One thing I find really interesting about this story is that nobody has any idea what’s going on, and nothing is going according to anyone’s plan.
(1) It seems clear that Hat and Cloak = Quirrellmort. Less clear, but still likely in my view, was is that the point of this plot was to eliminate those friends of Harry’s who would make him resistant to manipulation by Quirrellmort (“Lessson I learned is not to try plotss that would make girl-child friend think I am evil or boy-child friend think I am sstupid,” Ch. 66). Instead, while the plot may be the end of Harry’s friendship with Draco, it’s probably strengthened his bond with the morally pure Hermione, and convinced some members of the Wizengamot that Harry is Voldemort, which probably doesn’t have a place in Quirrellmort’s plans. Furthermore, Quirrellmort may not realize what he’s done.
(2) It occurred to me that giving Draco Veritaserum might have made Lucius realize that Harry is not Voldemort. However, if you look at some of Lucius’ dialog closely, the subtext appears to be, “Dark Lord, you have lost your humanity, and therefore cannot possibly understand the love I have for my son. I am willing to risk your wrath over this, especially since I suspect you are much weaker trapped in the body of a child. And why do you bother telling such ridiculous lies about your motives?” If Lucius knows that Harry confessed to Draco that he had no idea what the conversation in Ch. 38 was about, Lucius probably dismisses that confession as a well-told lie.
(3) Dumbledore believes that Harry has just signaled to Lucius and the other Death Eaters that he will pay any price to save his friends. But Dumbledore is wrong, at least about Lucius. Lucius believes he has just fallen victim to an incomprehensible plot of Harrymort’s, possibly designed solely to torment Lucius, and therefore does not see this as relevant evidence to how far Harry(mort) will go to save his friends in the future. Indeed, Lucius accused Harry of lying when Harry explained that “his stake” in the situation was just that Hermione was Harry’s friend.
(4) Harry is deeply conflicted about his actions. Yet there’s a case to be made that that Harry’s decision making process (the one he’s now feeling conflicted about) was better than Dumbledore’s. Not perfect, but better than Dumbledore’s. Not only is Harry ignorant about the consequences of his actions (as described in points 1-3 above), he was in the no position to know anything at all about those consequences… except for the consequence of “save a little girl from getting eaten by Dementors.” Under those circumstances, Harry’s arguments in Ch. 77 may actually apply here. Unfortunately, that may mean Harry ends up learning the wrong lesson from this incident.
From Quirrel’s point of view, Harry has shown incredible promise except for his pesky humanist streak. All Quirrelmort needs to do is to kill his faith in humanity off and he’s ripe for the job of future Dark Lord. What better way to accomplish that than to have the wizarding world at large sentence the one person he believes to be wholly good (Hermione) to death? Dumbledore will refuse to help Harry destroy Azkaban and bust Hermione out, at which point Harry will lose all faith in him and his methods, and turn to Quirrel for help. Quirrel says,
“Poor dear, didn’t I tell you that people were basically evil if left to their own devices? They need a ruler to help them to be good. Let’s break your chum out of Azkaban and take over the wizarding world for good measure as soon as we can, although I’m afraid that by the time we are in position to get her out and keep her out she’ll probably be a vegetable...”
So Harry and Quirrel sear Azkaban out of existence, free the crims (many of whom will now follow Harry into fire out of gratitude). Harry is left with a broken England and a broken Hermione and the only thing left for him is to rule with an iron utilitarian fist, Quirrelmort at his side.
And look how close it came to working! Harry’s backup plan was to kill almost the entire sitting parliament of Wizarding Britain in cold blood! There’s no coming back from that one. I don’t think avoiding this plot inoculates him against similar attacks, either—if anything he’s in a weaker position now and is therefore more vulnerable to being forced into the kind of irredeemable, desperation-induced act that he won’t be able to put back in the box.
And the reason it is easy for you to forgive such fools and think well of them, Mr. Potter, is that you yourself have not been sorely hurt. You will think less fondly of commonplace idiots after the first time their folly costs you something dear.
In the Wizengamut:
But by then he’d (Harry) already declared war on the country of magical Britain, and the idea of other people calling him a Dark Lord no longer seemed important one way or another.
When their idiocy threatened something dear to Harry, he declared war on them. Mission accomplished. I’ve been wondering if Harry is ever going to remember that conversation. It’s just so obvious. All that’s missing is the “told ya so” speech from Quirrell.
This occurred to me, but in retrospect I tend to think Quirrellmort must have realized he couldn’t have accomplished so much with one plot. And where does Bellatrix fit into all this?
convinced some members of the Wizengamot that Harry is Voldemort, which probably doesn’t have a place in Quirrellmort’s plans.
Quirrellmort has already pontificated on the benefits of ambiguity, and his desire to let both sides think Harry is on their side.
Harry: “On our first day of class, you
tried to convince my classmates I was a killer.”
