The location of the DEs at the MoM (Was: DD and the rat: Conspiracy theories

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 116249


Pippin wrote:
> > I needed a chart to figure out where everybody was when Sirius
fell through the veil in OOP. 
> > 
> 
> Neri replied:
<snip> Mastering the location of everybody when Sirius fell through
the veil is a key to ESE!Lupin. I hope it won't be a key to Book 7.

Carol responds:
The location of the DEs in the entire DoM scene is problematic because
most of them wore masks and Harry knew the identity of only a few of
them. But it's also "important" to those of us who want to know such
things as which Death Eater was turned into an ugly baby-head by the
time turner and just generally who was where. (It doesn't help with
where Goyle Sr. was, but at least it suggests that the babyhead could
be Crabbe Sr. Others have argued that it could be Rabastan, but I
think he teamed up with Bellatrix and Rodolphus after his partner was
incapacitated.)

I'm quite aware that these questions are not central to the plot, but
I for one would like to have the events in the DoM explained from a
POV more reliable than Harry's. (Maybe we'll see the babyhead in St.
Mungo's and find out who he is.) I also want to know what spell
Dolohov used that nearly killed Hermione, and might have done so if
she hadn't deprived him of his voice. IIRC, the light from that spell
was purple, so it wasn't an AK or "Stupefy" or anything we've
encountered before. No doubt other posters have other questions
regarding this chapter (aside from the nature of the Veil) that are
not addressed by Dumbledore's explanation, which is shaped by Harry's
personal concerns.

I agree with Neri that conspiracy theories would require far too much
explanation to undo our previous conceptions (canon now indicates that
Peter was the traitor, that Sirius is dead, that James's is the voice
in Harry's memory of Godric's Hollow, etc.) and while we can't always
take what Harry "knows" as indicative of what really happened, I think
we should regard the straightforward explanations of these events as
probable until given cause to do otherwise. And I do hope we can
figure out what happens in Book 7, at least, without a lengthy
Dumbledorean explanation that doesn't adequately explain.

But the simple questions that can't yet be answered because we can't
tell who was where in the DoM are another matter, and until (and
unless) JKR provides the information needed to answer them, tracing
the movements of the Death Eaters (and DA members and Order members)
is the only way to arrive at a plausible explanation of a very
confusing chapter.

Carol, who still wonders why Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe remain
friends with Gregory Goyle when Goyle Sr. was (apparently) absent from
the MoM