Ok, this is just something I have been wondering about since I read the first book. The P/S stone is hidden through a trap-door which can be entered through the third floor corridor. The stone is guarded by a uselessly locked door, a three headed dog, some devil's snare, another locked door which can only be opened using a specific key, a giant chess board, a troll, a logical potions puzzle, and the mirror of Erised. First of all, surely if Dumbledore is one of or the most powerful wizard alive, he could lock the very first door, (the one in the third floor corridor, which leads to fluffy) with a spell that a simple alohomora couldn't open.
Now, I know there is bound to be ways to breack through even a powerful lock, especially if you have Voldemort in your head telling you what to do. So Fluffy, the chess board, the troll, the potions puzzle and the Devil's snare are all fine and good, but then there was the room with the keys and the brooms. It was very convienient that there was brooms there. And couldn't Dumbledore just keep the real key locked in his office? Or best of all, couldn't he have combined all of these? Put the stone in the mirror, locked the mirror in his office? Or just tranfigured the mirror into a chair or something then locked it in his office?
This makes me think that Dumbledore must have wanted Harry, or someone else for that matter to be able to find, or at least look for the stone. And I can't for the life of me figure out why, because Harry very well could've died that day. So if anyone else has any opinions on the matter, please share them with me!

*Note* I'm just wondering about this, I actually like the way JKR protected the stone. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone would've been very dull if the stone was safely protected with no chance of it being stolen.

Those are good ideas. But I think that having the mirror gaurded the way it was is a lot better then simply locking the mirror in his office. Also, DD tells us that magic always leaves a trace, or something like that, so any wizard of pretty good skill would be able to tell if the mirror was just transfigured, I think.

It was meant to be hard to get, not impossible, that's for sure. In a later book different magic is introduced that would have been even better at hiding the stone (fideus charm).

Flamel would have wanted to use it again (otherwise they would have just detroyed it), so maybe it was left like that so that someboy could get it for him, even if Dumbledore was not around anymore. The real question is how did DD know somebody was after it to begin with.

I think this could just be another instance of wizards not thinking the same way as muggles do.

You really have to take into account that this was the first installment that JKR wrote. Think about it. She probably didn't invent all the other ideas in her mind till other books.I'm sure after the first time I read the book I wouldnt of noticed anything. Also just look at marketbillity of it, before the Harry Potter phenonomen (sp?). Would you really want to read a book about a chair in a office or a book with tons of challenges. I dont know if JKR was planning on writing all these books and if she had just wrote the first one about a chair I'm not sure many people would read this book. That leads me to wonder if there would of been 7. I think alot of the whole series was based on the first book. I'm sure JKR would of liked to change things about the first book after writing these six.

Just an opinion.

notdumbledore -- I think you are wrong here. Jo Rowling had the entire series planned and the plotlines of seven books finished before the first book was written and published. She had always planned it to be a seven-book series, one book for every one of Harry's school years, and she had laid out what was going to happen in which book, how much was going to be revealed, and what adventures would take place.

She said that the only thing that hadn't worked out is putting a lot of Voldemort's background in the second book, and that information was put in HBP instead. She also said that some information couldn't go anywhere because her publishers made her weed out things that didn't have much to do with the plot and were just interesting background information. The plot itself is quite complex and requires planning to keep the mystery going till the final conclusion. All that would have been determined long before writing the final version of the first book and every subsequent book in the series.

With the plot mapped out, there is still a lot of work to do writing the books, but you no longer have to worry about introducing inconsistencies, and can concentrate on writing the dialogue.

Bumblebee is right, JKR had the whole series planned out. I have found plenty of minor problems between the books which are best explained that she only had the major points worked out in advance. As she filled in the little details, minor but mostly insignificant problems arose.

But one of my age old questions, why make the tests so easy first years could navigate them. Why didn't Dumbledore take the stone and make a nice necklace for himself? Do you know a single wizard alive at that time who would have attacked Dumbledore directly for the stone.

I think the clue lies with the whole reason it was hidden. Dumbledore wanted the stone destroyed but Flamel was undecided. So they had it hidden at Hogwarts until it was decided. I think the obstacles put in place were merely designed to slow a wizard not stop them. I bet there were detectors in place to warn Dumbledore if the trap door was opened. I just think he was not anticipating being betrayed by a teacher and not being at the school.

