By the time of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore has established himself as the wise presence in the background and seemed to make great decisions to protect Harry. Of course, this installment also gave Harry a hint as to how connected Dumbledore was to his parents and earlier life... and in retrospect, makes it obvious that Dumbledore also made some seriously questionable choices.

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Whether it was not blocking off the passageway that he knew Sirius was most familiar with (a seemingly obvious first port of call when Sirius was assumed to be on the run and dangerous)... or choosing to use a time turner to save Buckbeak, but not Harry's parents. Not all of Dumbledore's decisions were so questionable, though.

Hiring Remus As Defense Against The Dark Arts Professor

Remus Lupin points his wand at someone in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

For the first two years of Harry's education, Dumbledore makes some epically poor choices in hiring a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. First, he picks someone who is literally hosting Voldemort on the back of his head, and then he picks a fraud who is willing to wipe the memories of his own students. Finally, though, he chooses an excellent teacher in Lupin.

Remus Lupin would quickly prove himself to be an excellent teacher, inspiring Harry in his interest in Defense Against The Dark Arts, and personally teaching him to create a Patronus - a spell that saved his and Sirius' lives at the end of the book. Given how well he knew Remus, it's logically a bit of a surprise that he wasn't hired to begin with. Obviously, this is for plot-forwarding reasons, but it creates a bit of a loophole in the logic of this world overall.

Promoting Hagrid To Care Of Magical Creatures Professor

Hagrid and Buckbeak

Dumbledore's second new teacher this year is Hagrid, who is promoted from groundskeeper to Care of Magical Creatures teacher - and clearly, Dumbledore is on form with the hiring this year, as it's another excellent choice. Hagrid may struggle at first with figuring out quite how to teach, but his knowledge of magical creatures and abilities with them is truly astounding, and once he figures it out, there can be no better teacher.

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This can also be seen as a way of compensating Hagrid for the year before - he may not be able to go back in time and be un-expelled from Hogwarts as a child, but he can be given a better and more legitimate future with the school, now that he is off the hook for opening the Chamber of Secrets.

Allowing Hermione To Request A Time Turner

Harry Potter and Hermione using the Time Turner

Hermione's access to a Time Turner is a central part of the plot - and without it, Sirius and Buckbeak would both have died at the end! Hermione herself says that Professor McGonagall wrote to get it for her, but it's clear that this was really Dumbledore's decision. As the Headmaster, it would not be possible for McGonagall to override him on something as major as this, which means that he was really the one to make the decision to let Hermione have it.

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This may seem like another off-the-wall Dumbledore decision at first glance - allowing a child to have a time machine to overload on homework? But of course, this ends up being something that saves them all. Without the Time Turner, Buckbeak would have been executed, then Harry, Ron, and Hermione would have likely been either killed or turned by Lupin as a werewolf, and Sirius would potentially have escaped, but very likely been given the Dementor's Kiss.

Preventing Harry From Going To Hogsmeade

Hermione and Ron in Hogsmeade

Much like the Time Turner, this is a decision laid at McGonagall's feet (or at Fudge's, as Harry does ask the Minister to sign his permission slip, too!). However, like the Time Turner, the final say would rest with Dumbledore, who could have easily given Harry permission to go into Hogsmeade had he chosen to. (And given that he knew Harry had the Invisibility Cloak, he did give some level of tacit approval, anyway!)

Preventing Harry from going to Hogsmeade seemed like a wise decision at the time because Dumbledore believed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters, and was after Harry. However, it had one effect that Dumbledore could not have predicted - it led to Fred and George giving Harry the Marauders Map! The Map would, throughout the rest of his time there, become one of Harry's most useful possessions - and it's not clear if the twins would have passed it on had Dumbledore let him go to Hogsmeade openly.

Telling Hermione What To Do To Save Sirius

Lupin and Sirius inside the Shrieking Shack in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

As usual, Dumbledore didn't give Hermione explicit instructions (that would have been far too easy), but he did give her enough to let her work out the rest - and save the day. In the final scenes, Dumbledore is the one to tell Hermione how far back to take herself and Harry, and to give her the hint that 'more than one innocent life' could be saved.

Arguably, his decision to make his instructions this vague and riddle-like was a poor choice, as Dumbledore would have guaranteed success if he had simply told them what to do - and there's no obvious reason not to, in this instance - but of course, that would have been far less fun for the reader.

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