yeah, that's true, they do seem to be in there a lot. But Hermione is there, so . . . .

This is one of the first examples of Harry's obsession with family. He's had no one during his entire eleven years, and now for the first time he knows what his parents look like. I can't even imagine what that would feel like-I don't even know how he managed it, staying so calm. If it were me, I probably would have been banging on the mirror, trying to get through the world where my heart's desire existed. Instead he just watched the mirror and stared at what would have been his family (had the prophecy been taken in another direction), and it seemed like it wasn't THAT hard to stop the addiction.
Later in the series we see how fiercely Harry protects his friends, who are the closest thing he'll ever have to family. I think that without the Mirror of Erised, he could not have wanted to hold onto his friends as fiercely, because he wouldn't have seen all that he had lost all those years ago, and wouldn't have had such a strong desire not to lose any more family members.

These are two of my favorite chapters in the whole series!

Wow. I had forgotten about that thought; did Dumbledore secretly want Harry to go after the stone. Well, a major point of the whole Dumbledore-Harry relationship is that of trying ones might so that they may learn and grow. But was Dumbledore grooming Harry for leadership and problem solving as early as PS? This is an interesting thought and could change the way that we look at Dunbledore.

So was our favorite headmaster trying the proverbial metal of our favorite antagonist or was he simply scrambling for a place to hide the mirror? My thought: Dumbledore was in possession of the mirror for some time now, but Harry was the first to find it and demonstrate that he understood its power. How did Dumbledore know Harry was sneaking out and using it? Because nothing happens at Hogwarts without Albus knowing about it. With countless portraits, ghosts, and magical power at his disposal, Dumbledore knows about everything that happens in the castle.

He had fallen under the mirror's spell, just like when he found the horcrux ring. But he snapped out of the mournful funk and walked away from the mirror of erised, cold turkey. His choice of hiding place just so happened to allow Mr. Potter to undergo the same test.

With how Dumbledore knows just about everything that happens at Hogwarts, is it possible that he has a map similar to the Marauder's Map?

Yeah, I know, we HP fans are kind of being hypocritical...we obsess, but Dumbledore tells us not to dwell on dreams! Oh dear, this is a pickle! :)

Oh I'm so excited to discuss the Mirror of Erised!

why is it surprising that Harry found the Mirror? It was a way for him to see his parents. The Mirror was not in the Room of Requirement, but in an unused classroom. remember, the students don't go wandering at night, just Harry and his friends; and during the day, they have classes. Each chapter of the book sets Harry up for success. This is what is so great about the books.

I think I kind of always assumed that the Mirror of Erised was in the Room of Requirement...I mean, that's the only logical place for it to be, unless it, like the Philosopher's Stone, was in the mysterious vault at Gringotts. Or maybe Dumbledore has this giant broom closet where he keeps all of his cool stuff, just in case a student comes into his office and starts breaking his stuff?

As stated above, Pottermore says that the mirror was kept in the Room of Requirement for a century before Dumbledoor pulled it out to use it. So from that we can tell that he had to know about the room in one form or another. In Goblet of Fire when Dumbledoor was telling Harry about the room with the chamber pots he winks at Harry after. That tells me that he knew exactly what that room was and was passing that information on to Harry.

As for why the mirror was ever left in an unused classroom I can only assume that Dumbledoor wanted Harry to find it. Maybe just so Harry would be able to see his family or maybe because he knew Harry was going to go looking for the stone and would need to know about the mirror to accomplish that. I believe Dumbledoor knew way more about what was going on inside that castle than he ever let on and maybe he even had a hand in shaping the way events took place.

Can we assume that Dumbledore was able to connect the magical bathroom and the place where the Mirror was hidden as being what we all understand the RoR to be? Was the Mirror hidden in "the room of hidden things" along with unwanted spellbooks and vanishing cabinets? If Dumbledore understood the room, do you think he ever searched it for the Diadum Horcrux?
In DH, when Harry realizes where the diadum must be hidden, he thinks to himself that Dumbledore and Flitwick, the model pupils they were, had never strayed off the beaten path and discovered all of Hogwarts secrets. But this is incorrect, Albus did know about the special room and he also knew enough about Voldemort's quest for immortality to know that the final horcrux was likely an object of Hufflepuff's. Is it possible that he could have assumed that Hogwarts was a hiding place for one of pieces of Voldy's soul? Perhaps I am jumping the gun a bit here, but he was a brilliant man and I feel like if he knew about that room's powers, he would have searched it.

THIS WEBSITE IS AWESOME!

I dont think that horcruxes automatically can't be summoned, instead I always assumed that Voldemort just added an anti-summoning charm to each of his. If Dumbledore did search the room for the diadem, i doubt he would even have tried the summoning charm. Even if the room is HUGE, I think that Dumbledore would have searched every inch of it had there been the slightest chance that a horcrux was hidden in there.
I can just picture Albus walking up and down the halls of the RoR for hours on end, humming to himself and taking a few minutes here and there to examine interesting objects he comes across. Heck, even if he didn't think there was a horcrux in that room i bet he spent some time examining the room's contents.

