The Stone is probably there because Quirrel covered how he led Flamel to believe the Stone had to be actually in the trap before it would work; ch108:
“Did you bluff everyone into believing you had some way of finding the Stone?” Harry said aloud. “So that Perenelle would put it inside Hogwarts, where Dumbledore could guard it?”
The Defense Professor sighed, not looking up from the cauldron. “I suppose that strategem would be futile to conceal from you. Yes, after I possessed Quirrell and returned, I implemented a strategy I had conceived while gazing at the stars. First I made sure to be accepted as Defense Professor at Hogwarts, for it would not do to have suspicions raised while I was still seeking employment. When that was done, I arranged for one of Perenelle’s curse-breaking expeditions to discover a falsified but credible inscription describing how the Crown of the Serpent could be used to seek out the Stone wherever it was hidden. Immediately after, before Perenelle could buy up the Crown, it was stolen; furthermore I left clear indications that the thief had possessed the power to speak to snakes. So Perenelle thought that I could infallibly find the Stone’s location, and that it needed a guardian powerful enough to defeat me. That is how the Stone came to be held in Hogwarts, in Dumbledore’s domain. Just as I intended, naturally, since I had already gained access to Hogwarts for the year. I think that is all of this that concerns you, if I speak not of future plans.”
He arranged for the Stone to be in Hogwarts. Whether it’s at the end of that particular series of traps is not entirely certain. I’m sure someone like Moody would point out the flaws inherent in a system that students can penetrate. Why not just stick it in the Room of Requirement or some hidden room that only the Headmaster can access (and use proper security)?
Why not just stick it in the Room of Requirement or some hidden room that only the Headmaster can access (and use proper security)?
Because then (from Flamel’s perspective) the Dark Lord would use the Crown of the Serpent and find that the Stone was not, in fact, at the end of the dungeon crawl, which would then nullify the purpose of the trap: to lure the Dark Lord there. (Presumably the Dark Lord would see no point in traipsing past all of those obstacles if the Stone wasn’t there.)
Flamel would then insist upon the Stone being placed under Dumbledore’s “best protections”, meaning… huh. Is this series of obstacles really the best Dumbledore can do? For that matter, if Flamel taught Dumbledore so much of his powerful magic, presumably he/she knows much more powerful magic (“more” in terms of quantity, at least—not necessarily strength) that he/she hasn’t seen fit to teach yet. Why not just protect the Stone himself?
Whether it’s at the end of that particular series of traps is not entirely certain.
Certainly if Dumbledore & Flamel knew that the Crown stuff was a bluff, they could put it elsewhere in Hogwarts. But they don’t. Why build an elaborate trap for an enemy who (you believe) will follow the scent to somewhere else entirely (“the Stone wherever it was hidden”)?
To have a public reason for a dungeon crawl inside your school. When you multiply it over, the danger posed by Voldemort is not enhanced that much by this move.
He doesn’t need a reason for a dungeon crawl in Hogwarts because that’s the kind of thing Dumbledore would do. He does need a reason for a series of actually off-limits deadly traps.
If he puts a dungeon crawl in another place than deadly traps, he needs to publically justify deadly traps, (and he would have put in a dungeon crawl without reason—remember that (at least) most insane things he does have a hidden reason). If he puts the dungeon crawl in the same place as the deadly traps, he can claim the latter to be part of the former, and it would stay “a thing that Dumbledore does”, so long as nobody actually dies.
He doesn’t have to tell anyone about the deadly traps (that are separate from the dungeon crawl) - they and the Stone are supposed to be secret. If Voldemort can’t even find them, so much the better.
Since he doesn’t admit publicly that there are deadly traps, his public justification of the dungeon crawl is the same no matter if there actually are traps or not.
Citation needed. What else has Dumbledore done that remotely resembles setting up a dungeon crawl in Hogwarts? The closest I can think of is this:
“I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Alas, we all know that what should be, and what is, are two different things. Thank you for keeping this in mind.”
Which, in retrospect, sounds like Dumbledore is encouraging bullying more than anything else.
From what we’re shown in the story, magic use in the corridors (as distinct from dorms, private study sessions etc.) seems primarily related to bullying. There are people using utility charms in the corridors (e.g. Harry part-Hovering an exhausted Hermione), but we don’t actually see this happen very often at all, whereas bullying is apparently frequent and endemic.
Really, this makes sense. Given that there is a ban on magic in corridors, you would expect bullies to ignore it much more often than law-abiding students.
Edit: Putting it another way, suppose we live in a world in which Dumbledore is concerned about the bullying problem and wishes to use his influence as headmaster to combat it (insofar as he can do so without ending up in a confrontation with influential parents). In this world, would you predict that Dumbledore would dismiss Filch’s reminder in front of the whole school?
But Voldemort doesn’t actually have a way of finding the Stone. So given that the rooms meant for students don’t actually protect the Stone from Voldemort, Dumbledore could have created several similar final-rooms, equally protected, and placed the rooms meant for students in front of one of the wrong ones.
