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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 96806

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "arrowsmithbt" 
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:

> 
> This construction would mean that no-one need put their own 
name in. Gred and Forge and Dean could have entered if 
Angelina Johnson had put their names in. Karkaroff and Madam 
Maxime could have entered their entire contingents instead of 
having them line up and do it one by one. 
<snip>
> A contract is an agreement between two parties, not what 
happened here.
> Sorry, I don't buy this one.

As I remarked before on an offshoot of this thread, anyone can 
enter a contract for you if you give them permission. In the US, it's 
called power of attorney. Dumbledore asks Harry if  he asked 
someone else to put his name in the goblet for him. 

The operative word here is "asked." The Goblet is one of those 
magical objects with a brain--just as the Marauder's  Map knows 
where everyone is, the Goblet knows enough about the entrants
to judge which of them is best capable of representing their 
school. It might logically also be expected to know whether a 
name has been  properly entered, testing for legitimacy by its 
criteria, which don't include the age of the contestant, but could 
include their consent. 

If it can be made to believe that there is a fourth wizarding 
school, why should it not also believe that 'Harry Potter' agreed to 
enter the contest? 

I believe Dumbledore's only alternative would have been to abort 
the tournament. But you can imagine the ill feeling that would 
have followed and the damage to the good will and unity that 
Dumbledore was hoping the tournament would create. 

 So, believing he is thwarting Voldemort, who would expect him 
to favor Harry over the nameless and faceless, Dumbledore 
agrees with Bagman and Crouch that  the contest must 
continue.

Pippin