The Sting: Lucius sent Bella (was:Re: LV: Where'd He Go and How did Frank...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 150944

> >>Talisman:
> Talisman, takes a break from dusting for prints on the tower wall:
> The Sting Theory is a rather old and a theory to which I have     
> always adhered.  Indeed, it has only been validated by succeeding 
> revelations.  
> <major snipping>
> Easy enough to feed Bella & Co. a nonsensical story about how this 
> Longbottom Auror knows what happened to the Dark Lord.  Get her   
> all pumped up on Glory and Restoration.  Then, when the date's    
> fixed, have a little talk with a certain ambitious Junior Minister 
> in the Department of Magical Catastrophes.
> <snipping some more>

Betsy Hp:
Interesting theory, but I have some questions:

First of all, why on earth doesn't Bellatrix nark on Lucius?  Why 
the intense loyalty to a man who's publically disavowed her beloved 
leader?  And that leads to a second question:

Why would Bellatrix listen to, or even be around, Lucius who is 
doing his best at this time to disassociate from the Death Eater 
crew?

I also question the timing of Lucius's influence over Fudge.  It 
doesn't seem to occur from the moment Fudge took office.  Remember, 
Fudge depends quite heavily on Dumbledore at the beginning of his 
career.  And Arthur Weasley is given enough free rein to go after 
people suspected of hording forbidden dark objects, including Lucius 
Malfoy, during PS/SS (culminating in the diary being set loose upon 
his daughter in CoS.) All of those things seem to be strange courses 
of action for a Minister so beholden to Lucius Malfoy.

> >>Magda:
> <major snipping>
> So, in summary, Lucius Malfoy is the logical instigator of the    
> attack on the Longbottoms since IMO the purpose wasn't to find out 
> where Voldemort was (that was only the pretext).  The true        
> purpose  was to stop the MOM and Barty Crouch Sr. from hunting    
> down every DE and sympathizer in the WW.  And it worked perfectly.

Betsy Hp:
But hang on for a second.  I thought one of the more psychologically 
chilling aspects of the attack on the Longbottoms was that it 
occured at a time when the WW thought they were finally safe, that 
most of the Death Eaters had been taken care of.

"The attacks on [the Longbottoms] came after Voldemort's fall from 
power, just when everyone thought they were safe.  Those attacks 
caused a wave of fury such as I have never known." (GoF scholastic 
hardback p.603)

It's hard to pinpoint the exact timing of the attacks based on 
Dumbledore's words here, but it seems to suggest that rather than 
turn the public *away* from hunting down renegade Death Eaters, it 
actually did the opposite.  

Also, Lucius had already gone through his own trial by this time.  
He had successfully convinced Crouch that he had been acting under 
Imperius.  I'm not sure why he would have feared the question being 
revisited.  (Though it may well have been after the attack on the 
Longbottoms horrified the public.)

I can see Lucius being the one to *inform* on Bellatrix (if he even 
knew what she was up to) in order to prevent the very hue and outcry 
the attack brought about. (Though I honestly doubt he did.)  But I 
have a hard time seeing what exactly Lucius hoped to gain from 
sending Bellatrix on her mission in the first place, and I have a 
really hard time giving him that amount of influence over his sister-
in-law.

Betsy Hp