Eles suspeitaram que Snape (Quirell) estava tentando roubar a Pedra naquele dia por causa de algumas coisas.
-
Eles acabaram de descobrir que o Hagrid vazou os segredos sobre como passar pelo Fluffy:
"Let's see... yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted...but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home...So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."
"And did he -- did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, try ing to keep his voice calm.
"Well -- yeah -- how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep --"
Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.
-
Ao tentarem alertar Dumbledore, eles descobriram que ele havia deixado o castelo em uma reunião de emergência (no Ministério).
"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."
"He's gone?" said Harry frantically. "Now?"
"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time."
"But this is important."
"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"
"Look," said Harry, throwing caution to the winds, "Professor - it's about the Sorcerer's Stone-"
Colocando essas duas coisas juntas, eles concluíram que o assalto estaria acontecendo o mais rápido possível, então eles tentaram roubar a Pedra primeiro.
Parece, embora não seja explícito, que Dumbledore recebeu uma nota falsa para ir ao Ministério.
"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. 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."