The Spying Game Part II - I want you to DIE, Mr Potter.

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 40044


[ Editions quoted are Philosophers Stone UK paperback; Chamber of 
Secrets, UK paperback; Prisoner of Azkaban, UK hardback, Goblet of 
Fire, UK hardback. 

Where page numbers only are mentioned, the book referred to is Goblet 
of Fire. ]

Finally!
Another very long post - cups of tea at the ready, then :-)

Analysing the Graveyard Scene is more difficult than the Shrieking 
Shack, where I have the events in the following book to go on. The 
Graveyard Scene analysis has to rely on purely internal evidence. 
However, I think I can make a case for the following: Unlike in the 
Shrieking Shack, where Dumbledore and Snape's Plan A basically works 
(despite problems along the way), in the Graveyard Scene Voldemort's 
Plan A fails, and he has to fall back on a *pre-prepared* Plan B.

The Contents List:
Voldemort may well be lying through his teeth (when he has them).
Voldemort cannot afford to let Harry grow up.
Harry can be killed.

Killing or capturing Harry is indeed Plan A.

Voldemort isn't completely sure Plan A is going to work.
Voldemort has reasons for not just killing Harry straight away.
Harry is sometimes less powerful with his wand than he is without it.
Voldemort needs to weaken Harry before trying to kill him.
Voldemort is genuinely surprised by Priori Incantatem.
The Portkey is two-way to allow Harry a line of retreat.
Voldemort's worst case assumption: Harry is too powerful to be killed 
or defeated.
Harry turns out to have unrealised powers.
Voldemort himself is the only one likely to be able to survive 
killing Harry.


Plan B. What do we do if Harry survives?

Give Harry some misinformation in case he escapes.
'Why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their 
master...?'
If all the Death Eaters are disloyal, why do only two get punished?
Lucius Malfoy, at least, is loyal.
Why are only 'outed' Death Eaters mentioned if Voldemort doesn't 
think Harry might survive?
Can Voldemort now touch Harry?  Or could he always touch Harry?
Voldemort avoids mentioning that the Weasley's are more powerful than 
Harry realises.
Is 'noxious vapour' Voldemort helpless and desperate?
Is there any sign Voldemort might be communicating with Death Eaters?
The use of the Triwizard Cup sends a very spectacular 'signal' to 
Dumbledore.
Why the nine-month wait until Harry gets hit with the Portkey?
The Dementors and the Giants are misinformation aimed at forcing 
Dumbledore in a certain direction.
How many faithful servants are there at Hogwarts?
What 'information' have Harry and  Dumbledore got at the end of the 
Graveyard Scene?



In opposition to the Shrieking Shack, where the mastermind behind 
events is Albus Dumbledore, the mastermind behind the Graveyard Scene 
is Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort.

The common assumption regarding this scene has been a bit of meta-
thinking; the villain ALWAYS tells the truth at the Grand Climax. 
It's a rule.
                                                                      
I will indulge in two bits of meta-thinking myself:
Meta-thought One: Rules Can Be Broken.
Meta-thought Two: This *isn't* the Grand Climax. This is the climax 
at the end of Book Four. The Grand Climax will be in Book Seven.

Meta-thought Conclusion: Voldemort may well be lying through his 
teeth (when he has them).

With that in mind, I began to examine how the graveyard scene fits 
into the theory of an 'intelligence/terrorist  war' - where both 
sides use misinformation and terror as  weapons against the other.


***Voldemort cannot afford to let Harry grow up.***

Harry is going to be very powerful indeed when he has fully 
integrated all that wizarding theory he's learning into instinctive 
practice. Much, much too powerful for Voldemort. Voldemort has 
actually (and unusually) read the Evil Overlord List [1] (or the 
Potterverse equivalent) - he is thoroughly aware of rule 47." If I 
learn that a callow youth has begun a quest to destroy me, I will 
slay him while he is still a callow youth instead of waiting for him 
to mature"

Harry has an instinctive skill at magic (see all four books)  - not 
because of some magic 'destiny' to defeat Voldemort; IMO it is simply 
because he is what he is - Harry Potter, a genius at magic, like 
Wolfgang Mozart was a musical genius, or Alan Turing was a 
mathematical genius. There is, in a sense, nothing magical about 
genius. It is not truly understood, but it occurs in every 
generation, and almost every field. Geniuses cannot rely solely on 
their innate ability; they must learn their field. So must Harry. 

There may well be prophecies about Harry defeating Voldemort; that 
doesn't mean he's 'destined' to do it. The prophecies are simply 
stating truth - Harry has the in-born ability to defeat Voldemort. He 
would still have had that ability if Voldemort had never existed. And 
Voldemort must kill him before he can do it.


