[the_old_crowd] Harry's Patronus and DEs Entering the Ministry

[Monika Huebner]

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 18:50:18 -0000, "Phyllis"
<erisedstraeh2002 at ...> wrote:

I meant to reply to this earlier, but somehow forgot it was still
waiting in my inbox...

>I wrote:
>
>> What bothers me more about it is that anyone seems to be able to 
>> get into the ministry at any time, be it day or night, provided 
>> that he knows which number to dial. You dial, you say your name, 
>> and you're welcome. I guess that's how the Death Eaters got
>> in, too...

Phyllis replied:

>I assumed the DEs Apparated into the Ministry, since there don't 
>appear to be any anti-Apparition charms (Arthur Apparates to work 
>each day and Harry sees witches and wizards Apparating on his way to 
>his hearing).  I don't think anyone would have stopped Lucius Malfoy 
>from Apparating into the Ministry anyway, since he's in league with 
>Fudge.  The laughable lack of security is intentional, IMO, and is 
>meant to point out Fudge's complete denial of Voldemort's return.

After rereading the chapter about the hearing, I remember now that
visitors are asked to hand over their wands before they are let in, at
least during daytime, when there are security guards around. But if
anyone can Apparate in, why bother with this weird telephone box? Of
course Harry can't Apparate, and we know from GoF a lot of adult
wizards don't bother with it because it seems to be a bit dangerous,
but if anyone can Apparate into the Ministry, the visitor's entrance
is utterly superfluous.

We also know from a chat with JKR that the Ministry is keeping tabs on
people Apparating, and that's why Sirius never tried to Apparate
anywhere, and now there are about a dozen Death Eaters Apparating into
the Ministry, some of them wanted for arrest? Maybe security is down
during night hours when the building is empty? A bit unlikely, since
there are quite some items of interest to Voldemort stored there.

>Although I wonder what it was that brought Fudge to the Ministry 
>after the Voldemort-Dumbledore duel.  There must have been something 
>that triggered his arrival armed with his Aurors  perhaps when a 
>prophecy is removed from a shelf after hours, it triggers some sort 
>of alarm?

It would make sense if they had some sort of alarm system installed.
It would be stupid if they hadn't IMHO.

> Or perhaps whatever the DEs did to neutralize whatever 
>after-hours security existed triggered an alarm?  Dumbledore told 
>Voldemort the Aurors were on the way  how did he know?  Fudge seems 
>surprised to see Dumbledore there, so presumably he wasn't acting on 
>a tip-off from Dumbledore  given Fudge's distrust of Dumbledore, he 
>never would have acted on his advice anyway.  Perhaps Dumbledore 
>tipped him off by disguising himself as someone Fudge would trust?

Or maybe Dumbledore told Kingsley or Tonks to tip him off? They work
for the Ministry, so Fudge would trust them. And he certainly doesn't
know that Kingsley has been covering up for Sirius for a year now,
being a member of Dumbledore's crowd. Remember Kingsley isn't part of
the old crowd but has been hired when the order reformed. Harry is
told how important it is to have spys in the ministry because
Voldemort will have them.

Monika