[HPforGrownups] Re: DH - unanswered (and irritating) questions

[Gerri]

No: HPFGUIDX 173383

"ciraarana" <ciraarana at . ..> wrote:
> Q: The Trace. Rubbish. Excuse me, but it is. I mean, in CoS Harry is
> accused of having used the Hover Charm. The Ministry didn't know it
> wasn't him. Somewhere, I think at the end of HBP, Dumbledore even told
> Harry that the Ministry can only detect that magic is performed, but
> not by whom. And now we are introduced to the Trace, which allows the
> Ministry to tell exactly who performed which spell?? No. Doesn't make
> sense. Or is it a new ministry policy and I simply missed that bit?


Gerri <wildrosegirl76 at yahoo.com> replies:

It made perfect sense to me. 
   
The Trace doesn't have to be telling the Ministry who said the name. There are very few in the wizarding world who are willing to refer to Voldemort by name. Dumbledore did. Harry does. But who else? So the odds are in the DEs favour that an utterance of Voldemort's name is coming from Harry. 
   
And even if there are a handful of other witches and wizards who aren't afraid to say Voldemort's name, it's unlikely that there are enough to make it a problem for the DEs to check out any use of the name to see if it came from Harry and/or his friends. It's not as if they'll be spending their time now popping all over Britain in search of who set off the Trace.