DH - unanswered (and irritating) questions

[Petra Pan]

No: HPFGUIDX 173391

"ciraarana" <ciraarana@ ..> wrote:
> <snip> 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 ...> replied:
> 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. <snip>
 
Petra nitpicks:
 
Hmm...I'm not sure the two of you are speaking of the same 
thing and perhaps both of you are conflating two different spells.  
The Trace refers to "the charm that detects magical activity 
around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about 
underage magic" (pg. 47, US HB).  So ciraarana, the Trace 
really doesn't identify the spell performer exactly, whereas the 
Taboo might defeat spells preventing the exact tracking of a 
person.
 
Gerri/wildrosegirl76 seems to me to be referring to the Taboo 
on Voldemort's name instead of the Trace.  The Taboo is the 
jinx that allows those who say Voldemort's name to be 
trackable because it breaks protective enchantments through 
magical disturbance.  (pg. 389, US HB)  This is probably 
something that happened in the first Voldemort War, 
explaining why people still were afraid to use LV's real name 
even back in PS/SS.
 
So Gerri/wildrosegirl76, since uttering "Voldemort" is not a 
"magical activity" (even a muggle could utter the name, no?) 
this then has little to do with the Trace.  It's really thanks 
to the Taboo that tracking an utterance of Voldemort's name 
can lead to Harry.
 
Hope that helps?
 
Petra, still re-reading
a
n  :)