A/N: there are a lot of fics going around where Harry is conspired against and manipulated by Dumbledore. I do find a lot of merit in some things they use as evidence, but generally there are two sides to every tale. Here is Dumbledore's portrait talking to Harry about The Philosopher's stone. Merely a suggestion of a motive. I do not own either annoying character.
"I'm sorry, my boy, did you say that you thought that the Philosopher's stone challenge was a set up for you? That I was supposed to set up some first years as a test? Good Lord no, the amount of covering up I had to do when you interfered was utterly, utterly disastrous. So much paperwork is involved when your Defence professor dies, did you know that?"
"That charm on the mirror was designed to keep anybody not pure of purpose from getting the stone. This is a school, full of angsty teenagers. They would all want to use the stone. The intent was to lure Voldemort, or his wraith I should say, in, trap him and cart him off to some special ministry anti-wraith holding cell. Or just stick it through the veil. There were wards on the place to warn me of it, so I could get back and do the trapping spell. Of course, when he finally made his move, you were in the way, making the wraith exit poor Quirrel's body, and I was distracted by healing you and couldn't get the wraith in time."
"Why finally, you ask? Well, I'd made the news fairly obvious where the Stone was. (It had to be in Hogwarts, no other place has the reputation such that it makes sense to move it there.) I'd used Hagrid as a carrier, and yes, I am indeed well aware of his indiscretions. It's what makes him useful. He knows this, he's cleverer than you give him credit for. Unfortunately, stupider than I gave him credit for, telling you lot. He got roundly told off by Minerva for that one, believe me. Anyway, I'd been anticipating Voldemort making his move much earlier, but he decided to actually be both cautious and careful, assuming that I had made the traps worse than they were, and he was distracted by anger at you! In the end I had to pretend to leave the school for a night just to get him to move, and even that took about three tries. In retrospect, I probably should have told Severus the actual plan, but having someone around being suspicious of Quirrel's activities made the ruse much more believable. I even had to announce to the entire school where the thing was."
"Oh, why not make the challenges harder, you ask? Well, apart from the fact I wanted Voldemort to make a move as soon as possible, there was also the case of safety. I was doing this in a school filled with children. I knew Voldemort wouldn't harm them at this point: too much attention, but children explore, especially when you tell them not to. Most first years aren't that daring: you are generally too busy being homesick, so the course was designed to be easily survivable by most upper years."
"Firstly, most of them would run away from Fluffy: anyway he was trained to drool only unless the person actually approached him fast or tried to open the trapdoor. Children who'd taken the trouble to research cerberi and were determined to actually get through would definitely have learned about devil's snare: first year Herbology, and then the Quidditch/chess stages were complicated enough to hold them long enough for Minerva or I to turn up. In fact, the Weasley twins were able to get through to that point 4 times before Minerva and I ended up putting a compulsion on the door tuned to them to keep them away. I merely hadn't anticipated students going through right after Voldemort so the detectors didn't pick you up, or I would have been there much sooner."
"If you're asking about the points at the end of the term, I was annoyed the Slytherin Voldemort had got away and so used you as an excuse to get someone else to win. Nobody has accused me of lacking occasional pettiness."
"Now, go away,Mr. Potter. You messed up my plans in life enough, let me have peace as a portrait. My old mentor Flamel should be coming to the office any minute for tea. Its been too long."
"What, you didn't actually believe it was the real stone did you, or that I destroyed it? I wish I'd had some of that Elixir myself, but Nicholas guards it jealously. Telling people I destroyed it was the best way to keep the old boy out of Voldemort's reach Good grief boy, I'm going to tell Minerva that Hogwarts should offer classes in logical thinking and listening to adults! Next thing you'll be suggesting I paid the Weasleys to be friends with you or something."
"What, you thought that was true because Molly asked Ginny what the platform number was? Obviously you have never dealt with young kids: it's a common way of making them feel good to ask them questions you know the answer to, make them feel involved with a process, especially when all their siblings are doing something. You should apologise to Molly for that. Now leave me to my eternity."
Also for Battleship challenge, prompt Elixir of Life,