Some Thoughts

[Kudou]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forums and figured that not all of the reviews on the fanfiction site would be read so I thought I'd repost my current review with some additions:

"I've been waiting for and wanting the veritamints to come in handy at some point. I feel like with Dobby's help Harry could arrange a surprise attack on the Slytherine's in the cafeteria. Maybe he'd feign anger and directly ask the table "who shot the hex at me?" and then presumably some people will accidentally tell the truth. Then he'd ask them if they also knew "who killed Melissa". Or something a bit more private would work, but would be less dramatic. Alternatively Harry could one day scan the entire Slytherine table with his legilimancy for people with occlumency barriers (the advanced form of occlumency would not clue him in, so he'd have to be prepared for a more careful sweep if this fails) while the rest of the Gryffindor 6 keep track of the Slytherines present. Then he'd have a list of people who have occlumency barriers and a list of people who were not present to comb through in a silent way. That said everyone with occlumency skills would be aware that he used legilimancy in public, so he'd garner a few enemies that way. So maybe Slytherine exposure to veritamints plus a magical means of having people answer a simple question. Also derp derp derp Dumbledore, just put the Sorting Hat on all of the Slytherines and there would be no issue. I just don't get magical criminal investigation. There are many improvements that could be made.

I'll have to post this to your blog or read through it to find it's already mentioned by somebody, but Sorting Hat on all of the Slytherine's seems a sure fire way to determine the culprit.

I'm also surprised that now that Harry has a secure magical trunk he does not keep a list of priorities (as he did in the previous timeline) so that checking on Petter Pettigrew was at least checked on in some capacity. Him moving about is definitely a pleasant surprise, but the resolution of his animagus form by the Ministry and the guard shift at Azkaban seems like they would have been investigated to some degree. Legilimency is not used by Harry to question anybody, which I think is oddly out of place.

And I've been waiting for the longest time for someone to get accidentally shot by that magical gun of his.

Love the story. I only have so many things to comment on because I love it so much."

Additional Comments: I haven't really thought too much about the agent in place. I think it was confusing enough for me that I just forgot about it and basically ignored what was said. After I finish reading chapter 38 (on chapter 36 currently). I've been waiting for Hermione and Harry to communicate with legilimency. I felt like it would have been perfect in the Ford Anglia scene with all of the families together.

I'd be interested to here anyone's comments on any of my thoughts.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

I think that the reason many of the things you mention are not normally done in magical crime investigations is that someone in the area actually cares about things like "not invading innocent people's minds". It is also possible that the Sorting Hat is not considered reliable enough to trust what it says about people when determining guilt or innocence. Or that someone wants concrete, direct, undeniable evidence. Something that will still stand even if everyone's credibility is attacked.

[WarriorDrgnMage]

It is also possible that the Sorting Hat is not considered reliable enough to trust what it says about people when determining guilt or innocence. Or that someone wants concrete, direct, undeniable evidence. Something that will still stand even if everyone's credibility is attacked.

The hat has already lied once about Harry, even if it was only a lie by implication/omission. If I were Harry I likely wouldn't trust that hat fully despite how helpful it's been.

[jgkitarel]

I was more inclined to believe that it was the institutionalized corruption and arrogance within the Ministry that caused some things. Keep in mind that Magical Brittain was patterned after Victorian England for a good reason.