Dumbledore I am sure wanted the stone away from the children. So it was hidden in the dungeon away from the students. Finally he put it in the mirror as a last resort. If for some reason he did not make it there to protect the stone, no one could retrieve who wanted to use it.

Where was the stone hidden prior to the mirror being removed to the dungeon? It may be at that time Dumbledore did have it secured in his office. With the news that Gringotts had been broken into, Dumbledore may have set the tests up as a trap. He had been watching for signs of Voldemort's return. The Gringotts break-in did smell terribly of Voldemort.

I know Dumbledore putting students at risk is a very controverial one but I does fit with why those tests were put into place. Quirrel was not able to retrieve the stone even with Voldemort's help. But it did being him into the open and leave him open to attack. Dumbledore just did not see one of his own teachers as a traitor.

honestly i think it was after the gringotts incident DD knew someone was after the stone and had to be involoved with LV inorder to make it that far. so he set up these tests to get to it which LV could easily get through except the very last one, and maybe if the mirror was destroyed the stone would be as well. DD might have not planned for harry to go after the stone, then again maybe he did, its really hard to say.

I think DD purposely made it somewhat easier in order for Harry to be able to find the stone. DD has told Harry in books before that "I have watched you more closely than you could have known" or something to that effect. DD hadn't been using the mirror as part of the guarding of the stone until after he knew Harry knew how to use it! I believe that he only used it after this because he knew when Harry saw it again he would know how it worked and would understand what was going on. DD has always known that it was going to have to be Harry who defeated Voldemort and since his very first year at Hogwarts he has been presenting Harry with tasks that will help him on his journey, whether he had purposely meant to present him with these or not is unknown. However, DD says he knows pretty much everything that is going on in the castle and that he has watched Harry closely, therefore he would know what Harry was up to when he was trying to figure out about the stone (as well as in later books with the Chamber, and even with Sirius) I think DD knows about this and still keeps a close eye on Harry but lets him work these things out for himself to that Harry can gain the skills and confidence it will take to defeat Voldemort in that end. That's my thoughts on it anyways! Ciao for now!

hmm i couldnt agree with you more there marrymerupert wasnt the stone being guarded before he took the mirror away and if so that gives alot more reasoning as to why. He knew that harry had known what the mirror was and would know what was going on to some degree. becuase DD did change the mirror some.

yea. if it was the valuable then he would have hidden it heaps better. Conseidering it meant someones life he didnt' do a very good job...Shame on you DD. No i take it back. I've never thought about this but if a first year student, who doesnt know much can get through the traps then surely anyone could. And why did Quirrell and harry both go on the same night. Coincidence...or not...

Hey! The first year students were able to break through the defence designed to stop one of the most powerful wizards! How could it happen?
But I can't say the stone was hidden badly. There were really few wizards powerful enough to reach it, but THESE three KIDS could.
Moreover, they couldn't not reach it! It was obviously designed for them! Not only for Harry, but for Ron and Hermione too. The designer knew about their abilities (Harry was good in quidditch, Ron played chess, Hermione's knowledge of logic). They were forced to find the stone (I don't think Hagrid was so stupid, he definitly was asked to give them all the necessary information). And I think Nevill was considered to go with them (remember the plant).
Conclusion: I think Dumbledore had already been training Harry and his team for the final battle or something like this.

with any long 7 book series like this, there will awlways be continuacy errors. She might have planned the whole thing out, but some speells whre not though of. I agre though that now it seems that Dumb;embore make it easy for them to find it. ALso, the lokc is awful and a powerful wizard could just kill Fluffy and the devil's snare easily with Avarda Kadava if they wanted to. Dumblebore i believe was testing harry.

I know! Why didnt Dumbledore just but the stone under a Fidelius charm? Then no one could have found it. He could have also fooled everyone by setting up these elaborate mazes and then just slipping the stone in his pocket.
(I still cant understand how the stone just appeared in Harry's trousers!)

However, it was a delightful ploy by Dumbledore. I think he thought who would attempt to steal it.

I think Harry's says afterwards:

Harry Potter in the hospital wing, PS, page 219, UK version.

Harry believes Dumbledore wanted to give them a chance to try. I think Dumbledore knew Harry wanted to go and get the stone first, Dumbledore taught harry how to use the morror when he had the chance, because he somehow knew that sooner of later, harry would go after it.

