Dumbledore's Incompetence

I know it’s not exactly Christmas-y but this is what I had on my mind.

Mrs. X, while waiting for any of her three books on the library wait list, has been rereading some of the Harry Potter books. That brought back memories of the post I wrote regarding the trap that Dumbledore set for Voldemort in the first book and also got me thinking about something that doesn’t really make sense with regard to the second book.

One could forgive Dumbledore for not knowing much about the Chamber of Secrets before Tom Riddle opened it, but after Myrtle was killed, Dumbledore should have made it one of his top priorities to deal with the Chamber. He obviously did some of that in keeping a close eye on Riddle for the remainder of his term at Hogwarts, preventing Riddle from summoning the basilisk. Perhaps Professor Dippet restricted Dumbledore from searching out of fear that the monster could not be killed. However, this restriction would have been removed when Dumbledore became headmaster.

The thing that doesn’t make sense to me is how Dumbledore could have been so unprepared for the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets. Although he didn’t have Riddle’s memory that had been placed in the diary, Dumbledore clearly had enough information to determine both the nature of the monster and the likely location of the Chamber of Secrets.

It is suggested in the book that there had been one or two other attacks before Myrtle was killed. If any of these attacks looked like the attacks that took place 50 years later, one would have noticed water around and spiders fleeing mad dash from the scene. What’s more, it is also likely that Riddle would have made sure that any roosters on campus would have been killed, just as before.

If that wasn’t enough for Dumbledore to figure it out (and it was for Hermione), he had the advantage of two witnesses. Myrtle left Hogwarts to continue her haunting of Olive Hornby until she was restricted by the Ministry. One might assume that she was checked out before being permitted to take residence back up at Hogwarts and that Dumbledore might have even remembered that she was the girl who had been killed by the monster. Myrtle was more than happy to describe the way she died to Harry and one could imagine that if the Headmaster came in and asked her for her story, she would have told him eagerly. Dumbledore could also have asked Hagrid what Aragog remembered of the incident since he would have been sensitive to it. All three of these factors would have given Dumbledore the information he needed on both the nature of the monster and the likely location of the entrance, since Myrtle’s story mentioned Tom summoning the snake.

Even if Dumbledore could not open the Chamber of Secrets and destroy the monster due to his lack of knowledge of Parsletongue (and this didn’t stop Ron from managing to open the Chamber in Deathly Hallows), Dumbledore could still have taken care of things in a very quick and simple manner. Upon the discovery of Mrs. Norris, Dumbledore correctly surmised that the Chamber of Secrets had been reopened. Now, if he had done what a responsible headmaster should have done, he could have set up a simple detector within the bathroom. If that detector was tripped by either use of a certain type of magic or the use of Parsletongue, an alarm could have been sounded throughout the castle. What’s more, that alarm could have been done in the form of a rooster crowing. This would have killed the basilisk before it even had time to fully emerge from the Chamber.

Granted this likely would have allowed Ginny to escape and remain possessed by Voldemort, but Dumbledore had no way of knowing that was how the Chamber was being opened and it would have immediately dealt with the danger being posed to the student population. Of course, Dumbledore could have added to his alarm system to ensure that the perpetrator was caught. Upon triggering the alarm, the door could have been sealed to allow no access except for that of the headmaster. As apparition is impossible within Hogwarts, the culprit would have to either stay within the bathroom or run into the chamber where they would presumably be cornered. Dumbledore could also have told Myrtle of this plan and asked her to come and look around the bathroom when the alarm had been triggered and see if she could describe the culprit in case they did manage to find a way to escape the trap.

This would have made for a rather boring story, but it would have been much more in line with what a truly competent strategist and wise headmaster would have done. The basilisk would have been killed by the alarm and Ginny caught when she tried to release it while Harry was in the hospital wing in the attack that petrified Colin Creevey. After a short examination, I’m sure Ginny would have recovered and given the diary to Dumbledore, who would have examined it. Likely, Dumbledore would not have destroyed it until he was sure what it was but it would have at least posed no further danger to anyone. Harry then could have finished his second year like every other student in peace.

As an aside, I’m sure Voldemort’s curse would have found someway for Lockhart to be removed by the end of the term. Perhaps a revolt among the staff if he were not sacked?