And if Dumbledore has any way of protecting the Stone inside Hogwarts that’s better than placing it in a usually-unguarded room fool of traps and spells, then he would have used it, but still created the room full of traps and spells as a decoy.
As long as Dumbledore isn’t completely certain Voldemort can in fact find the Stone, this would be a smart thing to do. Voldemort bluffed Flamel, who (as portrayed by Voldemort) isn’t really smart, but Dumbledore may not be fully convinced. (He’s been trying to convince Flamel to remove the Stone from Hogwarts.)
Dumbledore could have created several similar final-rooms, equally protected, and placed the rooms meant for students in front of one of the wrong ones.
Then he would expect Voldemort, using something like a map or scrying or just being clever, to know that the student rooms weren’t the real trap and so those are a waste of effort.
But how would Voldemort know the other rooms even existed, or where they were in Hogwarts (before he acquired the Map)?
He knows about these rooms because Dumbledore deliberately drew the whole school’s attention to them, and when Voldemort tried looking in, he saw very powerful spells guarding them. That sounds exactly like a trap to me. And a trap is something you set even if you anticipate a low chance of success.
The one reason so far to believe these are the right rooms (though I am not fully convinced) is that Snape was guarding them.
He would know—if you were Dumbledore/Flamel, with a healthy respect for the devious mind of the greatest dark wizard ever, who has a particular gift for finding out secrets, making a mockery of his foes’ plans, and generally being a complete pain in the ass—because he did incredibly Dark magic to defeat your hiding of the rooms. Since you believe he knows where the Stone is, thanks to the Crown, he’ll be able to focus his efforts in looking for secrets and traps around the Stone.
Or Dumbledore can be carrying the Stone on his own person all the time, because even though Flamel insisted it be in Hogwarts, 1) the strongest protection the castle can offer is an ‘adult wizard’, in Quirrell’s terminology, 2) it is inconsistent with Dumbledor’s morals to set up a scenario in which a student can actually die, no matter how possessed, 3) canon!Dumbledore said once that he only took the Elder Wand to protect others, but not to rule, and that would be a nod to Rowling, 4) if he knows the wards have been tempered with, then it is at least weak evidence that Voldemort (or whoever in the castle can speak to snakes and has the Crown) has bluffed and the Stone, after a while, can be returned to Perenelle...
Dumbledore, unlike Flamel, may not fully believe Voldemort can really use the Crown to find the Stone. Otherwise why would Dumbledore ask Flamel to remove the Stone from Hogwarts—does he really care more about the safety of a few students than about Voldemort getting the Stone? If so, he could prepare alternative traps, just on the chance he is right.
Also, whatever he believes, there’s no reason for him to mark the true location of the Stone with corridors to which he directs the Gryffindor students. That just increases the chances that Voldemort will use the students to get at the Stone, or will encounter some of them while there, and harm them. Why would Dumbledore not separate the Stone’s guardroom from his challenge to the students, unless he doesn’t think Voldemort can locate the stone, and is using the students’ forbidden corridor to lure Voldemort into a trap?
Otherwise why would Dumbledore ask Flamel to remove the Stone from Hogwarts—does he really care more about the safety of a few students than about Voldemort getting the Stone?
The Stone is probably there because Quirrel covered how he led Flamel to believe the Stone had to be actually in the trap before it would work; ch108:
He arranged for the Stone to be in Hogwarts. Whether it’s at the end of that particular series of traps is not entirely certain. I’m sure someone like Moody would point out the flaws inherent in a system that students can penetrate. Why not just stick it in the Room of Requirement or some hidden room that only the Headmaster can access (and use proper security)?
Because then (from Flamel’s perspective) the Dark Lord would use the Crown of the Serpent and find that the Stone was not, in fact, at the end of the dungeon crawl, which would then nullify the purpose of the trap: to lure the Dark Lord there. (Presumably the Dark Lord would see no point in traipsing past all of those obstacles if the Stone wasn’t there.)
Flamel would then insist upon the Stone being placed under Dumbledore’s “best protections”, meaning… huh. Is this series of obstacles really the best Dumbledore can do? For that matter, if Flamel taught Dumbledore so much of his powerful magic, presumably he/she knows much more powerful magic (“more” in terms of quantity, at least—not necessarily strength) that he/she hasn’t seen fit to teach yet. Why not just protect the Stone himself?
Certainly if Dumbledore & Flamel knew that the Crown stuff was a bluff, they could put it elsewhere in Hogwarts. But they don’t. Why build an elaborate trap for an enemy who (you believe) will follow the scent to somewhere else entirely (“the Stone wherever it was hidden”)?
But why endanger the students by challenging them with a Forbidden Corridor that happens to be the place Voldemort is going to attack?
To have a public reason for a dungeon crawl inside your school. When you multiply it over, the danger posed by Voldemort is not enhanced that much by this move.
He didn’t announce the Stone as a public reason for the Forbidden Corridor.
He doesn’t need a reason for a dungeon crawl in Hogwarts because that’s the kind of thing Dumbledore would do. He does need a reason for a series of actually off-limits deadly traps.
