He doesn’t necessarily learn anything regarding the Restricted Section in his conversation with Harry; however, immediately after his conversation is probably his best chance to have McGonagall listen to him about the Restricted Section.
Dumbledore and McGonagall don’t really have very many options to cheer Harry up. It’s suggested that they already tried other students. Regarding friends, his closest would be McGonagall and Quirrell, neither of whom worked, Hermione and Draco, who are both inaccessible for obvious reasons, and his parents. Of all of these, the last seem like the best option. This is particularly so considering that Harry would very likely want to shield his parents from his present emotions in a way that is not true of Dumbledore and McGonagall. We can debate how well it would work, but short of explicitly using magic on Harry (which might not even be possible, now that he’s an Occlumens) it’s the only thing McGonagall and Dumbledore could do that would have any kind of chance of success.
This post makes me think Dumbledore might try to procure Draco to cheer up Harry, but that might not be practical without great cost (political and otherwise)
Harry’s parents seem like a bad option for cheering him up. As I recall, he despises them as much as he despises most people.
However, I can easily believe bringing them to Hogwarts will seem like a good idea to someone who’s running on automatic. It might even be a good idea—not emotionally—but because they’d be safer at Hogwarts than at home.
Really? What attempt to enter the restricted section would be foiled by that countermeasure that wouldn’t be foiled by the factors inherent in “restricted section”?
Okay, in a very strict sense it does make it harder to access. Harry was unlikely to get permission if he asked before, and now he’s more unlikely to get permission.
He still has a time-turner and the Invisibility Cloak. If he can get behind a stack long enough to put the cloak on and take it off, he can defeat ‘keep an eye on him’.
Now, putting a door on the restricted section would actually provide a hindrance, but would also tip him off that there were probably new wards.
Tangent speculation: What are the odds that Harry will find the Room of Requirements and learn about its nature and then determine the limits of its capabilities?
Why does he think of beefing up the restricted section’s security only after his conversation with Harry? What did he learn?
I also don’t see bringing Harry’s parents to Hogwarts as being terribly predictable.
He doesn’t necessarily learn anything regarding the Restricted Section in his conversation with Harry; however, immediately after his conversation is probably his best chance to have McGonagall listen to him about the Restricted Section.
Dumbledore and McGonagall don’t really have very many options to cheer Harry up. It’s suggested that they already tried other students. Regarding friends, his closest would be McGonagall and Quirrell, neither of whom worked, Hermione and Draco, who are both inaccessible for obvious reasons, and his parents. Of all of these, the last seem like the best option. This is particularly so considering that Harry would very likely want to shield his parents from his present emotions in a way that is not true of Dumbledore and McGonagall. We can debate how well it would work, but short of explicitly using magic on Harry (which might not even be possible, now that he’s an Occlumens) it’s the only thing McGonagall and Dumbledore could do that would have any kind of chance of success.
This post makes me think Dumbledore might try to procure Draco to cheer up Harry, but that might not be practical without great cost (political and otherwise)
Harry’s parents seem like a bad option for cheering him up. As I recall, he despises them as much as he despises most people.
However, I can easily believe bringing them to Hogwarts will seem like a good idea to someone who’s running on automatic. It might even be a good idea—not emotionally—but because they’d be safer at Hogwarts than at home.
Harry does not despise his parents. It is made very clear that he loves them dearly and vice versa.
What evidence do we have that security on the restricted section is actually going to be improved?
Just by telling everyone to keep Harry away from it improves the security
Really? What attempt to enter the restricted section would be foiled by that countermeasure that wouldn’t be foiled by the factors inherent in “restricted section”?
“I need access to the restricted section, I don’t want another one of my friends to die”
I would suspect that an argument along those lines would be much more likely to succeed if Quirrell hadn’t given his instructions.
Okay, in a very strict sense it does make it harder to access. Harry was unlikely to get permission if he asked before, and now he’s more unlikely to get permission.
He still has a time-turner and the Invisibility Cloak. If he can get behind a stack long enough to put the cloak on and take it off, he can defeat ‘keep an eye on him’.
Now, putting a door on the restricted section would actually provide a hindrance, but would also tip him off that there were probably new wards.
Tangent speculation: What are the odds that Harry will find the Room of Requirements and learn about its nature and then determine the limits of its capabilities?