Death Eater Modus Operendi

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 36611

DG wrote:

<Snip interesting strategic observations about how DEs might work>

> This, then, begs two questions:
> 
> 1) Was Voldy alone when he went after Harry and his parents?
> 
> 2) If so, why break with established procedures?
> 
> and as an (unrelated) bonus question:
> 
> 3) What happens if Harry uses Avra Kedavra on Voldy??


Oooh, bonus questions.  I love bonus questions! :-)

Was Voldemort alone when he attacked the Potters?  This one isn't 
that difficult, I'd say.  No, he wasn't completely alone, as someone 
(possibly Pettigrew) retrieved his wand.  

Also, Pettigrew presumably had to reveal the secret so that Voldemort 
could find the Potters.  To make that scene Big, we can't have 
Pettigrew and Voldemort eating popcorn by the fire when Pettigrew 
casually tells Voldemort how to find the Potters.  No, Pettigrew has 
to *show* Voldemort how to find them, I would think.  

That way, we can have a Big scene in which Peter rings the bell 
carrying a nice houseplant, James opens the door, and the battle 
starts when James sees Voldemort.  Boy, that is Big, because we can 
have a close-up of the look on James' face when he sees he's been 
betrayed.  

I also figure Pettigrew fired the Dark Mark into the air over the 
Potters' house.  That is how Sirius, Hagrid and everyone else found 
the Potters' house so quickly.  

So, then, why did Voldemort go in without a full contingent of DEs?  
That's tougher.  First, we know the ranks were a bit depleted by this 
point.  In the worst case, Voldemort is down Karkaroff, Dolohov, 
Mulciber, Rosier, Wilkes, Travers, Snape (who can't apparate away 
from Hogwarts quickly), the Lestranges (who may have been imprisoned 
already and talked their way out later to torture the Longbottoms).

Second, we have to figure that if he's smart (which is highly 
debatable), Voldemort doesn't summon all DEs on all missions.  To 
keep them from learning each others' identities, he probably has them 
in cells, and he is limited by how many he can use at any one time.  

The last time we tried to work out the DE cells, I proposed the 
following (Message 35,071):

***********

>To recap, then, we have Death Eater Cell 1 with Rookwood, Karkaroff, 
> Wilkes, Travers, Dolohov, Snape, Mulciber.  We have Death Eater 
> Cell 2 with Pettigrew, Avery, Malfoy, MacNair, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, 
> Crouch Jr., the Lestranges and . . . Bagman.  Karkaroff only knows 
> about the people in his cell, and he betrays every single one of 
them 
> that he knows to be alive.  Snape doesn't know about Pettigrew 
> because he's in the other cell, and Snape isn't even sure about 
> Malfoy.

*************

Assume Voldemort wants to leave some DEs guarding his lair, leave 
some guarding whatever treasures he covets, give some the night off, 
and leave certain SYCOPHANTS behind because, like Avery, they are 
just plain more trouble than they are worth.  Subtract out DEs who 
are generally not too bright (Crabbe and Goyle), and you are down 12 
DEs.  Voldemort might be spread pretty thin there.  

No problem, though.  Voldemort figured this mission is like shooting 
fish in a barrel and decides to staff it rather leanly.  He is going 
to bring Pettigrew, so he takes a look at Pettigrew's cell, Cell 2.  
He decides to leave Bagman home because he's an idiot.  MacNair 
attracts too much attention with that huge axe he carries around.  
Crouch Jr. is very green and might bolt.  That leaves Lucius, and 
Voldemort just doesn't fully trust Lucius because Lucius is smarter 
than Voldemort.  So Voldemort just goes with Pettigrew.

Voldemort showed up with the one thing he needs to make this mission 
run smoothly -- Pettigrew.  And as it turns out, this was not really 
a mistake.  After all, stage 1 and stage 2 (killing James and Lily) 
went just fine.  

Finally, what happens if Harry uses AK on Voldemort?  Uh, no idea.  
And the fact that I have no idea means that this scenario might well 
be the climactic scene in the final showdown.  I think perhaps if 
Voldemort or Harry use AK on the other, they will *both* be killed 
due to that blood tie they have now.

And if that's the case, I have to wonder why Dumbledore would be 
Gleaming about that possibility.

Cindy (noting that DG would be welcome on the Big Bang Destroyer, but 
the only way to board the Big Bang is to swim fast enough to catch up 
with it)