A Bizarre Theory on a Grand Scale

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 153540

This theory has been stewing within me for some time and has little, 
if any, canon support. What it does is explain a possible scenario 
that would put the entire Harry Potter series in a cocked hat and in 
some way put those who had not thought of this possibility on the 
alert for it (assuming it does unravel JKR's little secret).

Some facts:

Lord Voldemort has been an active threat to the wider wizarding world 
since around the mid 1960s. This is based on Fudge's statement that 
the Ministry had been trying to track him down for thirty years. Even 
if the time is pushed back to 1957 when Lord Voldemort turned up at 
Hogwarts seeking employment or moved forward to 1970 (per 
Dumbledore's statement that Lord Voldemort had been terrorising the 
WW since 11 years before his initial downfall at Godric's Hollow) it 
would make no significant difference to this theory.

Dumbledore, in whatever capacity (take your pick from Grand Sorceror, 
Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump or Headmaster of Hogwarts), has known 
of the threat posed by Lord Voldemort from the time he became a 
problem. Here as a small aside I say that it is often overlooked that 
Dumbledore is a Grand Sorceror, a title that he has never lost and 
one that Lord Voldemort may covet himself, hence his outburst at the 
end of Chamber of Secrets.

When Lord Voldemort first became a threat the generation of the 
Marauders were toddlers or certainly not much more and had definitely 
yet to start at Hogwarts. In fact, of the Death Eaters introduced so 
far in canon very few would have yet finished, or even started, 
school at the time Lord Voldemort was becoming problematic.

Extrapolating from the above stated facts it seems reasonable to 
propose that Dumbledore had been looking for a way to neutralise Lord 
Voldemort since before the Marauder generation entered his thinking, 
probably for several years before he came to know them at all. There 
is a strong likelihood that he succeeded in keeping some of Lord 
Voldemort's worst excesses at bay but had no clear view of just how 
he would end his "reign of terror" until certain matters to be listed 
in the next section of this piece happened in the late 1970s and 
early 1980s.

The Late `70s / Early 80s:

As a preliminary point it does not affect the overall hypothesis when 
any of these matters took place to the exact date. That they took 
place in the timeframe as per the sub-heading cannot be denied.

The Marauders themselves and Severus Snape took part in the Werewolf 
Caper (as named by Red Hen on her invaluable site). None of them left 
school as a result and from what we can safely surmise all went on to 
complete their NEWTs.

James Potter marries Lily Evans, who conceives and gives birth to 
Harry Potter. No further details have been given, but it is my view 
that we will learn more of wizarding marriages in the course of book 
7 from Fleur and Bill's matrimonies. 

Sybil Trelawney makes a prophecy at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade 
concerning a child yet to be born and the Dark Lord (who has to be 
Lord Voldemort for the Prophecy's central importance to be valid – or 
perhaps the Prophecy is a rather large red herring – perish the 
thought!). The implications of this are central to the whole series 
and to this theory.

The Order of the Phoenix as constituted in the photo Moody shows 
Harry is brought together. A further small aside – I am of the 
opinion that the Order of the Phoenix existed in some form, although 
not by the same name, from the time of Lord Voldemort's rise (or even 
perhaps earlier if Grindelwald was a significant threat) and was not 
formed only as a result of the prophecy but rather as a consequence 
of Dumbledore's overall plan.

The recently disclosed Black Family tapestry indicates that both 
Regulus Black and his father Orion died in 1979, making Regulus 
approximately two years younger than Sirius.

Peter Pettigrew becomes Secret Keeper for the Potters leading to 
their deaths at the hands of Lord Voldemort on 31st October 1981. 
This date leads neatly on to the next portion.

Where were they then?

As at 1st November 1981 the main protagonists of the currently 
unfolding story were, with the exception of certain of those who may 
or may not now be dead, in no particular order: -

(i) Albus Dumbledore – Headmaster of Hogwarts, at the school.

(ii) Tom Riddle – Disembodied vapour entity.

(iii) Harry Potter – With the Dursleys.

(iv)The Weasleys – At the Burrow (All of them, as Bill would have 
started Hogwarts the following school year, although this is not 
important and would not be addressed if criticism is forthcoming upon 
it).

(v) Sirius Black – In Azkaban (or shortly to be).

