The Sorcerer's Stone: Dumbledore's Plan

Hello Friends,

I recently reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and there were some pieces that stood out to me as odd.  From those pieces I have built a fan theory about Albus Dumbledore's real plan throughout the book.

What if The Sorcerer’s stone was a trap set by Albus in order to capture the part of Voldemort that was living on the back of Quirrell’s head?

Think about the logic behind the story that is presented.  

In order to protect the Sorcerer’s Stone, Albus coordinated an intricate magical obstacle course that anyone who wanted to get to the stone would have to traverse.  He then placed the stone in the mirror of Erised and made it so that only someone who wants the stone but does not want to use it could retrieve it.

There are a number of problems with this story

First of all, there are far more effective ways of hiding the stone than what Albus decided to do.  For instance, the Fidelius charm.  Albus uses this charm of protection multiple times in the series.  It would be far more efficient and effective to send the Flamels into hiding as opposed to what they actually did to hide the stone.

Secondly, Flamel himself couldn’t get the stone from the mirror once Albus hid it inside.  If you think about the situation from Flamel’s perspective he is giving up the stone with no ability to get it back.  This flies in the face of the story that Albus was keeping it safe for Flamel.  What if Flamel was ready to die?  But before doing so, he gave the stone to Albus because Albus wanted to use it as bait to catch Voldemort.  

Finally, why did Albus incorporate all the teachers?  Why would he not just keep it between himself and Nicholas Flamel? The mirror would provide enough protection with no need for the other obstacles.  The only thing that getting help from the other teachers did was to inform them of the stone’s whereabouts.  What if this was the real reason for getting the teacher’s help?  Knowing that Quirrell/Voldemort wanted the stone, Albus tells them where it is hidden.

When you first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone you are not sure if Snape is a good guy or not.  By the end of the series we not only know that he is but we know that he and Albus are best buds.  In one of Severus’ memories from the 7th book it was revealed that he keeping tabs on Quirrell for Dumbledore from the beginning.  Severus definitely would have let Albus know that Quirrell was after the stone.

The night Quirrell gets to the mirror Albus is not at Hogwarts.  He received an urgent letter from the Ministry of Magic and left as soon as he got it.  However, upon his arrival at the ministry he realized that he was not needed there and that the letter must have been sent to get him away from Hogwarts.  He then decides to fly back to Hogwarts. Not Apparate, not use the Floo Network, he decides to fly.  He says (about the letter that Hermione sent to Albus) “we must have crossed paths in mid air.”  He knew that Quirrell/Voldemort were going for the stone. He wanted to make sure that Quirrell was in the room with the mirror where Albus could have set up magical wards in order to capture what remained of Voldemort.

Harry and company messed up Albus’ plan.  Had they not completely screwed the plan, Albus would have had VoldiQuirrell right where he wanted them.  Instead, when Albus got there he had to pull Quirrell off Harry.  Then, realizing that he may have inadvertently caused the fulfillment of Trelawney’s prophecy (one must die at the hands of the other), he focused his whole attention on saving Harry’s life and let Voldemort escape to live another day.

Albus set a perfect trap for Voldemort.  If Harry hadn’t butted in and messed it all up, Albus would have likely caught and trapped Voldemort for good.

Well done Harry.

Climbing part 2

I want to climb outside in Ireland.

I have tried on numerous occasions to find good rock to do so on.  However, I have had few results until recently.

Before leaving the states I did some research and found an index of outdoor climbing routs in Ireland here.

I recently revisited this sight to find that one of the climbs is within biking distance of Lousburgh.  With this in mind, I, and my brave partner in crime Joy, decided to look for it. 

After about two hours of biking running and rollerblading we came to the base of the hill with the cliffs.  We hopped a fence and a river and started the accent to what appeared to be the tallest cliff.

About half way up I noticed a red splotch moving up the cliff.  I soon realized that we were not the only ones looking to climb today. 

When we got to the bottom of the crag we introduced ourselves to the fellow climbers who were from a college in a nearby town.  They regularly climb in the area and it just so happened that we were out on the same day.

We chatted a bit and got some information on a man in the area who leads climbing groups.

Joy and I then continued our own exploring and I did some bouldering of my own.

