Who's who (Was Re: Snapes assignment)

[Ersatz Harry]

No: HPFGUIDX 59994

Not so fast.

It does seem unlikely that one DE (Fudge, if he is one) would order up
a Dementor's Kiss for another DE (Crouch), unless it was authorized by
Voldemort, who would have to have had some reason for ordering young
Crouch's effective execution.  Granted, the timing seems tight for
Voldemort to materialize, send the order to Fudge, duel with Harry, etc.

But imagine if it was pre-arranged, with Voldemort communicating
something like the following to Fudge:  "I am still alive, but do not
yet have a proper body.  Should my plan succeed, your Dark Mark will
let you know, and I want you to eliminate Crouch/Moody as soon as you
can before he can give away any information."  Such a move is hardly
rewarding a helper (as Voldemore says he does when he gives Wormtail a
new hand), but I could nonetheless imagine Voldemort doing this.

As far as the objection that Snape would not have had time to make any
polyjuice potion, well, perhaps he keeps some on hand -- do you just
let it simmer until needed? -- so that all he needed to do was add a
bit of young Crouch when the time came.  Now Snape presumably did not
know that Apparent!Moody was really Crouch, so Dumbledore and Snape
would have to have discussed the possibility beforehand somehow ("if
some DE turns up in disguise, Severus, you may need to take on that
DE's identity").  Might be a good reason for keeping a former DE on
staff, yes?  Then again, we could get close to Magic Dishwasherish and
assume that Dumbledore really did know all along that Apparent!Moody
was really Crouch...

Let's imagine further how this could play out:  Snape-as-Crouch goes
to Voldemort (they both presumably have Dark Marks, so the change in
bodies is not a problem).  Voldemort sees an Apparent!Crouch and
either thinks that Fudge has not yet gotten the job done (or has
decided not to do it) or suspects that polyjuice potion is at work. 
Just to set a trap, Voldemore decides to string the Apparent!Crouch
along for a bit and pretend to be taken in.

By and by, Fudge hears from Voldemort asking hey what happened? Fudge
in turn is now unsure if he had the real Crouch kissed, or if it was
someone who had polyjuiced into Crouch.  (I don't even think we as
readers can say for sure whether it was the real Crouch or
someone-else-as-Crouch who got kissed.)  IIRC, Fudge saw Snape after
an Apparent!Crouch was kissed, so he probably wouldn't suspect Snape
unless we get into some elaborate polyjuice chain; in fact, that might
be enough to convince Fudge (and Voldemort) that the real Crouch was
kissed.  If it was only an Apparent!Crouch that was kissed, there
would eventually be a breakdown in someone's ability to maintain the
behavior and knowledge consistent with the disguise (unlike the
situation with Crouch-as-Moody).  In any event, Fudge and Voldemort
may now be convinced that any Apparent!Crouch is really Snape, and so
the trap will continue to be baited.  Poor Severus if this is the case...

In other words, maybe this could work after all.  And of course I have
to come back to my still-favorite anagram: Cornelius Fudge = Lucifer
Segundo.

Ersatz Harry, who wonders if we need a mongoose animagus to get rid of
Voldemort the snake

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jabig33" <gerson at v...> wrote:
> So we have all been wondering about where Snape goes at the end of 
> GoF.  Well, here is a new idea (I hope).  Snape uses polyjuice potion 
> to pretend to be Barty Crouch Jr. for Voldemort, who dosen't know 
> that Barty had been kissed.  By being Voldemort's loyal servant, 
> Snape can find out anything he wants to about Voldemort's plans. OF 
> course, this theory kinda falls apart if Fudge is a Death Eater and 
> told Voldemort about Barty's kiss.  Oh well.