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

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 151014

Carol:
> She clearly states, and I quote, "They [the Lestranges and Barty
> Jr.] were very definitely sent after Neville's parents." So she
> repeats the phrase "were sent," indicating that the questioner is
> right that they were sent, but specifies that the reason they were
> sent was to do something to Neville's parents, not to kill Neville.
*(snip)*

Ceridwen:
Before I started paying attention to speculation - before I even knew 
that someone was out there speculating - I thought that Bella and 
cadre went to the Longbottoms because they knew that LV was going to 
hit the Potters first, then the Longbottoms.  I never did think, and 
still don't, that LV made a choice between possible prophecy boys.  I 
was, and am, convinced that he was going to kill them both in the 
same sweep so the second child and his family would not have a chance 
to hear what had happened to the first child and family and get 
away.  This doesn't mean that Bella or any of the other DEs besides 
Snape knew about the prophecy.  All they would need to know is that 
LV was going to kill the Potters, then the Longbottoms.

To someone looking for their missing lord, without knowing the 
prophecy, it would make more sense that LV successfully completed his 
mission at Godrick's Hollow and moved on to the Longbottoms, where he 
was defeated.  If only a few people knew where LV was going, Bella 
and her cohort might not have been in the need to know loop.  So, at 
some point after the event, they learned that LV was going to see the 
Longbottoms after the Potters, got the idea from this that the 
Longbottoms did something to him, and took off to torture the 
information out of them.

This could even have been the end result of months of DEs trying to 
figure out what had happened and not quite believing that their 
wonderful lord could have been defeated by a toddler.  By pooling 
information, they came up with the alternative scenario of kill 
Potters, fight and lose to Longbottoms.  Someone, perhaps the person 
with the key knowledge that LV was going after both the same night, 
asked for volunteers to go and 'question' the Longbottoms, and so 
Bella & Co were 'sent'.

That was what I believe may have happened.  No canon to back me up 
directly, but I think it fits into canon without changing anything we 
know.

Ceridwen, who does realize that she has used the name 'Longbottom' 
more times in a post than she ever has before.