It looks a lot scarier than it is in this picture, I am actually pretty close to the ground.

The rock in this area is pretty nice, and we had a good time bouldering and really enjoying the view from the top of this hill.

When we had had enough we walked back down and ran into the same group again who then offered us a ride to Louisburgh.

We got dropped off at the filling station on the outskirts of town, and we biked and roller-bladed the rest of the way home.

It was a pleasant supprise running into that group and we hope to organize some climbing or maybe some sea cave exploration through the school in the next month.

Climbing Part 1

I am sorry for my temporary hiatus from blogging.  Last week was spring break and I was too busy to blog.

I will talk about my travel experiences soon, but today I want to talk about climbing.

Recently I have been climbing a lot.  I started at the wall at css, and sense the end of last semester I have been hooked.

Coming to Ireland I was disappointed to find that there was very little climbing to be had in or around Louisbourgh (I have heard of one group but haven’t been able to find them yet.)

Therefore, in coming to Dublin and going on spring break I decided that I really wanted to climb at some point.  After a little poking around on the internet I found this, and after some asking around in the class I found some willing adventurers. 

The whole group did a tour of Kilmahnem Gaol as one of the last things for the day today, then a pack of four of us split off in search of this bouldering wall.

We were in a completely forign city with little to go on other than my memory of the google map location.

Nonetheless we walked confidently into what seemed to be a few blocks of storage units.

Noticing a sign for “Gravity” our confidence was bolstered, and we soon pulled open the door with a handle made of a climbing hold.  We walked in, to the front desk, and introduced ourselves.  The two women working the desk seemed a little surprised that a group of four Americans who had never been to Dublin before had found their gym, but they were very helpful despite their surprise.

The gym was excellent. There were many routs that were suitable for all levels of climber.  If you ever find yourself looking for a place to climb in Dublin, I would recommend it.

We climbed for about two hours, then we started our walk back.

Google Maps says the walk should take us an hour and six minutes.  We thought that we could to it in much less time.  However, between stopping for a street burger and not being completely sure of where we were going, we ended up taking the whole hour.

It was a great adventure; I was very happy to get the chance to climb.  The group we had was just the right size, and we all had a dandy time.

As always your comments are appreciated.

Climbing part two is on its way

Thanks,

Willie

Sports'n stuff

Today we went to the nearby town of Castlebar to watch a Hurling game and a Gaelic football match.

Honestly, this morning I did not want to get out of bed,  there has been a bout of flew running through the class and apparently it is now my turn.

None the less, I did manage to find my way onto the bus and before long we were at the stadium.

The first match to be played was a Hurling game. 

Hurling, for those of you who don’t know, is kind of a cross between Lacross, baseball and soccer in which the team uses wooden paddles to hit a baseball sided ball into a goal or through a set of uprights.  Here is a video for reference.

The match we got to see was about equivalent to a division 3 college.  I found it entertaining, but I never really got into it.

As the game of Hurling drew to an end more and more people started showing up.  It was clear that the Gaelic football match was the main event of the day.

Gaelic football is a cross between rugbee and soccer played with a round ball.  Each player can only take a certain number of steps with the ball before he/she mist kick it or dribble it.  The points are scored in a similar fashion to Hurling, and here is a video for reference.

The stadium filled pretty well for this match, and it did get significantly more exciting.  The thing that stood out to me the most from this game however, happened right at the end.  After the final bell rang, fans started rushing onto the field.  At first I thought that it was some super excited fans going a little crazy, but I soon realized that it was a normal thing.  The fans could go up to the players and get pictures/autographs, and there was no security or people stopping them.

This was so foreign to me because in the US fans are rarely allowed on the court/field.  It was a nice change of pace to feel this openness.

Have a wonderful day,

Willie

Bucket lists

I have never come up with a bucket list before this trip.  I have always liked the idea, and I have a number of things that I would put on my life bucket list such as go to machu piccu or climb in Yosemite.

I decided to make an Ireland bucket list about 3 months before I left, and here is an abridged version of said list.