***Harry can be killed***

Harry has very powerful, instinctive defences. These cannot save him 
in all situations - falling unconscious off his broom is dangerous 
(PoA). Being attacked by Dementors is dangerous because Harry tries 
to 'think' his way through defending himself - he later (PoA p. 300 ) 
produces his powerful Patronus without 'thinking' - he just has to do 
it.

Fighting Voldemort is dangerous, takes a lot of power, and in PS/SS 
takes so much power that Harry faints. (PS/SS p. 214) Voldemort can 
kill Harry, if he can just weaken him enough first.


***Killing or capturing Harry is indeed Plan A.***

You can't get through a detailed examination of the Graveyard scene 
without feeling that Voldemort really, really wants to kill Harry. He 
fires an Avada Kedavra at him - which would be something of a risky 
tactic if you *didn't* want to kill. He screams with rage when Harry 
escapes via the Portkey. ('He heard Voldemort's scream of fury...' 
p.580)

Heck, he even tells Harry he wants to kill him. "And I am now going 
to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you 
all,..." (p.571)

But...
When Harry is *not* the [official] audience:
"I have my reasons for using the boy, as I have already explained to 
you, and I will use no other." (Voldemort p. 14. )
This doesn't entirely sound like he fully expects to end up killing 
Harry. He wants to 'use' him. In fact, Wormtail and Voldemort get 
through the entire conversation in Chapter One without once 
connecting the word 'kill' with 'Harry Potter'. And it's not that 
they prefer euphemisms either - both Wormtail and Voldemort 
use 'kill' - Wormtail when asking if he's to be killed and Voldemort 
when talking about his killing Bertha Jorkins. (p.16)

Oh, yes, Voldemort would *love* to kill Harry Potter. But -


***Voldemort isn't completely sure Plan A is going to work.***

I have pointed out that Harry at the end of GoF has survived 
Voldemort at the height of his powers, Quirrelmort, Voldemort as Tom 
Riddle, a werewolf, 100 Dementors, plus assorted giant spiders, 
basilisks, Whomping Willows, dragons etc, etc.

I would say that the most obvious impression derived from even a 
cursory examination of Harry's career is that killing Harry tends to 
be slightly difficult. As a helpless victim, Harry's a complete 
failure. It's the would-be assassins who sometimes find their life-
span unexpectedly shortened.

Voldemort's Plan A, subtitled "I want you to DIE, Mr Potter", shows 
evidence of careful thought, a flair for on-the-spot improvisation, 
and a certain amount of nervousness on Voldemort's part.  Plan A 
includes a lot of 'softening the kid up first'. Plan A includes 
weakening Harry - crucio, tying him to the gravestone in a long and 
horrifying ordeal. Plan A is the plan of someone who knows that Harry 
is very strong indeed.

To begin at the beginning. When Harry and Cedric come through the 
Portkey; practically the first thing Voldemort does is 'kill the 
spare'. Again, he's read '100 things I'd do if I ever became an evil 
overlord' [1] - at least he obviously understands rule 4. 'Shooting 
is not too good for my enemies'; and rule 6. 'I will not gloat over 
my enemies' predicament before killing them'. At least where Cedric 
is concerned.

Harry, on the other hand, gets the full evil overlord treatment. He 
gets tied to a gravestone. He gets sneered at. He gets gloated over. 
He gets tormented. He has to suffer through a long and rather boring 
speech (at least, it would be boring if Harry wasn't aware that 
Voldemort was going to try and kill him when it finishes [grin]). 
It's all completely...
...sensible?

Making sure your enemy is terrified and exhausted *before* you start 
the head to head duel isn't stupid. Making sure your enemy is 
terrified and exhausted is good tactics.


***Voldemort has reasons for not just killing Harry straight away***

As people have pointed out, there was a real risk Voldemort would 
decide he could best get Harry's blood by cutting his throat (or, 
given the number of beheading omens, by cutting his entire head off). 
So WHY doesn't he? Seems a good plan - the Death Eaters turn up and 
Voldemort can say 'AHA, there, the enemy you feared so much is dead 
at your feet' DE DE DUM!

How do Voldemort and Wormtail behave when they *must* do some damage 
to Harry?
"he saw the shining silver dagger shaking in Wormtail's remaining 
hand. He  felt its point penetrate the crook of his right arm, and 
blood seeping down the sleeve of his torn robes. Wormtail, still 
panting with pain, fumbled in his pocket for a glass phial and held 
it to Harry's cut, so that a dribble of blood fell into it." GoF p. 
557, UK hardback)

All this exciting description neatly hides the fact that Wormtail 
only cuts Harry just enough to get the phial of blood he needs. This 
could be the life debt - or it could be Voldemort is 'scared' of 
Harry. Voldemort doesn't want to even try and kill Harry yet - not 
until Harry's a lot weaker, and he's a lot stronger.

