[HPforGrownups] Re: OOP - Veritaserum

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 66913

Andrea wrote:

> Does anyone else wonder why Harry was not just given Veritaserum by 
> the ministry in lieu of his sham of a hearing?  Aside from the 
> obviously ploy by the ministry to find him guilty and get him out of 
> the way regardless of of the rules?  I find it odd that Dumbledore 
> would parade a dubious witness (At least in the MOM's eyes) that 
they 
> could easily find fault with instead of offering the path of least 
> resistance...aka let Harry drink the serum and satisfy the members 
of 
> the jury.  For that matter, why did they not administer the serum to 
> Harry at the end of GoF, to verify his version of events to the 
> ministry, thus ensuring them that LV had returned to power??

Now me (Wendy):

Others have speculated that veritaserum is either not admissible in a court
proceeding (much like Muggle lie detector tests in the U.S.), or has some
nasty side effect. While these things may very well be true, I don't think
they have anything to do with Fudge's non-use of veritaserum in the trial.
IMO, Fudge wasn't interested in the "truth" at all. You said it yourself -
the trial was a sham. Fudge was trying to railroad Harry out of Hogwarts
and into a lot of trouble as part of a whole set of things which happened
over that summer to try and discredit Harry so no one would believe him
about Voldemort's return. Fudge has been inconsistent in administering the
law - either underage wizardry isn't a big deal (which explains Fudge's
non-action after Harry "blew up" Aunt Marge, and his treatment of Harry in
OoP is inconsistent), or underage wizardy *is* a big deal (in which case
Fudge's non-action regarding Aunt Marge is the inconsistency). If I were
trying to use the legal system in a fradulent way to further my own ends, I
certainly wouldn't want to administer any *truth* serum to any of the
witnesses! <g>

I think this answer also applies to the second part of your question - why
not give Harry the serum at the end of GoF? This does seem a lot harder to
justify as "Fudge didn't want to know the truth," but I do think that was
really what happened here. At no time at the end of GoF did Fudge appear to
even *consider* the fact that Voldemort might have returned. He just didn't
want to know. And he even doubted what he was told of Barty Jr's testimony
(which was delivered under veritaserum). Maybe this is a clue to the reason
we don't see it being used to prove guilt or innocence more often: GoF page
611 (UK hardcover) Fudge says, " Crouch may have *believed* himself to be
acting upon You-Know-Who's orders - but to take the word of a lunatic like
that . . . ." So perhaps veritaserum is not understood to force some
absolute truth from a witness, but just what he or she believes to be the
truth (this seems to be the way Fudge understands the potion to work,
anyhow). So even if they had given Harry veritaserum at some point, Fudge
could have countered with, "Well, we all know the boy is deeply disturbed.
Can't believe anything he says." 

Makes veritaserum seem a bit less useful than it appeared at first glance,
but maybe it is really Fudge's interpretation that is faulty here. As MfM,
his word does carry some weight - I suppose if he's willing to doubt
testimony under veritaserum, others might go along with him. Dumbledore
does seem to trust the potion, after all. Hmmnh. Not sure this actually
answers your question at all. Perhaps we'll learn a bit more about the
potion in the future. 

Cheers!
Wendy