Harry Will Be Accused and Locked up in Azkaban/ His Escape

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50905


Kathleen writes:

I think Lucius, with the grief stricken/egotistical 
Amos Diggory's help, could devise a believable motive. I could see a 
scene where Cho Chang, at the prompting of Amos Diggory, takes the 
stand. "Yes, *sob*, *sob*, Harry might have been jealous of Cedric. 
Yes,*sob*, he asked me to the Yule Ball. Yes, Cedric did beat him to 
the snitch during that Quidditch match his third year", (etc).

Lucius NEEDS to discredit Harry, namely because Harry has witnessed 
his loyalty to Lord Voldemort as a Death Eater. It is either accuse 
or be accused. Lucius may even play the "concerned parent" card and 
fear that his precious Draco, (hexed by Harry and Co. on the train) 
may be the next victim. 


I reply:
Ooooh, that's such a good idea. I hadn't considered that Lucius would 
try
something like that. And you're right and thorough.  Especially the 
stuff about
Diggory and about Cho Chang.

But, still, I'm not sure I agree. Already, we know that Fudge doesn't 
believe Harry.  
Lucius is an *exonerated* Death Eater. It could easily be played off 
that Harry's 
lost it, or that he's trying to get back at Lucius for anything 
related to Draco and/or
the Weasley family. 

However, judging by the way Fudge receives the information in the 
infirmary, 
and judging by the fact that B.Crouch, Jr. is now soulless and unable
to testify, I'm not sure that Lucius will have to worry too much. 
They can portray 
Harry as nuts, but Azkaban? Highly doubtful. AND, at the beginning of 
PoA, 
when Harry meets Fudge in the Leaky Cauldron, doesn't Fudge actually 
*laugh* 
at the notion of Harry going to Azkaban?


Kathleen writes:
Harry escapes [Azkaban] the same way Sirius does! By becoming an 
Animagus! 

I reply:
I'm not crystal on this, but I thought it took years to perfect the 
animagical ability.
Does someone have PoA handy to verify the canon on this?


Jim writes:
The Death Eaters need to neutralize their two main enemies,
Prof. Dumbledore and Harry, and deprive them of their main base,
Hogwarts. But again, they don't want the wizarding public to wake up
to Voldemort's presence, because they're likely to demand action from
Fudge or start listening to Dumbledore. So they have to find
alternatives:

** accuse Harry of killing Cedric himself so that he could win the
Triwizard Cup himself, which fits in with the "glory-hunter" image 
<snip>

** portray Harry as a nutter <snip>

** Play up the Draco incident on the train <snip>

** concoct a story that Dumbledore and Harry are conspiring to make
Dumbledore the next Dark Lord

I reply:
Some good thoughts on how this might come about. After all, you're 
*all* right - the 
Death Eaters are going to have to neutralize both Harry and 
Dumbledore... somehow.  And knowing JKR, in order to beef up the 
tension, they're going to have to at least
partially succeed.

But, all the same, I'm just not sure that Azkaban is the way to do 
it. Remember,
Harry is a heroic icon to most of the WW.  It seems unlikely, no 
matter how 
crazy he seems, that they'll agree to lock the child hero in Azkaban.

St. Mungo's? Now there's an interesting possibility - especially if 
the Longbottoms 
are still there.  And it's more acceptable to put a kid in St. 
Mungo's than it is to put 
him in Azkaban.

And then again, if he did go to Azkaban, it'd be interesting to see 
what happens when/if 
Voldemort calls on them as his natural allies.

-Tom