Questions for the listmind

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 168639

Rereading the books, yet again, I find myself coming up with some questions 
that I don't think we've covered yet.

First off---if LV was so bl**dy hot to see and hear that stupid prophecy, 
why didn't he have Lucius Malfoy, or some other DE supporter let him in some 
night, possibly after Polyjuicing himself into another's form?  "Oh, I just 
have a few friends who want to see the place, Minister, we'll drop off the 
keys when we're done."  Up till the DoM Raid and his arrest, Lucius Malfoy 
had Fudge all but eating out of his hand; he could probably have spun just 
about any silly story and had Fudge nodding and obeying.  AFAICT, Polyjuice 
Potion's a nearly-unbreakable disguise; Barty Crouch, Jr. managed to fool 
everybody into thinking he was the real Mad-Eye Moody for months and months 
with the stuff.  So if Voldy (who, we are told, is a genius-level wizard) 
wanted to do something of the sort, he'd have no problem whatsoever.

Second---if Dumbledore knew that LV was panting to get his stupid hands on 
that stupid prophecy, why didn't he hide it someplace safe (like, say, a 
Gringott's vault in the name of somebody innocuous) and leave a fake 
prophecy in place, one rigged so that when Voldy tried to hear it, he'd get, 
instead, something like five pounds of plastic explosive going off in his 
face?  Immortal he may be, but invulnerable he isn't, and losing his nice 
new body would, at least, set him back considerably.  If it were me, any 
time I knew that LV was eager to get his hands on some particular object 
(the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, the prophecy) hiding the real one and 
leaving a booby-trapped fake in its place---and Dumbledore's supposed to be 
a whole lot smarter than I am.

Third---while I'm thinking about Polyjuice Potion, wouldn't it have been a 
hoot to use to fake out the enemy (for both sides)?  Like, for instance, if 
I've got some samples of a prominent good guy's hair (or whatever else you 
can use to make Polyjuice Potion) and I'm an evil, evil DE, Polyjuicing 
myself and then going on a very public rampage, yelling "Death to all the 
enemies of Lord Voldemort, my lord and master!" would, at least, set off all 
sorts of trouble.  Especially if I could time it so that the person I was 
impersonating didn't have a good alibi.  The same would go for a good guy 
who wanted to sow some confusion among the DEs.  Polyjuicing into the form 
of a captured DE and Apparating into their hideout, then opening up a whole 
case  of whoop- at ss would, at least, hurt the DEs' cohesion..."we thought we 
could trust him!  What got into him?  He came in, yelled 'Death to the Dork 
Load Moldyshorts!  Long Live our Glorious Leader and Ascended Illuminatus, 
Cornelius Fudge!' and started casting Unforgivable Curses like they were 
going out of style!"

Of course, calling Cornelius Fudge a Glorious Leader and Ascended 
Illuminatus is kind of laying it on with a trowel, but DEs in general do not 
strike me as into subtlety.