Death Eaters and their robes

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 21372

It was a good point, and something I hadn't remembered, that wizards
generally _do_ wear robes...however, AFAIK normal wizards' robes do not
include deep hoods, which the DEs were wearing at their meeting.  I don't
have the book open in front of me, but I do remember that they were wearing
something that disguised their looks---Harry recognised some of their names,
either from having to put up with their children as his schoolmates or from
having met them elsewhere.  Herself doesn't describe normal wizards' robes
much, but I have an impression that they're not much different from choir
robes, or the robes that British barristers wear.  (Hmmm...Rumpole of the
Bailey in an AU fanfic, as a wizard?  As soon as I finish the one I've got
planned about how Harry Potter and his pals have to team up with Flashman, I
might give that one a go)

Another reason that DEs might have something distinctive in the way of
wizard-wear is to identify who is friendly and who isn't, in the middle of a
fight.  It would be a trifle unpleasant to find out that instead of the
Auror you were aiming at, you'd Avala-Kedavra'd someone on your own side.  I
do think decoder rings are a bit much...what next?  "Look, it's the Dark
Mark!  Quick, fellow Death Eaters---to the Deatheatercave!"

As for why they would be secretive---well, something about the threat of a
life sentence in Azkaban might induce a little trend toward secrecy, don't
you think?  _After_ Voldemort takes over the wizarding world, they'd
probably reason, _then_ we can cast off this disguise and revel in our
rightful power and glory...but, until then, secrecy is necessary if only to
stop the Aurors from finding out who everybody is.  It's true, at this sort
of high-level meeting, that they can use their real names, but I'd still
think that code names in public would be a good idea.  That meeting would
not count as "in public," since the only non-DE present wasn't expected to
survive.  Good thing that Voldie never read the Evil Overlord's Rule List,
at www.eviloverlord.com,  isn't it?

Finally---again, we don't _know_ that DEs are necessarily the most powerful
wizards (except Dumbledore) around.  In fact, I could see Voldemort
recruiting people by promising them shortcuts to power, and maybe even being
able to deliver in a lot of cases.  What would someone like Filch, forex, do
if he were promised that he'd no longer be a Squib, but be one of the most
powerful and feared wizards around, and nobody would be able to kick sand in
his face at the beach again?  A really powerful wizard wouldn't be too
likely to join Voldemort---nothing much to gain, and potentially a lot to
lose.  Could Voldemort have ways of augmenting his followers' powers?  And
Pettigrew _is_ an Animagus---maybe he can't Apparate, but he's still quite
useful.