Quirrell: “You are.” Amusedly. “But if your question is why I told them that,
Mr. Potter, the answer is that you will find ambiguity a great ally on
your road to power. Give a sign of Slytherin on one day, and contradict
it with a sign of Gryffindor the next; and the Slytherins will be enabled
to believe what they wish, while the Gryffindors argue themselves into
supporting you as well. So long as there is uncertainty, people can believe whatever seems to be to their own advantage. And so long as you
appear strong, so long as you appear to be winning, their instincts will
tell them that their advantage lies with you. Walk always in the shadow,
and light and darkness both will follow.”
Now that I think about it, it’s odd that he stated that with such certainty. It’s not like Voldemort or Dumbledore used that strategy—maybe he’s thinking of Grindelwald? Apparently his motto was “for the greater good”...
Yet that’s not exactly what happened as a result of Harry’s actions. The “afterword” of the trial suggests that any members of Lucius’ faction who follow story-book logic will see Harry as a dangerous enemy, as will members of Dumbledore’s faction who have “walked the path of a powerful wizard.”
Though that actually raises an interesting question—what happens when, say, Alastor Moody goes to Dumbledore and says, “Albus, I think Harry is Voldemort”? Does Dumbledore tell Alastor he’s wrong, and convince Alastor that there is a better explanation for Harry’s actions? Or does Dumbledore say, “dear God, Alastor, you’re right!”
On a related note, what does Dumbledore know about horcruxes? Dumbledore’s dialog has suggested that Voldemort may have gone around destroying a lot of information on horcruxes, so Dumbledore may know less in this story than he did in canon. Hmmm...
(4) Harry is deeply conflicted about his actions. Yet there’s a case to be made that that Harry’s decision making process (the one he’s now feeling conflicted about) was better than Dumbledore’s.
I think it was. Dumbledore was considering it a blackmail situation, which it clearly was not. Malfoy didn’t want the money, he wanted revenge and punishment. Harry did not give in to blackmail, he found a way to save a friend against someone trying to kill them.
People may conclude that Harry can be pushed to extremes by attacking those he cares about. Sounds a lot like Malfoy. This tends to imply some susceptibility to blackmail, but it’s not very strong evidence. I’d say it’s stronger evidence that’s it’s dangerous to mess with his friends, but potentially useful to do so if you can direct the retribution to a target of your own selection.
Dumbledore believes that Harry has just signaled to Lucius and the other Death Eaters that he will pay any price to save his friends.
Another way to interpret the events would be to say that Harry is willing to commit any act to save his friends as quickly and efficiently as possible. If Harry happens to have some money, he will use money. If he doesn’t have any money, he may use some hitherto unknown, yet unimaginably horrific power, which is so destructive that it is capable of frightening a Dementor. I suspect that at least a few Death Eaters on the Wizengamot might be thinking along these lines.
Scaring the Dementor may have saved his bacon. Blackmailing someone is a positive utility move. Blackmailing someone who seriously believes they can destroy hundreds of unkillable soul-eating monsters, and backs that up is a move with totally unknown utility, possibly very, very negative.
One thing I find really interesting about this story is that nobody has any idea what’s going on, and nothing is going according to anyone’s plan.
(1) It seems clear that Hat and Cloak = Quirrellmort. Less clear, but still likely in my view, was is that the point of this plot was to eliminate those friends of Harry’s who would make him resistant to manipulation by Quirrellmort (“Lessson I learned is not to try plotss that would make girl-child friend think I am evil or boy-child friend think I am sstupid,” Ch. 66). Instead, while the plot may be the end of Harry’s friendship with Draco, it’s probably strengthened his bond with the morally pure Hermione, and convinced some members of the Wizengamot that Harry is Voldemort, which probably doesn’t have a place in Quirrellmort’s plans. Furthermore, Quirrellmort may not realize what he’s done.
(2) It occurred to me that giving Draco Veritaserum might have made Lucius realize that Harry is not Voldemort. However, if you look at some of Lucius’ dialog closely, the subtext appears to be, “Dark Lord, you have lost your humanity, and therefore cannot possibly understand the love I have for my son. I am willing to risk your wrath over this, especially since I suspect you are much weaker trapped in the body of a child. And why do you bother telling such ridiculous lies about your motives?” If Lucius knows that Harry confessed to Draco that he had no idea what the conversation in Ch. 38 was about, Lucius probably dismisses that confession as a well-told lie.
(3) Dumbledore believes that Harry has just signaled to Lucius and the other Death Eaters that he will pay any price to save his friends. But Dumbledore is wrong, at least about Lucius. Lucius believes he has just fallen victim to an incomprehensible plot of Harrymort’s, possibly designed solely to torment Lucius, and therefore does not see this as relevant evidence to how far Harry(mort) will go to save his friends in the future. Indeed, Lucius accused Harry of lying when Harry explained that “his stake” in the situation was just that Hermione was Harry’s friend.
