Of Polyjuice, Dishwashers and Werewolves

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 39848

Much as I am enjoying all the Machievellian machinations of the 
Magic Dishwasher, I think I have found a theory-killer. If 
Dumbledore knew all about the Marauders' animagi forms, why, 
in the name of all wizardry, wouldn't he have told the ministry 
about Sirius during the first puppy-hunt, 12 years before? At that 
point he, like everyone else, wanted Sirius *found.* 

While the DISHWASHER defenders mull that over, here's 
another theory, a little easier to swallow than my last one, I hope. 
How do we know it was really Sirius that Hagrid met at Godric's 
Hollow?  What if it was (gasp!) Peter Pettigrew, polyjuiced to be 
Sirius and riding Sirius' bike? That explains how he could get 
there in time to retrieve Voldemort's wand and robes without 
being noticed by Hagrid, assorted Muggle neighbors and 
policemen  or the real Sirius, who  could have arrieved after 
Hagrid had gone. 

Sirius himself never says anything about meeting Hagrid, or 
having the motorcycle. He only says he saw the Potter's bodies. I 
always wondered about that. Wouldn't James at least have been 
buried under the rubble? But if Sirius came later, he could have 
been watching while the bodies were removed. Additional canon 
point: Hagrid says that "Sirius" argued with him about taking 
Harry. "an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter 
his aunt an' uncle's." Would the real Sirius Black have argued 
with orders from Dumbledore? I don't think so, not considering 
what Dumbledore says about young Crouch in GoF, "The real 
Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what 
happened tonight. The moment he took you, I knew..."

Now all we have to do is explain why Pettigrew was polyjuiced in 
the first place.  There's also a bit of Snape theory here which 
some of you have heard before, but I'm repeating it because it 
explains just why Snape was so hysterical in the Shack.

Speculation:
 It seems to have been part of Voldemort's plan to frame Sirius 
for the deaths of the Potters. Now suppose that Voldemort has 
planted evidence pointing to Sirius as the spy where 
Dumbledore's agents can find it. 

Snape finds the evidence and reports it to Dumbledore, but 
James insists on using Sirius. Snape, who has a life debt to 
James, may even take  the extraordinary and dangerous step of 
warning James himself. That part isn't necessary  for my theory, 
though it would be a great dramatic scene, but it is essential that 
Snape understands that James has received his warning about 
the danger of trusting Sirius Black--and disregarded it. 

Voldemort conducts the raid on Godric's Hollow. He doesn't 
actually take Pettigrew with him when he executes the raid. 
Instead, he orders Pettigrew  to arrive on the scene afterwards, 
*as Sirius* and fire the Dark Mark into the air as conspicuously 
as possible.  So "Sirius" arrives on the motorcycle only to 
discover that things have gone rather wrong.   He tries to get his 
hands on Harry, but Hagrid won't let him. 

Finally, "Sirius" gives the motorcycle to Hagrid to get rid of him, 
snatches up his master's  robes and  wand, turns himself into a 
rat and flees. But before he goes, he sends off an urgent owl 
with a letter, written in advance, to the Daily Prophet. The letter 
claims responsibility for the Potters' deaths in the name of the 
Death Eaters and Voldemort's chief lieutenant, Sirius Black. That 
accounts for Fudge's statement in the Three Broomsticks "Black 
was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his 
support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have 
planned this for the moment of the Potters' death," and Ernie's "I 
'eard 'e thought 'e'd be second-in-command once You-Know-'Oo 
'ad taken over."

The letter sets off the puppy-hunt.  The Ministry canvas all of 
Black's associates. At this point Dumbledore must give his 
deposition about Sirius as the secret keeper, and if he had 
known it, he surely would have told them that Sirius is an 
animagus. No matter what Dumbledore thinks happened, 
protecting Sirius' secret can't be as important as finding him. 
Sirius has disappeared, looking for Pettigrew, and as usual he 
hasn't bothered to leave a note. Once again, he has not behaved 
like an innocent man.
	
Sirius is captured and sent to Azkaban without a trial, so none of 
this ever comes out. No one ever realizes that the man Hagrid 
met at Godric's Hollow wasn't Sirius. Meanwhile, Snape believes 
the Potters ignored his advice. He has the sour satisfaction of 
knowing that if Potter had only taken heed of his warning, he'd be 
alive. He refers to this in the shack, "You'd have died like your 
father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black--"

 Snape never knew about the secret keeper switch, and he 
certainly didn't know that Sirius suggested it.  So what Snape 
thinks he is hearing, when  Hermione breathlessly suggests that 
there may have been a mistake, is that he, Severus Snape, is the 
one who made it.  James must have switched secret keepers on 
Snape's information, and James and Lily are dead. That's why 
Snape gets hysterical, why he won't even listen. He's in furious 
denial that Sirius was framed because if he was, then he, 
Severus Snape, helped do it. He sent an innocent man to 
Azkaban. 

I don't think Dumbledore wanted Pettigrew to get away.  It doesn't 
matter what Snape says to Fudge, because even if  Snape  
believed Sirius' story he never saw Pettigrew himself. 
Dumbledore hasn't a hope of convincing anyone that Pettigrew is 
still alive on the word of a werewolf, an escaped convict and two 
thirteen year old wizards.The Ministry of Magic is not going to get 
off its bureaucratic butt just for that--he couldn't even get them to 
look for Bertha Jorkins. So why didn't Dumbledore launch a 
search on his own? Perhaps he did.

Sirius is on the lam, and can't help, but suppose that Lupin has 
what many fictional werewolves possess: the tracking abilities of 
a wolf even when in human form.  Did Dumbledore *order* 
Snape to let it slip about Lupin being a werewolf because he 
wanted Lupin free to leave immediately and hunt Pettigrew? Was 
Lupin's forced resignation a charade?

 Dumbledore knows, even before he hears the prediction, that 
Pettigrew may try to get back to Voldemort. He can't be sure it 
won't happen, and if it does, Voldemort may rise again. Snape 
may need to re-establish himself in his old master's confidence 
and for that there needs to be some evidence of a rift. Why not let 
Snape give out some information that Dumbledore supposedly 
wants quiet?

 (Note: for this theory it does not matter whether Dumbledore has 
suspicions of Lupin or not. Or whether Lupin is evil or not. But it 
does put Lupin conveniently on the scene for secret meetings 
with Voldemort in Albania. And if Lupin chased Pettigrew back to 
Voldemort instead of away...well! But we'll just have to see.)

BTW, I wouldn't put too much stock in the fact that Dumbledore 
doesn't seem surprised when Harry tells him about Trelawney's 
prediction. One soon learns, in dealing with  children, that one 
must never betray shock at anything they tell you. Dumbledore 
has had 100 years of practice at that.

Pippin