LV in the MoM (Was re: ESE!Fudge)

[Phyllis]

No: HPFGUIDX 113427

Colin wrote:

<<This has been bothering me, given as Bella mentions, that for Voldy 
to turn up at the Ministry would alert the world to his return, why 
does he turn up after the fight when nothing can be done to save 
prophecy which he has spent 6 months encouraging Harry to come get?>>

What bothers me is that Voldy doesn't have to alert the world to his 
return by entering the Ministry of Magic.  Unlike Hogwarts, there do 
not appear to be any restrictions on apparating or disapparating 
within the Ministry (Arthur Weasley usually apparates to work; 
Dumbledore has to put an anti-disapparation charm on the DEs after he 
rounds them up in the Department of Mysteries).  So why couldn't 
Voldy just apparate into the Department of Mysteries, grab the 
prophecy and immediately disapparate?  It would have taken all of 30 
seconds, and as an added precaution, Voldy could have worn an 
Invisibility Cloak or made himself difficult to see by using a 
Disillusionment Charm.  The members of the Order were stationed 
outside the plain black door (that's where Arthur Weasley is 
attacked; Sturgis Podmore is arrested for trying to get through the 
door), not in front of the prophecy orb, and the Ministry presumably 
wouldn't have stationed any of the Unspeakables to guard the prophecy 
since they were in denial about Voldemort's return (and also 
presumably didn't know that Voldy was after the prophecy).  So as far 
as I can tell, the prophecy itself was unguarded and could have been 
snatched by Voldy with very little effort on his part and with very 
little risk of his being caught.

Hannah:
 
> He would have monitored such an important operation closely.  When 
> he sees that the DE's have made such a hash of it, he decides to 
> turn up himself and salvage what he can.  

I agree that Voldy turned up at the fight because things weren't 
going according to plan - Harry and his friends were fighting back, 
and he probably sensed that there was a danger the prophecy might be 
destroyed in the process (after all, a lot of other orbs had already 
been shattered in the DA's counterattack).

What I don't understand is why Voldy not only proceeds to try to hit 
Harry with an AK, but also possesses Harry.  Voldy has spent all of 
this time trying to obtain the prophecy so he can hear what it says 
in order to have his next attack on Harry succeed.  Granted, he now 
knows the prophecy has been destroyed, but has he no back-up plan?? 
He just recklessly AKs and possesses Harry without a single clue as 
to what the potential ramifications are.  Voldy is definitely *not* a 
master strategist in this scene.

~Phyllis