Marauder's Map, the Marauders, and Voldemort

[boyd_smythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 109044

> RMM wrote in his !fantastic! post: <snipped>
> Conclusion:  All of the Marauders were involved with Voldemort.  
Some 
> of the Marauders more than the others.  All the Marauders can use 
> Voldemort's name with ease, implying that they are not under 
> Voldemort's sway or afraid of him -- that is, all except Wormtail.
> Also, Voldemort was doing some kind of instruction with them as the 
> nature of the relationship revolved around "learning" and 
"teaching".
> 
> Heck, who knows?  Maybe Voldemort was teaching at Hogwarts for a 
time!

boyd:

That's one heck of a post, RMM! Love the analysis.

After a moment's reflection, it made me think again about the GH 
incident. All we know is that, somehow, LV found out that Peter was 
the secret-keeper. Then LV killed James. Then he killed Lily, who 
protected baby!Harry.

I maintain that, if any of the other Marauders besides Peter was 
likely to have a strong relationship with Voldie, it was James. Why?

1. We Don't know anything about him except that he was a 
mischievous Marauder who suspected his friends of being spies for LV, 
he was a git (at least to Snape), LV killed him at GH, and he's 
Harry's dad. What part of this makes us think he wouldn't be in league 
with LV? LV might have needed to kill FriendToLV!James for a number of 
reasons, and being Harry's dad doesn't guartantee he was all good.

2. Who better to tell LV who the secret-keeper was? LV found out 
somehow, and I think James told him.

3. James led a betraying, deceitful group in the Marauders. There's 
the Prank, which one could view as a betrayal of the entire group; 
they would all have paid dearly if Snape had encountered Lupin in the 
Shack--nice job, Sirius. Also, there's the way that James thought one 
of his friends was a spy for LV. That speaks to the lack of close-knit 
friendship, IMO. Then there's the fact that the remaining Marauders 
are apparently professionals at deceit: they all became animagus 
(unregistered, of course), Peter hid as Scabbers for years, Lupin has 
been hiding his werewolf-ness since enrolling at Hogwarts, and Sirius 
deceived the Dementors to escape. Why are they all so good at 
such deceit? Must have had plenty of practice within their group. And 
that starts at the top: James. With all the pranks and deceit within 
the group, it makes me think it all started with James himself.

4. JKR has set us up to *not* suspect James. He's Harry's dad, so we 
don't want to, we love Harry so much. And he dies in GH. But those 
don't actually prove anything, do they? And we never find out much 
about him, either. Must be a reason....

5. Some big and bangy news must await Harry's discovery about GH, 
given the level of secrecy JKR has given it. James consorting with LV 
would fit that quite well.

So was James ESE? Maybe not, but consorting with the enemy? Why not?

--boyd