[HPforGrownups] When did the Lestranges attack the Longbottoms?

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 151096

> Nikkalmati:
> Good observations and I can't really quarrel with them, but I think my
> view is still possible.
> I take "when the wizarding world thought it was safe" to be part of the
> preceeding clause, not a
> modifying clause i.e. immediately after LV disappeared.  The rejoycing in
> PS/SS started immediately
> and I think most people in WW were not worried after LV was gone.  A
> mistake of course. Even if the
> trials dragged on for a long time, that does not mean Bella and company
> were not
> on the loose at this time, being hunted down over that year, or even that
> they were
> rotting in some cell having already been arrested a year before at the
> Longbottoms.  I do
> agree that your scenerio is just as likely to be correct based on what we
> know.


Debbie:
The rejoicing may have begun immediately and gone on throughout the day, but
by evening an event had occurred -- Pettigrew's killing of 14 Muggles
disguised to appear as if he had been killed by presumed traitor Sirius --
that should have reminded them of the possibility that very dangerous DEs
remained at large.

As a result, I think it's much more likely that enough time had elapsed so
that most of the DEs were in custody before the Longbottom attacks.  The
Karkaroff hearing in the Pensieve clearly took place some time later, but
the fact that Crouch Sr. was willing to make a deal with him indicates that
concern remained about those at large.  Also, the Lestranges, according to
Sirius, had "talked their way out of Azkaban."  It makes much more sense for
this to have happened after LV's downfall, during the DE roundup.  This,
combined with Carol's excellent evidence (although she left out Mad-Eye's
progressive disfigurement which parallels the premature aging of Crouch),
seems to place the attacks up to six months later.

What continues to amaze me is *how* the defiant Bellatrix ever managed to
talk her way out of Azkaban, as Sirius claims she did.  I assume Lucius paid
someone off to accept his Imperius plea, but that doesn't seem to be Bella's
style.  Ideas, anyone?

Debbie


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