Apparating into the Ministry...

[catherinemckiernan]

No: HPFGUIDX 93635

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "kashelkar" <kashelkar at y...> 
wrote:
Loads of interesting stuff about apparition cut..
 
> > Kashelkar's reply:
> > 
> > If the DEs were hiding in the DoM for some time before HP and his 
> > gang entered MoM, what kept Voldy from going to MoM alongwith his 
> > DEs, and pick the prophecy himself, then disapparate, and leave 
the 
> > DEs to finish off the HP and gang?? If the DEs could get that far 
in 
> > the MoM without raising any alarm, then Voldy must also be able 
to do 
> > the same.
> > Also, is it not risky for the DEs to keep lurking in the DoM?? 
What 
> > if HP didn't turn up after all??  What if MoM officials and 
Aurors 
> > turned up instead??  Who'd take such high risk??  
> > 
> > Another curious question:  Why the DEs didn't even try to put the 
> > Imperious Curse on HP and his gang members (after all they have 
their 
> > backs at the DEs)??  If successful, that'll solve a hell lot of 
> > problems for the DEs.  Also, isn't it foolish on part of Lucius 
to 
> > explain the importance of the glass orb to HP??
> 

Carol replied

> They wouldn't have been sent until LV knew that Harry was on the 
way.
> There would have been little time for lurking. Besides, security was
> already lax and they somehow dispatched the guard who weighs the
> wands. There was certainly no need for LV himself to come since 
Harry
> would serve the purpose with less risk.
> 
Now it's my turn.

I agree with Carol that the DE's themselves did not enter the 
Ministry until the last moment (what on earth did they tell the 
telephone kiosk? Can you imagine the badges -  "Bellatrix
Lestrange, 
Escaped Death Eater, Burglary Mission"). Bellatrix says that LV 
didn't want to "risk" going into the MoM and being seen.
So perhaps 
the DE's were not entirely sure that it would be possible to get
as 
far as they did without raising any alarm at all. It's one thing
for 
them to risk being seen, especially if they think they can escape, 
but not LV, who is supposedly still disembodied. Also, as LV enjoys 
the psychological side of torture as much as the physical, presumably 
he rather likes the idea of Harry being his own undoing.

As for the lack of the Imperius Curse, I'd never thought of it 
before, but it does seem  a pretty obvious action for them to miss. 
They don't even need to curse each child; just Harry. As for why
they 
didn't do it; it's possible that they do not know how
powerful Harry 
is, and thought they'd fail (although why not try, there's no 
apparent suffering caused to the caster if the spell is broken). 
Alternative options, that also answer `why does Lucius explain
the 
glass orb?', are 

-	Lucius, like many villains, is afflicted by a dangerous need 
to be stylish and has not read the Evil Overlord list.
-	Lucius doesn't actually want to get the prophecy for 
Voldemort. He is probably the most intelligent of the non-Azkaban DEs 
there (competition being Nott, Avery, Crabbe, maybe Goyle) and thus 
likely to be the clearest thinker. Thus everyone follows his 
instructions, and as Lucius hsan't mentioned Imperius, they
don't try 
it. As for evidence that LM doesn't want to get the prophecy,
just 
read the scene with that thought in mind! He spends a lot of time 
making sure no other DE gets to touch it ("give it to me
Potter"), 
sends ineffective DEs in the direction the children run, and thwarts 
not only Bellatrix's Accio!, but her threat to torture Ginny, the
one 
thing that we know would definitely have worked (as Harry instantly 
prepares to hand over the prophecy when she tortures Neville). He 
could personally cast the Imperius curse on Harry and get the 
prophecy himself, but as Bellatrix implies she is the strongest DE, 
the others might be suspicious. So he keeps schtum about the 
possibility and relies on the rest not thinking of the possibility. 
Which they don't. 

Catherine McK