How did the wizarding public know Voldemort's powers were broken on Halloween?
I was trying to think of a reason for a rebounding Killing Curse to make Voldemort’s body disappear (no luck so far) when I thought of an entirely different question: with no body and no witnesses (other than Harry, who probably didn’t know more than a few words), why was the wizarding public so quick to believe Voldemort had been defeated?( Read more... )
Vernon and Muggle news outlets only see all the weird, conspicuous bits. The ‘showers of shooting stars’ all across England might have been wizarding fireworks or similar spells - maybe they had them lying around or conjured some. All it takes is one person to get overexcited and bombard the skies. McGonagall even points out Diggle as the potential culprit. Twenty or thirty more people like that and you will start to attract attention.
(Incidentally, either Muggles are only seeing them from a distance and mistaking them for shooting stars, or they’re somehow charmed to look like shooting stars.)
It does seem strange that the wizarding GP don’t just shrug and chalk it up to the rumour mill.
I suspect there was a much more skeptical outlook from a minority of the general public, but by and large it really does sound like “The BBC (I.e. Dumbledore) said it, therefore it’s true.” Look how quickly most people disbelieve Harry when he insists Voldemort’s back in OOTP. Most people in the British WW just seem to be stuck in their own little enclave of wishful thinking. Perhaps that’s what happens when you can get almost anything you want with the wave of a wand.
You’re right, Crouch would have done his own investigation, but the following morning. But then I think the rumour mill would’ve been in full swing and everyone would have lapped up the story, regardless of its veracity. In a world where Voldemort had managed to kill Harry, I’m sure that the Ministry would’ve released some kind of article vehemently denying the rumours. Also, LV would possibly have taken over the Ministry had he won.
Although his investigation can’t have been too flash, can it, because it landed the wrong man in jail for thirteen years.
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I think people not believing that Voldemort has returned is a slightly different situation, since someone bodily coming back from the (mostly) dead is supposed to be just as impossible for wizards as for us. And there isn't any evidence available to them other than Harry's eyewitness account, and he spends most of the year not giving it. Whereas they do have proof that an escaped Death Eater was in the school impersonating Moody, and know that there are spells which can make people (like Harry) believe things that aren't true. So not believing Harry and pinning all the blame on Barty Junior is pretty reasonable and doesn't require unusual trust in authority figures or more than a normal amount of wishful thinking.
"This unkillable guy is dead thanks to a baby because Dumbledore says so" is somewhat less reasonable. I'd be worried that it was a trick and Voldemort was planning to gather his followers and ambush any crowds celebrating his supposed demise, if I were there. What a great way to make Dumbledore look foolish and take out a bunch of people who oppose the new Dark Order all at once!
I think Terri might be on to something with the idea that Crouch quickly realized Sirius was a loose canon and maybe a wannabe, and might have killed those Muggles as collateral damage, but was not Voldemort's right-hand man after all--and decided to toss Sirius in prison as quickly as possible anyway. That way, he could get credit for having taken out a dangerous Dark wizard without anyone else figuring out that Sirius was actually a better-looking Stan Shunpike. I mean, Crouch just got upstaged by a baby; he needed that boost. See, the Ministry is also good at making you safer! Crouch for Minister! (And Dumbledore didn't protest as long as Crouch didn't question Sirius too hard about the Order. Win-win!)
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