You gota love Dumbledore don't you? For believing in three 11-year-old's?

In re-reading the book, I am full of distress! How did DD know that the stone was "under siege?" When he meets Ron and Hermione he says, "He's gone after him, hasn't he?" What was the altercation between DD and Quirrell/LV like after Harry passed out? And the centaurian segments of the book gave me absolute chills! "Unusually red..." (Off Topic!)

Hmm it was definitely some sort of knowledge that Dumbledore had regarding the Stone because he had Hagrid retrieve it the day it was stolen.. mere hours before hand. I thought Dumbledore also said that he arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off of Harry. So I'm not sure what the encounter with them would have been like. Hmm its amazing really... we are anticipating the release of the seventh book, and we still are discussing the first book! I really do not fear the survival of the fandom discussions.. there will still be so much to discuss!

~Albus

Do you think it possible that Albus can somehow go into the future or does he just have an uncanny act of knowing people too well? I mean he ALWAYS arrives just in time and knows just what to do. How about at the Ministry? Right before Harry was almost killed, Albus arrived!

I've believed for a long time now that the whole thing was set up by Dumbledore from the beginning. As has been said by many others there are dozens of ways the stone could have been better protected and, even though it could be said that JKR hadn't yet thought of all the spells that have since been revealed even the simplest story teller should be able to imagine a way to keep the stone safe from a group of first year students (if not from Voldemort).

The nature of the traps is also an indication that the whole thing was set up for the trio (and probably Neville as well).

Fluffy - Harry was introduced to Hagrid very early in the story. Given Hagrids nature (and Dumbledore would know this) it was impossible that he wouldn't at some point tell Harry about Fluffy and how to get past him.
Devil's Snare - Probably set as Neville's trap but as eventuated was also something that could be overcome by book learning.
Flying Keys - For Harry, whose reputation as a flyer was established early in the story.
Chess Game - Ron's speciality
Potions - A logic problem designed for someone smart.
The Mirror of Erised - A very clever device to stop Voldemort (or anyone who wanted the stone) from getting it. This by itself would have been enough to stop Voldemort but note that it was clearly not in use until it had been explained to Harry.

Dumbledore was obviously watching Harry closely throughout and knew that Lily's protection would be sufficient to prevent him from being harmed by Voldemort. The fact that he was able to appear so quickly after Voldemort's defeat shows that he was watching the whole time.

Yeah. You can be right about this, nomad70. But then my question is; why did Dumbledore want Harry to find the stone and Voldemort? he put him in grave danger by that if that was what he did...
I personally think it was a way too easy way through all that. I most of the seventh, sixth and probably fifth years at the school could have done that. And see! Harry, Ron and Hermione; first years came past fluffy, devil's snare and the keys all of them.

I think that it would have has to have been a set up by DD, for all of the reasons you listed above, nomad70, and more. First off DD sent Harry the invisibilaty cloak and said," Use it well". But the most confusing to me is, why could you lock the door where the alohamora charm could undo the lock. I would have thought that the locking charm would have been the bes DD could find.

everyone has really good questions aobut he charms and enchametns guarding this precious piece of stone ...why woulent dd make better charms becasue the stone is so precious my main question is why when they go to play the wizard chess why was there three open spaces on the bored..if quirell was going to do it wouldent he need two more people to finsih the bored.. i do think the most part of it was made for the three of them and i dod think that dd knew that harry would use it because of th invistbilty cloak and also he tells him what the mirror does..knowing he did put the best spell of al on the mirror the only way he can get it is by not using it for yourselft ..
seachell

Okay, as far as the chess board, I think you are referring to the movie. In the book, however, Ron is telling Harry and Hermione what they need to do. It then says in the book that chessmen must have been listening in to the conversation because then the appropriate pieces walked off the board for the three of them to occupy according to what Ron had said.

Anyways, at the end of the book, Harry makes a comment about all of it. He says that he got the feeling that DD knew they were going to go after the stone. But instead of stopping them, he must have felt they (or Harry) deserved the chance to try and so helped them along the way without actually getting directly involved. When Harry got the cloak at christmas, the note said "Use it Well" and then when he got it back after Norbert, the note said "Just in case". And then of course Harry finding the mirror and given the chance to discover what it did before DD moved it for the purpose of the stone.

So, I don't think it was all designed specifically for the three, but they (Harry) were given the opportunity of being prepared for it.