When did Draco Imperius Rosmerta? (was: Re: CHAPDISC: hbp12, Silver and Opals)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 149766

Betsy Hp wrote:
> I agree with Magpie that Draco did the cabinet all by himself.  So
> it's still possible that his help came from outside of Hogwarts. Of
> course there are communication issues:  How did Voldemort dial up
> the pressure, how did Draco request the Imperius of Rosmerta, how
> did he communicate with Borgin regarding the cabinet and the
> necklace for that matter, etc.  The coins do seem a bit small for
> the level of conversation that seems required.
>
> But would Dumbledore have monitered Draco's owls?  On the one hand
> it would seem rather stupid not to.  On the other hand, Dumbledore
> was trying to appear unaware of his danger and unsuspecting of
> Draco, so your guess is as good as mine. <g>

> Don't forget ESE!Lupin!  Actually, if there is an ESE!Character to
> be revealed, the "who Imperiused Rosmerta" question could be a way
> for JKR to shows us that.  Which would explain why this mystery is
> being left for book 7.
>
> If there's *not* an ESE!Character, than I'm not sure the question
> will be all that important.  Unless it helps muddy the "can I trust
> Draco?" waters for Harry.  Or it sets up a villain for Draco to
> break away from.  Though, hmmm, if it's Bellatrix would that cause
> Draco to step on Neville's toes?

Carol responds:
This is an unresearched, off-the-top-of-my-head, tossing-out-ideas
post. I'm not committed to anything I suggest here, but I agree that
something is going on with Draco and the Imperius Curse.

We have hints from Draco to Snape that he has someone more powerful
and important than Crabbe and Goyle helping him. We have Draco's
insinuation to Dumbledore that Rosmerta was under the Imperius Curse,
and the poisoned mead and mysteriously delivered package (with a
secondary Imperius placed on Katie Bell) to support the claim. (And
it's Madam Rosmerta who points out the Dark Mark to DD, if that's
important.) We have Draco's awareness of new threats from Voldemort,
implying some form of communication between them. We have the cursed
necklace wrapped in plain brown paper somehow arriving at the Three
Broomsticks (apparently mailed by Borgin or hand-delivered by Draco's
accomplice since Draco could not have gottent it into or out of
Hogwarts). We have Draco's claim that he got the idea for the cursed
coins from Hermione (overheard in the library, IIRC), who in turn got
the idea from the Dark Mark (which, inconveniently, we don't fully
understand, either).

How does it all fit together? No idea. However, we do know that the
spell Hermione put on the coins to summon the students to the DA
meetings was not an Imperius curse. (IIRC, it was a NEWT-level Protean
Charm), which Draco could probably have mastered with a little
practice, much more easily than he could have mastered Imperio.) The
question is how the coins worked and what they could do. Maybe
Rosmerta's turned warm in her pocket, telling her that it was time to
report for orders? Doesn't seem very efficient. Maybe Draco asked Aunt
Bella (who was also teaching him a crude form of Occlumency to block
Snape from interfering) to put an Imperius Curse on the coins to help
him manipulate some as yet unknown helper? Not very likely. When have
we seen Draco thinking ahead? And yet he did arrange to pick up the
Hand of Glory at a later time, or rather, have the DEs do it when they
showed up at B&B to enter the other Vanishing Cabinet, so maybe he's
smarter than we think. And he must have bought the Peruvian Darkness
Powder in advance, too.

Once he had the coins in hand, how did he get the second coin to
Rosmerta? Maybe that's where Blaise comes in? Maybe *he* was
temporarily under the influence of the coin just long enough to get it
to Rosmerta while Draco was in detention? (Or, as Betsy suggested,
Draco talked Blaise into drinking polyjuice potion, trading identies,
and taking his detention while Draco, as Blaise, went to Hogsmeade. If
they were good friends, I could see that, but they seem to be on
formal and distant terms, with Blaise as a pureblood bigot who
nevertheless is not a budding DE. Draco is on better terms with Theo
Nott than with Blaise in HBP, and yet it's Blaise we see lolling
against a column. In character, but why is he there?) Or maybe there's
another helper in Hogsmeade, but how would that person get the coin?
Was anyone checking the owls coming in and out of the school? Surely
Filch and Mrs. Norris didn't have a 24/7 watch on the owlery, and
Draco's eagle owl, which routinely delivered sweets from his mother,
wouldn't call any undue attention to itself, even if it delivered a
pair of Imperiused coins--or a message from Voldemort.

Who was the mysterious helper, then? ESE!Rosmerta? Bellatrix, who
certainly couldn't show her face in Hogsmeade without being arrested?
Kreacher, who was under orders from Harry to follow "the Malfoy boy"
without speaking to him? How about ESE!Tonks, who shows up outside the
RoR (how did she know Harry would be there?) and again outside the
Hog's Head (but not the Three Broomsticks), both times out of nowhere,
as if she'd emerged from beneath an Invisibility Cloak? ESE!Mundungus,
whom we also see outside the Hog's Head (but, again, not the Three
Broomsticks)? Peter Pettigrew, who would not be recruited to help
Bellatrix and would have no stake in helping Draco, especially when LV
wanted Draco to fail?

And why, if the coins are not really Imperiused, only under the
influence of a Protean Charm, does Draco taunt Dumbledore with "Got
there at last, have you?"

Okay, based on these ramblings, my tentative conclusions are

1) The owls were not being monitored (which might be why Filch was
checking for dark or cursed objects being taken out of school into
Hogsmeade), and Draco communicated with LV and Borgin using them

2) Either Bellatrix put an Imperius Curse on the coins or Draco put a
Protean Charm on them and merely used them to communicate with
Rosmerta, who was Imperio'd by someone else (the unknown DE or traitor)

3) The unknown helper in Hogsmeade was not Bellatrix, PP, or Kreacher,
for the reasons stated above, nor was it a kid like Blaise. It must
have been either a DE whose identity had not been publicly proclaimed
in Harry's article or arrested at the MoM or, more likely, a renegade
Order member. Aberforth is a remote possibility, but the most likely
candidates appear to be the two we've seen in the streets of
Hogsmeade, Tonks and Mundungus. And Tonks, who claims to be depressed
and unable to metamorph herself, *could* be lying, but then we'd have
to account for the changed Patronus. (Or Tonks isn't Tonks, but if
she's Narcissa, why does she twice--no, thrice--help Harry?) And, of
course, for Pippin, I have to throw in ESE!Lupin. ;-)

Carol, wondering if ESE!Rosmerta might be a simpler and more logical
answer that would not require complicated means of communication or
Draco's ability to cast an Imperius Curse