JKR's cryptic answer: Who sent the Lestranges to the Longbottoms?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 119714


Eustace Scrubb:
> What if the Lestrange cell was following contingency orders given 
> by Voldemort himself?  (Go after the Longbottoms if the Potter 
> operation is successful but you haven't heard from me in 24 
> hours?)  Since the Potters were killed, and the DEs did not know 
> about the prophecy, they'd be likely to suspect the Longbottoms 
> had something to do with LV's disappearance anyway.

Jen: I'm wondering whether the attacks happened so quickly after LV 
disappeared. In GOF we find out from Dumbledore the attacks 
occurred "after Voldemort's fall from power, just when everyone 
thought they were safe." (US, chap. 30, p. 603). That's a little 
ambiguous--did people feel safe the minute they learned he was 
defeated, i.e. the opening scenes of PS/SS, or does the 'fall from 
power' include the DE's coming forward and/or being arrested? 

Magda:
> Red Hen posits that the attack on the Longbottoms was ostensibly to
> find out where Voldemort was and/or what happened - that the real
> purpose was to cause a huge stink that would embarrass Crouch and
> make sure he never became Minister, from which office he would hunt
> down and imprison everyone who even might be a DE or Dark Wizard. 

Jen: That's a good theory. Such a shame though if it's true, that 
the Longbottoms lost their minds and Neville lost his parents for a 
a scam. I always pictured it being a more noble moment, that they 
were safeguarding some crucial Order secret, you know? Dumbledore 
does say in GOF the "Longbottoms were very popular" which would make 
them a natural target for the DE's though.

Magda: 
> So someone (I'm betting Lucius Malfoy, suddenly thrust into the
> position of Interim Leader after a few years as inner circle member
> and possibly experiencing his first rush of personal power) 
organizes
> a few true believers into a suicide mission and sets them on the
> Longbottoms, who it's possibly known LV had an interest in for an
> unknown reason.

Jen: I was thinking of Lucius too, but then...Snape popped into my 
head. Snape seems the best fit as the person who overheard the 
prophecy. If so, then he would know about the Longbottoms and could 
send Bellatrix and Co. to extract info without telling them why. 
BUT, given the timeline and Dumbledore's trust of Snape, it's 
unlikely Snape could be behind both the Potters' and Longbottoms' 
attacks and DD would still have faith in him. The more I think about 
it, Lucius does seem the logical choice from all the DE's we've met 
so far. (But that saps my favorite theory that Lucius isn't really 
loyal to Voldemort. Maybe it can be amended to say Lucius was loyal 
in the first war, but liked the taste of power too much to take 
orders again <g>).

Jen