How will the Second Voldemort War be fought?

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50276

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer <jferer at y...>"
<jferer at y...> wrote:
> 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, ...edit...
> 
> Prevent Dumbledore from gathering his strength.  ...edit...
> 
> Deny his enemies their main base, Hogwarts.  ...edit...
> 
> Get control of Azkaban, ...edit...
> 
> Prevent the Ministry from taking effective action against ..edit...
> 
> DUMBLEDORE'S EARLY STRATEGY
> 
> Act quickly to gather his cadre ...edit..
> 
> Gather intelligence as much as possible ...edit...
> 
> Reach out to potential allies such as the Giants,...edit...
> 
> Prevent Voldemort from getting control of Azkaban.  Drive out the
> Dementors.
> 
> Keep Voldemort off balance. ... Disrupt his plans.
> 
> Voldemort needs time, and Dumbledore means to deny it to him. 
> ...edit...
> 
> 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

bboy_mn:
Excellent analysis.

Voldemort: 
I can't take credit for this as other people have already said it.
Voldemort's war will not be war fought on clearly draw battle lines;
it will be a terroist war; a war of terrorizing. For the most part, it
will not be a war of soldiers against soldiers. It will be random and
brutal raids on the magic and muggle civilian population. Once
Voldemort has sufficiently terrorized the population to the point
where they cower in fear, frightened and helpless, at the slightest
noise or even the mere thought of him, Voldemort will start attacking
his primary targets, Azkaban, Hogwarts, and the homes of Dumbledore's
allies.

Initially, he will try to undermine the Ministry from within. Ideally,
he will try to make Fudge look so bad that he can get one of his own
men, probably Lucius, in charge. If that can't be done, then a direct
attack would probably be sufficient to render the government totally
ineffectual. In a sense, disbanding the government by force.

The more chaos, disruption, confusion, and fear Voldemort can create,
the less effective any potential resistance will be.

General comments:
I have nothing to base this on but a thought, but I foresee, someone
besides Dumbledore being put in charge of Hogwarts. That person will
probably be Malfoy. Getting him out of there and getting Dumbledore
back will be one of the main subplots.

SNAPE:
I still think Snape is going to try to get back in Voldemort's good
graces by claiming to be a double agent. Voldemort, when he spoke of
Snape in the graveyard, did so will a small element of doubt; a hint
of uncertainty. I think he is uncertain enough to at least hear what
Snape has to say, rather than killing him on sight. I doubt that Snape
can escape punishment though.

If someone has a better idea of what Snape's roll will be, I'm open to
it as long as it is within reasonable bounds of likelihood.

DUMBLEDORE:
Dumbledore is in a spot. He can't attack because there is nothing and
nowhere to attack. All he can do for now is gather his forces, and
react when things occur. All the accused Death Eaters are currently
prominent and power citizens. Voldemort's were abouts is unkown. Then
we are faced with the fact that Voldemort is not an easy guy to kill.

Dumbledore needs enough gathered intelligents to catch Death Eaters in
the act. That's going to be very hard to do in the beginning. 

Gathering his forces, Dumbledore will certainly send Hagrid and Madam
Maxime to meet with the giants. That's good, as long as the giants
don't kill them on sight.

The Dementors? Should Dumbledore turn the Demontor loose; drive them
out of Azkaban, or should he add additional forces to Akaban to force
the Dementor to stay contained, and allow his own forces to protect
the prison at the same time. 

If you turn the Dementors away; then they are going to go somewhere.
If you can force them to stay at Azkaban, you at least have them
contained.

General Comment:
As I said before, initially Voldemort's supporter will try to gain
control from the inside. I think a significant subplot in the new book
will be who ends up controlling the school.

Cool ideas:
An army (or air force) of dragon pilots lead by Charlie Weasley. 

Initially, a covert army of house-elves, who are a pipeline for secret
information. Ultimately, ending with a fighting force of independant
elves. [I've always assumed elves were somewhat telepathic, and
believed they could communicate with each other over significant
distances. Of course, that's pure fantasy on my part.] Wouldn't it be
odd, if in the final showdown, it was Dobby who defeat Voldemort in an
effort to protect Harry? The lowest of sevants who defeats the
greatest of wizards.

An army of werewolves once a month, lead by Lupin? Maybe that's going
to far.

Just a few thoughts, but I think it is safe to say the a lot of
different subplot battles are going to be fought on the ground of
Hogwarts this year, and those subplots will be complicated with a lot
of teen angst.

bboy_mn