Plot in OotP (wand confusion)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 118340


Nora:
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong, Pippin, because I'm away from my 
books--but  doesn't Sirius mention that Barty Crouch Sr. sent his 
own son to  jail, in the conversation in the cave?  And talk about 
how he didn't  last long, but died?  So, in a sense, we've been 
set up--what is the  sneaky revelation is that Barty Jr. is still
alive, 
and has been  smuggled out.  This comes after The Egg and the 
Eye, so in a sense, there we've been GIVEN the information we 
need--we just don't know  what we have.
> 
> It's sneaky, yes, but it's also been *explicitly* prepared, so that 
 when the true answer comes to light, we have something to 
flash back  to, something very very definite which has become 
fully  comprehensible, and go "Oh..."
> 
> Now, if you'd like to cite me where, textually, this is explicitly 
> and clearly done for Wormtail!Lupin, I would love to see it so 
that  I can be prepared for the ultimate revelation. :)

Pippin:
I'm not sure what you mean by "*explicitly* prepared". Sirius 
never refers to young Barty by name. It's 'Crouch's son' all the 
way through his account, and young Crouch, like the other 
people in the Pensieve scene, is never named there either.

Our  clue to young Barty's name is way back in GOF chapter one, 
where we learn that the senior Riddles had a grown up son 
named Tom -- very confusing, since this Tom is the father of the 
Tom Riddle who will become Lord Voldemort. JKR doesn't 
explain that explicitly either; you have to work it out, though it 
helps to remember that Tom Riddle said in CoS that he was 
named after his father. 


In the same way, we have Mark Evans, of no importance in our 
story except to show that unrelated persons can have the same 
name. And where should he appear but in the first chapter of 
OOP?

The next clue to Barty  is that Sirius tells us that it doesn't make 
sense that Crouch was in Snape's office.  He couldn't have 
apparated there and he's supposedly too ill to go into work.  It's 
also strange that he would drag himself to Hogwarts in secret 
when he could visit openly as a tri-wizard judge. That *should* 
have tipped us off, but we don't know that there are two 
Barty's yet, and we're thinking it has to be the Barty we know, 
because the Marauder's Map never lies.



The next  Wormtail clue is also parallel. As various posters 
besides me have pointed out, it doesn't make sense that 
Wormtail/Peter AK'd Cedric. Peter didn't have his wand in his 
hand as he approached, and is notably not  dextrous.  He's 
burdened with baby Voldy. How could he possibly have gotten 
his wand out and said the spell before Cedric  countered with 
Expelliarmus? 

As Harry says in OOP, Cedric knew his defensive spells -- the 
proof is he got through the maze. That's explicit, isn't it? Peter's 
no duellist, we've been told. That's explicit, too.  *Maybe* he could 
have blown up the Muggles in a sneak attack, but this time he 
was facing his adversary. 


We don't find out Fake!Moody's real name until *after* 
Fake!Moody has been exposed and the use of polyjuice has 
been revealed. Snape announces it from the doorway when he 
returns with Winky. 

If we are shrewd we can realize that Dumbledore has already 
guessed, since he sent for Winky before the polyjuice wore off. 
And that errand was our final clue, just a few pages before JKR 
let the kneazle out of the bag. It would take a lot of will power to 
stop reading then, and say to yourself, "Ooooh -- the Marauder's 
Map never lies, so the impostor must be named Bartemius 
Crouch! I bet he's Barty's son-- guess he was a Death Eater, 
after all."  

It would be an educated guess, not an Ellery Queen style 
deduction, because you can't *prove* that the impostor is young 
Barty until the spell wears off and Snape identifies him.

My educated guess is that there are two Wormtails. But we 
probably don't have all the clues yet. 

Pippin