1. Buy a sweater

2. Climb Crough Patrick bare foot

3. Go rock climbing outside and not sustain any injuries

4. Sleep outside

5. Surf

6. Get so lost that I have to ask for directions

7. Do art

8. Send Letters

9. Chase a rainbow

10. Eat dinner with an Irish family or person in their home

How much of this have I done?  Not much.  I have been here for well over a month and I have completed 3 of the list above (1,3, and 8).

Number 1 was completed on the South trip.  I know what you are thinking, and yes it has elbow patches, but it also has shoulder patches! 

Number 3 has been a project.  I have found a few places to climb outside, and I am planning on finding a climbing gym while on spring break.

8 has also been an ongoing process, and I realize that I have not written as many letters as I would have liked, but hey it is a work in progress.

Am I disappointed? No, I know that I will get the ones done that I am supposed to get done.  I don’t see it as a list of things that I need to do, more as a list of suggestions, a gentle nudge in the direction of adventure.

This weekend I intend to complete numbers 4, 6, maybe 9 and hopefully a little more 3.  There is a place to camp not too far from where we are staying in Louisburgh, and near there there is an abandon stone building that I hope to climb around on.

As always comments and feedback is appreciated.

Have a wonderful day,

Willie

The Tri-Fecta

Traveling is a blast.

Ireland is a groovy place, and there are a lot of little things that, legend has it, will give you certain skills or blessings.

Three such places are the cross at Rock of Cashel, Blarney Stone, and the hole in the Gallarus Oratory

The first challenge is at the Rock of Cashel.  Legend has it that if you hug the cross of St. Patrick and you are able to reach all the way around and touch your hands on the other side, then you will never have a tooth ache again.

Here is a picture of someone else doing it, no one managed to snap a picture of me.

This was an easy test for me as I have quite the wing span.

The second challenge is kissing the Blarney Stone.  By doing so, you are given “the gift of gab” that is to say you find a way with words.

Once again I did not get pictures of me doing this but there are witnesses.

Seems pretty simple doesn't it?

Well here is where the plot thickens!  Apparently the stone that everyone kisses may not be the real Blarney Stone.  So with this knowledge, my buddy Seamus and I decided to not risk it.  We instituted a no stone left un-kissed policy.  So, while hiking the many stairs we insured our gift of gab by kissing many a rock in the wall of the blarney castle.

The third challenge consisted of climbing through a small window (about 18 cm by 12 cm) in the Gallarus Oratory (an ancient stone church.)  Climbing through said window is said to cleanse the soul.

Would you like a play by play?

I knew you would.

At this point I was thinking to myself that I may have gotten in a little over my head, but at least backing out was a possibility.

Now I was thinking hey I can do this all I have left are my hips.

But I pulled through, and found myself with a cleansed soul on the other side, and in doing so I completed what we have deemed the Tri-Fecta

To be honest I do not believe in these old tails of fortune, but for me that is not the point.

When I travel I do things because I can and because they make for a good time, and seeing as my lips have not fallen off from an ancient mold on the inside of the Blarney castle, I intend to keep doing things this way.

Thanks,

Willie

A Whale?!?

Two days ago we caught word of a whale that had been beached not too far away from us.  The story went that it had been injured and unable to swim very well so it had died and washed ashore.

We decided to pay it a visit because how often do you get to see a whale?

So after about two hours of driving and multiple stops for directions, we found ourselves on a beach in northern mayo.  We walked along for a while and finally saw it.

The first thing that struck me about it was the size.  It was 40-50 feet long and six feet in diameter.  It’s mouth was open and that too was immense, it looked like it could swallow a soccer ball whole.

The second thing that struck me about it was the smell.  It smelled like an open fish market that had been sitting in the sun for a day or two.  Honestly, I thought that I would have been able to smell it from further away, not that I am complaining in the slightest.

The one thing that I was most fascinated with was the mouth, and upon further examination of it, I saw that someone had come before it and cut out its teeth.

I am by no means an animal rights activist, but that struck me as a very strange thing to do.  The way that they were cut it was clear to me that whoever had done the cutting had planned to do so before seeing it. 

It is an interesting ethical situation.  The whale was just left there to rot, no one was going to bury it.

Seeing it dead on the shore made me think of it swimming in the ocean.  Thinking of a pod of these massive animals swimming together is kind of blowing my mind.

Thanks for reading,

Have a fantastic day,

Willie