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

Thu Jan 30 03:10:56 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 51052

Kathleen:"Good point about the strategic value of keeping the WW in
disbelief about the return of Voldemort....however, to continue that
ploy, there would be three other deaths they would have to explain. 1.
Bertha Jorkins, 2. Frank Bryce (although this death may not be as
significant) 3. Crouch Sr. At least two of these deaths will need to
be explained somehow, even if they pin Cedric's death on Harry. Will
they attribute the deaths to Harry? How?"

It's not clear how much notice has been taken of these deaths.  We
know Bertha's been murdered, but the wizard population doesn't, not
that we've heard about yet.  She's just missing. (Don't forget, we
readers have all the inside information, and the wizarding public
doesn't usually know as much as we do.)  Nobody in the WW except
Dumbledore appears either to know or care about Frank. His
disappearance was in the Muggle papers, not the Prophet.

Crouch Sr. is a problem.  The fact Crouch Jr. was alive is going to be
a big story if it gets out, and people will be willing to believe Jr.
did it as revenge against his father. For once, what the public
believes will be close to the truth, but what they won't hear is the
'faithful servant of a revived Voldemort' part.

Kathleen:"One possibility would be if Crouch Sr.'s death was pinned on
Hagrid...after all...his "bone" transfigured body was buried outside
Hagrid's hut. How long will it take for Fang to dig it up and leave it
lying around Hagrid's place? As for Bertha Jorkins...this would be a
little tougher to explain without including Voldemort...unless someone
went out to Albania to search for her body."

The Crouch Junior revenge story is good enough, unless Fudge decides
to keep it quiet.  Then they'll need a scapegoat, and your scenario
could come into effect.  This only works if Dumbledore, Harry, and
McGonagall are discredited first, because they know the truth. Snape
doesn't count because he's gone underground.  Unlike Bertha, I don't
think they can just let Crouch Senior stay missing.

Kathleen:"Also, don't forget the Dark Mark conjured with Harry's
wand...checked by Amos Diggory himself. Both Crouch Jr. and Crouch Sr.
can no longer take credit for/explain that mystery."

I wonder what happened to Barty Junior's body? If you can produce the
corpus delicti of someone everybody thought was dead for years, maybe
you can explain it.

Kathleen:"In addition, the MoM would have to explain the appearance of
the Dark Mark on Snape's arm, as well as the disappearance of
Karkaroff. I guess leaving Voldemort out of the picture could
work....and certainly would be desirable strategically, but would the
WW believe fabricated explanations for all of the other Voldemort
related deaths and disappearances?"

Snape's gone underground and Karkaroff has flown; no Dark Marks to
exhibit. Snape, if he returns to Hogwarts, will be working as a double
agent, so he can't come forward to corroborate Dumbledore's story and
have any chance of preserving his cover.

I realize the difficulties in keeping the knowledge of Voldemort's
rebirth quiet, BUT:

** I feel sure the Death Eaters will try hard to keep the public from
becoming alert to Voldemort's return. That suits Fudge just fine,
since he doesn't want to believe Voldemort's back.  Yes, they might fail.

** The wizarding public won't want to feel that there's a threat, so
they'll be very willing to buy into anything that makes them feel less
threatened.  The public knows less than we readers do anyway.

** The MoM (Fudge's MoM, anyway) will work to convince the public
Voldemort hasn't returned, and you should go about your normal
buisness, etc. etc.

** Rita (unless Hermione has fixed her wagon really well) will be more
than willing to provide all the scapegoats anyone could desire.  OTOH,
I have faith in our girl, RoughJustice!Hermione, to take care of Rita
decisively.

BTW, Tanya asks who the next chief of Magical Law Enforcement will be?
Well, we don't know who the current chief is, but I fear who the next
one will be: Alden MacNair.

Jim Ferer, fearing he's making the HP series sound like it had been
written by John Le Carre instead of JKR.