Veritaserum, the worth of the wizard world, VWII, mortal peril

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 30913

Emily delurked and wrote:

> It doesn't seem inconsistent to me. I believe that they don't use 
> Veritaserum for the same reasons the (American) police can't use 
> sodium pentathol or lie detectors whenever they wish to elicit a 
> confession...

Well, first, I don't think either of these methods works as well as 
veritaserum. And second, I don't think the McCarthy-ish Barty Crouch, Sr., 
would have let these kinds of considerations slow him down. American and 
British police presumably don't torture to elicit confessions, either. 
Crouch authorized the use of the Unforgivable Curses against Death Eaters.

and then wrote:

> Personally, I think JKR has set the tone for an all-out war -- or, at 
> the very least, a huge upheaval of wizard society. There are lots of 
> suggestions that the relationship between wizards and elves, giants, 
> dementors, maybe even goblins -- maybe even Muggles -- will change 
> utterly during VWII.

I certainly hope so. And I agree with you (and others) about the wizard 
world not being any worse than the other Muggle civilizations we know of, 
and just as worth saving, even though it may not have sounded that way in 
my earlier post. I would just like to see it get improved in the process-- 
as I have the silly idea has happened a time or two in our own history.

Mahoney (formerly Dana) did a nice job puncturing my crackpot theory that 
Harry might not be a wizard without Voldemort's power in him. I'll settle 
for his near-Sqibness, though. ;)

Cindy the Bloodthirsty wrote:
>  suppose that would half-crucify JKR to write.  Then again, maybe 
> she'll spare Arthur, who will come home and find eight of the hands 
> of the family clock permanently set to "mortal peril."
> 

Gack. I hope not. I know we're all supposed to be stoic and "grown up," but 
to be honest, I had a harder time enjoying GoF, compared to the earlier 
books, because of the downward turn things are taking. (Alright, I'm not 
made of very stern stuff. Want to make something of it??) I'm along for the 
rest of the trip, but I'd really like to see at least a *few* of my 
favorite characters make it through to start life over in a post-Voldemort 
era. Losing all the Weasleys this way would cost me most of my enjoyment in 
the rest of the story. Hopefully JKR feels the same, as she's writing these 
books for herself first, after all.

Elizabeth
(Who, despite the gloomy tone of this post, is still snickering over 
David's Bloody Baron/Snoopy image, even if the Bloody Baron and von 
Richthofen have nothing to do with each other.)