Hairy Me and Harry Potter

I'm shedding almost as much as my cats are, now that the weather is warming up. Well, I'm not shedding because it's warmer; I guess those post-partum hormones are finally starting to disappear. Last time I got a haircut, a couple of weeks ago, the hairdresser kept going on about my thick hair. I have always had thick hair, even before I had kids, but post-partum, it's like a lion's mane, and just as hard to tame. So I'm a bit relieved I won't have to wrestle with it much longer, but in the meantime, my sink, shower, pillow, clothing...heck, just about everywhere I tend to hang out for more than a minute tends to have a few hairs of mine hanging out as well. UGH (I HATE LOOSE HAIR. It is just about the most disgusting thing in the world. See why I want Aislinn to pick it all up for me?)

I'm in the middle of a Harry Potter refresher course, which consists of me rereading every HP book and watching all the movies that have been released so far, to prepare myself for the big release this summer. Harry and company have SO MANY details that I have forgotten about, and I want to be ready to catch everything in the last book. Like in The Goblet of Fire (which I just finished), in which Voldemort makes reference to three Death Eaters who are missing:

One, too cowardly to return...he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever...he will be killed of course...and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already re-entered my service. (GoF, ch. 33)

The third one he's speaking of must be Wormtail, who had indeed returned to his service. But the other two?

One of them must be Snape, who it was revealed had been a Death Eater. I'm guessing he is the one who has left him forever, because I'm among those who believe Snape will prove to be a good guy in the end.

So who is the one too cowardly to return? Unless I'm forgetting that another Death Eater not present that night was later revealed, I have a theory.

I think it's Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

I just did a little research, and apparently there are others who have considered this possibility. There have been arguments for and against. One of these actually agrees that Fudge is the remaining Death Eater, but names him as the one who will never return, and labels Snape as the cowardly one. I don't buy it. Snape, if he turns out the way I think he will, is not a coward. He has saved Harry's life several times, and he admitted somewhat publicly to being a former Death Eater by showing the Dark Mark on his arm...that took some courage.

Fudge, however, reacts strongly to seeing Snape's Dark Mark. I think he is fearful, knowing that if Voldemort has returned, and if Fudge does not return to him, Voldemort will kill him. Fudge knows if he returns to Voldemort, he will lose all his political power (and indeed he already lost some by book 6, if I recall). Fudge is clearly a coward.

Anyway, that's my prediction for book 7. And I'm proud to say I made it on my own, before researching to see that others had come to a similar conclusion.