Case for Marauders (was Re: Marauders, Voldemort and the Map)

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 109793

> Halli:
>  I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe that Harry's father, or his 
> fathers' friends (besides Peter) were death eaters. James hated the 
> dark arts, we've heard that before. All the maurauders hated Snape, 
> the little freak that was up to his eyeballs in the dark arts. If 
> they were fellow death eaters, why would they have such a loathing 
> for each other? Also, if James had been a death eater, then there 
> would've been no reason to worry about a secret keeper, and if 
there was, he would've known not to trust Peter with that job. That, 
and why would Voldemort want to kill James when he came in? As his 
> master, he could say 'stand aside' and all that. [snip]

dcgmck:
The key term here is, I think, the tense of the verb "were".  I wish 
only to suggest that it is highly improbable that Voldemort did not 
at least attempt to recruit the brightest students from Hogwarts.  
Intellectuals are both highly useful and easily seduced, at least 
initially, by novel approaches that involve a hint of mystery, 
puzzle, or challenge.  (Just look at the buzz Rowling generates and 
the time we collectively spend/waste in speculation.)  

Whether or not James and Co. ever actually enlisted, they would have 
at least listened to Voldemort's opening pitch.  Canon asserts that 
he was cautious in his initial approach to the Wizarding World, 
knowing that guile rather than outright force would more easily and 
effectively open doors for him until he actually developed a 
following.

In the graveyard scene in GoF when the surviving DE's are summoned 
and LV comments on empty spaces, he clearly indicates that at least 
one who has not returned must eventually die.  Logic suggests that 
if, and that's a big IF, James was ever so briefly seduced before 
realizing what was wrong with LV, (or alternatively that he had to 
choose between Lily and LV, which was a no-brainer for him,) he had 
to be marked for death by LV.  For Voldemort, such a move would have 
been reflexive rather than debatable.  (Please note the huge IF to 
the foregoing.)

If, in fact, James had been foolish enough to succumb ever so briefly 
to Voldemort's allures, that in itself would explain the need for a 
secret keeper.  James' ignorance of Pettigrew's double agent status 
could then be explained any number of ways.  James might have 
expected Peter to come to his senses when he did.  Another 
explanation is that the true allegiance of a double agent is never 
really known and always suspected by all sides involved.

All that said, I'll need some serious writing on JKR's part to be 
convinced that James actually succumbed, even briefly.  I'd be more 
inclined to see him and Sirius volunteering to play the mole role 
themselves, thus bringing LV's wrath down upon their heads, which 
would yield the same blasting result when LV entered that humble hut 
in Godric's Hollow.

When all is said and done, more is said than done, and it's all just 
jolly speculation.  :->