[HPforGrownups] TBAY: Fourth Man Takes A Dive

[Eileen]

No: HPFGUIDX 50213

Hanging from the rigging of the Good Ship R/Hr taking
pot shots at the H/Hers, Eileen hears a loud murmur
from Theory Bay below. Pricking her ears up, she can
almost hear the word Cindy repeated again and again.

"What's up?" asks Amy, who is crouched beneath the
railing, analyzing Ron's character for the benefit of
the shippers while trying to avoid the projectiles
flying between the two ships. 

"What's down? you mean," says Eileen frowning at the
Bay below. "Cindy's up to something. Or down to
something. You know, shipping really doesn't suit me.
I may return, but I think I'm going back to the Bay."

"It's dangerous down there," warns Amy.

"More dangerous than here?" asks Eileen, narrowly
dodging one of Ebony's posts. "I think I'll take the
chance." 

She lets go of the rigging.

Falling out of the sky is a very different and
exhilirating experience. It reminds her of nothing so
much as the time she and her brothers took the
elevator up to the 45th floor of the Biological
Science Building during Reading Week, when nobody
would stop the elevator on any floor, and rode it down
to the first floor.

She then realizes that jumping from a SHIP might not
be a good idea. In fact, it might just cause a Big
Bang when she hits the water, or the land, or the deck
of a ship. 

SPLASH!

No, that wasn't that bad, and why isn't she sinking in
the water? And who's that holding onto her shoulder?

"Stoned!Harry," she cries with joy. "You are so
*considerate*! Could you just walk me across the water
over to the Royal George."

Stoned!Harry laughs, and lets go of her.

Oh well, she'll have to swim ashore.

Now that she is back on solid ground, the murmuring
has revealed itself as shouting. 

A newspaper boy is yelling, "NEW FOURTH MAN THEORY!
CAPTAIN CINDY PEGS DOLOHOV AS CULPRIT! READ ALL ABOUT
IT! UNFORGIVABLE CURSES DIFFERENTIATION!" 

"Oh dear," says Eileen.

It's a tough job getting into the crowded tavern.
Somewhere across the room she can hear Cindy shouting
something to the crowd. 

"George, what is going on?" says Eileen, crawling
between legs to get behind the bar. "They're going to
riot."

"Do you think I don't know?" says George in an
exasperated tone. "Look, you're one of her associates.
Deal with her!"

"And why should I do that?" says Eileen. 

"Because you're very persuasive?" asks George, a
charming smile suddenly lighting up on his handsome
face. He puts his arm around her shoulder. "Are you
doing anything tonight, baby? Because I was thinking
we could go to dinner and a movie... If I can close
this tavern, of course."

Against her better judgement, Eileen melts. 

"Cindy!" she shouts above the crowd. "Cindy! I want to
hear your new theory!"

With a whoop, Cindy jumps from the table she is
standing on, and swings over on the chandelier. "It's
really cool!" she says. "It's perfect! It..."

"Does it bang?" asks Eileen.

"Of course, it bangs," says Cindy. "All my theories
bang! Listen, I've blown FourthMan!Avery out of the
water. Drowned him for good."

"Really?" says Eileen in a shock.

"Not quite. I tried to hit him about with my paddle,
but Elkins is being unreasonable protective about him.
He's over in the corner somewhere with Elkins. I'll
finish him off later."

Eileen gulps. *Aves,* she mutters under her breath,
*hang on, you'll be all right.* Aloud, she says, "So
who is the Fourth Man?"

Cindy looks annoyed. "You have to listen to my
brilliant process of elimination first."

"Spit it out!"

"All right. It's Dolohov!"

"Dolohov?"

"Yeah, Cruciatus Expert Dolohov!"

"The same Dolohov that was apprehended before the
Longbottom incident?"

"He could have been let go!" says Cindy. "Like the
Lestranges. Like Avery, for that matter. Like Bagman."

"I doubt that," says Eileen. "Ludo Bagman was found
innocent of being a Death Eater. "Talked their way out
of Azkaban," seems the same thing to me. Which is what
the Lestranges definitely did. What we insist
FourthMan!Avery did. It fits, btw, with Elkins' nice
new timeline in which Crouch's Sr's star was already
in the descent before the Longbottom affair. People
like the Lestranges, against whom he had no evidence,
*had* to be let go, just as Bagman *had* to be brought
to trial, where he was cleared, rather than sent to
Azkaban minus a trial.Judging from what Moody said
about Dolohov, and what Karkaroff said, his guilt was
pretty well established. No, Dolohov almost certainly
is in an Azkaban cell... or an Azkaban grave."

"But that's what people say about the Fourth Man,"
complains Cindy. "And you pay them no heed."

"Because," says Eileen. "We know that Avery did get
himself out of a spot of trouble by claiming Imperius.
Nowhere in canon does it indicate that Dolohov got out
of a spot of trouble. In fact, it indicates the
opposite." 

"It doesn't add up," says Cindy stubbornly. "This has
always bothered me about Avery as Fourth Man.  I mean,

if he talked his way out of Azkaban once claiming he
was under the Imperius Curse and then attacked the
Longbottoms, how on earth can he claim he acted under
Imperius a second time?"

"Cindy!" says Eileen in an exasperated tone. "That's
not the current state of the theory. It took a long,
long time to work out all the details. Death Eater
Cells. Stray canons. It was all most perplexing. Yes,
we made some slip-ups along the way. But these days,
the best form of the theory states that Avery got out
of trouble the first time around the same reason that
Ludo Bagman did, the same way that the Lestranges
seemed to have done. Crouch Sr. had no evidence
against them. The Imperius defense comes later. It's
the defense Avery uses to get out of Azkaban *after*
the Longbottom incident."