(4) Harry is deeply conflicted about his actions. Yet there’s a case to be made that that Harry’s decision making process (the one he’s now feeling conflicted about) was better than Dumbledore’s. Not perfect, but better than Dumbledore’s. Not only is Harry ignorant about the consequences of his actions (as described in points 1-3 above), he was in the no position to know anything at all about those consequences… except for the consequence of “save a little girl from getting eaten by Dementors.” Under those circumstances, Harry’s arguments in Ch. 77 may actually apply here. Unfortunately, that may mean Harry ends up learning the wrong lesson from this incident.
RE: your (1).
I think that Quirrelmort’s aim was to turn Harry.
From Quirrel’s point of view, Harry has shown incredible promise except for his pesky humanist streak. All Quirrelmort needs to do is to kill his faith in humanity off and he’s ripe for the job of future Dark Lord. What better way to accomplish that than to have the wizarding world at large sentence the one person he believes to be wholly good (Hermione) to death? Dumbledore will refuse to help Harry destroy Azkaban and bust Hermione out, at which point Harry will lose all faith in him and his methods, and turn to Quirrel for help. Quirrel says, “Poor dear, didn’t I tell you that people were basically evil if left to their own devices? They need a ruler to help them to be good. Let’s break your chum out of Azkaban and take over the wizarding world for good measure as soon as we can, although I’m afraid that by the time we are in position to get her out and keep her out she’ll probably be a vegetable...” So Harry and Quirrel sear Azkaban out of existence, free the crims (many of whom will now follow Harry into fire out of gratitude). Harry is left with a broken England and a broken Hermione and the only thing left for him is to rule with an iron utilitarian fist, Quirrelmort at his side.
And look how close it came to working! Harry’s backup plan was to kill almost the entire sitting parliament of Wizarding Britain in cold blood! There’s no coming back from that one. I don’t think avoiding this plot inoculates him against similar attacks, either—if anything he’s in a weaker position now and is therefore more vulnerable to being forced into the kind of irredeemable, desperation-induced act that he won’t be able to put back in the box.
I’d earlier made this point. The key
In the Wizengamut:
When their idiocy threatened something dear to Harry, he declared war on them. Mission accomplished. I’ve been wondering if Harry is ever going to remember that conversation. It’s just so obvious. All that’s missing is the “told ya so” speech from Quirrell.
This occurred to me, but in retrospect I tend to think Quirrellmort must have realized he couldn’t have accomplished so much with one plot. And where does Bellatrix fit into all this?
Maybe she’s part of Plan B?
Quirrellmort has already pontificated on the benefits of ambiguity, and his desire to let both sides think Harry is on their side.
Now that I think about it, it’s odd that he stated that with such certainty. It’s not like Voldemort or Dumbledore used that strategy—maybe he’s thinking of Grindelwald? Apparently his motto was “for the greater good”...
Perhaps it’s the whole “People fought like crazy to stop me, and even though they failed, it was really annoying” thing?
Yet that’s not exactly what happened as a result of Harry’s actions. The “afterword” of the trial suggests that any members of Lucius’ faction who follow story-book logic will see Harry as a dangerous enemy, as will members of Dumbledore’s faction who have “walked the path of a powerful wizard.”
Though that actually raises an interesting question—what happens when, say, Alastor Moody goes to Dumbledore and says, “Albus, I think Harry is Voldemort”? Does Dumbledore tell Alastor he’s wrong, and convince Alastor that there is a better explanation for Harry’s actions? Or does Dumbledore say, “dear God, Alastor, you’re right!”
On a related note, what does Dumbledore know about horcruxes? Dumbledore’s dialog has suggested that Voldemort may have gone around destroying a lot of information on horcruxes, so Dumbledore may know less in this story than he did in canon. Hmmm...
EDIT: See also JenniferRM’s comment below.
Please link the comment you mean. I don’t know which one.
Edit (so to not raise the comment count): Thanks.
Done.
I think it was. Dumbledore was considering it a blackmail situation, which it clearly was not. Malfoy didn’t want the money, he wanted revenge and punishment. Harry did not give in to blackmail, he found a way to save a friend against someone trying to kill them.
People may conclude that Harry can be pushed to extremes by attacking those he cares about. Sounds a lot like Malfoy. This tends to imply some susceptibility to blackmail, but it’s not very strong evidence. I’d say it’s stronger evidence that’s it’s dangerous to mess with his friends, but potentially useful to do so if you can direct the retribution to a target of your own selection.
Another way to interpret the events would be to say that Harry is willing to commit any act to save his friends as quickly and efficiently as possible. If Harry happens to have some money, he will use money. If he doesn’t have any money, he may use some hitherto unknown, yet unimaginably horrific power, which is so destructive that it is capable of frightening a Dementor. I suspect that at least a few Death Eaters on the Wizengamot might be thinking along these lines.
Scaring the Dementor may have saved his bacon. Blackmailing someone is a positive utility move. Blackmailing someone who seriously believes they can destroy hundreds of unkillable soul-eating monsters, and backs that up is a move with totally unknown utility, possibly very, very negative.