(vi) Severus Snape, Rubeus Hagrid, Minerva McGonagall – At 
Hogwarts.

(vii) Peter Pettigrew – In hiding.

(viii) Death Eaters – Mostly worried at various locations.

(ix) Members of Order of the Phoenix – Mostly elated at various 
locations.

Any others were not at that point relevant to the story (including 
Hermione Granger whose existence would have been irrelevant to 
Dumbledore's purpose).

The Problem:

Simply stated, and to repeat, the problem was, and is, how to get rid 
of Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore finally discovered a way, the 
difficulty was that it would involve the deaths of several close 
associates and the potential exposure of the wizarding world. That it 
would take almost twenty years to come to fruition was a minor 
consideration if the world (and not just the wizarding community) was 
to be rid of perhaps the most evil genius (and yes Lord Voldemort is 
a genius) ever to threaten its existence. This man, Lord Voldemort, 
would gladly see all humans destroyed and use any means to achieve 
his goal. That was the choice he made in the absence of any normal 
controlling morals, which we have now been shown that Tom Riddle 
lacked practically from the moment he was born.

Dumbledore's choice, as I will postulate, is the central driving 
force of the current position in the wizarding world. His choice, 
which he considered right, was to neutralise / destroy Lord Voldemort 
by whatever means necessary. If I am any where near to being correct 
then Albus would not have mentioned his plan to anyone else, with the 
possible exception of Aberforth – and this is the reason Aberforth 
will be important in book 7.

The Theory:

Dumbledore's choice was to manufacture the situation whereby Lord 
Voldemort would initiate his own downfall. What Albus discovered 
about Lord Voldemort during the course of his research was that he 
took prophecies seriously.

For this reason the prophecy was devised by Dumbledore to be espoused 
by Sybil Trelawney. Dumbledore would have some knowledge at the time 
immediately prior to the prophecy that two of his close associates' 
families were expecting children around the end of July. My partner 
knew she was pregnant within days both times so far and it is not 
unreasonable to project that both Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom 
knew they were pregnant by the time the prophecy was made.

The additional feature of the prophecy that Dumbledore carefully 
manufactured was that Lord Voldemort would mark the child as his 
equal and thereby give him the tools to neutralise our Tom. The only 
factor Dumbledore could not control was which child Lord Voldemort 
would go after, but even this could have been quite easily worked out 
due to Lord Voldemort's background (half-blood), so it could be said 
with some certainty that he would go after the Potter's child. This 
would also eliminate the need to tell the Longbottoms of their 
hypothetical danger.

The only people who would need to be aware of their parts in the 
initial stages of the set up would be the Potters and Peter. It would 
account for why the Potters only went into hiding a week before Lord 
Voldemort came after them because Dumbledore had some way of 
ascertaining when the time would come for Lord Voldemort's search and 
destroy mission. Dumbledore had to offer to be Secret Keeper to the 
Potters, but this was really just a cover story for Sirius's benefit. 
As part of the plot his agent (yes Peter Pettigrew) would be made 
Secret Keeper. Remember this is about choices between what is right 
and what is easy if we are to believe Ms. Rowling's interviews and 
what Dumbledore himself told us in Goblet. If Albus were Secret 
Keeper it would not be realistic to others that he had betrayed them, 
and they had to be betrayed for the plan to succeed.

This last is what I have a hunch one of the biggest surprises of the 
books will be, that is that Peter Pettigrew has always been working 
for Dumbledore. 

Wasn't he the man who killed a dozen Muggles and Cedric Diggory and 
did many other unspeakable crimes, including betraying the Potters 
you ask? Yes, he was. Did he do this from his own choice you further 
inquire? Yes, he did. Was it right or was it easy? Certainly not 
easy, but possibly right in the interest of the wider wizarding world.

In fact for the plan to work Pettigrew had to betray the Potters and 
do all those others things because otherwise Lord Voldemort would not 
have fallen into Albus's carefully contrived trap. Add to this that 
he owes a known life debt to Harry and it is not hard to conclude 
that Peter will be of great assistance in finally neutralising Lord 
Voldemort, perhaps when he is on the point of killing Harry, even 
though he has actually played his part in the scheme already by 
notifying Lord Voldemort of the Potter's whereabouts and later 
resurrecting Lord Voldemort. He may well also give Harry crucial 
information regarding the remaining Horcruxes. It was important for 
the plan to work that nobody other than Albus knew Peter was still 
working for him.

