Voldies at the Riddle Mansion; go get him!

[m.bockermann at t-online.de]

No: HPFGUIDX 42804

bboy_mn wrote:
> True now that Voldemort is omnipotent (at least in his own mind), he
> probably won't hang around there much longer, but I would think that
> it would be worthwhile sending people to investigate.


And Grey Wolf argued:
I don't see what you're getting at here, bboy_mn. Dumbledore already
believes Harry's story, so why would he need proof for? About the only
thing is to try to convince the MoM that Harry is telling the truth,
but that clashes directly with Dumbledore's Modus Operandi. The fact is
that Dumbledore has decided to bypass the MoM entirely in this second
time over. They're simply too inmersed in bureaucracy and paperwork to
be useful, and that's without considering all of the people who might
be working for Voldemort from inside the MoM, and the ones that can be
Imperioed.


Me:

I must disagree with you, Grey Wolf. There is indeed a need to proove
Harry's story because *not* everybody believes him and its a terrible
shame - one that will probably cause the loss of lives - that the MoM did
not do it
.
Dumbledore, Harry's friend and the old crowd believe Harry. They know him
and can trust him not to exaggerate. And they know he is not mentally
unstable.

For the rest of the WW, that is *not* the case.

Do you remember Rita's news article on the morning of the third task? The
one that does not impress Harry in the least? Well, Harry did not care about
it, but Hermione and Ron did not want him to read it. They did not take it
seriously either, but they thought it would wreck his concentration.

But others wizards and witches *will* believe it. *We* might know that Rita
is an immoral, cheating yellow press reporter of the worst order. But for
the rest of the WW she is a reliable and captivating journalist. Even Molly
fell to her snare and believed Rita's lies about Hermione. And she knows
Hermione. The other wizards and witches do not know Harry. They have no
reason to suspect foul play when she writes that the WW's most beloved young
wizard is dangerously mentally ill.

One who is absolutely convinced about Harry's mental problems and
consequently Harry's unrealiability is Fudge. He refuses to put the MoM in
motion because he believes neither the "problem-ridden" Harry nor
Dumbledore, whom he does not quarrel with for the first time. To proove the
later: remember his decision to suspend DD in HP2. To show that in spite of
the regard in which DD is held in the WW, he does have his political enemies
and is not untouchable is one of the most importants of the book, IMHO.

Anyway, Fudge simply refuses to believe Harry and blames Barty Crouch jr.
("conveniently" eliminated by the Dementor) for Cedrick's death. And that is
certainly what he told the public in the WW: Cedrick's death was due to
Barty Crouch jr., a sick old Deatheater. He explicitly forbids DD to spread
word about any other theory and threatens to throw him out if he he does not
obey his order. DD conciously ignored this order at the end of GoF, when he
told the students the truth because he felt they had a right to know. That
is bound to result in a fall off.

The fact, that DD admits in his speech that others still want him to remain
silent shows that between Cedrick's death and the end of schoolyear *nobody*
from the MoM searched for proof to confirm Harry's story. (Though I would
not be surprised to learn that one of the old crowd did.) Fudge does not
know about Frank's death and attributes those of Crouch sr. and Cedrick to
Barty Crouch jr. We know from DD's speach that nobody from the MoM search
the scene of crime. Fudge has every reason to believe Rita's article and
clearly expresses his doubts over Harry's mental health. He might have the
IQ of grass, but he *is* the Minister of Magic. When he says: Barty Crouch
jr. was the culprit - who outside the old crowd will not believe him? It is
worse than the MoM being simply to bureaucratic to act against Voldemort's
return. For most of them, there is simply no reason to act. Exceptions are
on the one hand side Deatheaters and their sympathisants that might work in
the MoM. On the other side there are those that are loyal to DD. Arthur
Weasly will certainly be among them. We do not know for sure about Avery.
Percy Weasly might be a wild card. However no matter how many allies there
will be at the MoM, they are bound to be ridiculed at the very least, mobbed
or hurt at the worst.

Well, Fudge did not alter his order and DD ignored it. Since the book ends
shortly after DD's speach, we do not know whoFudge will react. It is
possible that DD may only be reprimanded. But it might very well be that
Hogwarts will see a new headmaster at the beginning of book five. As proof
for this theory I put forward Rita's articel, Fudge's threat and DD's
behavior between Cedrick's death and his speach. He gives tasks to various
allies like Hagrid and Snape and he asks for the old crowd to reassemble. DD
also points out how important trustees in the MoM will be for them. Why
should he do that - unless he knows that his direct contact with the MoM
will cease in short time?

My guess is that "the old crowd" will have to operate in the underground for
the next year. That is also in keeping with JKR's statement that Harry has
been very protected so far but will not remain so in the future. Without DD
in Hogwarts, life will be much more dangerous there for Harry.

I suppose that the MoM will only start to believe DD and Harry when the
bodies start to pile up. :-(

We have not learned about any of this, because the GoF ends to early for
that.

Ethanol