[HPforGrownups] What If... Dumbledore had included Fudge in GoF Ch.35?

[Taryn Kimel]

No: HPFGUIDX 55182

Tom:
Fudge. If Fudge had been there (and it wouldn't have been that 
difficult to include him) things would have been very different at 
the end of GoF.

Me:
I'm going to have to disagree. Not that it absolutely couldn't be different, but there's still a large possibility that it wouldn't. After all, Fudge heard Crouch say he was working under Voldemort's instructions but /believed him to be crazy/. It's certainly very likely that he would have said the same thing after hearing Crouch's confession to Dumbledore and the rest. As your writing also depends on a Fudge who is NOT a secret DE (which I personally believe), I'll take it from that perspective. Looking from this point of view, Fudge's denial is an almost instinctive reaction happening out of fear. It's an impossibility to his mind, so his mind chooses not to believe it. In such a case, it would take something extremely weighty to snap such strong denial, and Crouch's formal confession still might not have cut it.

--Taryn

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