A problem with the “He” who stood in the circle theory is that Quirrel can’t have been confident in advance that Dumbledore would make that mistake. Even if Dumbledore didn’t think “I’d better use gender-neutral language in case Quirrel is really female,” he could easily have said something like “The person in this circle is the defense professor.”
Another issue I don’t think I’ve seen anyone brought up: if the troll was identified as the Defense Professor, and Quirrel is then just an ordinary adult wizard as far as the Hogwarts wards are concerned, how was it possible for him to frame Hermione for Draco? Wouldn’t the wards have screamed at the Memory Charm? It’s pretty clearly implied that it had to be a professor, in some way, who cast the key spells:
“And how would Lucius even Memory-Charm Hermione in the first place, without setting off the wards? He’s not a Professor—oh, right, you think it’s Professor Snape.”
“Wrong,” said the Defense Professor. “Lucius Malfoy would trust no servant with that mission. But suppose some Hogwarts Professor, intelligent enough to cast a well-formed Memory Charm but of no great fighting ability, is visiting Hogsmeade. From a dark alley the black-clad form of Malfoy steps forth—he would go in person, for this—and speaks to her a single word.”
“Imperio.”
“Legilimens, rather,” said Professor Quirrell. “I do not know if the Hogwarts wards would trigger for a returning Professor under the Imperius Curse. And if I do not know, Malfoy probably does not know either. But Malfoy is a perfect Occlumens at least; he might be able to use Legilimency. And for the target...perhaps Aurora Sinistra; none would question the Astronomy Professor moving about at night.”
Probably this could still be rescued, but the troll theory, while bizarre, also means that the earlier frame becomes more complicated than before.
Quirrel could have suggested or stipulated that wording when zhe and Dumbledore were working out how to identify Quirrel to the wards, reasonably assuming that Dumbledore wouldn’t think the “he” was the suspicious part.
But Quirrell didn’t absolutely need the Troll to be assigned as the Defense Professor. Knowing how people talk, there was a chance for it to work.
But do the wards have error checks? If there are two persons in the circle, and Dumbledore says “the person”, what happens? I don’t know. But if Quirrell is really Baba Yaga, he actually was Defense Professor once, and maybe many more times a professor, and might know more about the wards than Dumbledore does.
I wish we knew what the “glitches” on the map were.
I grant your point is an issue. At least to our limited knowledge, there was some risk. But since not prying into Quirrell’s true identity was part of his employment agreement, how he would be identified to the wards would have been a natural topic of negotiation between them, to be resolved prior to the actual act.
Perhaps not just that. Could be that some people show up with different names than their reported identities. Could be that no one shows up as the Defense Professor anymore—now that the Troll is dead.
True, though of those, Spontaneous Duplication is the most obvious if you look only at the map. The others all involve comparing the map to the territory.
A problem with the “He” who stood in the circle theory is that Quirrel can’t have been confident in advance that Dumbledore would make that mistake. Even if Dumbledore didn’t think “I’d better use gender-neutral language in case Quirrel is really female,” he could easily have said something like “The person in this circle is the defense professor.”
Another issue I don’t think I’ve seen anyone brought up: if the troll was identified as the Defense Professor, and Quirrel is then just an ordinary adult wizard as far as the Hogwarts wards are concerned, how was it possible for him to frame Hermione for Draco? Wouldn’t the wards have screamed at the Memory Charm? It’s pretty clearly implied that it had to be a professor, in some way, who cast the key spells:
Probably this could still be rescued, but the troll theory, while bizarre, also means that the earlier frame becomes more complicated than before.
Quirrel could have suggested or stipulated that wording when zhe and Dumbledore were working out how to identify Quirrel to the wards, reasonably assuming that Dumbledore wouldn’t think the “he” was the suspicious part.
But Quirrell didn’t absolutely need the Troll to be assigned as the Defense Professor. Knowing how people talk, there was a chance for it to work.
But do the wards have error checks? If there are two persons in the circle, and Dumbledore says “the person”, what happens? I don’t know. But if Quirrell is really Baba Yaga, he actually was Defense Professor once, and maybe many more times a professor, and might know more about the wards than Dumbledore does.
I wish we knew what the “glitches” on the map were.
I grant your point is an issue. At least to our limited knowledge, there was some risk. But since not prying into Quirrell’s true identity was part of his employment agreement, how he would be identified to the wards would have been a natural topic of negotiation between them, to be resolved prior to the actual act.
Presumably they are not glitches at all but accurate reports of “Spontaneous Duplication.”
Perhaps not just that. Could be that some people show up with different names than their reported identities. Could be that no one shows up as the Defense Professor anymore—now that the Troll is dead.
True, though of those, Spontaneous Duplication is the most obvious if you look only at the map. The others all involve comparing the map to the territory.
Yes, but what exactly do the reports say? WHo is spontaneously duplicating?
Harry, Dumbledore, anyone else whose spimster wicket occasionally malfunctions.