The Death Eaters Are Off Their Game?

[Kristen]

No: HPFGUIDX 71889

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "euco_lypt" <euco_lypt at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> Dan wrote:
> > > I found the Department of Mysteries fight scenes rather strange 
> > and... dare I say, Unbelievable? Here we have a handful of 
> students who for the longest time beat the living Spam out of a 
bunch 
> of qualified evil wizards and witches ... <snip> Sure, they were 
trying 
> to get the prophecy back to Lord Thingy, but there were plenty of 
times 
> they could've killed/seriously injured one of the kids. <snip>... 
were 
> they just forgetting that they're the bad guys who are supposed to 
be 
> more skilled and underhanded than a couple teenagers?
> 
> Marianne:
> > What I found hard to believe was the scene before the fight even 
> > started -  <snip>  The whole bit about muttering under his breath 
> to Hermione or whoever was near him seemed a bit of a 
> > stretch.  <snip>  Apparently, this escaped their notice. >>>
>  
> 
> Yes I agree, what I found really stange was that one of the DE must 
> of put a cheering charm on Ron.....maybe too much so that he was 
> laughing so hard.  Why would you bother as a DE to do something 
like 
> that when you can do plenty of nasty charms instead?!
> Maybe it is the DE that need the cheering charm!   :)
> 
> bereca

I believe that the DE's didn't believe that the children posed any 
real threat to them. They aren't like Voldemort. They don't kill at 
the drop of a hat or they would have killed the lot of them and 
concentrated on retrieving the Prophecy from Harry. I have one 
exception though...Bellatrix Lestrange is dangerous. 

Harry's mutterings at the others were of no consequence. They all 
could have been shouting at each other for that matter. The DE's were 
sure that the children were cornered and had no way out.

Once the battle began, the DE's used spells and enchantments that 
would inhibit and humiliate the children to show them "who the boss" 
was. The childrens' expertise at defense came as a surprised to them. 

If the Prophecy hadn't been destroyed, Bellatrix surely would have 
obtained it and she would have killed the entire lot. Actually, if 
the OoP hadn't shown up when it did, the children were doomed 
Prophecy in hand or not, Bellatrix was not going to let any of them 
out of there alive. The question remains though...if Voldemort 
couldn't kill Harry, can Bellatrix? Maybe not, but she surely can 
send him to St. Mungo's a mental vegetable.