Dark Magic Power Boosts, Adrenaline-Inspired Power Boosts

[ssk7882]

No: HPFGUIDX 40392

Aldrea wrote, in response to my suggestion that allegiance to Dark 
powers might imbue wizards with an increase in magical potency:

> Yes, that makes good sense. I was afraid for a moment while I read 
> your post that Young Crouch's knowledge seemed a bit FLINT-y...I 
> mean, he only escaped his father on the night of the Quidditch 
> World Cup, correct? 

Yeah.  And I don't even think that he really escaped then.  Not for 
any length of time, anyway.  He was stunned in the woods, wasn't he?  
In his confession, he speaks of Wormtail and Baby!Voldemort showing 
up at his father's door.  I'd imagined that Crouch Sr. waited until 
the coast was clear and then retrieved his son, dragged him back 
home, and put him right back under that Imperius Curse. Or maybe this 
time he went for Imperius-plus-chains-and-semi-starvation, just to be 
on the safe side.  At any rate, I don't get the impression that 
Crouch really escaped for *good* until Voldemort came to set him 
free. 

> That didn't leave him that much time to kidnap Moody, regain his 
> strength, learn the things he needs to know to play a convincing 
> Alastor Moody and a very knowledgeable DA teacher- plus contact 
> Voldie to set up that ever-so-intricate Triwizard Portkey Cup plot. 

No, it didn't, although I'm pretty sure that Voldemort came up with 
the ever-so-intricate plot all on his little lonesome.  He speaks of 
it to Wormtail even before the QWC.  And in his confession, Barty 
claims that Voldemort showed up at the door, Imperio'd his father, 
and *then* asked him if he was willing to serve.  I don't get the 
impression that he had much to do with the actual planning of the 
scheme at all.

(It does make you wonder, though, doesn't it, what Voldemort would 
have done if Crouch had said "no?"  I mean, *was* there a Plan B?)


> Soo...becoming a DE means a nice boost in some of your magicalness- 
> that's what you're saying, correct? 

It would account for a lot.  Crouch's competence, Peter's competence, 
the seductive appeal of Dark magic to the ambitious.  And it's 
certainly got genre precedent on its side.

It also just occurred to me the other day that if we assume (as I 
think that we must) that the Dark Mark represents a powerful and 
profound form of mystical bond between Voldemort and his followers, 
then many of the events at the QWC can be viewed as partly a 
reflection of Voldemort's growing physicality, as well as his return 
to British shores.

Why *was* Crouch only able to throw off his father's Imperius at the 
QWC, after so many years of being unable to resist it?  For that 
matter, why had his ability to resist it started growing stronger in 
the very recent past?  In his confession, he says: 

"'But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger.  I was starting 
to fight my father's Imperius Curse.  There were times when I was 
almost myself again.  There were brief periods when I seemed outside 
his control.'"

That's interesting, isn't it?  *Why?*  Why was he growing stronger?  
It would seem more likely to me that one would grow less and less 
capable of resisting magical mental domination the longer one had 
spent under its sway.  Especially after a decade or so, I wouldn't 
expect someone to be "growing stronger."  Rather, I would expect for 
their will to be utterly degraded.  Crouch makes it sound as if this 
was a fairly recent state of affairs, this new ability to resist the 
Curse, to be "almost himself again," if only for short periods of 
time.

Could it be that this new state of affairs dated from exactly the 
same time as Voldemort's incorporation into his Evil Baby body?  
Perhaps the mere fact of Voldemort's gaining a physical presence was 
enough to strengthen his servant Barty's will.  It does make you 
wonder, doesn't it?  If the Dark Mark represents a direct link to 
Voldemort, then one wonders if whatever power the Death Eaters once 
derived from their unholy alliance with the Dark side (the magical 
mark of their corruption) might have started slowly to return to them 
over the course of GoF, just as the Dark Mark (the physical mark of 
their corruption) gradually returned to visible status.

If so, then this might also explain why so many of the DEs felt 
emboldened enough to follow Lucius Malfoy in his little spot of 
Muggle torture at the World Cup.  I've always been a bit bothered by 
that.  I mean, these guys have been lying low for thirteen *years* 
at this point in the story.  All evidence up to the QWC has pointed 
to the notion that the very *last* thing that Voldemort's old 
followers do is to go about making their allegiance known.  Lucius 
Malfoy cautions his son against appearing hostile to Harry Potter, for
example.  We certainly never hear about any DE rallies going on.  
Drunk or no, the ex-DEs clearly haven't been in the habit of making 
their presence known in public places before the QWC.  Just look at 
how shocked many of the people at the Cup are, to see men marching 
around in DE masks and hoods harrassing Muggles.  Even before the 
Dark Mark appears, people are screaming and panicking.  This is 
obviously neither an expected nor a usual event.

