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mare-of-night comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90 - Less Wrong
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Curious; when I read Professor Quirrel going into "protect the information from Harry Potter" mode for Macgonnagle, I almost immediately thought this was deeper than "I've changed my mind and it is no longer a good day and holyshit he's going to kill us". The overwhelming majority of readers assume he is being sincerely cautious in an effort to save the universe. I was assuming that there was obviously a slightly deeper plot involved, though I hadn't gotten far in thinking about what before I read the suggestions about alternative sources such as the Chamber of Secrets.
(Harry's lecture to Macgonnagle on identity-based strategy actually made me realize something about myself I feel is worth analysis... somewhere. I may or may not get back on that if I figure out if it's worth publishing.)
In light of all the talk about heroic responsibility, my first thought was that if he really, really wanted Harry kept away from those books, he'd steal them or something. (This specific method isn't a very good one because it would raise suspicion, but there has to be a better way to keep them from Harry than going through Macgonnagle.) And maybe he was hoping that Harry would notice the increased wards and try to go there because of it, but that seems like he might be assuming too much.
Such was warding the books rather than the entire Restricted Section. However, Quirrel seems to want to keep Harry away from quite a bit of knowledge: not just particular books, but the entire Restricted Section; not just random spell creation bits, but the entire field of spell creation. This suggests to me that there no single book that is problematic, but any book dealing with the topic at all beyond the fake "usual evasions". If that's the case, then he can't do much else - what is he going to do, abscond with an entire wing of the library?
Note that warding books A, B, and C leaks more bits of information than warding all restricted books.
That's a good point too.