Traitors etc.

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 155182

Nikkalmati:
*(snip)*
> "'Well --Scabbers--I mean, this --this man -- he's been sleeping in 
Harry's  
> dormitory for three years.  If he's working for You-Know-Who, how 
come he  
> never tried to hurt Harry before now?' . . . . . . . . .<snip 
Peter's  reply> 
> 'I'll tell you why,' said Black.  'Because you never did anything 
for  anyone 
> unless you could see what was in it for you.  Voldemort's been in  
hiding for 
> fifteen years, they say he's half dead.  You weren't about to  
commit murder 
> right under Albus Dumbledore's nose, for a wreck of a wizard who'd  
lost all 
> of his power, were you? '"p 370

Ceridwen:
"They say he's half-dead..."?  But, according to Snape in Spinner's 
End, page 26 HBP US Scholastic hardcover:  "You ask why I did not 
attempt to find him when he vanished.  For the same reason that 
Avery, Yaxley, the Carrows, Greyback, Lucius" - he inclined his head 
slightly to Narcissa - "and many others did not attempt to find him.  
I believed him finished..."  Later, page 30:  "...I have already 
confessed that I thought the Dark Lord dead..."

So, the prisoners in Azkaban knew, or believed, that LV was not 
finished, according to Sirius, who heard about Wormtail there as 
well. Bellatrix said LV "shares everything" with her, that 
he "...entrusted me with his most precious..." (page 29) and she did 
not argue about Snape and the other named and implied Death Eaters 
thinking that LV was dead.  It may be merely a matter of faith on 
Bellatrix's part (page 27), but she didn't think it was unreasonable 
that *others* thought the Dark Lord dead.  Maybe LV really 
did 'entrust' her with his most precious... secret?

Ceridwen.