What he needs a reason for is putting the dungeon drawl in the same place as the deadly traps.
If he puts a dungeon crawl in another place than deadly traps, he needs to publically justify deadly traps, (and he would have put in a dungeon crawl without reason—remember that (at least) most insane things he does have a hidden reason). If he puts the dungeon crawl in the same place as the deadly traps, he can claim the latter to be part of the former, and it would stay “a thing that Dumbledore does”, so long as nobody actually dies.
He doesn’t have to tell anyone about the deadly traps (that are separate from the dungeon crawl) - they and the Stone are supposed to be secret. If Voldemort can’t even find them, so much the better.
Since he doesn’t admit publicly that there are deadly traps, his public justification of the dungeon crawl is the same no matter if there actually are traps or not.
Citation needed. What else has Dumbledore done that remotely resembles setting up a dungeon crawl in Hogwarts? The closest I can think of is this:
Which, in retrospect, sounds like Dumbledore is encouraging bullying more than anything else.
Using magic isn’t limited to bullying.
From what we’re shown in the story, magic use in the corridors (as distinct from dorms, private study sessions etc.) seems primarily related to bullying. There are people using utility charms in the corridors (e.g. Harry part-Hovering an exhausted Hermione), but we don’t actually see this happen very often at all, whereas bullying is apparently frequent and endemic.
Really, this makes sense. Given that there is a ban on magic in corridors, you would expect bullies to ignore it much more often than law-abiding students.
Edit: Putting it another way, suppose we live in a world in which Dumbledore is concerned about the bullying problem and wishes to use his influence as headmaster to combat it (insofar as he can do so without ending up in a confrontation with influential parents). In this world, would you predict that Dumbledore would dismiss Filch’s reminder in front of the whole school?
But Voldemort doesn’t actually have a way of finding the Stone. So given that the rooms meant for students don’t actually protect the Stone from Voldemort, Dumbledore could have created several similar final-rooms, equally protected, and placed the rooms meant for students in front of one of the wrong ones.
And if Dumbledore has any way of protecting the Stone inside Hogwarts that’s better than placing it in a usually-unguarded room fool of traps and spells, then he would have used it, but still created the room full of traps and spells as a decoy.
As long as Dumbledore isn’t completely certain Voldemort can in fact find the Stone, this would be a smart thing to do. Voldemort bluffed Flamel, who (as portrayed by Voldemort) isn’t really smart, but Dumbledore may not be fully convinced. (He’s been trying to convince Flamel to remove the Stone from Hogwarts.)
Then he would expect Voldemort, using something like a map or scrying or just being clever, to know that the student rooms weren’t the real trap and so those are a waste of effort.
But how would Voldemort know the other rooms even existed, or where they were in Hogwarts (before he acquired the Map)?
He knows about these rooms because Dumbledore deliberately drew the whole school’s attention to them, and when Voldemort tried looking in, he saw very powerful spells guarding them. That sounds exactly like a trap to me. And a trap is something you set even if you anticipate a low chance of success.
The one reason so far to believe these are the right rooms (though I am not fully convinced) is that Snape was guarding them.
He would know—if you were Dumbledore/Flamel, with a healthy respect for the devious mind of the greatest dark wizard ever, who has a particular gift for finding out secrets, making a mockery of his foes’ plans, and generally being a complete pain in the ass—because he did incredibly Dark magic to defeat your hiding of the rooms. Since you believe he knows where the Stone is, thanks to the Crown, he’ll be able to focus his efforts in looking for secrets and traps around the Stone.
Or Dumbledore can be carrying the Stone on his own person all the time, because even though Flamel insisted it be in Hogwarts, 1) the strongest protection the castle can offer is an ‘adult wizard’, in Quirrell’s terminology, 2) it is inconsistent with Dumbledor’s morals to set up a scenario in which a student can actually die, no matter how possessed, 3) canon!Dumbledore said once that he only took the Elder Wand to protect others, but not to rule, and that would be a nod to Rowling, 4) if he knows the wards have been tempered with, then it is at least weak evidence that Voldemort (or whoever in the castle can speak to snakes and has the Crown) has bluffed and the Stone, after a while, can be returned to Perenelle...
Dumbledore, unlike Flamel, may not fully believe Voldemort can really use the Crown to find the Stone. Otherwise why would Dumbledore ask Flamel to remove the Stone from Hogwarts—does he really care more about the safety of a few students than about Voldemort getting the Stone? If so, he could prepare alternative traps, just on the chance he is right.
Also, whatever he believes, there’s no reason for him to mark the true location of the Stone with corridors to which he directs the Gryffindor students. That just increases the chances that Voldemort will use the students to get at the Stone, or will encounter some of them while there, and harm them. Why would Dumbledore not separate the Stone’s guardroom from his challenge to the students, unless he doesn’t think Voldemort can locate the stone, and is using the students’ forbidden corridor to lure Voldemort into a trap?
How safe does the stone happen to be in Hogwarts?