Realistic Ootcomes

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 180759

Mike:
> 
> What I'm saying is that I think you may be selling the common wizard 
> short. Sure, individually they may not be that powerful, but team 
> them up or give them overwhelming numbers and I think only a wizard 
> of Dumbledore's or Voldemort's ability could withstand their 
> onslaught. Just look what happened when the reinforcements, common 
> wizarding folk, came storming over the walls and rained down on 
> Voldemort and his DEs.
> 
Pippin:
The only reason Voldemort didn't call in reinforcements at Hogwarts is
that he thought he'd won already. But there were loads of dementors he
could have summoned, loyal to him because he allows them to breed and 
creates their favored habitat, and that whole lake full of inferi too. 

I shudder to think what would have happened if Voldemort had still
had his full powers and Harry had been wrong about the wand.

The difference between fighting wizards and fighting a conventional
modern war is that it's hard to take control of the war machine when
each wizard is a war machine all by himself. Voldemort had to be
defeated personally or he'd just find more servants to replace those
he'd lost. As long as they believed he couldn't be beaten, there'd
be wizards and others willing to serve him.

> 
> > Da Jones:
> > <snip>
> > 
> > I think many people know what is happening, it is just literally
> > they do not have the ability or the need to resist. 
> 
> Mike:

> And they've been through a similar situation not that long ago, with 
> the same enemy. How can they not recognize the same symptoms 
> (Imperiused people) or realize who the obvious turncoats (Umbridge) 
> and infiltrators (Runcorn & Yaxley) are? I don't buy them not having 
> the "need" to resist, especially not for people like Reg Cattermole.
> 

Pippin:
Consider the number of dead in Moody's photo, and Lupin's
statement that The Order had been outnumbered.  Most wizards survived 
the first war by _not_ fighting. As for Reg Cattermole, how many like
him are there? We know that being a Muggleborn was not the first 
step on the ladder to Ministry success. I don't suppose being
married to a Muggleborn was much better. 

Further to Umbridge, I don't think she was that great as a witch. Her
power lay in attaching herself to powerful protectors and in being 
sneaky and ruthless enough to get the things they wanted done 
without their having to know how she'd managed it. But consider
her regime at Hogwarts. McGonagall or Flitwick could have beaten
her, Dumbledore *did* beat her. But then what happened?

Dumbledore knew the Ministry wouldn't take his rebellion lying down.
His choices were to go on the run or turn Hogwarts into a battleground.
The situation for anyone who rebelled at the ministry would be the same,
only instead of children as de facto hostages, there'd be millions of
Muggle Londoners. Since Voldemort wouldn't really care how many
children or Muggles got killed, the  situation could only work to his
advantage. 

Pippin