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potter-plotholes · 7 years ago

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Comments For What Albus Dumbledore Should Have Done To Protect The Sorcerer's Stone?

The following are the comments from this post I wrote about “What Albus Dumbledore Should Have Done to Protect the Sorcerer’s Stone?” from back when it used to be published on HubPages.

Le Derpz

This is a pretty good theory- However, the main problem with it is that, your implying that Albus Dumbledore is impossible to steal from. Remember, some common thief could have simply stolen it whilst he was out in the city, or London. For two, someone could have also just used the invisibility magic to sneak in and steal it. Albus is a regular old-man in the muggles world, after all. He would have absolutely no way to stop some run of the mill thief.

For two, lets also consider the last trap for protecting the sorcerers stone, IE the mirror, which would stop Voldemort from having any possible chance of stealing it, or any of his companions. If anything, though Voldemort was successful in getting all the way through, unless he went and temporarily brainwashed himself, it would be completely inaccessible to him.

For three, this also stopped EVERYONE that could possibly have any bad intentions for it to do anything to it. Plus, these traps were designed around teamwork. Something voldemort has very little of, and its a miracle that he ever got through as a ghost.

Freya Yuki

@Le Derpz - if Albus Dumbledore did decide to keep the Sorcerer's Stone with him, then why would he decide to go strolling around London or the Muggle World knowing that he had such an important item with him? If he needs to do something in the Muggle World, he could have sent someone to do it for him like how he sent Hagrid to be the one to pick up the stone from Gringotts and baby Harry from Godric's Hollow.

Also, it seems that Albus is much too busy to be taking strolls around London or even the Wizarding World anyway because of all his jobs and positions. In book 1, aside from being the Hogwarts headmaster, he was also the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, etc. It was only later on that his titles and positions got stripped from him, right?

Also, if Dumbledore uses the Fidelius Charm to keep the stone hidden with him as Secret Keeper (wrote more detailed posts about this on my blog), then even if he does decide to stroll around the Muggle World, it wouldn't matter because common thieves wouldn't be able to see or even know where the stone is thanks to the charm. Even Voldemort and anyone else who wants to get their hands on it wouldn't be able to thanks to the charm.

Because the Fidelius Charm is powerful. The only problem with it is if the Secret Keeper isn't trustworthy. But we know that Albus is like the leader of the light, the fight against Voldemort, the dark side, etc, so, with him as Secret Keeper, you can be sure the stone will be safe. It's unlikely he'll decide to join Riddle, right?

You're right about the Mirror of Erised, and, in fact, I've also written some posts speculating on what would have happened if Harry Potter hadn't shown up there. Because it was only when Harry had shown up that Voldemort was able to get the stone by using Harry to get it for him. If Harry hadn't shown up, then Voldemort would probably still be stuck there, trying to figure out a way to get the stone. So, did Harry end up messing up Dumbledore's plans to keep it safe or what?

I have to disagree about the miracle bit. The traps were really very easy, which was why 3 first year students who knew very little magic (when compared to full-grown adult wizards) were easily able to get through them.

And, while Voldemort didn't have his body during book 1 and he was pretty much like a ghost, he didn't go through the traps on his own. He was possessing Quirinus Quirrell at this time, so the 2 of them worked together to get past the traps. I'd also written some posts about the effectiveness and even the ridiculousness of these traps.

Because they really could have been better. Let's take Severus Snape's trap, for example. The puzzle thing was pretty clever, but why didn't he fill all the bottles with deadly poisons? Why'd he leave the real potions needed there for anyone to find? Imagine if all the bottles were filled with deadly poisons or potions that can incapacitate wizards, what would have happened to Quirrell then?

Or what about Filius Flitwick's trap? Why'd he leave the broomsticks there? Why'd he leave the proper key there? From all this, it really sounds like they were making things easy for the trio and even Quirrell, which isn't right at all, because wasn't the purpose of the entire thing to protect the stone and keep it from being stolen? So, what's up with those traps then?

Anonymous

It would make no sense for Dumbledore to keep the stone with him. If he keeps it with him the book would be BORING! There would be no action. Harry would never meet voldemort in the first book, and they wouldn't go through all the traps that make the book interesting.

Freya Yuki

@Anonymous - It makes plenty of sense for Albus Dumbledore to keep the stone with him because the goal is to protect the Sorcerer's Stone from Voldemort, right? Albus is said to be the only person the Dark Lord is wary of and the headmaster is like the leader of the light side, the fight against evil, so it makes perfect sense for him to be the one to keep the stone. He's a very powerful wizard and he's the most capable because of his experience and age especially because Harry Potter is still just a kid.

I think there are ways to keep the book interesting (not to mention more realistic and believable) even if Dumbledore was the one who kept the stone hidden, even if Harry and his friends never encountered the traps.

So many other things could have happened like Dumbledore being the one to confront Voldemort, like Harry trying to find more info about his parents, etc. Because he and his friends were all still just first year students. They really should not have been involved in something as dangerous as this.

Speaking of those traps - if the goal really was to protect the stone from Voldemort who is a very powerful wizard who knows lots of dark spells and the like, then how come those traps were all easily disabled by 3 first year kids who didn't even know much magic yet? It's no wonder then that Voldemort was easily able to get to the mirror.

Speaking of the Mirror of Erised - what do you think would have happened had Harry Potter not shown up there to where Quirrell was? Before Harry arrived, Quirrell was having a hard time figuring out how to get the stone out of the mirror. It was only when Potter had shown up that Voldemort told him to use Harry to get to the stone. What if Harry hadn't been there?

Would Quirrell be stuck in front of the mirror trying to figure it out until Albus showed up to stop him? Or would Voldemort eventually decide to get Quirrell to bring the mirror with him and have them run away from Hogwars?

There were so many ways the book could have gone that would still make things interesting without having a bunch of kids who barely know anything about magic get involved. And there were so many more ways for Dumbledore and Flamel to keep the Philosopher's Stone safe from Voldemort rather than just sticking it inside a school that's full of little children.

If Voldemort had been a bit more evil, he might have tried something like using the kids as hostages to force Albus to hand over the stone or something like that. He might have gone to the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets to use it to attack the kids and get the stone, etc, etc. I wrote more about this and other similar topics on my blog about Harry Potter, so you can check it out there if you're interested.

Another

Nice read, I really love your posts that question many flaws of the serie, OP ! (and the choice of Mami's picture...wished that Dumbledore hided the stone under his hat ? XD)

I agree with you that the whole business make little sense at all if we think in term of real protection and security. Dumbledore should have the Stone with him (or at least far from Hogwarts, seriously it's a school full of children, WTH ? Why not to paint a mark saying "kidnap and torture children until I give you the stone, haha, NO", but coming from author-self-insert Dumbledore Master of imorality, I'm unfazed.) protected by some powerful spells, not in a mirror that Potter hacked and helped to give it to Riddle (the irony is that the mirror is probably the only real defense in the whole stuff, troll included. Riddle&co were so busy wasting time in front of the mirror desiring something they couldn't have as long they desired it for use [thought I have doubt that Quirrell wanted it for use...]that they would probably failed.)

It would have been funny in a way and could explain the whole reason behind the choice of protections, if the stone in the mirror was a fake one, a bait, and that truly, Dumbledore have the real one with him all along (and what a way to put everyone in danger just because of a trick). And everything was a stage planned by Dumbledore to test and prepare Harry to is future "mission" (sadly, it's probably true, in the end of PS/SS, Harry himself tell Ron and Hermione in the infirmary that Dumbledore gave him the invisibility cloak and explained how the Mirror works because he wanted him to have a try to face Riddle....disgusting).