How will the Second Voldemort War be fought?

[Jim Ferer <jferer@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50268

The Second Voldemort War is on.  It began when Voldemort killed Cedric
Diggory and was restored to his body.  (All the things before were the
kind of nasty preliminaries that go before most wars.)

Since it is a war, I think it's useful to talk about it in war terms.
 We have indications of Voldemort's and Dumbledore's strategy:

VOLDEMORT'S EARLY STRATEGY

Undermine his main enemies, Dumbledore and Harry, probably by getting
Dumbledore and perhaps Harry sacked or jailed.  He may try to deprive
Harry of the support of his friends, making Hermione and Ron targets.

Prevent Dumbledore from gathering his strength.  The old crowd are all
targets.

Deny his enemies their main base, Hogwarts.  Voldemort can't allow the
good guys to have a safe base while he has none.

Get control of Azkaban, to establish a base, secure the services of
the Dementors, and "liberate" imprisoned Death Eaters.

Prevent the Ministry from taking effective action against him, giving
him time to make and gather allies and regain the services of
imprisoned Death Eaters.  He has agents-in-place there (MacNair,
others), perhaps even Fudge, although I think Fudge is basically
Neville Chamberlain with a wand.  He also has at least one powerful
agent of influence, Lucius.

DUMBLEDORE'S EARLY STRATEGY

Act quickly to gather his cadre (the "old crowd"), retired Aurors,
allies in the Ministry).

Gather intelligence as much as possible - allies in the Ministry,
Snape, (who shouldn't be out there; he's 100% "blown," completely
compromised), and stay one step ahead of Voldemort.

Reach out to potential allies such as the Giants, both as allies and
to deny them to Voldemort.  We may even meet a Giant in OP.

Prevent Voldemort from getting control of Azkaban.  Drive out the
Dementors.

Keep Voldemort off balance.  Keep him from establishing a base of
operations.  Disrupt his plans.

Voldemort needs time, and Dumbledore means to deny it to him.  He
urged Fudge unsuccessfully to that strategy, and Hagrid is aware
that's Dumbledore's intent.

If you accept these ideas as likely, then it's possible to predict
things that might happen in OP.  What tactics each side will use is -
- we don't know.

Jim Ferer, who doesn't think a steel helmet is any good against spells