So what happened?  What happened to embolden the DEs so?  Was it 
really just a matter of strong drink?  Or was it, perhaps, due to 
their newly reactivated direct link with Dark forces, awakened by 
both Voldemort's newly corporated state and by the physical proximity 
of his recent return to British soil?


> Well, what an intersting light this puts Ex-Death Eater Snape in. 
> Dear Potions-Master Snape...what did he do to get that title, eh? 
> <grin> 

Heh.  My, my, my.  I hadn't thought of that, myself.

Aw, but Snape renounced his wicked ways.  I'll bet you lose a lot of 
your special Dark magic superpowers when you do that.  Your strength 
is as the strength of one, because your heart is pure.  


> I like your agruements on Pettigrew's talent. He's always described 
> as a poor wizard, yet he has definately shown himself as being a 
> formidable opponent. This could be that the Power Surge theory 
> stands true..or it could be because of Pettigrew's own nature. I 
> believe each of the times he shows some great magical powers is 
> when he is extremely threatened/stress/trying to save his own skin. 

That's an interesting notion.  It does, as you point out, have 
precedent in the examples we are given of wizarding children, whose 
magical talent does seem to manifest itself most strongly when their 
emotions are strongly engaged.  It also has some precedent in 
Neville, whose magic becomes far more powerful (if also far more wild 
and uncontrolled) when he is frightened or under stress.

> So Sirius *corners* the terrified man...and as he is, as I 
> undoubtebly believe Sirius did do, threatened by the wizard 
> cornering him he just sort of goes BOOM with his wand. . . .
> He hits the deck and, seizing the moment, goes rat (Ha, you can't 
> argue that the boom would have killed him if he hadn't perfectly 
> timed the Animagus transformation...Sirius didn't die, who was 
> standing close enough to Peter to call it "cornering" him.).

Mmmmm.  

<Elkins toys with her SYCOPHANTS badge, then shakes her head 
regretfully>

Oh, I don't just know about this.  Much as it does always appeal to 
me to try to defend the little rat (and by the way, I do agree with 
you that Sirius was indeed "cornering" him with hostile intent.  He's 
got a nasty temper, you know, that Sirius Black), he does take the 
time to deliver his "Lily and James, how COULD you" line, doesn't 
he?  That just doesn't work for me somehow as the action of someone 
in a state of desperate terror firing off a spell in a moment of pure 
panic.  That speaks to me of at least some degree of premeditation.  
As does the finger bit.  Really, it's just far too elaborate a frame-
up job for me to believe as an on-the-spot decision.  It had to have 
been planned ahead of time, and if it was, then Peter must have had 
some reason to believe that he *would* be capable of pulling off a 
big enough "Go BOOM" spell to make others accept that he had been 
vaporized by it.

> The Shrieking Shack- same thing. He was being threatened with 
> death/life in Azkaban...that would probably terrify some magic into 
> him. 

It certainly doesn't render him capable of wandless magic, though, 
does it?  He isn't able to do a thing for himself at the point at 
which he is by far the most terrified: when he's actually about to be 
killed.  It doesn't even seem to occur to him to try.  He just
grovels and weeps.

And his actual escape strikes me as far more bloodlessly competent 
than panicked.  Whether or not his framing of Sirius required perfect 
timing, his escape at the end of PoA *certainly* did.  His window of 
opportunity opens, and he acts.  It's split-second.  And it's not just
an explosive BOOM spell either.  He chooses his targets rationally.  
He hits Ron, because Ron is standing the closest to him and is an 
immediate threat.  He hits Crookshanks because Crookshanks is running 
towards him and so is the next most immediate threat.  That leaves him
a clear field to transform, so long as he does so before Harry and 
Hermione can fire off any spells, and that's precisely what he does.

It doesn't seem much like an act of panic to me.  

> And also, this could be why Voldemort is always 
> torturing/berating/yelling at Wormtail- he's trying to terrify some 
> magic into the man, and at the same time being all I'm-An-Evil-
> Overlord-Who-Doesn't-Give-A-Damn-About-Anyone's-Feelings.

But we never see Voldemort actually tormenting him right *before* 
he's called upon to do any magic, do we?  He certainly is in quite 
the state in the graveyard, but it seems to me to be more 
anticipatory terror than the after-effects of yet another Suffering
Minion Moment.  We don't, for example, get treated to any Minion 
Abuse scenes right before he is called upon to perform Voldemort's 
rebirthing ritual, which I think that we probably would if Peter 
really required abuse to perform up to snuff magically.


> I'm not trying to shoot down this Power Boost stuff(it actually 
> fits pretty well in the series)...just tyring to make sure it can 
> stand on two legs. 

Sure.  I personally think that "Allegiance to Dark forces gives you 
power" fits in quite well with everything we've seen in canon, as 
well as what has been implied by the way in which people talk about 
Dark wizardry.  It does seem to be viewed as a *temptation.*  For it 
to be an effective temptation, then it must give you something 
pretty *good,* don't you think?



-- Elkins