What Came First: Task or Cabinet? - The Plan v1 & v2

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 157655

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67"  wrote:
> Carol responds:
> Actually, no. Canon doesn't say that Voldemort's anger at Lucius 
> leads him to give Draco the task of killing Dumbledore. What we 
> have is Narcissa's speculation that that's the case and Snape's 
> confirmation that Voldemort is angry at Lucius. Nothing about one 
> causing the other. < snipping canon> 
> 
> As I said upthread in a post you didn't respond to, neither 
> Narcissa nor Snape knows anything about Draco's Vanishing Cabinet 
> idea, so neither of them can know whether Draco went to Voldemort 
> with his idea for getting into Hogwarts and was assigned the task 
> of killing Dumbledore as a result or Voldemort ordered Draco to 
> come to him. We just don't know, and you're concluding a bit too 
> much from the canon we're presented. 

Mike:
Thank you for pointing that out, Carol. Just to add on I researched 
the Montague/Cabinet timeline. Here's what I got:

Montague gets shoved into the cabinet around mid-April (F&G 
fireworks day) and emerges the next day (Pensieve snooping by Harry 
day). Easter Break starts that weekend. Monday after Easter Break, 
F&G swamp/Harry talks to Black & Lupin/F&G's fabulous exit. One week 
later, which is suppose to be "just under a month" from the start of 
OWLs making it very early May, Montague's parents visit and Montague 
is still dazed and confused.

We next and last see Montague after OWLs are over, what appears to 
be the third Thursday of June. (The first week of June appears to be 
OWL prep week). We get no indication of Montague's condition at this 
point, only that Poppy is giving him medecine. Iirc, we haven't been 
given any scenes where Madam Pomfrey doesn't administer the 
medication herself, with one exception, see end of post. So I'm not 
sure this provides any clue as to how responsive is at this point.

So, when did Draco learn about the Cabinet? Our only canonical clue 
is (HBP, US, pg. 587), Draco speaking:

"Montague told me when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one..." 
<and> "Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was..."

Draco may have learned in a one-on-one talk (or not), but he also 
seems to confirm that Montague has regaled a few others with his 
tale. Speculation: Draco learned while still at school else how 
would he have known what "everyone" else thought of the story. It 
could have been as late as the train ride home, but the dastardly 
trio planned and attempted the ambush and ended up spending a large 
portion of the ride in the luggage rack ;-) Any time after that and 
it seems highly unlikely that Draco would both hear about the 
cabinet and know what others thought of Montague's story. Unless 
they have meetings for the DE youth club.

Wrap around from here to Carol's point above. It becomes pure 
speculation as to whether Draco went to LV or was summoned by LV.
But do remember, although Draco only threatened Harry at the end of 
OotP, it was Dumbledore after all who actually captured his father. 
That does seem like a pretty strong motivation for revenge. My 
preference, Draco went to LV with the cabinet idea thinking he could 
facilitate some terrorist raid on the school. (Thanks Betsy) He 
never dreamed he would be assigned the task of killing DD.

> Carol, whose mind is foggy from a cold 

GoF, US, Pg. 714 (with one change)
"You've got to take the rest of your potion, [Carol]. Mrs. Weasley 
said" .... "You have a good long sleep."