Bellatrix, Harry and the fight at the Ministry

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 96216

I do admit, it would be very interesting to find out Bellatrix Lestrange's
backstory.  The revelations about James Potter and Sirius Black in OotP
certainly changed a lot of people's interpretation of them as stainless
knights, _sans peur et sans reproche._

I'd be curious to know _why_ she's so nuts about Lord Thingy.  For that
matter, why _do_ the DEs follow him so blindly---it can't be raw fear;
they've seen him defeated before, and with the examples of Snape and
Karkaroff before them to show that ex-DEs _can_ make new lives for
themselves (although, given a choice between teaching a bunch of nutty
teenagers and Azkaban, I'd have a hard time deciding---:-}  ) it probably
wouldn't be impossible for someone who wanted OUT to get out, particularly
during the time that Lord Thingy was vaporing around in Albania.  Just move
to somewhere like Australia or New Zealand, and figure out how to get rid of
the Dark Mark.

That said---even if she had real good reasons to hate the Longbottoms (I
_am_ the one who came up with the theory that the Longbottoms, for all we
know, could have been like Judge Dredd on acid) her gloating over Neville,
and her Cruciating him, was proof that whatever her motivations, she's
utterly evil.  Neville was helpless, and it would have been no problem at
all to just Body-Bind him or Petrify him.

As for Harry casting the Cruciatus, my own take is that the Unforgivable
Curses are merely that by Wizard World law.  There are, as has been pointed
out, zillions of neato-keen ways to cancel someone's birth certificate
without bothering with the Unforgivables.  There are also lots of nifty ways
to hurt someone _real_ good---Hermione's an expert with fire, remember?  The
Wizard World, for whatever reasons, has decreed that casting _these_ curses
on another human will, under normal circumstances, get you a free lifetime
pass to Azkaban.   Kind of like the difference between a felony and a
misdemeanor in US law.

That said---I don't think Harry will be facing charges, and if he is
charged, I doubt that he'll be convicted.  Whatever the law may say, _de
facto_ the circumstances are such that even if he is charged the prosecution
won't have its heart in it.  And, come to think of it---unless the WW has
dumped overboard the Muggle law prohibition against double jeopardy, it
could happen that Harry's brought to trial and acquitted _to prevent him
from being brought to trial on the same charge again._  Once a person's been
acquitted of a criminal charge, he can never be charged with that offense
again, even if he confesses.

--Eric, who was shocked senseless to find that Sirius had been sent to
Azkaban without a trial