Voldemort in Hiding (was: Why Cruciatus? )

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 161829

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, elfundeb wrote:
> >
> > Mike previously:
> >
> > But then Dumbledore throws in the caveat:
> >
> > "The Ministry was under great pressure to catch those who had 
> > done it. Unfortunately, the Longbottom's evidence was - given 
> > their condition - none too reliable." (ibid)
> 
> Debbie:
> But Bellatrix is only too willing to confess their objective.  "We 
> alone were faithful!  We alone tried to find him!"  I don't think 
> the DMLE had to make up this part of the story.  The primary issue 
> relates to Barty Crouch Jr's involvement.  There's a school of 
> thought that he was framed to discredit his father, as revenge 
> against his crusade against the DEs.

Mike:

OK, between Debbie and Carol, you've convinced me. Though I still 
don't get why the Longbottoms were Bella and Co. object of the 
search, I'll accept your speculation (lower down the post) as good 
as any. Permit me one last question/consternation (coming up).

> > Mike previously:
> > 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? <snipping me> 
> 
> Debbie:
> Voldemort's whereabouts became a subject of rumor in the years 
> after Godric's Hollow.  Dumbledore probably doesn't mention what 
> his sources are telling him to a lot of people, <snip>

Mike:
Yeah, DD does secret information a long time, often too long. This 
explanation does make sense.

> Debbie cont:
> ...but people at Hogwarts can probably get this information.
> (Pettigrew knew because he used to hang out with Ron, who
> hangs out with Harry, who was informed by Dumbledore.) <snip>

Mike:
Actually, I prefer your previous assertion that DD wouldn't be 
revealing this information to anyone, if it really is a secret. But 
then we have to question whether it is a secret.

Where do we learn that Voldemort is holed up in Albania? I scanned 
PS/SS and didn't find any reference to Albania. In the wrap up scene 
of CoS, Dumbledore reveals that his sources tell him Voldemort is in 
the "forests of Albania" (in front of Harry, Ron, Ginny, Arthur, 
Molly, McGonnagall, and a dazed Lockhart). We hear nothing of 
Albania again until GoF and Bertha getting lost there. Quite 
frankly, I don't see Harry and Ron discussing Voldy's location again 
for Pettigrew to overhear it.

DD throws out this reference (in CoS) rather casually for it to be a 
secret. You see my dilemma here? Voldy's location doesn't seem to be 
some big secret, given the way DD reveals what his sources have told 
him in such a casual, conversational manner. Add to that the dubious 
chance that Scabbers/Pettigrew got wind of it sometime between the 
end of CoS and his flight from justice in PoA.

So maybe Bella and Co. did try to get Voldy's location from the 
Longbottoms. But I'm having a hard time squaring that with the way 
his location doesn't seem to be any secret, granted, some years 
later. It just feels wrong, and I'm sorry that I can't explain it 
any better than that. <huge shrug>



> Debbie:
> My surmise is that it was Frank Longbottom who was sent out after
> Voldemort's vaporization to determine what had become of him, and 
> that he had discovered Vapormort hiding out in Albania or 
> wherever.  The Lestranges (or whoever sent them to be framed, 
> because faithful DEs were troublesome to those who were trying to 
> slither out of Azkaban-type trouble) only knew that Longbottom had 
> been away and had returned.  The Lestranges dragged Crouch Jr
> along with them because he knew the Longbottoms and would get them 
> unforced entry into the Longbottom home.

Mike:
I like this speculation. It has a reasonableness (is that a word?) 
about it, without being too complicated. Just the way JKR writes 'em.

 
> Debbie
> who's celebrating an anniversary of sorts tonight, having joined 
> HPFGU exactly five (!) years ago today

Mike, congratulating Debbie. I think this is about my five month 
anniversary. :D