So the prophecy is projected into Sybil by Albus and it is arranged 
that part, but not all, of it is overheard by someone who would then 
report this back to Voldemort. It does not alter the basic theory 
whether or not Snape is on Dumbledore or Lord Voldemort's side. There 
is a compelling argument out there that Snape must be Dumbledore's 
man due to his having reported only half the prophecy when he must 
have heard the whole thing (a judicious Muffliato from Aberforth all 
but puts the kibosh on that one). I agree that Snape is Dumbledore's 
man. This is not so far supported in canon, despite myriad attempts 
to do so, but as I say makes no real difference to this theory. The 
only important aspect is that Snape would report back to Lord 
Voldemort and he did. The fact is the only independent and unaware 
witness to the events at the Hog's Head was Sybil herself whose pay 
off was lifetime protection at Hogwarts on Dumbledore's instruction 
(and because he was not prepared to sacrifice absolutely everyone in 
order for his plan to succeed). She would give authenticity to the 
genuineness of the contrived prophecy should anyone care to check, 
and of course Harry duly did.

The first half of the prophecy is this:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches 
 born 
to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies 
 
and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal"

I do not think the report went further, otherwise Lord Voldemort 
would also be aware that the child possesses a power he does not 
know. Knowing what we know of Lord Voldemort if he had known this 
portion he would have made some inquiries – the man who is so afraid 
of death that he would go to any lengths to avoid it.

This is the part Albus needs Lord Voldemort to be aware of for his 
plot to work. It is pivotal that Lord Voldemort mark the child as his 
equal and it is my view that Lord Voldemort would be aware of what 
this means (Dark Arts?). Albus would have contrived the magic that 
saved Harry and protects him yet with Lily and James's full 
acquiescence well before Lord Voldemort's attack at Godric's Hollow. 
This was James and Lily's part in the grand design; they willingly 
sacrificed themselves for the greater good. Why would Albus state 
that death is but the next great adventure to the well organised mind 
otherwise? All those who would die as a result of Albus's plan to rid 
the world of Lord Voldemort would have been chosen by him 
specifically for being well organised minds ready for the next 
adventure. Indeed taking this to its logical conclusion Peter would 
have been alerted to inform Lord Voldemort of the Potter's 
whereabouts only at the point where all preparations were in place

The blood protection being in place the tricky part of the plan kicks 
in. Persuading the Dursleys to accept their nephew as a surrogate 
child. This was managed and Harry was left for the next almost ten 
years to grow up. During the time Albus would have ample opportunity 
to keep tabs on Harry, but would not want to interfere for fear of 
derailing the overall plan. Albus would have been confident that Lord 
Voldemort would not come back for many years as the only person with 
the necessary knowledge and skill to perform the only ritual to 
reconstitute a body was Peter, whose instructions were to do just 
that at the appointed time. Dumbledore does not seem particularly 
surprised that Lord Voldemort returned to a body when he did and this 
may also have something to do with the notorious gleam (because the 
final phase of the plan could then be initiated and duly was).

For the next six years from the time Harry enters the wizarding world 
Dumbledore prepares him for his final showdown with Lord Voldemort, 
which is slated for a year later. Dumbledore has given Harry all he 
can by this stage in order to succeed including his embedded agent / 
agents. 

A small interjection for clarification – I believe Dumbledore is well 
aware of what has been happening with Lord Voldemort in whatever 
guise since the time Harry arrived at Hogwarts and probably well 
before. He did tell us that he had reports of Lord Voldemort being in 
Albania and he appears to know what Lord Voldemort is up to at every 
turn. This makes me suspect that we have not yet met all the spies 
and JKR has all but admitted this (about the multiplicity of spies) 
in interviews. His whole thing is to prepare Harry for what only he 
can do – which is to neutralise Lord Voldemort with the tools Lord 
Voldemort himself has given to Harry.

Conclusion:

If, as many theorists expect, there is to be a parallel between book 
3 and book 7 then I propose the major revelation will be that all the 
time Peter has been working for Dumbledore. It certainly would give 
an extraordinarily good reason as to why Peter was and remains a 
Gryffindor. And some of you thought Dumbledore was sloppy.

It certainly would explain an awful lot of incongruities.

Goddlefrood