Instead of “having a Death Eater paralyze Harry”, I suggest that Voldemort paralyzes Harry himself before the Death Eaters arrive by throwing a trapped Knut at him with Petrificus Totalis set on it to trigger or something.
Then Voldemort, just before the Vow, asks one of the Death Eaters to partially remove the paralysis just from Harry’s head.
This looks all the way simpler. A paralysis is good from Voldemort’s perspective, but if it is good to have it would be good to have from the start—so as to be in better control of the situation rather than depend solely on the abilities of the Death Eaters -- and don’t tell me that Voldemort couldn’t have found indirect ways to inflict a variety of magical effect on Harry the moment he realized his magic couldn’t touch him directly.
EDIT TO ADD: Ugh, no, that solution I just suggested (trapped Knut with paralysis spell) has the problem of leaving Harry paralyzed afterwards, while the paralysis spell would be dissolved at the Death Eater’s death...
don’t tell me that Voldemort couldn’t have found indirect ways to inflict a variety of magical effect on Harry the moment he realized his magic couldn’t touch him directly.
Experimenting with different ways to use magic indirectly carries a risk, that it’s not indirect enough for the effect to trigger. Voldemort might not want to take that risk.
Instead of “having a Death Eater paralyze Harry”, I suggest that Voldemort paralyzes Harry himself before the Death Eaters arrive by throwing a trapped Knut at him with Petrificus Totalis set on it to trigger or something.
Then Voldemort, just before the Vow, asks one of the Death Eaters to partially remove the paralysis just from Harry’s head.
This looks all the way simpler. A paralysis is good from Voldemort’s perspective, but if it is good to have it would be good to have from the start—so as to be in better control of the situation rather than depend solely on the abilities of the Death Eaters -- and don’t tell me that Voldemort couldn’t have found indirect ways to inflict a variety of magical effect on Harry the moment he realized his magic couldn’t touch him directly.
EDIT TO ADD: Ugh, no, that solution I just suggested (trapped Knut with paralysis spell) has the problem of leaving Harry paralyzed afterwards, while the paralysis spell would be dissolved at the Death Eater’s death...
Experimenting with different ways to use magic indirectly carries a risk, that it’s not indirect enough for the effect to trigger. Voldemort might not want to take that risk.