Marina suggested ( post # 39702 ) that giving Harry back his wand and 
allowing him to duel with Voldemort is a stupid idea (on Voldemort's 
part). The problem with this view is that it assumes that Harry is 
more powerful with his wand than without it.



***Harry is sometimes less powerful with his wand than he is without 
it.***

Harry certainly assumes he's more powerful with his wand: "He [Harry] 
usually kept his wand with him at all times in the wizarding world, 
and finding himself without it in the midst of a scene like this made 
him feel very vulnerable.'( p. 112)

Wizards are more powerful with their wands. Everything at Hogwarts 
drills this in to the students. You do magic with a wand. A wand 
concentrates and magnifies your natural power.
BUT, and it's a big but, you have to learn to use your wand. 

Harry is only half-way through his schooling. He hasn't really learnt 
to use his wand to an adult level.

To use an example familiar to most people who use a keyboard:
Harry is like someone who can manage very fast two-fingered typing. 
When that person learns to touch type properly, there will be a 
period when they're actually not as fast and accurate as they used to 
be; the period when they're learning the more complex skills. 
However, once they have fully mastered the proper use of the 
keyboard, they will then be faster and more accurate than in their 
old 'two fingered' stage.

Harry without his wand can deflect the supposedly undeflectable Avada 
Kedavra (beginning of PS/SS). He can grow his hair back. He can 
apparate. He can blow up aunts.

But Harry has to *learn* to cast spells with a wand; and for a time 
with each new spell he is actually worse off than he was without a 
wand. Each new spell takes him time to learn (there are numerous 
examples of this throughout all the first four books).

Once Harry does learn a wand spell he can perform it to incredible 
levels; look at his Patronus in PoA, which is powerful enough to 
banish over 100 Dementors. But the only duelling spell he knows is 
Expelliarmus. And in case we've missed this, JKR spells it out: 'He 
[Harry] had never learnt anything that could possibly fit him for 
this [duel].' ( p. 573 )

Voldemort is not giving him an advantage by handing him back his 
wand. Voldemort is forcing Harry to fight with a tool he doesn't 
really know how to use -  instead of allowing him to use his 
instinctive (and very powerful ) wandless defences.

Voldemort is like someone facing a duel with the Olympic Fencing 
Champion. Who then says "I choose the weapons. Pistols, please."


***Voldemort needs to weaken Harry before trying to kill him.***

Voldemort's first action on starting the duel is to hit Harry with a 
Crucio. This isn't a killing spell. Why does he use it? Sadism?

Look at the state of Harry after the Crucio:
[Harry] was shaking as uncontrollably as Wormtail had done when his 
hand had been cut off; he staggered sideways...'  (p.573 )

Crucio weakens Harry. Fake!Moody hasn't taught him to resist a curse 
that weakens you in a fight.

Voldemort next tries an Imperius curse - why, when Fake!Moody has 
taught Harry to resist Imperius?

Is Voldemort surprised by Harry's resistance? No. Unlike the Priori 
Incantatem later, Voldemort's eye do not 'widen with shock' (p.577). 
Voldemort has just got a measure of how much strength Harry has left, 
in a way that is unlikely to rebound dangerously on Voldemort. 
Imperius was the 'safest' Unforgivable for Fake!Moody to teach Harry 
to resist - it is unlikely to be crucial if Harry refuses to do as 
Voldemort commands (not if Voldemort already knows Harry may be able 
to resist).

Time for another bout of weakening Crucio - except this time, Harry 
is expecting it, and rediscovers his ability to dodge spells (see 
below).

Voldemort cannot allow Harry to show his ability to dodge/deflect 
spells. Chasing him all round the graveyard is *so* undignified. So 
the Prince of Lies 'downgrades' Harry's ability by comparing it to a 
childish game of Hide and Seek. It works - Harry decides he's not 
going to play -  "he [Harry] was not going to die crouching here like 
a child playing hide-and-seek..." ( p.575 )

Harry is not really old enough to realise that finding any available 
cover when being shot at is also an entirely adult reaction, taught 
in all the best armies...

Voldemort's Avada  Kedavra is timed carefully, and sent when Harry 
has just launched his own attack. 'Voldemort was ready. As Harry 
shouted " Expelliarmus!", Voldemort cried "Avada Kedavra!" ' (p. 575 )

In other words, he doesn't attack Harry, allowing him to defend, he 
counter-attacks when Harry is concentrating on another spell.

At no point in this duel does Voldemort launch a stupid, reckless 
attack. He takes great care to ensure that Harry is already weakened 
and exhausted before the duel starts, that he has to use a weapon 
that he's only half-trained in, that he is hit with 'softening up' 
spells first, that he is taunted into playing the duel Voldemort's 
way, and that when he is finally hit with an Avada Kedavra, Harry is 
concentrating on launching another spell, not on defending himself. 
None of these are the actions of someone who thinks that killing 
Harry is going to be a walkover.

