Harry Potter

Harry was in physical discomfort (if not pain), under pressure and still trying to work out the whole "Bartemius Crouch" puzzle at the same time time. I think we can give him a pass for not necessarily thinking of the summoning charm in the circumstances.

With the circumstances in the mind, I guess it's somewhat understandable that Harry didn't think in that moment to use the Summoning Charm.

But when you read this knowing about the later plot twists, you realize how much damage would've been avoided if Harry had summoned the map. The way things go, Crouch Jr. sees the map, realizes that Polyjuice can't fool it and he very narrowly avoided getting caught there, and confiscates it. And he later used the map to track down and murder his father when his father broke free of the Imperius Curse and came to Hogwarts looking for Dumbledore. (There's a lot of interesting details in "The Madness of Mr. Crouch" you really can appreciate after the reveal. The "eagle" owl, for instance, that is seen flying through the sky is actually an owl being sent from Voldemort, letting Crouch Jr. know about his father with possible instructions to kill him. Crouch Jr. watches on the Marauder's Map as his father appears on the grounds. Harry returns to the castle and fetches Dumbledore (being blocked by Snape, which Crouch Jr. references). Crouch Jr. then runs down to the grounds under his own Invisibility Cloak, attacks Krum, kills his father, hides his father under the Invisibility Cloak, "appears" at the scene after doubling back, goes off to "look for Mr. Crouch" but in actually transfigures him into a bone and hides him in the Niffler pile)

And as long as we're talking about Crouch, it's amazing how many nails could've changed the course of the Wizarding World had certain things gone differently.

First off was the whole nature of Crouch Jr.'s "trial". Given what we see of the Ministry, I think it stands to reason that Crouch Sr. could've preserved his reputation if, rather than subject Crouch Jr. to such a sham trial, it could be publicly proven that he'd done everything in his authority to verify his son's innocence or guilt, like Veritaserum and Pensieves. While there's a chance his chances at being the next Minister of Magic would be dashed, he might've been able to keep his post as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement instead of being shunted to the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

The next nail or two was arguably with Winky. Winky's unwavering loyalty to Crouch certainly caused a lot of problems that would've likely been avoided if she'd been more like Dobby and set a line as to when she thought Crouch was going too far. If she'd set limits, she could've pointed out how reckless and hypocritical it would be for Crouch to smuggle his own son out of Azkaban, and maybe gotten him to give a little more thought regarding his wife's dying wish.

Crouch fucked up bad on many levels. He even admitted it when Harry and Krum found him, saying that it was all his fault.

As for Winky, the thing is that her behavior was a lot more consistent with the traditional House Elf mindset of Undying Loyalty. Dobby was very much an outlier.

Edited by M84 on Jan 6th 2021 at 10:51:30 PM

Dobby did admit his lack of loyalty to the Malfoys makes him an outcast as far as the house elves are concerned, which is made apparent by one of his interactions with Winky. We saw how this went in the fourth book when he was the only one left to clean the Gryffindor tower after Hermione pissed off the other house elves by trying to trick them into freeing themselves.

The issue with Dobby wasn't lack of loyalty, it was him wanting to be paid. Between Dobby and Kreacher it seems like Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal doesn't seem out of question for house elves. Likewise it seems the Hogwarts elves were acted that way due being "insulted".

It makes a bit more sense if you know the background lore since it turns out the reason Hogwarts has House-Elves is because Helga Hufflepuff wanted to provide a refuge for House-Elves where they could indulge their desire to work without being abused.

Humorously, even Dobby wasn't willing to accept the more generous initial salary and time off Dumbledore offered to him and had to negotiate for a lower one.

Edited by M84 on Jan 7th 2021 at 12:35:35 AM

Nice to see the Hufflepuff's hat of niceness being used proactively like that.

Something else that's come to mind regarding the whole Umbridge mess of Order of the Phoenix:

So, Umbridge is out to get Harry. She sends the Dementors after him, and goes out of her way to make him miserable all year. So when he talks out of turn and gets detention, she gives him her Blood Quill torture lines to scare him in a "What I can do to you, what the Ministry can do to you" sense, and intimidate him. Would Dumbledore put a stop to it if Harry told him? Yes (at least until the next educational decree, but still, Umbridge is better off so long as McGonagall or Dumbledore don't know.) So she plays on Harry's pride and stubbornness, knowing he won't run for help or try to fight back using conventional means.

So...why do the same thing to Lee Jordan? I get that Lee Jordan rebelled alongside Fred and George. I understand that Lee Jordan later hosted a radio show in Deathly Hallows dedicated to the resistance movement, which was very brave, very important and very dangerous.

