snape
later calls "more talented friends." Harry didn't even know the
Alohomora spell, much less how to get past Fluffy, how to escape the
Devil's snare, how to win the chess game, or how to solve Snape's
riddle (which was designed to lure a clever wizard on but thwart a
less logical one). Even the flying keys required Ron's help (he
spotted the one with the broken wing). Harry would have died if it
weren't for HRH. A clever and powerful adult wizard, especially one
with Voldemort inside his head, would have been able to make it
through most if not all the "tests" (protections) once he learned how
to get past Fluffy. That was the point. Hold him off as long as
possible, deter him along the way, and trap him at the end.

 8. Dumbledore was counting on Harry to figure out where the stone was
> and who was after it. When Harry asks him later about the fate of
> Nicolas Flamel, he brightens up: "Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said
> Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You *did* do the thing
> properly, didn't you?"  The "thing" was the mystery Dumbledore had
set up for Harry.

Carol:
This point has already been well answered by Betsy, IIRC. Just because
Dumbledore is proud of HRH's thoroughness (it wasn't Harry who figured
out who Flamel was) doesn't mean that he intended for Harry to solve
the mystery and endanger his life and those of his friends.
> 
Dicentra:
> 9. It's possible that Dumbledore was not fooled in the least by the
fake MoM message, instead understanding that Quirrell was making his
move. He "leaves" Hogwarts, but he probably doesn't go far. (He tells
Harry that he makes it as far as London, but I wonder...) As Hermione
later recounts "we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore
when we met him in the entrance hall--he already knew--he just said,
'Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor."

Carol:
I'm not sure what brought DD back (a hunch that the message was
fake?), but he would never actually lie to Harry (withholding
information is one thing; speaking falsehoods is another). "Harry's
gone after him, hasn't he?" sounds like a deduction to me, and his
hurtling off (Snape-style) makes it sound as if he knows that Harry is
in terrible danger, unplanned on his part. (If Harry's alone, as it
appears, he could be mangled by Fluffy or strangled by the devil's
snare or lying poisoned or burned by a curtain of magical fire.
There's no guarantee or even a likelihood that he got past all those
barriers on his own (and we readers know that he couldn't have).

Dicentra:
> 10. Ron then asks, "D'you think he meant you to do it? Sending you
your father's cloak and everything?"  Harry responds (after Hermione's
obligatory horrified reaction), "I think he sort of wanted to give me
a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here,
you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and
instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't
think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked.
It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I
could...." I don't think this is Harry?s personal interpretation. I
think this is JKR's message to the reader.

Carol:
How often has Harry been right about such things, especially so early
in the series? He was certainly wrong about Snape. And what did DD
teach them, exactly? The cloak was rightfully Harry's and he was
warned to use it wisely. He was taught the dangers of the mirror, not
how to use it. DD didn't teach Ron to play chess or Hermione to pay
attention in Herbology or solve a riddle or Harry to fly. Nor did he,
as he says himself, expect Harry to face Voldemort so soon. I do wish
that JKR would show Harry to be wrong here, but since she doesn't, we
have to figure it out for ourselves.

Carol, believing that Dumbledore was trying to protect the Stone and
the students (and possibly catch Quirrell in the act), not to tempt
Harry to test his luck and skill prematurely