Why Cruciatus? (A question about Dear Bella)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 161727

Mike wrote:
> 
> I too think there is something wrong with it but for a different 
> reason. It starts with Barty Sr's pronouncement at the trial:
<snip quotes>
> This makes it seem that although the Ministry had probably caught 
> the right people, they were probably just as likely to be guessing 
> as to the perpetrator's motivation for the attack on the 
> Longbottoms. Given the DMLE's actions during the Crouch years in 
> charge, I question the conclusion they reached, and Dumbledore's 
> parroting of the same.
> 
> Dumbledore told us prior to this that his informants gave him to 
> believe that Voldemort was holed up in Albania. Wormtail seemed to 
> go directly there after his escape at the end of PoA, and he had 
> spent the last 12 years as Percy's then Ron's rat. How much of a 
> secret was Voldemort's whereabouts? I know the Longbottom tortures 
> took place more than ten years prior, but the WW doesn't seem to 
> have come upon some revelation during the interim as to where 
> Voldemort was residing. 
> 
> My point is, the whereabouts of Voldemort doesn't seem to be this 
> great secret that the Longbottoms would need to be tortured to 
> reveal. Nor does it seem reasonable that the Longbottoms would have 
> some inside information as to this location.
> 
> So, what was the real reason that the Longbottoms were tortured? 
> What was the information they were more likely to have? If it was 
> all a set up by someone (Lucius Malfoy?) to get the Lestranges out 
> of the way, why does the Ministry, and for that matter Dumbledore, 
> believe that they were after Voldemort's whereabouts? IMHO, this 
> might be a profitable line of questioning to pursue.

<snip> Revenge can be highly motivating, and it makes more 
> sense to me than that hooey about finding Voldemort.
>
Carol responds:
Except that the "hooey" explanation is given by both Bellatrix herself
("We alone tried to find him," "Pensieve chapter of GoF) and Voldemort
("They will be rewarded above all others," graveyard chapter of GoF).
I can find the exact quotes, which are somewhat more detailed, if
necessary to prove my point.

As for the DEs knowing where Voldemort was, you forget that Quirrell
(not a DE) went to Albania to study Dark Creatures and brought
Voldemort back (how, I have yet to figure out since LV wasn't yet
possessing Quirrell--maybe he was possessing Nagini).
Scabbers/Wormtail would have heard at least some of Harry's
conversations with Ron about Quirrell!mort, not to mention whatever
Mr. Weasley said about Voldemort to Mrs. Weasley when Ron was home.
And Wormtail also heard from his fellow rats and other small creatures
about a ghost (IIRC) that possessed and destroyed small animals like
themselves. All he had to do was follow the trail of rumors amid the
rats and snakes. (It seems that Animagi can talk to animals when
they're in animal form--SB can talk to Crookshanks, for example--so I
see no reason why snakes wouldn't be included. Certainly, he talked
with his fellow rats.)

So Quirrell, a victim of the DADA curse, discovered Voldemort
seemingly by accident; Wormtail traced him via rat tales. I don't
think his whereabouts was common knowledge. The WW in general thought
him dead, even some of the DEs other than the loyal Bella and her crew
of lunatics. 

As for Frank Longbottom using tactics comparable to those used by
Crouch Sr., the only evidence for that is Crouch's authorization of
Unforgiveables among Aurors, and we're told that Alastor Moody, not
known for being mild-mannered, never killed unless he had to. There's
no indication that he or any of the other Aurors took advantage of the
authorization to use Unforgiveables on DEs. We don't hear any DEs
expressing desire for revenge except a few in Azkaban, presumably
Bella and her crew, who were arrested after Sirius Black, complaining
against Wormtail. Not a word among any of them, not even the DEs in
the DoM, against Aurors.

We see Bella and Lucius in the DoM tormenting Neville. Lucius, IIRC,
says that Neville's gran is used to losing family members (evidently
the DEs killed her husband, whom Neville saw die, as well as sending
her son and daughter-in-law to St. Mungo's), and Bella happily Crucios
Neville without a word about revenge against his parents. Yes, they
were Order members as well as Aurors (or Frank was an Auror and Alice
was made one for OoP after readers protested the "sexism" of "the
Auror Frank Longbottom and his wife"), but why torture Alice unless
they're trying to get *information* out of Frank and think he'll
reveal it to protect her? If they wanted revenge, wouldn't they just
torture *him*? Or kill them both for being Order members and be done
with it?

Carol, who thinks that Lucius may well have given them a false lead
but believes that they were after information, as at least four
characters have stated, not revenge, which has not even been hinted at
as a motive