Unfortunately, Voldemort had no idea his wand shares a core with 
Harry's wand. But that's hardly his fault ...


***Voldemort is genuinely surprised by Priori Incantatem***

Ollivander does not reveal in the Weighing of the Wands that Harry's 
wand has the same core as Voldemort's. He did report it straight to 
Dumbledore (p. 605); Voldemort's surprise carries the implication 
that both Dumbledore and Ollivander the wand expert knew that Priori 
Incantatem might save Harry one day, and so kept it top-secret.

Voldemort *is* surprised: "Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked to the 
Death Eaters, and Harry saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at 
what was happening...' (p. 576 )

'... and it was Voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra-hard 
now ... Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful ...'


***The Portkey is two-way to allow Harry a line of retreat. ***

It has been suggested that Voldemort is going to use the two-way 
Portkey to launch an attack directly into Hogwarts, using the element 
of surprise.

Some canon on the events when Harry returned via the Portkey:
'A torrent of sound deafened and confused him, there were voices 
everywhere, footsteps, screams...He was looking up at the starry 
sky , and Albus Dumbledore was crouched over him. The dark shadows of 
a crowd of people pressed in around them, pushing nearer; Harry found 
the ground beneath his head reverberating with their footsteps'. ( 
p.583 )

This sounds like any 'surprise' attack the DE's made would have been 
met by a considerable number of people. Personally, if I was going to 
make a surprise attack, I'd prefer to actually *have* tactical 
surprise, and not attack several hours after an obvious first move 
(the kidnap), when people have had some time to expect an attack and 
prepare for it. 

Portkeys are 'objects that are used to transport wizards from one 
spot to another at a prearranged time.' (p.66) We know that Portkey's 
don't have to be two way. The Stoatshead Hill portkey isn't. After 
they've travelled to the Quidditch World Cup, Mr Weasley is 'picking 
up the boot and handing it to the kilted wizard' ( p.70) - not being 
transported straight back. They are also timed devices - so for Harry 
to be able to use the Portkey several hours after it's first use 
means that this timing was allowed for. It can also mean that if 
Harry had grabbed the Portkey *before* the Rising Ceremony, it might 
well not have worked.

This suggests that the Portkey can have only one use - if its 
deliberately two way nature is NOT aimed at Death Eaters, it can only 
be aimed at Harry. Voldemort has given Harry a line of retreat. 
Voldemort may well have arranged the Portkey timing so that this line 
of retreat is ONLY open after the Rising Ceremony, and during the 
time of the duel.

This is not as stupid as it sounds if you accept that Voldemort is 
really not sure that  Plan A will work. Voldemort is trying to 
convince his Death Eaters that Harry is not invincible. He can be 
hurt - by Crucio (multi-tasking again). He can be affected by 
Imperius (this one backfires slightly). He runs away when fired at. 
Ideally, Voldemort would like to convince his DE's that Harry can be 
killed (preferably by actually doing it) - but... if he can't...


***What is Voldemort's worst case assumption?***

That Harry turns out to be so powerful he can't be killed, can't be 
beaten to his knees, and Voldemort himself is stuck in a fight that 
can only end in him either running (bad) or being killed (worse).

However, if Harry himself is convinced he's going to be killed by 
Voldemort, he would probably grab the first available chance of 
escape. It would be relatively easy to 'let' him run; then to cry out 
something along the lines of 'Stun him, you fools! Don't let him near 
the Cup!'

In the event, of course, Voldemort doesn't even have to shout 
anything this obvious, as the Priori Incantatem ghosts do it for him.


***Harry turns out to have unrealised powers.***

Harry has an amazing ability to dodge spells. 

In the duel:

[Harry ]" rolled behind the marble headstone of Voldemort's father, 
and he heard it crack as the curse missed him. " ( p. 574 - a 
Cruciatus spell )
[Harry] " dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light 
and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it" ( p.580 - a 
large number of Stupefy spells.)
[Harry] " dived as he heard more wand blasts behind him; more jets of 
light flew over his head as he fell.." ( p. 580 - more stunning 
spells.)

Aha, we all say. Typical villains. They never can shoot straight. 
Heroes, on the other hand, always hit villains with a single shot:

"Impedimenta!" he bellowed, pointing his wand wildly over his 
shoulder at the Death Eaters running at him. From a muffled yell, he 
thought he had stopped at least one of them..."

Good, thrilling stuff, apparently straight out of the 'Star Wars' 
school of action writing. But:

At the Quidditch World Cup:
"Harry whirled around, and in a split second, he registered one fact: 
each of these wizards had his wand out, and every wand was pointing 
right at himself, Ron and Hermione. Without pausing to think, he 
yelled 'DUCK'! He seized the other two and pulled them down onto the 
ground.

