Portkey in GOF - Logistics

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 149608

Steve wrote:
> Further, if everything had gone according to plan, there is a
> certain disgrace and lose of credibility for Harry to have been
> lost in the Tri-Wizards Tournement. It puts Dumbledore, Hogwarts,
> and the Ministry in a bad light. Whereas if Harry had just
> disappeared at a random time on a random day, it could be chalked
> up to Harry's own mischief making and disregard for the rules. So,
> in this sense, Voldemort want to weaken his enemies as well as
> gain his own power.

Amiable Dorsai:
I've said it before, I'll say it again: I think this is the single
most important factor in LV's decision to snatch Harry, not at some
random time, but when the whole Wizarding World is watching.  Think
about it: what turns little Tommy Riddle, nasty thug--a powerful 
thug, yes, but still, just a thug-- into *Lord Voldemort*, a being so
frightening that, even years after his supposed death, powerful
witches and wizards are afraid to say his name?

Theater.

This is a guy who doesn't just kill you, he does a little skywriting
afterwards, to mark the spot, in utter contempt of the secrecy laws.

Theater.

He gives his gang a scary name, "Death Eaters".  He makes allies of
magical beings--giants and werewolves--that most people fear and loathe.

Theater.

He makes his allies kiss his robe, and both punishes and rewards them
spectacularly and publicly.

Theater

His last show bombed, though.  Little Harry didn't die the way the
script said he should, and Lord Voldemort's image of invincibility
suffered.  He needs to rebuild it, both to his enemies, and more
importantly, to his followers.

It's not enough to just quietly use Harry's blood and drop his corpse
into a well, Tommy must demonstrate to the Death Eaters that *Lord
Voldemort* is back for real, that Harry's survival was a fluke, that
Dumbledore can be beaten.  

How better to do that than to snatch Harry right out from Dumbledore's
and the Ministry's noses, then duel and kill him in front of the Death
Eaters?  Go back and reread his monologue to the Death Eaters in the
graveyard: He sells himself, as shamelessly as any politician or TV
evangelist--he struts; he indulges in dramatic pauses; he practically
gets a call-and response going with his audience.  Then, at the
climax, he's all set to dispatch Harry effortlessly in a "fair" fight.

But that damned Harry, he keeps blowing his lines.

This has consequences. Compare Bellatrix's attitude at her trial,
where she seems like nothing so much as a martyr calmly strolling into
the arena, fully confident that the object of her worship will
eventually rescue her, to the Bella we see at Spinner's End, who
thinks that her Dark Lord is "mistaken".  

She's seen one too many of Tommy's dramas fizzle,  I think.

Amiable Dorsai