[HPforGrownups] Re: It really annoys me ... / checking Sirius' wand

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 163802

Inge <Elvishooked at ...> wrote:
> <snip>
> Having just gone over the Dark Mark chapter in GOF, I realised
> how easy it really was to check Harry's wand for the last spell
> it cast (The Dark Mark). It took - what.... 1½ minute to check
> it out?
>
> Why on earth then is it, that Sirius had to go to Azkaban with
> no trial, when all they needed to do, was to check *his* wand,
> to see if he indeed *did* cast the spell that killed all the
> Muggles - and all it would have taken was a few minutes.....
> not much compared to 12 years of socialising with Dementors.

Debbie:
The only ever convincing explanation I've ever been able to think up is
this:

Fudge (then a junior minister in the Office of Magical Catastrophes) was one
of the first people on the scene.  There was a street full of eyewitnesses
claiming that Sirius did it, so Fudge's squad apprehended him on the spot
and confiscated his wand.

Either Fudge and his crack (not!) team of investigators forgot to perform
the Priori Incantato at the time, or (my preferred reading) Fudge
deliberately pocketed the wand, knowing they had all the evidence they
needed to put Sirius in Azkaban forever and knowing that Sirius' arrest
could not help but further Fudge's career.  Later, Fudge may -- or may not
-- have performed the spell, but either way, he made sure the wand would not
be found after the hearing (where Dumbledore testified that Sirius was
Secret Keeper).

And look what it got Fudge:  a promotion.  A Murphy's Law promotion,* but a
promotion nevertheless.

Debbie

*In any organization, a person will naturally rise to his or her level of
incompetence.


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