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

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 119718


> Pippin:
> Who indeed? This makes it even more unlikely that Voldemort's 
> second in command, who was thought in PoA to be Sirius (ch's 
> 3 and 10), was actually Peter Pettigrew. At that time Peter was 
> already presumed dead. 
> 
> It's unlikely to have been Lucius Malfoy, because Voldemort 
> accused him of having done nothing to help his master return. 
> 
> It's unlikely that the attack on the Longbottoms was a set-up 
> planned to discredit the Crouch family, though this is a clever 
> idea. That could have been done without implicating Bella and 
> the rest of her gang. 
> 
> No, I think the purpose of the attack on the Longbottoms was as 
> given, to get information on where Voldemort was, by someone 
> who could not go looking personally or ask himself. "Chained 
> these twelve years"...and if it's not Peter, well, it has to be
> Lupin, doesn't it?

Jen: I hate to say it, but that thought crossed my mind. (ESE!Lupin 
is like the proverbial faucet drip, drip, dripping until you finally 
crack <g>). 

OK, I don't really think it's Lupin. But it's odd we never hear 
about Voldemort's second in command. I do think there's evidence for 
Lucius. Like you said, Pippin, Voldemort accuses him of doing 
nothing to help him return; that's what you'd expect a second in 
command to do. 

The only other possibilty is one of the Order members who 
was 'presumed dead'. In JKR's world, presumed dead means you're up 
to something funny. Maybe Caradoc Dearborn will surface as the 
mysterious second in command ;)?

Jen