Deus ex Machina/Forgetful Characters

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26961

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Aberforth's Goat" <Aberforths_Goat at Y...> 
wrote:
> >> Anyway, I'd say GoF's problems are more of the latter sort. I 
can imagine
> Dumbledore smelling a rat and heading back Hogwardswards; what I 
can't
> imagine is Real!Crouch not having the wits to kill Harry and scram.
> 

Because I like GoF so much, I'll go ahead and try to justify 
the "Crouch/Moody doesn't get around to killing Harry" scene.  From 
Crouch/Moody's perspective, his actions make some sense.  He 
certainly needs to make sure Voldemort is re-birthed before he kills 
Harry.  Voldemort would be pretty ticked had his faithful servant 
killed Harry too soon.

Now, for the part where Crouch/Moody tells Harry all about how 
brilliant he had been in helping Harry through the tasks, etc.  
Hmmm.  This is tough for me, but it is only tough because I haven't 
ever been an Evil Overlord.  I would imagine that it is no fun at all 
to kill the hero while the hero has that puzzled "What the heck is 
going on? How could you do this to me?" look on his face.  No, you 
want a wide-eyed look that says, "Drat!  He really got me good that 
time.  I feel like such a fool!"  This, coupled with the fact that 
Crouch/Moody has every reason to think that Dumbledore is stumbling 
around the hospital wing looking for Harry and that Crouch/Moody has 
redundant security devices in his office (he can see through the door 
and has a foe glass), would cause anyone to think they have all the 
time in the world and get complacent.

I am, however, getting weary of HP characters with miseable memories 
at crucial moments.  Let's see.  As someone recently mentioned, we 
have: 
Voldemort ("Harry's Mother's protection -- I forgot!")
Riddle ("Phoenix tears -- I forgot!")
Riddle (Forgets not to let Harry anywhere near the diary during the 
crucial showdown, because if Harry stabs it with a fang, Riddle's a 
gonner)
Lupin (a werewolf transformation is painful and the full moon is 
coming and I could kill someone if I don't drink my potion, but I 
forgot)
Crouch/Moody (forgets to watch the door or the foe glass)
Crouch/Moody (forgets to take polyjuice potion as often as he should 
have)

Cindy (thinking that Voldemort should buy Palm Pilots for all of the 
Death Eaters)