Precious little to celebrate for 11 years...

[greenfirespike]

No: HPFGUIDX 128746

HunterGreen said:
> I was reading through SS for the first time in awhile, and 
something struck me. Its mentioned twice that the Voldemort times 
lasted eleven years. [first was in the above quote, and second when 
he says "for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to 
call him by his proper name: /Voldemort/."]Firstly, I was wondering 
what exactly marked the beginning of the eleven years. Its so 
specific, it could have easily been rounded to a decade or ten years, 
but it wasn't, so it makes me think that Voldemort first "showed his 
true colors" in a big act, which possibly incited all the fear 
surrounding him at once rather than little-by-little. People have 
been afraid to even say his name for eleven years, I wonder what he 
did that made him so prominent. If there wasn't a big act, but rather 
a large number of quiet disappearences and rumors, but never anything 
large to mark a beginning of his "reign", why would Dumbledore be so 
specific?

> Secondly, I did some basic math with those years and came up with 
something interesting. According to JKR, Sirius (and by implication, 
the other three mauraders and Lily and Snape), was 22 at the time 
Dumbledore said that, which means at the start of Voldemort's rule, 
they were in their first year at Hogwarts. I guess its pretty 
obvious, but I had never made that connection before. IMO, this sheds 
a lot of light on the relationship between Snape and James, and why 
Sirius made a specific point of mentioning that James hated the dark 
arts. 

<snip>

> Also, this means that Lucius Malfoy was 16 when Voldemort first 
rose  to power, and the other DE's who showed up at the graveyard and 
the DoM were all most likely still in school as well. Was he already 
> recruiting them? Surely they weren't *already* active DEs, unless 
> they dropped out of school (probably not, since they weren't *open* 
> DEs). Voldemort must not have been as successful as everyone 
thought then, because it appears all of his original followers either 
died in prison or were killed before they made it there. Were they 
the parents of the current DEs? 
> 

Greenfirespike says:

Without doing the math, I have always wondered about when Lucius 
Malfoy, went to Hogwarts.  I have also wondered perpetually about how 
LV recruited all of the DE's.  If we assume that near the end of Tom 
Riddle's career at Hogwarts he began to use the name LV, then I think 
we can safely assume that would be the true starting point of LV's 
evil saga.  

I have often assumed that LV operated quietly and secretly 
immediately after graduation from Hogwarts, seeking to improve his 
skills in the dark arts.  I also assume that LV, in order to gain 
credibility for potential recruits, began to commit certain dark acts 
while still concealing his identity.  

It is interesting to note that most of the current DE's were likely 
to be students during the reign of LV.  But IMO there must have been 
an older generation, and more DE's than have been formally introduced 
in the books.  This makes sense because throughout the series we have 
heard mention of DE's killed before the fall of LV (during WWI).  

Perhaps the "11 years" comment refers to this actual time in which LV 
finally tipped the balance of power towards his army of DE's.  Taken 
in the context that LV began recruiting followers, and committing 
dark deeds while concealing his identity, he was able to amass a 
relatively large and loyal following that finally enabled him to 
publicly defy the Ministry of Magic.  Eventually LV and the DE's were 
able to render the Ministry virtually powerless, and the Order arose 
as an underground resistance (one hopefully free from the spies 
saturating the Ministry) (the balance of power favoring LV and his 
army also helps explain why the Ministry of Magic regressed to a 
point where people were placed in prison without a trial and 
unforgivable curses was an acceptable method of fighting any 
suspected enemy of the Ministry).  

If the height of LV's reign was occurring during the time Lucisu 
Malfoy, Snape, James Potter, Lilly, Lupin, and the rest were in 
school.  Perhaps the Order resulted in similar circumstances as 
Dumbledore's Army did.  Furthermore, the conditions during WWI may 
have been so volatile that young wizards had no choice but to choose 
a side (something that we may see in HPB also).  

Thus, if I am following HunterGreen's theory correctly, she is 
arguing that LV's reign began with one spectacular event, whereby the 
power of the WW was shifted to LV and the DE's.  I argue that LV and 
the DE's operated initially hid their identities, but left the Dark 
Mark wherever they committed a crime (dark deed, unforgivable curse, 
whatever).  IMO I think the WW knew that they were under attack, but 
just didn't know who was responsible.  Rumors spread about whom could 
be responsible; neighbors began to suspect the other, and that good 
stuff.  Then, perhaps in one big moment, LV and the DE's make an 
attack, something grand, and alter the balance of power to the dark 
side, finally able to reveal their identities to the WW.  

Greenfirespike