But I'm not really talking about Lee Jordan. I'm talking about subjecting the Blood Quills on any other student besides Harry. That really surprises me that it wasn't specific to Harry, and that she was willing to do that for any and every student who crossed her. Because if you're talking about younger or weaker willed students (which is to say, most students at Hogwarts when compared to Harry), the likelihood that any Head of House or Dumbledore himself find out about what Umbridge is up to significantly increases.

And while I'm guessing Umbridge would be careful not to use Blood Quills on the children of big-time Ministry donors (Draco Malfoy) or those whose parents have actual clout at the Ministry (the Weasleys, Marietta Edgecombe, Susan Bones, etc.), I still find it surprising that she did it to anyone other than Harry. We see in the next book that the Slug Club is full of seriously connected people, including a kid who personally knows Rufus Scrimegour, the head of the Auror office and the Minister of Magic who follows Fudge. Meaning, someone who got subject to the Blood Quill could ask this kid who knows Scrimgeour or a kid who knows Amelia Bones to write one of them an owl post to say "hey, Umbridge made my friend write lines with his own blood, is that legal?" and these people could subsequently get Umbridge in trouble up to and including prosecution in front of the Wizengamot. Umbridge is running some big risks here that Fudge might not necessarily be able to protect her from. (It's very likely Fudge would throw her under the bus to save his own skin)

It's general War-era British schooling, corporal punishment including beatings and whatnot being the disciplinary method of choice.

Yep, it's part and parcel of the British boarding school genre, so it will show up even in time periods where it would not really exist any more.

Like, realistically, there is no way muggle borns would put up with such abuses these days.

Corporal punishments are forbidden on Hogwarts, at least in Dumbledore's time in charge. That's why Filch's threats with chains had no teeth until Umbridge started becoming a dictator. And back to being outlawed after the Battle of Hogwarts but not before using the Carrows as training dummies for curses.

I don't think I'd call what Umbridge and the Carrows are doing corporal punishment, exactly. They fly right past that to outright torture.

Indeed. And the only reason that Umbridge isn't punished for it is because Dumbledore has other things on his mind, plus Umbridge is part of the Ministry and therefore outside of his authority on Fudge's order. Like he says, she has the ability to inspect his teachers and a bunch of other stuff, plus teachers at Hogwarts get to tell the students what they'll be doing (and if Hagrid can send five kids into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night to try and find a wounded unicorn, what Umbridge is doing can't be that out of the ordinary), but her authority only goes that far; she doesn't have the right to fire teachers or banish them from the grounds.

Making any kind of strong move against Umbridge seems like a bad idea given that the Moron of Magic basically hands her whatever power she wants over the school and is chomping at the bit to get rid of Dumbledore and anyone else. The issue with dealing with an authoritarian jackass in charge.

And I'm like "While Harry's word may not be good with Fudge, it has to be good with other people in the Ministry. The whole slander and abuse of power just to silence a little boy was way over the top and should have raised some alarms into at least some Ministry employees." The few times other Ministry officials are confronted, they act rationally. There are some who are in the Order who'd be in a position to go after Umbridge and Fudge on Harry's behalf and make one of their lives hell, including at least two Aurors (Kingsley and Tonks).

I've seen multiple solutions to get Harry out of this mess in fics. There was one where Katie Bell took notice, she encouraged Harry to talk to Susan Bones, Susan passed word on to Amelia Bones, who had Tonks impersonate Harry and collect evidence this way. They did attempt to arrest Umbridge, but Fudge overrid them, and it took a Wizengamot session to oust Fudge and Umbridge in one fell swoop. There was another where Hermione intentionally subjected herself to a Blood Quill, then had her scars photographed by Madam Pomfrey (who, as a mandated reporter, would be obligated to report evidence of torture/abuse to the authorities if this was a Muggle school).

At that point Harry's trust in the Ministry is at an all-time low, for pretty good reason. Even if some in the Ministry are willing to go behind Fudge's back on his behalf, why the hell would he take that chance?

Harry's also got plenty of other problems preoccupying him, like having Voldemort in his head.

A better question would be why Dumbledore doesn't try any of that. Though that can be explained by his canon belief that he cannot be trusted with too much power and authority. He wouldn't want to go that far to subvert the Ministry's authority since that's uncomfortably close to a coup for him.

Also, it's implied that most of the Ministry is on Fudge's side on this matter. Because they also really don't want to believe that Voldemort is back.