'STUPEFY'! roared twenty voices - there was a blinding series of 
flashes and Harry felt the hair on his head ripple as though a 
powerful wind had swept the clearing. Raising his head a fraction of 
an inch he saw jets of fiery red light flying over them..." (p.116 )

Apparently the good guys can't shoot straight either. At least, they 
can't shoot straight at Harry...

It's far more likely that this inability of other Wizards to hit 
Harry is a defensive spell Harry doesn't yet realise he's casting. 
The number of times the spells are described as hitting something 
else instead suggests that it may well be an ability to deflect 
spells - make them go over your head, around you, or to hit something 
else which will absorb some of their power. It's not a purely 
defensive 'bounce off' shield, or Ron and Hermione would have been 
hit in the QWC.

There's another implication that suggests Harry's defences might not 
be a full time 'shield' - he can get hit. Mostly when he doesn't 
think to dodge.

Harry can also force Avada Kedavra spells back.  Harry has now 
survived Avada Kedavra twice - once as a baby, once by the unintended 
use of Priori Incantatem. In Priori Incantatem Harry has to force 
Voldemort's wand to reveal its last spells. Priori Incantatem forces 
the wand of the *weaker* wizard to reveal its spells.


***Why should Voldemort be the only one to kill Harry?***

Frankly, in a straight fight rather than a sneak attack,  he's the 
only one who has a hope in hell ...

And since he's (Plan B)  trying to convince the DE's that Harry isn't 
as powerful as they think, leaving a lot of DE's dead on the ground 
because they tried to Avada Kedavra him and got the Avada Kedavra 
reflected right back (a la Baby!Harry) would not really give quite 
the effect Voldemort is aiming at.

At the end of the fight, Voldemort is not in a bad position with his 
Death Eaters. Harry escaped, true, but Voldemort has shown that Harry 
can be captured, injured, fought to a draw. Defeating Harry is going 
to be tough - but it *is* possible.

And there's always the hope that Fake!Moody will force some poison 
down the little brat's throat :-)


*** Plan B. What do we do if Harry survives?***

Plan B is the back-up plan; the 'what do we do if the little swine 
survives *again* plan. Plan B is what happens if Voldemort has to 
make Harry use that two-way Portkey rather than risking having the 
DE's flee for their lives. It involves leaving Harry with a whole 
load of misinformation to relay back to Dumbledore; it involves 
emphasising to Harry that Voldemort is now more powerful than ever 
(especially that Voldemort can now touch Harry), and that Harry has 
only escaped by the skin of his teeth.

***Give Harry some misinformation in case he escapes.***

***'Why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their 
master...?'*** (p. 562)

Well, one good reason would be the one Dumbledore gives in CoS "my 
sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania." 
(CoS p. 242). Voldemort and the suspected Death Eaters are being 
watched.

This is also implied in several internal contradictions within the 
speech. Voldemort, according to his speech, is deeply annoyed at the 
DE's not coming to find him. "Surely, one of my faithful Death Eaters 
would try and find me... " ( p.567)

but later: "I dared not go where other humans were plentiful, for I 
knew that the other Aurors were still abroad and searching for me." 
(p. 567)

Presumably these other Aurors were concentrating so much on Voldemort 
that they would have completely missed, say, Lucius Malfoy taking a 
little family holiday in the area. And they would never have thought 
of trying to follow Lucius, or using him to lead them straight to 
Voldemort.

Of course not.

Another internal contradiction: 
"... for I had no body, and every spell which might have helped me 
required the use of a wand..." ( p. 567)

All the DE's fault, see. If only one of them had turned up with a 
wand...

then later: "A wizard - young, foolish and gullible - wandered across 
my path... he was easy to bend to my will." (p. 567)

But apparently he didn't have his wand with him. Or Voldemort 
suddenly decides that travelling as a noxious vapour is preferable to 
using all those wand spells which might have helped him. :-)


***If all the Death Eaters are disloyal, why do only two get punished?
***

There is another clue that Harry is being fed misinformation here. 
Who gets punished during the speech? 

Pettigrew/Wormtail, who we *know* spent 12 years hiding as a rat 
rather than run back to Voldemort.
Wormtail gets a tough deal during this scene. He gets to cut off his 
own arm, gets slammed against a tombstone:
"Wormtail, who was lifted off the ground and thrown against the 
headstone where Harry was tied." ( p.559 )

Add this to Voldemort's treatment of Wormtail in Chapter One, and you 
rather get the impression Voldemort doesn't forgive lightly.

Who else? Avery. Avery, whose famous 'crisis of nerve' probably 
suggests a genuinely guilty conscience. Avery, who interrupts 
Voldemort's speech, he's so terrified. Avery, who is 'trembling from 
head to foot'. ( p. 562 )

Avery, who gets a solid blast of Crucio, and then gets told:
"You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive....I want thirteen years' 
repayment before I forgive you. " ( p. 563)

Who else of the supposedly unanimous-in-their-disloyalty DE's gets 
whacked around the graveyard?