This is not cannon, but in the RoR scene in Deathly Hallows Part 2 (film obviously) we see the Mirror of Erised among the discarded centuries worth of junk. This means it was likely destroyed with everything else in the room. David Yates, thanks for literally setting fire and ruining what my heart desires...

What if Tom saw the mirror, and saw something so horrible that he didn't even realize he wanted-love? I can totally imagine him seeing himself; happy, with someone, handsome again. He would have probably been really mad about that...after all, Voldemort did seem to know an awful lot about the mirror in the end of Philosopher's Stone...maybe he decided to give it a go and didn't like the results?
Of course, you would think that, being Voldemort, he would have simply reduced the mirror to dust and moved on, but everyone gets late for something, right?

I was in the middle of rereading Chapter 12 and may have come across an example of a conjured animal being eaten! While eating with selected faculty and students on Christmas evening, Harry is in awe of the party favors, including wonderful crackers that, when popped, reveal assorted little gifts such as hats, chess pieces, and small, pure white mice. Harry notices that after a while, the mice disappear and makes the comment that they will likely being Mrs. Norris's Christmas feast! Obviously this is not something we actually see happen, and we also are not sure that the mice are actually conjured from thin air, but if so this calls into question one of Gemp's Exceptions to Elemental Transfiguration!

In regards to why Dumbledore wouldn't search the RoR if he knew about the Horcruxes and the RoR and the room of hidden objects: look at history. Voldemort typically places numerous challenges and enchantments around the horcruxes (it is a piece of his soul, after all), so why would Dumbledore ever believe that it would be tossed so carelessly in something like the RoR's hidden objects? That means any witch or wizard could easily access it. True, Voldemort would have been a snot enough to believe only truly gifted wizards could discover the secret of the RoR, but that doesn't mean he'd deem them worthy of finding his soul. Look at the locket's protection, the cup's, the diary's (yes, this has protection, as a person has to give up their life to free that piece of his soul completely); it just wouldn't make Voldemort-style sense.
And as for Dumbledore wanting Harry to find the mirror... first of all, it is Christmas, and there are very few students even present within the school. I don't think he purposely intended Harry to find it the first time: how could he foresee Harry going to the Restricted Section, then running the exact path he did to get away, then choosing the room he did to hide in? Doesn't work. I think he was maybe doing some experimental work with it, or maybe using it for himself. Remember, Dumbledore isn't perfect, he still has human weaknesses. As we see in HBP, he still feels over the mistakes he made, and maybe obsesses what could have been had he acted differently. Of course, by this time, and acknowledging how scarily omniscient Dumbledore is, he knows that someone is actively trying to get at the stone. Maybe instead he's decided to add further security measures, and has taken the mirror out to explore it's possibilities in this manner.

Is it an oxymoron to say that HP is a healthy obsession? :)

While Gaunt's ring was hidden in pretty simple place to find, it was also cursed. It was this curse that caused Dumbledore's hand to blacken and was what was slowly killing Dumbledore thus causing Snape to care for him and ultimately kill him with the killing curse on Dumbledore's order. I would say that is a huge protection!

And yes - the website is amazing! As is the HP obsession! I have re-read the books for each of the new book releases, along with the movie releases. It's so nice to have great discussion with people from all over the world about detailed components of the book. ALOHOMORA ROCKS!

Just a small comment on the question whether Sirius knew Harry was alive when he saw the destroyed house; didn't Hagrid say in 'Prisoner of Azkaban' when he, Fudge, Flitwick and Mcgonagall were discussing Black with Rosmerta that he, Hagrid, met Sirius in Godric's Hollow and that Sirius said something like 'Let me take Harry, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him'? But Hagrid just answered that he had instructions from Dumbledore to bring Harry to him, so Black decided to give Hagrid his motorcycle because he himself wouldn't need it anymore? Am I right there? Am I right in saying that Sirius DID know that Harry was alive?

And another small comment concerning the question why the staff room door wasn't locked; I always thought there were two gargoyles in front of the door, weren't there? Harry talked to them in his 5th year, when he was searching for Grubbly-Plank because of Hedwig and I think one of the gargoyles asked him why he wasn't in class, Harry answered that it was something important, Mcgonagall opened the door, asked him the same question and the other gargoyl answered that 'It is important!', mocking Harry (or something like that). So, if there are really two gargoyles there in 5th year, why weren't there any in 1st? Or are there more than just one staff rooms? Any ideas?

I picked up something interesting about Dumbledore and The Mirror Of Erised this time around that struck me as discussion-worthy. When Harry asks Dumbledore what he sees when he looks in the mirror, Dumbledore says that he sees himself "holding a pair of thick, woolen socks".

I just had to think about Dobby and the rule of freeing House Elves by giving them a piece of clothing. Perhaps this is a metaphore for Dumbledores hearts' desire being freedom?

I am sure Dumbledore feels as though he is trapped within his own tragic family history and haunted by his visions of what the future holds for the magical world, knowing what he does about Voldemort, the horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows.