You know, I didn’t realize until just now what it was that seemed off about Draco’s account of the duel with Grindelwald. He said (quote) “there’s no way two wizards would be so exactly matched that they’d fight for twenty whole hours until one of them fell over from exhaustion”, and used this improbability as evidence that the fight had been staged.
Fact from canon that I don’t believe has been mentioned in MoR (and thus may not be MoR canon): Gur Ryqre Jnaq unf gur negvsnpg-yriry cebcregl bs ‘haorngnoyr va pbzong’, ohg jvryqref pbhyq or xvyyrq ol, sbe vafgnapr, nffnffvangvat gurz va gurve fyrrc.
Speculation: Qhzoyrqber pbhyqa’g npghnyyl qrsrng gur Ryqre Jnaq va n qhry- ur whfg bhgynfgrq vgf jvryqre.
It seems obvious in retrospect, but since I didn’t think of it until now maybe others haven’t either. Unless you have some other reason to think it was faked...?
Um, that’s not what he actually said, you know.
It’s even right there in the part you quoted.
TheOtherDave doesn’t think you have a choice whether you believe X or non-X, just how you feel about your beliefs. To use your analogy, the only choice is deciding whether the fact that (you believe that) the sky is blue makes you happy or not.