Err... that's it, really. Still, I suppose torturing people can get a 
bit boring. :-)

Another, final point on the supposedly disloyal DE's. 

Voldemort: "... I had given up hope, now, that any of my Death Eaters 
cared what had become of me."

'One or two of the masked wizards in the circle moved 
uncomfortably, ..'

Only one or two?


***Lucius Malfoy, at least, is loyal***

Malfoy has planted the diary. Malfoy organised the DE march. There's 
a lot of argument about this, but my argument is that Malfoy did both 
these things under orders - The Diary as an attack on Hogwarts, the 
DE march to provide a distraction for the (failed) escape of Barty 
Crouch. This is why Malfoy gets lenient treatment - he's loyal. 

Note that Voldemort says 'It would be foolish to act before the 
Quidditch World Cup is over' ( p.12) - and the DE march does take 
place a few hours after the World Cup is over - we are just deceived 
by the Weasley's treating the post-match discussions and staying 
overnight as part of the QWC itself.

Voldemort doesn't show himself as annoyed at Lucius organising the 
march - in fact he describes it as 'fun' - but he does seem annoyed 
at Lucius cutting and running when the Dark Mark is shot into the sky.

"Your exploits at the QWC were fun, I daresay...but might not your 
energies have been better directed towards finding and aiding your 
master?"

"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert", came Lucius Malfoy's voice 
swiftly from beneath the hood....

... And yet you ran from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it 
into the sky last summer? said Voldemort lazily, and Mr Malfoy 
stopped talking abruptly.' (p. 564)

So Lucius isn't too bothered about the serious 'why didn't you find 
me' accusation - but shuts up immediately Voldemort mentions the much 
less serious accusation that he made himself scarce on seeing the 
Dark Mark.

Why would he be more worried about the less serious accusation? Well, 
if it happens to be the only one that's true..

There's another point where Malfoy appears to be acting to a pre-
arranged plan: Voldemort introduces Harry Potter to the Death Eaters. 

"Harry Potter has kindly joined us for the rebirthing party. One 
might go so far as to call him my guest of honour." (p. 565)

Now, a natural reply to something like that might be 'Master, how did 
you capture him?' or 'Master, what are your plans for him?' or 
even 'Master, can we start torturing him right now?' [grin]  What 
*isn't* a natural reply is what Lucius Malfoy says next:


"Master, we crave to know ... we beg you to tell us ... how you have 
achieved this ... this miracle...[uh, what were my lines again? Oh, 
yeah,]... how you managed to return to us...'

That is quite a violent change of subject.


***Why are only 'outed' Death Eaters mentioned if Voldemort doesn't 
think Harry might survive?***

A biggie, IMO. Harry gives these valuable, hard gained names to Fudge 
in the Hospital (Plot Exposition) scene and gets the reply:

"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of 
being Death Eaters thirteen years ago! You could have found those 
names in old reports of the trials!" ( p. 613, Fudge.)

So those names aren't so valuable after all, are they? Strange that 
Voldemort only said those particular names, isn't it?


***Can Voldemort now touch Harry?  Or could he always touch Harry?***

I've pointed out in another post (# 39061 ) that 
Dumbledore's 'Voldemort cannot touch you' speech at the end of PS/SS 
can be read as 'Quirrel could not touch you' without implying 
anything about Voldemort.

Voldemort himself clearly believes that he could not touch Harry. 
Look how tentatively he does it.
"Voldemort raised one of his long white fingers, and put it very 
close to Harry's cheek...Harry felt the cold tip of the long white 
finger touch him..." ( p.566 )

No slaps, grabs, or punches - just a very cautious touch with the tip 
of a finger. If Voldemort had found himself unable to touch Harry, he 
would probably have just got a blistered finger. I presume he would 
then have had the self-discipline not to swear loudly and hop around 
the DE circle; instead he would have continued with exactly the same 
speech he gives. (He'd probably have missed out the triumphant laugh 
[grin]). It's important to convince both Harry and the DE's that he's 
the stronger, after all.

But Harry feels pain when Voldemort touches him. Compare the pain he 
feels in the Graveyard, with the pain he felt when Quirrelmort 
touched him.

"Harry felt Quirrel's hand close on his wrist. At once a needle-sharp 
pain seared across Harry's scar. (PS/SS p. 213)

"Harry felt the cold tip of the long white finger touch him and 
thought his head would burst with the pain." p.566

The similarity of Harry's reaction suggests that his defence system, 
whatever it is, is working overtime in both cases. So why can 
Voldemort now touch him?

