[HPforGrownups] 2 nagging questions

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 48870

blind_nil_date wrote:

>1 - Since Valdemort is not a pure-blood (witch mother and muggle
>father), why do people like Lucius Malfoy have anything to do with
>him?

 From what I remember, Dumbledore tells Harry that very few people knew 
that Voldemort's real name was Tom Riddle.  Very few knew what his real 
background was.  Now that you mention it though, Harry found this out in 
CoS, yet it never comes up again.  That is, I can't remember any instance 
in any subsequent book where the real identity of Voldemort is revealed to 
the general population of the WW or even the students at Hogwarts.  In any 
case, Nazis had no problem following Hitler, who it is believed was not a 
pure-blood Ayrian.  They had no problem following any of their leaders that 
were not pureblood, not until the end, if I remember my history 
correctly.  (Anyone may feel free to correct me on this.)  The point is 
that it is the message that people attach themselves to, not strictly the 
messenger.  If the messenger is charismatic, so much the better.

>2 - Now that Harry, Dumbledore, and the group from the hospital wing
>after the 3rd task now the truth, how do you think it will affect
>the students at school whom Harry saw their Death Eater parents in
>the cemetery? Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle could possibly undermine
>anything positive at Hogwarts, right?

I've wondered about this too, from the time I first read the names of those 
Harry saw in the graveyard.  I've been anxiously awaiting book 5 in part 
for that very reason.  How WILL it affect the students?  Of course, if it 
is handled the same way Voldemort's real identity is handled, then it may 
not go beyond those who already know at the end of GoF.  The trio has long 
suspected the parents of Malfoy and his cohorts as having links to 
Voldemort, or at least they've said they wouldn't be surprised to learn 
that.   Not everyone that heard what Harry had to say believed him 
either.  Fudge certainly didn't.  Serius isn't going to tell anyone.  Snape 
no doubt already knew and hadn't done anything about it before or treated 
anyone differently because of that knowledge.  (In fact, he treated Draco 
better than he treated Harry.)  My guess at this point is that little will 
change.  After all, there is no concrete proof that Harry can offer, which 
is precisely why Fudge refuses to believe Harry (besides the fact that he 
is no doubt in denial over Voldemort's return).  Perhaps the trio will be 
looking for such concrete evidence in book 5.  Without it they can say much 
about it in the same way they can't say much about Serius even though they 
know the truth (as does Dumbledore) because they have no proof of his innocence.