Did Dumbledore Leave in PS/SS?

[Weasleyfanforever]

I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say.
"You got there? You got Hermione's owl?"
"We must have crossed in midair. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you."

How did Dumbledore know to go back to Hogwarts? Did he know the entire time what was going on? Did he ever even go to London? He himself says that he has his own ways of becoming invisible, so how do we know that he ever really left Hogwarts?

[Boing]

Interesting. I assumed that he had followed the original owl that had led him to London, but had then realized it was a sham and raced back to Hogwarts. But he does make a point of telling us a few times that he knows more than anyone could imagine about what goes on at Hogwarts . . .

So if he really did know that was going on, I like your idea, WFF - maybe he was actually with Harry, Ron, and Hermione the whole time to jump in just in case anything happened that Harry couldn't handle . . . sort of like a test of his abilities and to see what Voldemort would do when confronted with him (possibly also to see if the lingering protection from Lily was actually there . . . ).

[Tinkerbell]

Good points... I wonder whether any of the house elves had anything to do with this - the Hogwarts house elves are deeply loyal to Dumbledore, and if they have their fingers on the pulse as it were and know wha is going on at the school, once they were aware Harry was in trouble, perhaps they assisted in getting Dumbledore back so soon?

[Tonks]

While I do think that he may have wanted to give Harry, Ron, and Hermione a chance, I also think that he really was in London. I think I remember one of them saying that the Ministry would be pretty surprised when he showed up, so I think that when he got there and there was nobody there who supposedly sent the letter, he probably realized what had happened and that he had to get back.

I do have to wonder how he knew exactly that it was Quirrell who was responsible, and how he knew Harry had gone after him... as well as how he got to London - Can't Apparate out of Hogwarts, and it seems that Thestrals or Broomsticks would take too long, and that Floo Powder and a Portkey would not take an entire evening to get there and back if he left right after he arrived at the Ministry. That's kind of off topic though... :o

[Alz]

Interesting thread ...
Umm - ok, did he leave - I think so ....
Perhaps this adds weight to the speculation that he can manipulate time himself ... as such he knew where he had to be to make the maximum impact ...
It is kind of clear that he had to leave Hogwarts so that the attempted theft would take place - if he was around it would have made Quirell think long and hard - especially with Snape trailing him ....
So - as part of the rousse - he had to leave Hogwarts - but I think he was either close by or was able to use a transport that could get him back very quickly ...

[Weasleyfanforever]

Yeah, it would have to seem that he had left for everything to work, but what if he just made it seem like he left? I mean, it would relatively take him a while to get back from London, and is it really likely that it is only coincidence that he got back just in time to pull Quirrell off of Harry? I don't think so. I think he was in Hogwarts the entire time, using his alternative means of being invisible, and waiting for the right moment. I do think though, that it is highly likely that Dumbledore knew exactly what time he had to be there in order to save Harry through maipulating time....

[Rooster]

My thoughts are that he actually left and then somehow was alerted to the activities taking place back at Hogwarts. I kind of like Blaise's idea that he could have manipulated time - Perhaps he really did go to London but then with the use of a Time Turner or some other device turned back time enough to be able to save Harry and see Quirrel.

[Alz]

Yah see - I think he knew he had to leave to trigger Quirrell into acting ...
He had to assume Quirrell was doing it for V - as such he had to assume that Quirrell was in possession (no pun intended) of some extra things that meant he had to live the illusion and 'do one' - if he actually got to London I dont know - but I dont think he was there - he needed to be away to make the events trigger ... perhaps it isnt a question of if he was there or not but when was he there ;)

[Tinkerbell]

Yah see - I think he knew he had to leave to trigger Quirrell into acting ...
- if he actually got to London I dont know - but I dont think he was there - he needed to be away to make the events trigger ...

This sounds very feasible - I struggle with the idea that Dumbledore could have been hoodwinked into leaving Hogwarts on a wild goose chase, but can see how he would feel he had to allow events to take their course - so he leaves knowing what is about to happen, and manages to return in time to assist Harry. Yep, like this idea!

[Alz]

I figure he might have needed to complete the illusion he had fallen for the diversion - so that Quirrell would try and continue ...
It makes sense that not even Quirrell would try and execute the theft of the PS/SS with Dumbledore of all people sniffing around - especially since they all knew how well it was being guarded ...

[Nagini]

I am undecided on this.

Didn't JKR say that wizards have a way of communicating with each other like the internet but more effective? If so, then why did the MoM send an owl to Dumbledore to ask him to come urgently? Owls cannot be that fast and its a long way from the Scotish Highlands to London, it makes sense to use the fast methos of communciation.

But it is possible of course that Quirrell who sent Dumbledore off could not use that form of communication as it would show who he was - kind of like an ISP :p so Quirrell had to send an owl - would this have made Dumbledore suspicious??

As others have said, it takes a while to get to London on a thestral then there is the journey back again - but is possible that Dumbledore, once in London realised an then apparated back to outside the grounds of Hogwarts.

[kashlie]

I am glad this thread is already here!
It struck me today that this is really something odd. I mean,

'You got there? You got Hermione's owl?'
'We must have crossed in midair...'

Does this mean 'yes' to Harry's question? Is he leading Harry to believe, that although he realised he needed to get back, that Hermione's owl was reinforcing that belief? Or does that mean he must have missed it? But he would know already that Hermione had not got the owl off, because he ran into her and Ron when he got back.

Of course, it still doesn't explain how he already knew. Maybe he knew that someone was after the stone, but not sure who. Arriving at the ministry with them unaware of him being summoned is a big hint that soemthing isn't right, but also Fawkes could play a part by alerting Dumbledore to the fact Harry had gone after the Stone.