Danger at the Wedding?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 150680

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "klmf1" <KLMF at ...> wrote:
>
> Forgive me if this has come up already, but is anyone else out there 
> wondering if the Bill and Fleur wedding isn't going to be a scene of 
> destruction?  ...edited...
> 
> Karen F
>

bboyminn:

I've resisted responding to this post for a couple of days now, partly
because, after all is said and done, I'm sure I will have said and
done very little.

The Weasley Wedding is one scene in the next book that leaves me very
uneasy, and slighlty scared. On one hand, it is the perfect
opportunity to attack a substantial and influential subset of the
wizard population. Gathering together in large groups having given out
advanced notice of the gathering seems next to suicide to me.

On the other hand, perhaps enough Ministry officials will be there to
justify extra security. Arthur worked in magical law enforcement, so
he is probably friendly with several of the Aurors.

So, I really hope the wedding is not attacked. I just want these
people and Harry to have this one moment of joy and peace in what we
know will be a books with very little joy and peace.

If there is an attack, I hope it is put down quickly, and as a result
is mild enough that after a few moments of distress, the wedding can
go on as planned. 

Still, if it is even a remotely or modestly large wedding, then it
almost seems too good an opportunity for the DE's to not exploit it.
On the other hand, how many DE's are there available? I keep expecting
Lucius Malfoy to be released from jail since the crimes he was
actually charged with we very modest compared to what he actually did.
But many of the captured DE's were already under long jail sentences,
and they will certainly remain in jail. 

Could the DE's really gather together a sufficient force to dare to
attack a large number of wizards and witches? Up to now, their attacks
have been small, and either directed against property such as the
bridge, at individuals in the form of assasination, or in the case of
the aledged tornado, against defenseless people and property. Would
half a dozen or even a dozed Death Eaters dare attack a couple hundred
wizards? 

Of course, if they bring along giants and Dementors, it could be a
different story. But I doubt that giants are very stealth-like. It
would seem very difficult for them to move to the Weasley farm
unnoticed. Dementors are another story, I'm certain they are very
stealthy, but there offensive tools are limited. At a distance, the
best they can do is make you depressed, at close range, of course,
they have the Dementor's Kiss, and while the wizard about to be kissed
may be incapacitated, there would a be another hundred wizards
standing around who would not be so incapaciated.

Still Voldemort is not known for having the most logical and
reasonable plans, he could very easily plan an under-manned attack for
no reason other than the terror effect it would have. But then on the
other hand, can Voldemort really afford to throw away several of his
best supporters just to harrass a wedding? It's not like Voldemort has
an army of countless thousands that he can casually spend like a
handful of pennies. Every man he loses weaken his ability to make war.
Is he really so stupid? 

The only plan I can see that has a chance of success is if Voldemort
uses giants, and I can see several weakenesses in that plan. First,
pretty hard to get a group, even a small group of giants across the
country without being seen. Yes, if they move by night, it might be
possible, but could half a dozen giants quietly lounge around
Weasley's woods without being noticed? Seems unlikely.

So, while the opportunity seem extremely tempting, the risk of such a
venture seems extremely high. If Lucius is out and leads the attack
and is caught, his actions simply can not be ignored. He will
certainly spend a VERY substantial amount of time in prison. 

Though if Draco leads the attack, it could serve as the opportunity
for Draco to get himself capture. Perhaps, he could stealthily turn
against the DE and fight for the side of good, just so that when he
was captured, he could publically accept his arrest, but privately
tell everything he knows and cooperate with Harry and the Ministry.

If another DE leads the attack then Voldemort risks losing a
substantial portion of his forces.

I don't see any good, logical, or productive way of attacking the
wedding, but then Voldemort has never been very good, logical, or
productive in any of his actions.

So, in summary...

...maybe...maybe not.

Steve/bboyminn