 The real difference between Quirrelmort and Voldemort is that 
possession has a weakening effect on the possessed body - Quirrel 
needed the unicorn blood to last as long as he did. 
"The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch 
from death..." ( PS/SS p. 188)
"..my possession of them [animals and quite possibly humans] 
shortened their lives; none of them lasted long ..." (p.567)

Risen Voldemort was always going to be able to touch Harry. Risen 
Voldemort is strong, healthy and magically powerful - unlike the 
weakened Quirrelmort, who couldn't withstand Harry's defences when 
they were working full blast, and died the instant Voldemort withdrew 
possession. This is the one point in the scene where we don't see 
Voldemort's misinformation at work. We are seeing Dumbledore fooling 
Voldemort ...


*** Voldemort avoids mentioning that the Weasley's are more powerful 
than Harry realises***

Voldemort remarks that he was "Not yet strong enough to risk kidnap 
in the midst of a horde of Ministry wizards. ( p. 570 )

Since Harry stays with the Weasley's for nearly two weeks after the 
QWC, Voldemort obviously doesn't feel strong enough to risk kidnap in 
the midst of a horde of Weasley's, either. Do you notice that Bill 
and Charlie Weasley continue to stay at The Burrow for the rest of 
the school holidays? So that Harry has at least one adult Weasley 
with him at all times?

"Molly, are you going to be all right taking the kids to Kings 
Cross?" ( p. 143 )

Molly says 'Of course', but later "Bill and Charlie decided to come 
and see everyone off at Kings Cross Station" ( p. 144.) 

Voldemort's speech is *not* truthful, and it is not aimed solely at 
taunting someone about to die. He avoids telling Harry his Death 
Eaters can't yet win a straight fight with the Weasley's. He tries to 
avoid having Harry realise that Dumbledore is not his only powerful 
ally. There is no reason to do that unless Voldemort thinks Harry 
might well survive.


***Is noxious vapour Voldemort helpless and desperate?***

Nope. Voldemort is quite prepared to wait ten years for the right 
person to turn up. As a young boy, he was also prepared to spend five 
years finding the Chamber of Secrets (CoS p. 230). Patience is 
definitely a Voldemort quality - he says himself: "I have waited 
thirteen years. A few more months will make no difference." ( p.14) 

It might be a pain to have to possess body after body after body 
(including some humans - note that he says "I *sometimes* inhabited 
animals" (p. 567, my emphasis), and later "I could not hope that I 
would be sent another *wizard* to possess" ( p. 568, my emphasis ) )- 
but it will keep him alive as long as he needs to wait.

Quirrel is the perfect target. He's young, not very powerful, is 
persuadable, has an appointment to teach DADA at Hogwarts, has no 
previous connections to the Death Eaters, and has an unimpeachable 
reason for travelling in Voldemort infested areas (DADA research - he 
HAS to go into dangerous areas). It would be a coincidence beyond 
belief if such a perfect subject just 'happened' to be the first 
wizard to cross Voldemort's path.

Voldemort is then prepared to wait another four years after the 
Philosophers Stone attack fails before another British wizard or two 
arrive. While he waits, he gets Malfoy to make an attack on Hogwarts 
via the Diary; just to make sure Dumbledore knows he hasn't really 
gone away. 

Note that he doesn't want just any old wizard. He wants someone he 
can use in his planned war on Dumbledore. Someone who knows the 
language and the layout, someone with useful information. The 
alternative is that the ONLY wizards to go near Voldemort in 13 years 
were all Brits. 

 [tries to rid her mind of the vision of all those vampire movies 
where the locals tell the foolish foreigners 'don't go into the 
forest, young sir and miss. There is a dark evil in the forest.' And 
then the foreigners say something like 'oh, what a sinister and 
forbidding forest. Shall we take a stroll?']


***Is there any sign Voldemort might be communicating with Death 
Eaters?***:

Voldemort has a fire going in the Riddle house (p.9) - in August.

I know British weather is notoriously unreliable ( and Voldemort's 
currently a bit of an invalid ), but honestly, having to light a fire 
in August *is* quite rare [grin]. A few days later it's warm enough 
for the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione to have an evening meal outside. 
( p.57)  Wizards all use their fires partly for 
communications.  'Amos Diggory's head was sitting in the middle of 
the flames like a large bearded egg'  (p.140); 'I haven't got long 
here...I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire', (Sirius, 
p.291).

Voldemort asks to be moved closer to the fire - for invalid-style 
warmth, or so he can contact the next DE on the list?


***The use of the Triwizard Cup sends a very spectacular 'signal' to 
Dumbledore**

Note that this works for both the Plan A and Plan B approaches. 
Voldemort has 'signalled' that he can get a spy right into 
Dumbledore's stronghold and kidnap Harry right out of the middle of 
Hogwarts, during a large, public event.