Edited by M84 on Jan 13th 2021 at 12:22:37 AM

Despite the fact the Ministry is portrayed as stupid/malicious throughout the canon series (from Hagrid's investigation-free imprisonment, to Sirius not getting a trial, to the "kiss on sight" order given for him after he escaped, to the extrajudicial killing of Barty Crouch Jr., and everything with Umbridge), they've shown occasional moments of competence (in Chamber of Secrets, the people overseeing the trace were very efficient, even if they got the hover charm caster wrong; and barring the Death Eater attack and Crouch Jr. casting the Dark Mark, the Quidditch World Cup in Goblet of Fire seems to have been well planned and organized by the Department of Magical Games and Sports and the Department of International Magical Cooperation, even if the attendees were a bit unsubtle).

By extension, I feel like Fudge would've been a more interesting character if, rather than be portrayed as an idiot with his head in the sand who just doesn't want to believe Voldemort is back (and is built around covering up and ignoring things inconvenient to him), he and the Ministry were written in Order of the Phoenix as simply being skeptical while still carrying out due diligence. You could even keep the basic "Harry vs. Ministry" conflict of the fifth book by having them conclude there is insufficient evidence to support Harry's claims, so now Harry's opposing the official results of a lawful investigation.

For instance, it's widely known that there's no magic that can bring back the dead; a reasonable person would ask Dumbledore to explain how Voldemort could have done that. And while the Order does have several competent Aurors, Dumbledore is hesitant to explain his Horcrux theory to Fudge because he doesn't trust Fudge not to say something about them to Lucius Malfoy (and this is probably not something where he could just ask Fudge to swear an Unbreakable Vow to keep this information to himself).

If Dumbledore wouldn't explain how Voldemort came back from the dead, even Harry's eyewitness testimony could have been discounted. Even looking at the memory in a Pensieve, how would anyone be able to tell the difference between Voldemort really being back, and some kind of Death Eater trick? Presumably, the ritual Voldemort used is very obscure—even Dumbledore may not have heard of it before Voldemort used it.

In fact, now that I think about it, Rowling herself forgot that Fudge believed Voldemort was still alive in Prisoner of Azkaban. In chapter 10 of that book, Harry finally finds out about Sirius via a huge expositional dump that ends up with:

“I wish I could say that he was,” said Fudge slowly. “I certainly believe his master’s defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man — cruel… pointless. Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit muttering to themselves in the dark; there’s no sense in them… but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You’d have thought he was merely bored — asked if I’d finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the Dementors seemed to be having on him — and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night.”

“But what do you think he’s broken out to do?” said Madam Rosmerta. “Good gracious, Minister, he isn’t trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, is he?”

“I daresay that is his — er — eventual plan,” said Fudge evasively. “But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing… but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he’ll rise again…”

There was a small chink of glass on wood. Someone had set down their glass.

“You know, Cornelius, if you’re dining with the headmaster, we’d better head back up to the castle,” said Professor McGonagall.

Fudge was very clearly shocked at how not insane Sirius was. If he believed Sirius to be insane and Voldemort to be dead, what was that all about? How likely is a dead man to rise quickly, no matter how many devoted followers he had?

This makes me wonder if Rowling forgot what she had done in Prisoner of Azkaban when she created the panicked, cowardly and outright corrupt Fudge we see in Order of the Phoenix.

Now one could argue from that line that Fudge believed that's Sirius' plan but only because he'd gone mad in Azkaban, and he's trying to get across how insane Sirius supposedly is in a "he's so crazy he really thinks he can bring Voldemort back!" way. But if that were the case, Fudge would have said "How quickly he would have risen again". Past tense, not future tense. People don't speak in the present or future tense about someone they believe to be dead.

Hogwarts Legacy delayed to 2022.

Not a big surprise, but still kind of disappointing.

And eh, governments in real life have been known to discriminate against certain people for not toeing the line. Edward Snowden, MLK, people like that speak up against something and immediately get heavily leaned on.

How many we the equivalent of what Dumbledore was to the Wizarding community?

Hilariously, the films introduce some fridge-logic with Umbridge as a character. In the books, she only uses the Blood Quill on Harry and on Lee Jordan - which is unlikely to get her in trouble, as Harry's word is already dirt and Lee Jordan's easy enough to spin into "friend of Potter" reputation.

But in the film, she uses her Blood Quill on enough students, most of them random background characters, that there's no way in hell the Ministry would survive her year at Hogwarts regardless of Voldemort being back or not.

Easiest explanation was that she blamed everything on Fudge and she went under the radar under the shitstorm after Voldemort got outed. Not satisfactory, though. She deserved to be tossed into the Veil, really.

As a British person I can tell you that as long as you know the right people and have the right connections in the press you can absolutely get away with anything short of murder in politics.

There will be complaints and processes followed but once it gets to a certain point (and you've stayed out of the spotlight long enough) you're right back in business.

Plus she was sent to Hogwarts on Fudge's direct order. I imagine as his undersecretary or whatever the fuck she was he was perfectly willing to cover up everything she did.