When were the Longbottoms attacked? (was Re: Did the Potters know the prophecy?)

[Eustace_Scrubb]

No: HPFGUIDX 117424


Eustace Scrubb said:(re: how people knew so quickly that LV was gone:)
> >(even more snipping)
> > Now as to the effect of LV's defeat on the Dark Mark and
> > on the DEs, I suspect that those folks _would_ have had an 
> > instantaneous notice that the boss was gone...But I also
> > think that this makes it even more likely that the LeStrange gang 
> > went after the Longbottoms soon after Godric's Hollow...I really 
> > doubt they waited weeks or months to try to find LV.
> 
> Ginger replies:
<snips>
> I'd agree on that last part except for Sirius' description in GoF
> of the Longbottom incident.  When the trio visits him in the cave,
> they start talking about young Barty.  Sirius says, (ch.27, p.527
> US paperback) "Crouch's son was caught with a group of Death Eaters 
> who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban.  Apparently they
> were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."
> 
> Sirius was in Azkaban within a couple days of LV's demise.  Since 
> Bella was his cousin, he'd have taken special notice of her arrival 
> compared to the arrivals of strangers or near strangers.  I would 
> think that talking one's way out of Azkaban would take a bit of 
> time.  

Eustace_Scrubb again:
Hmmm, more canon to ponder!  I'd forgotten that Sirius said the
LeStranges had to escape Azkaban to search for Voldemort.  But what
does this mean for the timing of events?  

Well, we know Sirius was sent to Azkaban without trial.  Do we know it
was within a few days?  

This statement in GoF seems oddly guarded and I wonder whether that's
part of JKR's development of Sirius as a character more than anything
else.  I agree with you that Sirius would have taken notice of his
cousin Bellatrix had he seen her either coming or going from Azkaban
(and apparently he saw both, as he would have been there when she was
returned there too).  Yet he doesn't tell the trio who the others
caught with Crouch were, only that Crouch Jr. "was definitely caught
in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters."  Now he's
saying this at a time when he knew perfectly well that Bellatrix,
Rodolphus and Rabastan are Death Eaters who were again sent to
Azkaban; he tells Harry so in OoP, Ch. 6.

Were the LeStranges in Azkaban _before_ Voldemort's encounter with
Harry or were they picked up afterwards?  It seems that Bellatrix at
least simply can't stop being herself...no matter where she is or what
the situation, she _has_ to proclaim her loyalty to her master.  I
just find it difficult to imagine her claiming she was under an
Imperius curse, based on what we know of her personality and her
fanatical devotion to Voldemort.  Unless...she was able to "talk" to
the Dementors directly and somehow played on their potential as allies
to Voldemort.

Another possibility is that Sirius' sense of the passage of time and
the order of events was clouded while he was in Azkaban and that we
should not take this testimony as established truth.  We know he was
able to survive in Azkaban because he could transform.  But clearly he
was traumatized by the place, just not to the point of death or total
insanity.

So, while this is certainly canon that could change the timing of some
potentially important events, the interpretation of this passage isn't
completely clear--at least not to me.  

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb