CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 2: Aunt Marge's Big Mistake

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189493

> Mike writes: "So, on to Riddle and his murdering his kin. Simple really, there were wizards in
> that vicinity, and one who had specifically attacked the elder Tom Riddle in the
> past - Morfin, Tom's uncle. Since Tom framed his uncle, Morfin becomes the
> perfectly logical culprit to the Ministry"
> 
> dzturtleshell responds: Wow. Sorry. I don't know how I forgot about Morfin here! I need to stop staying up so late, it's messing with my head. 

Carol responds:

Well, yes, Morfin was there and he had a record of attacking Muggles, but we don't know of any alarm that's set off in the Ministry by an Unforgivable Curse. The Ministry would have been alerted by the Trace, meaning that an *underage* wizard had cast a spell there (or a spell had been cast in the underage wizard's presence). Since there were no underage wizards in Little Hangleton, the Ministry should have pursued the matter further, confession or no confession.

The only thing I can think of to explain the situation (other than inconsistency on JKR's part, changing the rules to suit the convenience of her plot) is that it wasn't the Trace that alerted the Ministry (possibly it hadn't been instituted yet). Maybe the Ministry had Muggle or Squib connections who read Muggle newspapers and learned about a suspicious murder that way (even though DD thinks he's the only wizard who reads Muggle papers). Three people dead with no trace of injury (and surprised expressions) would suggest Avada Kedavra.

At any rate, I think that JKR paid more attention to Riddle's methods than she did to the Ministry's actions. Any wizard who read the Muggle reports would not only know that Frank Bryce was innocent, they'd pay attention to his reports of a dark-haired teenage boy. And if DD already suspected a connection with Tom Riddle and the Riddle murders, why didn't he speak up?

Carol, who hasn't reread GoF recently and may be missing something