Barty Jr and Longbottoms (was: Voldemorts Wand)

[Hagrid]

No: HPFGUIDX 155379

> >   spookedook:
> >    How does Voldemort get his wand back?
> >
> >   zgirnius:
> >   My guess is that Peter Pettigrew, as the Secret Keeper, led 
> >   Voldemort to Godric's Hollow. After the events, he snatched 
> >   the wand and scampered away in rat form. 
> >
> >  aussie:
> >  Just as LV likes an audience when he dueled with Harry, he may 
> >  have had other DE with him at Godric' Hollow.
> >
> > spookedook: <SNIP>
> > Also, if there had been a death eater with him he could have
> > returned to his body almost immediately!
> 
> Peggy W:
> I'm with you on this...  I consider it highly unlikely that 
> Voldemort would have taken any Death Eaters other than Peter to 
> his mission at Godric's Hollow.  The Death Eaters seem to have 
> completely lost track of Voldemort; they only knew that he had 
> gone after the Potters on Wormtail's information.  As we find out 
> in POA, this is a big reason Peter had to hide out in rat form for 
> so many years: the Death Eaters blamed him for Voldemort's 
> disappearance and would have killed him if they could find him.
> This suggests that no other Death Eaters had firsthand experience 
> of the Godric's Hollow events -- if other DEs had gone along to
> Godric's Hollow they would have known what happened to Voldemort.
>
> This also suggests that the LeStranges would have had no
> need of trying to torture information out of the Longbottoms 
> regarding Voldemort's whereabouts, if a fellow DE could have told 
> of what happened.

aussie:
Voldemort went through a very painful and unexpected change when he 
ost his body. Any Death Eater with him would have understandably 
fled from the appalling thing that remained, expecting Voldy to die.

If a DE was there, he would not speak up openly about what he 
witnessed if he ran off ... which brings us to Barty Jr and the 
LeStranges' torturing the Longbottoms.

Why did those DE believe LV to still be alive when no-one else did?

Bellatrix may have known about LV having a Horcrux (previous 
postings suggested that is what she almost said in Spinners End and 
how RAB knew of the Pendant Horcrux). She would have brought the 
other 2 LeStranges, but what motivated Barty Couch Jr?

If any DE was at GH, he would have been singled out during the 
graveyard DE reunion. The only exceptions would have been those that 
met LV before his body-building program. If an absent DE were at GH, 
Voldemort would have condemned him without remorse.

So now I am thinking it was Barty Couch Jr at GH. 

LV would have gotten enough information from Bertha Jorkins about 
how Barty Jr had to escape Azkaban, why he was there and how he was 
enprisoned in his own home. Barty would have convinced LV of his 
loyalty with:
1/ That history already confirmed by Bertha
2/ His account of the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup
3/ Promising to impersonate Moody and bring him Harry
4/ Get Voldamort his wand back

He wasn't proud of running away from GH. But he knew better than any 
DE LV still existed, and in what pitiful form. Barty would have 
helped Crucio the Longbottoms for that reason.

That would also explain why no-one had tried using such a powerful 
wand for 10 - 15 years. The only one who knew it's whereabouts was 
locked away.