Did voldemort mean to allow the DEs to be captured?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 86631

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "thesuddenstrike" 
<christopher at c...> wrote:
> Something that struck me as odd about OOP was the suspicouly easy 
> defeat of a group of adult, experienced, evil death eaters by a 
group 
> of school children, who, with the possible exception of harry, 
don't 
> have anything like as much power.  So I started to wonder, could 
> Voldemort have planned it on purpose?

Jen R: The Incompetent!DE's bothers me as well, although I can't 
think of what purpose it serves for them to be captured. LV is 
trying to stay undercover and while his "gift for spreading discord 
and enmity is very great" it requires stealth to succeed. A host of 
cpatured DE's on the front page of The Daily Prophet and 
mobilization of the WW to defend against his subversice tactics(i.e, 
putting people under the Imperio to do his bidding) does little to 
further his goal.

I guess we can believe these are very exceptional children, but each 
appears to be unusually gifted only in certain areas and they still 
required the intervention of the Order to escape.

Chris: 
> He gets rid of the ambitous and cunning L. Malfoy and the 
incredibuly 
> stupid Crabbe and Goyle Senior.  

Jen R: Getting rid of Lucius would be much to LV's advantage IMO, 
since he is really Spy!Lucius or at the very least Ambivalent!
Lucius ;). 

Goyle doesn't appear at the DOM, and surely LV would just AK them if 
they became too much of a hindrance, rather than invent such an 
elaborate scheme (although he does like extremely complicated plans).

Chris:
> On a different note, a few death eaters in the new wizard prison 
or 
> Hogwarts could be very useful when voldemort attacks. 


Jen R: At Hogwarts, definitely, although we don't know of any DE's 
who are there at the moment unless you're thinking of the 
Inquisitorial Squad as future DE's. Azkaban? I wonder who or what is 
in control of Azkaban now? Is it just protected with 
spells/enchantments? As Draco tells Harry the DE's won't be in there 
long without the Dementors, so either the protection is limited or 
he's just posturing for Harry. My guess is Draco is right and 
Azkaban has a very limited purpose without the Dementors--acting as 
a temporary holding cell at best.

As to how a large group of DE's trained in the Unforgivables managed 
to get into the Ministry of Magic at night, override security 
precautions, then be unable to capture the Prophecy from a handful 
of children....that's a mystery.

*Unless* <beg> you believe as I do that Lucius Malfoy was working at 
cross-purposes with the group, leading an ineffective offensive that 
was a cover to keep Harry alive at all costs while pretending to nab 
the Prophecy--then it all makes sense!

Jen Reese, realizing with the help of this group that she is a 
conspiracy theorist at heart. Hehehe.