deathtocapslock | GOF: 'epilogue' of sporkage - conclusions and open questions

Here are some, I might add more at a later time, but feel free to add your own:

Albus:

If he knew Harry's death was necessary for victory over Tom (at least until he learned of the manner of Tom's re-incorporation), why did he save Harry several times already? And if he was trying to avoid Harry's death, why did he let Harry risk himself in the Tournament?

In the past I offered several theoretically possible explanations:

1) Albus indeed was trying to come up with an alternative plan and was sincerely saving Harry in hope that he can work it out. It so happened that Tom solved the problem for him.

2) Albus wanted Harry to make an informed choice to die. His plan was to protect Harry until he was of age, them present him with the facts and have Harry volunteer to die.

3) Albus believed that Harry's being a Horcrux protected him from most forms of death. Most of the time what Albus was protecting was the knowledge that such protection existed (if Harry survives a fall from an enormous height with no explicable mechanism would anyone start suspecting he was in fact the Horcrux that ensures Tom's eventual return?)

4) Albus (despite his protest in HBP) actually believed in the prophecy. Which meant Harry was only in danger from Tom himself (either must die at the hand of the other). He protected Harry in other situations (Quidditch games or from Barty) - either to make the prophecy come true or to disguise Harry's protection by fate, but encouraged Tom-Harry encounters.

5) Albus doesn't want Harry to die in Quidditch games or even at the hands of deranged teachers because as much as it would serve the goal of destroying Tom, it doesn't look too good. But letting Harry die while confronting Tom looks good on the front page of the Prophet, especially if Albus is on record making an effort to keep Harry safe.

Or some combination of the above.

How do these explanations look in light of GOF?

Well, I think #3 might not be correct based on magical theory. Horcruxes are hard to destroy, but does this apply to one formed accidentally? And with Harry probably being the only known accidental Horcrux, why would Albus be so certain of Harry's invulnerability?

There is some support to #2 with Albus' use of the Age Line - he is OK with 17 year olds participating in the Tournament, they are old enough to make such a choice - but not a younger student. But once Harry gets entered into the Tournament Albus supposedly worries a lot, but does nothing for Harry's safety - he neither advises him on the 'binding magical contract' (what is the minimum Harry needs to do to not be in breach?) nor does he arrange for Harry's safety during the tasks. Well, Charlie and his colleagues might have intervened had a dragon gotten out of hand (maybe), but in the other 2 tasks Harry and the other champions were out of sight for much of the time. Who would have saved Harry from being drowned by grindilows or eaten by spiders? Moreover by late May Albus knew Voldemort's goal was to kidnap Harry and feed him to his pet snake. And he knew someone at Hogwarts was Tom's accessory (whether willing or not). Yet Albus does nothing to prevent this from happening. In fact, he lets Harry enter a maze where he can not be seen (and lets 'Moody' handle the cup).

Of course any argument against #2 is also against #1. Albus hardly does anything to protect Harry when he knows a Voldieplot is in action.

Which leaves us with the last two options, the least flattering to Albus. He made a token effort to save Harry with his hiring of Moody and the Age Line, but once he felt he was covered, let Harry risk death, whether through the tasks or Tom's plot. After all, that's what was in store for him anyway.

OTOH I am OK with him not knowing who Tom's Hogwarts agent was - there are just so many possibilities. All it says is that the real and fake Moody distinction is meaningless. Anyone writing Moody can write him based on Barty's (public) portrayal of him and be sure the portrayal is in-character.

Tom:

We were not given any explanation why once he had an agent inside Hogwarts he stuck with a plan that only sent Harry to him at the end of the year.

There is some confusion about what aspect of his resurrection was his innovation and what was already known (and may have been used by previous Horcrux-makers?). Of course we don't know what happens when a Horcrux-owner 'dies' other than by his own AK rebounding on him when trying to kill someone protected by sacrificial magic. Did they lose their bodies too? Or were they not-as-bad-off as Tom? Also, just like his diary version, Tom thinks he should have remembered about sacrificial magic. It simply can't be unique to Lily. But what I find most curious is that he knows Harry is protected at 4PD by a protection Albus had set up. How?

Severus:

As his Dark Mark returns he knows the commitment he made around 1980 and restated in 1981 will require him to face danger and live from moment to moment on his wits.

His assigned mission is protecting Harry. We see him acting to protect anyone who might need it without knowing who that might be (chapter 25). Though he may not have reported this event to Albus (anything about it? some of it?). We also see him taking provocation by 'Moody' and being not-quite cooperative when Harry tells him about seeing the confused Crouch. Is that because it was Harry who brought the message, because of Harry's delivery or because of some personal issue with Crouch from the first war?

This is the book that reveals that Severus' plot-relevant past went beyond his school days and involved some time as a follower of Voldemort, and subsequently some time as Albus' wartime (and post-wartime) spy among the DEs. But the nature of his activity as a DE remains obscure. All we know is that nobody from either side ever says anything about it (aside from his reporting of the prophecy), even when, as in Igor's trial, there is incentive to say as much as possible.

Also, despite Harry's protestations, in this book we see indication that Severus is *not* permissive with the Slytherins.

Hermione:

This book marks her transition from someone who was often insensitive to the feelings of those around her (even Ron) to someone who would go to great lengths and lose any moral inhibitions to take revenge on those who wronged her and hers. This is also the beginning of her two-year campaign for the House-elves, a campaign triggered by false assumptions and carried on with little understanding of the actual condition of House elves. Too bad we never learned enough about how this species works to be able to come up with an informed opinion of what would be good moral treatment of them.

This book shows for the first time Hermione encountering negative treatment for her blood-status that went beyond name-calling (and came from someone who was not a Malfoy).

Peter:

Considering how badly his death scene in DH was written, what was the point of the silver hand or the supposed life-debt? And why did he go back to Tom anyway? His character arc is so contrived. Sadly so.

The First War:

This book is the first time we get anything approaching specifics about any aspect of the first war that wasn't related directly to the Godric's Hollow attack. In this book it was still somewhat believable that there was an intense conflict lasting years (though the tale of Crouch's meteoric rise already casts some doubt on this timeline. Also, this book raises the role of the ministry in the fighting. Though it isn't clear how clean the intentions of the leadership were. As for Albus and his supporters - here we learn they were an extra-governmental organization. Why did Albus form a separate force? Was that because of personal distrust of Crouch? Ideological differences? A disagreement on tactics? Something else entirely? Of course the more we learn about Albus in later books the less these differences appear.

The Triwizard Tournament:

Whose idea was it to revive the Tournamnet? And why at this timing? How long had the Ministry been preparing for it? None of these questions are answered.