Harry will be accused and locked up in Azkaban

[m.bockermann at t-online.de]

No: HPFGUIDX 49787

Hi Kathleen! Hi everybody!

Since I have been online for a couple of days, I'm a bit late with my Re,
but better late than never.


>>>>To my knowledge, it has not been raised in any previous
posting.  If it has, please bring me up to date.

I haven't seen it yet. Though I don't post often, I tend to follow such
threads closely.

First off: I think your theory has some merit and I want to add some support
to it. But I have a few questions as well... maybe you have some ideas?


>>>When Harry confronts Voldemort, Voldemort
tries to win him over by promising the return of his parents.  Harry
refuses Voldemort....but does anyone else witness it?  The only
people present are Voldemort, Quirrel,(who dies), and Harry.  Ron and
Hermione, through a series of plot twistings, have been left behind.
Harry faces Voldemort alone.  We the readers are privy to his triumph
over evil, but who else could come to his defense if his loyalties
were called into question?  Of course Dumbledore believes him, but he
has only Harry's word that Voldemort was thwarted by Harry.

This brings me to my first question: what would cause people to believe that
Harry would choose Voldemort? He killed his parents after all. There are
only two arguements I can't think off and both don't make me very happy. The
one idea is that Harry is mentally sick, the other that he is so greedy for
power that he would ignore everything else.

There is actually canon support that there are at least some people who
would buy the first explanation: Rita's final article in GoF. While we the
readers know the quality of our favourite yellow press writer, people in the
wizarding world do not. They tend to believe her (see Molly's reaction to
Hermione before the final trial) and in her last article she questioned
Harry's sanity and speculated if he was a danger. Somebody *is bound* to
believe her.


>>>To an outsider, it
would seem that Voldemort has grown more powerful, not weaker, after
his encounter with Harry in Book one.

True.


>>>Fawkes arrives, but could he defend Harry before
the Ministry?

Unlikely. Even if it would turn out that he could speak (which I doubt), I
am certain that the wizarding courts would not accept testimony of a
non-human. This I derive from the way the house-elves are treated.


>>>Could not the accusation be made that these so
called "confrontations" with Voldemort are actually trysts held in
the deepest of secrecy, with no witnesses?  Could Harry be accused of
being in league with Voldemort?   Of actually bringing Voldemort to
power?  Perhaps in hopes that Voldemort will bring his parents back?

"Yes" to the first questions. The last one... ? I can only see that under
the assumption that the claim will be made that Harry would not believe that
Voldemort really killed his parents but believed instead some lies.


>>>Harry is already openly suspected of being the heir of Slytherin and
under further suspicion for being a parseltongue.

Indeed. You raise an interersting point here. CoS is the least liked book by
many here. Maybe, because it seems as if its plot is removed from the rest
of the storyline. But it shows us two important points: 1) Even though Harry
is everybody's darling most of the time (especially SS and Rita's articles
in GoF), his reputation can be doubted and that his integrety can be
compromised. This prepares us for the second time Harry suffers popular
disdain in GoF (after he is chosen as the fourth champion). It's quite
likely that it would also pave the way for another wave of rejection and
disapproval. 2) Even though Harry might be freed from the accusation of
attacking the muggle-born students, I am not so sure the suspicions about
his being tainted because of his Parseltongue ability are equally put to
rest. People might not think of him as the heir of Slytherin any more, but
speaking Parsel appears to be a "go to Slytherin" card and people might
wonder and question why he did not actually go to Slytherin. I have always
felt that Harry's reaction to the Speaking Hats musings would backfire one
day... Would being faced in a trial with the question of "why did you try to
get into Gryffindor/why did you refuse Slytherin?" do the trick. Whatever it
may be, if it really did not matter, JKR would have let him tell Hermione
and Ron by know. Dito for his wand.
I was never sure about the kind of backfire, though, but your theory offers
a possibility.


>>>Would it not seem suspicious to those
not yet fully convinced of Black's innocence that Harry has not only
rescued Black, but is keeping in contact with him?

It might be misinterpreted as Harry being under Black's influence. In a
Imperius-curse-kind of way.



>>>Harry
encounters Voldemort, and returns with a dead Cedric and Voldemort
more powerful than ever!  We know Harry is innocent, again,
Dumbledore believes him.  But, no one else witnessed what happened
except Voldemort, the Death Eaters and Cedric...now dead.  If Harry's
crush on Cho Chang comes to light, won't that cast him under even
more suspicion as a jealous rival of Cedric's perhaps?

Right. I was amazed that nobody seemed to blame Harry, not even his parents.
But: 1) There might already be accusers that DD and the others keep away
from Harry while he copes with grief and shock. Note that the last chapter
begins with the statement that looking back, Harry can't recall much of the
events after Cedric's death (not a direct quote, yes). So we have no idea
what happened in that time. 2) As before, popular opinion is a wind that can
change its direction any time. Amos Diggery might be swayed quickly if
evidence is produced to blame Harry.


>>>The MoM will want the WW to know that
they "have their man" and continue to ignore/facilitate the rise of
Voldemort. They will either accuse Harry of bringing Voldemort back
to power or of using Voldemort as a scapegoat for the evil things
Harry himself has done.

I like the scapegoat theory. It fits to Fudge's display of disbelieve at the
end of GoF.


>>>Ron and Hermione will of course rush to Harry's defense, but won't
all their rule breaking come back to haunt them?  Ginny and Cho will
try to defend him, but the romantic quandrys they are entangled in
will come to light, complicating things.  Mr. and Mrs. Weasley will
try to protect him... but won't Arthur Weasley's smudged reputation
with the MoM come back to haunt him?

I don't think that the adults will take the teenage romances so seriously,
but I agree with you on the rest.


>>>What about Fred and George?  Could they defend him? Maybe, but Harry
recently gave them his winnings from the tournament...hmmm... could
he be accused of buying their defense?  Percy will be the one to
watch..will he side with the MoM or Harry? Could this trial divide
the Weasley family in two?

Interesting point about the twins... but I'm more suspicious of Percy. You
will many discussions in the archive concerning the possibility that he will
turn his back on his family, being a stubborn rule-follower and being the
outsider of his family. I'd say that he will err but return finally.

>>>I would greatly enjoy hearing comments on this theory.  This is my
first post since I am new.

Well, welcome here. Guess I am not the only voice of doom and evil here
anymore. :-)

Take care,
Ethanol