> “D’you think he meant you to do it?” said Ron. “Sending you your
> father’s cloak and everything?”<br/> “Well, ” Hermione exploded, “if
> he did — I mean to say that’s terrible — you could have been
> killed.”<br/> “No, it isn’t,” said Harry thoughtfully. “He’s a funny
> man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I
> think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I
> reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of
> stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don’t think it was an
> accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. **It**’s almost
> like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could…”<br/>
> (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Is ‘it’ refer to something preceding or is it a dummy-it and ‘like-‘ clause is the semantic subject?