Mrs. Lestrange, Crouch, Moody, and the Longbottoms (WAS Colonel Snape? )

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 33554

Susanna wrote:

> Don't you think that this whole Longbottom story is a 
> bit fishy? According to what Sirius tells HRH, it happened not too 
> long, but some time after Voldemort's downfall, when a few 
remaining 
> faithful DEs were desperately searching for their lost Evil 
Overlord. 
> But does anybody have an idea as to why the Lestranges got it into 
> their fanatical heads that the Longbottoms might eventually know 
his 
> whereabouts? Did not only the DEs, but also the MoM Aurors search 
for 
> Voldemort? I was under the impression that a large majority of the 
> wizarding population, including the MoM, believed that he was dead 
> and gone for good, so why should they send Aurors to find him? And 
if 
> they did so, why were the Longbottoms the only targets? Or weren't 
> they? Did somebody go after Moody too and was this how he lost his 
> eye and maybe also his leg? Though this would have to have taken 
> place after the Longbottom affair, for he still had his eye at the 
> Lestrange/Crouch trial. 
> 

A couple of things.  

First, I think it is plausible that Mrs. Lestrange and her DE buddies 
did not believe Voldemort was dead.  Perhaps they were aware of the 
protections Voldemort gave himself.  Also, even Hagrid in PS/SS 
doesn't believe Voldemort is dead and gone forever.  If Mrs. 
Lestrange talked her way out of Azkaban (as Sirius tells us), and 
immediately set about capturing an Auror and torturing him, she is 
quite a piece of work.

Second, Moody did not attend the Lestrange/Crouch trial (there is no 
mention of him in that Pensieve scene, anyway).  I like to think that 
this is because he was involved in the arrest of Mrs. Lestrange, and 
she, um, gave him a bit of a hard time.  As for whether Mrs. 
Lestrange may have captured Moody and tortured him like the 
Longbottoms, I doubt that is how he lost is eye and leg.  It seems 
that Mrs. Lestrange means business and cuts to the chase, so I think 
she'd go straight to torturing like she did with the Longbottoms and 
not bother with injuring her victims in some other fashion.

Maybe the Mrs. Lestrange was one of those Unspeakables who went over 
to the dark side.  ::shiver::  Boy, I hope so.

Cindy (who will be bitterly disappointed if Mrs. Lestrange turns out 
to be a florist)