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Towards the end of book 3, right before MacNair left Hagrid's house to kill Buckbeak while Harry is trying to save the bird, Dumbledore says something to give Harry some time:

Hold on a minute MacNair. You also gotta sign

The Harry in that scene is the Harry from the future.

So Dumbledore can see the future?

FreeMan
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user157766
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    It’s not necessarily seeing the future, but more of observing proper legalities. If McNair hadn’t signed, the execution wouldn’t have been legal yet. – Blue Skin and Glowing Red Eyes Sep 11 '22 at 22:09
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    For some reason Dumbledore is the only person there with ability to know the law? This is too convenient – user157766 Sep 11 '22 at 22:13
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    There are all sorts of legalities that are often disregarded but which a stickler can insist on. Everyone else wanted to get on with the execution, so Dumbledore was the only one motivated to insist that every little rule be followed – Andrew Sep 12 '22 at 00:09
  • likely he just predicted what happened – ava Sep 15 '22 at 15:33

2 Answers2

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There are two possibilities here, and the book doesn't make it clear which is true. Either

  1. It's just a coincidence. Dumbledore calls Macnair back to sign, but he has no idea Harry and Hermione are outside; he's just observing regular formalities.

or

  1. Dumbledore is deliberately stalling the execution, with the hope (or plan) that Buckbeak shall be rescued. It is ultimately Dumbledore's plan to send Harry and Hermione back in time with the time turner to rescue Buckbeak; there's a possibility that he has this potential future plan in mind already, and so is buying as much time as he can for Buckbeak to be freed. He might not be sure he will set the plan in motion, or that the extra time will be useful, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. We are often told how Dumbledore is aware of pretty much everything that goes on at Hogwarts, so this could be another example of him being one step ahead of everyone else. (Of course, since at this point he doesn't even know the truth about Peter and Sirius, you might well ask why he would even have this plan in mind - but perhaps it's meant to cement his all-knowing mystique to the reader).
Showsni
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Dumbledore has the power to quietly cast a spell to reveal if anyone is hidden nearby.

Angela Morrissey: Why is it that albus dumbledore can see harry under his invisibility cloak at certain moments? (during the series is the cloak only infallible to those who do not own a deathly hallow).

J.K. Rowling: Dumbledore, who could perform magic without needing to say the incantation aloud, was using ‘homenum revelio’ - the human-presence-revealing spell Hermione makes use of in Deathly Hallows.

Dumbledore could therefore have cast the spell inside Hagrid‘s cabin and learned that there were two people hiding near where Buckbeak was being kept. From there it’s not difficult to surmise that it must be a rescue attempt and that he should stall for time.

TenthJustice
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  • Which, however, begs the question of why he'd cast that just then in either example... – Zeiss Ikon Sep 13 '22 at 17:57
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    Well Harry has gotten in trouble before for helping Hagrid get rid of Norbert and Dumbledore knows about the cloak He probably knew Harry was in the cabin when Hagrid was arrested a book earlier... Hagrid wasn't subtle about the spider thing. If anything Dumbledore was probably just checking to make sure Harry wasn't in the cabin. – TenthJustice Sep 14 '22 at 13:25
  • Okay. Reasonable. Been a good while since I read the books, and we can't depend on the movies to match (and been a while since I saw that movie, too). – Zeiss Ikon Sep 14 '22 at 13:37