I think the reverse Portkey was primarily to give Harry a line of 
retreat, and to avoid Voldemort finding himself stuck in a run-or-die 
situation - but it would have had a nice 'signalling' use as well, if 
Plan A had worked.  Sending Harry's dead body back to Hogwarts would 
have been a very impressive 'signal'. But, IMO, not impressive enough 
to risk Harry's escape if Voldemort hadn't prepared for it.


***Why the nine month wait until Harry gets hit with the Portkey?*** 

Time. Voldemort wants Dumbledore to be concerned about the Triwizard 
Tournament, convinced that he's about to kill Harry, convinced 
throughout the Three Tasks that an attack on Harry is imminent. He 
wants Dumbledore to be looking the other way while Voldemort does 
some long term planning - like getting the giants and Dementors on 
board.

Planning the Portkey to happen at a pre-arranged time also allows 
those Death Eaters who think they might be under surveillance to find 
ways of ditching it before apparating. And the time of the final of 
the Triwizard Tournament is very much public knowledge.


***The Dementors and the Giants are misinformation aimed at forcing 
Dumbledore in a certain direction.***

What Voldemort says in the Graveyard is "the Dementors will join 
us... they are our natural allies..." ( p.564 )
This implies that he is GOING to contact the Dementors. They 'will' 
join. But when Cornelius Fudge brings a Dementor with him-
McGonagall: " The moment that - that thing entered the room, it 
swooped down on Crouch and - and -" ( p.610)

The moment it entered the room. 

Unless all four people in that room are Voldemort supporters, that 
Dementor acts so quickly that they have no time to realise what it 
was going to do before it was too late. No time to act before Crouch 
is disposed of - before he 'cannot give evidence about why he killed 
those people' ( p. 610)

Acting that quickly implies that the Dementor knew exactly what it 
had to do *before* it entered the room. It was following orders.

>From Evil!Fudge? Or directly from Voldemort? Fudge uses Dementors as 
guards - if Voldemort has *already* persuaded all or some of the 
Dementors to join him, they are in an excellent position to make sure 
any 'inconvenient' prisoners are no longer in a position to talk. 
They can do a lot of undercover damage before their true loyalties 
become completely obvious. And once their true loyalties do become 
obvious, they can then take over Azkaban, and release Voldemort's 
supporters there.

Voldemort also carefully informs Harry that he is intending to 
contact the Giants. One of the things we know from CoS and PoA is 
that Voldemort (or Lucius Malfoy, if you don't accept the 'loyal' 
argument) has *already* made at least two attempts to put Hagrid the 
Half Giant out of the way.

Hagrid, who may have a good chance of persuading his relatives that 
Dumbledore's treatment of him shows Dumbledore is genuine in wanting 
to give the Giants their 'rights and their freedom'. (p. 614) Hagrid, 
who could completely ruin any chance for Voldemort of 'recalling the 
banished giants'. (p. 564 )

But now Dumbledore *knows* Voldemort is in the process of trying to 
get the Giants on his side. He tries to get Fudge to send official 
envoys. It doesn't work. The only alternative left is to send Hagrid.

 [ Omniscient Dumbledore fans: This may well be the sort of chess-
style gambit you can't ignore, because ignoring it will lead directly 
to checkmate. Dumbledore would have no choice but to try and head 
Voldemort off - even if he has realised Voldemort told Harry this 
deliberately, and does see the trap that's looming ahead.]

But I hope Dumbledore has warned Hagrid he's probably heading into a 
trap....


*** How many faithful servants are there at Hogwarts?***

One. Voldemort says so. Very clearly indeed. Several times, in fact, 
just in case Harry has missed this point. There's just one, OK? One. 
Absolutely, totally, definitely ONE.

Honest. :-)


***What 'information' have Harry and  Dumbledore got at the end of 
the Graveyard Scene?***

Voldemort has risen again. However, he's now a raving megalomaniac 
with no common sense.  He was far too helpless during his exile to 
think about anything but survival... and those DE's, eh? Just can't 
get the staff these days... Disloyal, can't aim straight, not very 
bright...nine months after Voldemort got back to Britain, and the 
only thing he's done is prepare a potion... hasn't even thought to 
contact the Dementors or the Giants yet, so there's just time to send 
an envoy or two...He's not completely certain about Snape's betrayal, 
either, so perhaps if you try and get Snape to convince Voldemort 
that he was really a double agent all that time Snape might survive 
it ... Oh, and there's only one agent at Hogwarts. Who you've now 
caught. So that's all right, isn't it?

Which is, of course, exactly the sort of intelligence you want the 
opposing side to have, given that 'I'm so strong you don't dare start 
a fight' is probably not going to work. Not when you've had to fly 
into exile in Albania for the past few years. Leading your enemy into 
a too-early attack because they think you're weak ... directing them 
into traps ... that might work. And Voldemort's trying it.

Order of the Phoenix might be very dark indeed ...


Pip (who has now frightened herself silly about Hagrid, and is hoping 
she's got that bit wrong)
Squeak.


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