LV's Choice: Potters or Longbottoms or Both?

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 99052

Eustace_Scrubb, on the torture of the Longbottoms: "...Or for fun,
knowing what we do about Bellatrix...I don't have the books available
right now, but doesn't someone describe the group that tortured the
Longbottoms as "frantic" or in panic mode over the whereabouts of
their master? If so, I doubt that they cared at that point about
Neville or Harry, just what happened to Voldemort. And I think the
more the Death Eaters knew in advance about the significance of the
children or exactly when/where Voldemort disappeared, the less reason
they would have had to seek out the Longbottoms and "interrogate" them."

And therein lies a problem. We've been told that the Lestranges et.
al. tortured the Longbottoms for information on Voldemort's
whereabouts.  If that's true, then they couldn't have done it the same
night; how would they believe that the Longbottoms knew anything about
it?  

At the same time, I just can't imagine that Voldemort wouldn't try to
kill both boys the Prophecy could be about.

So, the alternatives: 

1.The story that the Longbottoms were tortured for information about
Voldemort is a cover, designed to mask the existence of the Prophecy.

2.The Longbottoms were deep into the hunt for what was left of
Voldemort, and their torture occurred at some later time.

There are suggestive hints that Voldemort wasn't totally alone when he
attacked Godric's Hollow.  How did word get out of what happened? How
did the DE's know that Voldemort  still existed at all?  How was his
wand recovered? There's possible explanations for all of them, but the
simplest one is that Voldemort had backup that night. (But if there
was backup, why didn't they finish the job on Harry?  I think it's
understandable why not, but it still bothers me a little.)  The most
persuasive thing to me is that, despite all the evidence, I have a
hard time believing Voldemort is dumb enough not to bring support. 
Anybody who's been through Basic Training in the Army knows that much.

I think I ought to go through canon and make a list of Voldemort's
blunders. It would a long one, consisting of definite blunders and
possible ones.  Voldemort reminds me more and more of Adolph Hitler,
who made epic, incredibly blatant blunders, sprung from the same root:
psychopathic megalomania.

Jim Ferer