[HPforGrownups] LV's Choice: Potters or Longbottoms or Both?

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 99111

Eustace wrote:
> Why did Bellatrix and the others believe that the Longbottoms would
> have any useful information? Well, here's an idea...probably not
> original and maybe easily refuted...but anyway:

> the series).  So Voldemort plans to kill the Potters first, then the
> Longbottoms and he told at least some of the Death Eaters that he
> would be doing this.  But he probably did not confide in even his most
> trusted followers _why_ he wanted to kill these two families; why give
> them the idea that he might be vulnerable?  There was ample reason to
> set an example by these murders, as both sets of parents had been
> thorns in his side.

We know that Voldemort heard part of the prophecy second hand from the
eavesdropper, so at least one other DE knew it. We don't know of course how
closely Voldemort would have kept his own counsel on something like that or
whether he would have sought the views of his lieutenants. _Somone_ would
have had to have done the research to find out how many children would have
fitted the bill, also.

But it's interesting that Voldemort didn't take a full posse to Godric's
Hollow with him - if he had, then firstly they would have known what had
happened, and secondly, one of them could have physically scooped Harry out
of the ruins and disposed of him in a thoroughly non-magical manner, such as
dropping him in the Irish Sea. Harry sleeps with the fishies and there's no
story to tell.

> significance of that.  The Longbottoms on the other hand were alive
> and well...how could that be, unless they had somehow
> defeated/captured/killed Voldemort when he got to them?  This is why
> the LeStranges and Barty Crouch Jr. tortured the Longbottoms (rather
> than just killing them, for example).  By the time it became clear
> that Frank and Alice had no information, the Crucio curses had driven
> them mad.

One other possibility is that the Longbottoms _were_ at Godric's Hollow that
night and that they were sent with Hagrid as a rescue party. We know from
canon that someone else was there with Hagrid because Dumbledore hadn't
talked with Hagrid between his rescuing Harry and the rendezvous at Privet
Drive, but nonetheless he was fully aware of what had happened. There are
other good reasons: Hagrid, bless 'im, is a good bloke in a fight, but
sending him against Voldemort on his own would have meant certain death if
Voldemort had still been alive. Also, someone told the media what had
happened in time for the early editions, meaning that the WW were out on the
streets first thing in the morning for Vernon to see on his way to work. If
the mysterious "someone" was the Longbottoms - say they arrived just too
late, just in time to see a green flash in the upstairs room, the explosion,
and the house collapsing - then it would explain why the DEs would be really
interested in interrogating them afterwards.

> Any thoughts on this? Is this off the wall?

But JKR alone knows all

Cheers

Ffred

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