The names in the Goblet (Was: DD: an appreciation)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 96561

Naama wrote: 
Are you saying that Harry was *not* bound by a magical contract? I 
don't see any evidence for that. It seems that once your name is spit 
out of the goblet, you are, willingly or not, a contestant.

Kneasy replied:
> Only if you put your name in it in the first place.
> "Anyone wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their
> name and school upon a slip of parchment and drop it into  the
Goblet. ...The placing of your name in the Goblet constitutes a
binding, magical contract.....Please be very sure, therefore, that you
 are wholeheartedly prepared to play, before you drop your name in the
Goblet." No mention there  of entry by proxy. Harry did not put his
name in, he made no attempt to do so. He did not enter the contract.
<snip>

Carol responds:
I think that the first and last sentences you quoted are specifically
intended to instruct the students who want to participate and have no
direct bearing on the magical contract itself. The important sentence
is the middle one: "The placing of your name in the Goblet constitutes
a binding, magical contract." Note the vagueness of the wording: "the
placing of your name," not "placing your name." In other words, it
doesn't matter *who* places the name, it's the *act* of placing it
that matters. Once the name is in the Goblet, it doesn't matter how it
got there (or whether a confundus charm was used to keep the Goblet
from spitting out an entry from a real or imaginary fourth school). So
Dumbledore is right--there's no escaping the contract and Harry has no
choice to participate.

Granted, Harry's participation in the tournament provided him with
skills he will ultimately need in confronting Voldemort and Dumbledore
must have realized that, but that doesn't mean he was lying about the
binding magical contract. 

His purpose in holding the tournament, after all, was not to provide a
training ground for Harry but to strengthen the bonds of friendship
among the three largest wizarding schools in Europe in the hope that
they would become allies against Voldemort. He could not have
anticipated that Barty Jr. (whom he thought long dead) would would
impersonate Moody and put Harry's name in the Goblet any more than he
could anticipate the outcome: another failed attempt to thwart the
Prophecy by killing Harry backfiring on the would-be murderer.

Once he had Harry's name in his hand, I think he resigned himself to
the inevitable. He knew it would benefit Harry to learn the skills
necesssary to accomplish the three tasks--but I think that his heart,
as opposed to his head, would much rather that the age line had served
its intended purpose and Harry had been prevented from entering. He
would have liked to find a way to release Harry from the contract so
he wouldn't have to risk his valuable life in that tournament. He
could have found another, less dangerous, way to teach Harry those
skills. But the contract was binding, and so was DD's obligation to
the WW. And even then, knowing that Harry would have to face perils in
the tournament, he intended to place safeguards so that neither Harry
nor the other champions would really be risking their lives. Cedric's
death and Harry's confrontation with Voldemort were wholly unforeseen.
They were no part of the magical contract, which related only to the
three Tasks.

Carol