"Just how gullible is Crouch Sr. supposed to be,
anyway?  Crouch Sr. is *way* too smart to release
Avery a second time like that.  No, it just plain
doesn't work."

Eileen stares at her. "Fudge. Not Crouch. Fudge
released  Avery the second time around. Or is this
some AU where Crouch became Minister for Magic? The
first time, Crouch was forced to release Avery,
because had *nothing* on him! Just like Ludo Bagman
and the Lestranges. Crouch wouldn't have enjoyed it at
all. You're right about that. But I'm not seeing how
he had a choice."

"But if if Avery were one of the Pensieve Four, he
would *never* behave like he does in the graveyard. 
He wouldn't beg forgiveness."

"Cindy, that's one our proofs for Fourth!Man, or have
you forgotten?"

"No, it isn't. The Pensieve Four are the only DEs who
tried to find Voldemort.  They were loyal.  They ought
to be treated like heroes, right?"

"Yes," says Eileen drily. "They ought to. And three of
them are praised to the sky. Voldemort never mentions
the fourth. Funny that."

"But if Avery were the Fourth Man he'd step forward
and say, 'Master *I* tried to find you! I tortured
that miserable Frank Longbottom such that he'll never
trouble anyone again! But beg forgiveness?  Fourth Man
*beg forgiveness?*  Fourth Man has nothing to
apologize for."

"He doesn't, does he?" asks Eileen. "Is that why
Voldemort so pointedly avoids praising him?"

"Well, what does FourthMan!Avery have to apologize
for?"  says Cindy.

"FourthMan!Avery repudiated Voldemort, woman! He fully
co-operated with Fudge every step of the way. That
would have involved handing over a substantial chunk
of information that he learnt under "Imperius." And
then, he spent the rest of his time collecting
stamps..."

"Yellow Flag!" shouts Cindy.

"Forget the stamps. The point is that Avery, the
ever-so-loyal Avery, didn't make an effort to find
Voldemort after that. He was a pathetic failure.
Combine that with being a nervous personality and we
get graveyard Avery."

"But Avery isn't a Cruciatus specialist."

"I'm sorry?"

"Avery isn't a Cruciatus specialist. You see, the DEs
were all divided into specialties. And Avery isn't a
Cruciatus specialist."

"Which page was that on? No, wait a second, where did
you get this idea about specialists?"

"Mulciber was an Imperius specialist, so I figure it
stands to reason that the others might have
specialized in things. Dolohov is only mentioned to
have tortured people. So he's a Cruciatus specialist.
Barty Crouch Jr. only Imperio'es people so he's a
Imperius specialist."

"Cindy, Crouch Jr. KILLED his father?"

"We don't know how exactly Crouch Jr. killed 
his father - he only tells us that he 'killed [his]
father."

"You think he hit him over the head with a blunt
object a few times?" asks Eileen in disbelief.

"It's possible," says Cindy delicately. 

"So.
Mr.-I-Was-Under-Imperius-For-Eleven-Years-And-Couldn't-Kick-It-Till-Voldemort-Came-Back-And-The-Other-Death-Eaters-Got-Me-Really-Bad-After-Which-I-Went-Back-To-Being-Under-The-Imperius-Curse!Crouch
Jr. now has the strength of will to be an Imperius
specialist for Voldemort. Charming."

"Isn't it great?" says Cindy. "And Pettigrew's an
Avada Kedavra specialist because he killed Cedric and
blew up all those Muggles?"

"He blew up the Muggles with Avada Kedavra?" asks
Eileen puzzled.

"Details, Schmeetails," says Cindy rapidly. "Anyway,
he was terrible with Imperius. Crouch Jr. tells us
that 'Wormtail neglected his duty.  He was not
watchful enough.'  Keeping Crouch Sr. under Imperius
was a job way too big for Wormtail, that was the
problem."

"That would be why *Voldemort* did it."

"Voldemort?" says Cindy.

"Yes, "My father was placed under the Imperius curse
by my master," says Eileen with a pained smile.
"Pettigrew's fault was, as you've said, that he wasn't
*watchful* enough. Didn't keep Crouch properly locked
up. Though, of course, it wasn't really Pettigrew's
fault was it? Just like..."

"Just like what?"

Eileen stares blankly at the floor. "Just like Crouch
and Winky at the QWC... George, a glass of whiskey."

"Travers was an  AK specialist," Cindy continues
confidently.  "Karkaroff says 'There was Travers - he
helped murder the McKinnons!'"

Eileen is still staring at the floor.

"And so Dolohov was a Cruciatus expert. Dolohov didn't
just cast the Cruciatus Curse one time, did he?  No,
he hurled that Curse 'countless' times.  And Karkaroff
is very specific, isn't he?  He suggests that Dolohov
is quite expert at torturing Muggles and Wizards
alike."

"He does?" says Eileen. "Saying the man was a lunatic
sadist and saying he was an expert seem to me two
different things. But, given that somehow every
objection to this lovely scheme could be overcome,
where's the Bang?"

"The what?" asks Cindy.

"The Bang. You're replaced Snape's old schoolmate and
friend with some unknown Slavic sadist. You'd better
have a Bang here."

"Well..."

"I thought so," says Eileen. 

"I'm going to have to think about this," says Cindy.
She hops over the bar, and walks towards the door,
buried in reverie.

"Good job!" says George, hastily turning away from the
brunette with whom he had been flirting. "What do you
say I go and rev up the Missus? I'll pick you up out
front in fifteen minutes."

Eileen

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