Yes, Virginia, there is a traitor

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 159276

> Pippin:
> I've been thinking about Draco's movements on the night of the
Tower, and
> I've noticed a couple of curious things.
> 
> One, JKR  shows us in OOP that the Room of Requirement can be
> locked from inside, presumably keeping anyone else from entering even if
> they require it in its current form. Yet Draco must have  left it
unlocked, 
> because Trelawney got in after him. Why? Was Draco expecting someone?
>

Neri:
I see no sense in keeping it locked. It would just look suspicious to
anybody trying to use the room for hiding something. Draco could
simply let them in and hide himself somewhere in the room (big as a
cathedral with many alleyway and roads) while they were at their
business. He should have done the same with Trelawney too, except that
she heard him whooping and he obviously panicked. 


> Pippin:  
> Two, after he threw Trelawney out, Draco remained in the RoR until
> the DE's arrived. Ginny says it was  about an hour after they started
> to keep watch. According to PoA, it takes an hour to walk to Hogsmeade.
> So, just moments after Draco heard from Rosmerta, the DE's
> arrived and the attack began. We know Voldemort can
> summon his servants instantly. So far, so good. But--
> 
> If Draco didn't know  until then that Dumbledore would be
> out of the castle that night, why wait for an hour in the RoR?
> Wouldn't he have gotten out  of there in case Trelawney came back?
> 
> The Order knew that Dumbledore would be gone that night. Did one
> of them tell Draco to stay put?


Neri:
Ah, the Missing One Hour <g>.

First, an hour walk to Hogsmeade sounds a bit too much to me. At least
it seems that in PoA everybody reaches the Shrieking Shack much faster
than that. What exactly is the canon that it takes a whole hour?

An hour (or two or three) to organize of at least eight DEs and plan
an operation like that seems quite reasonable, assuming they weren't
prepared for it in a moment notice 24/7 throughout the year. 

Dumbledore was spending many nights outside the castle that year, and
it wasn't much of a secret (he was usually making a point of showing
himself in the Three Broomsticks or in the Hog's Head). Considering
that Dumbledore was the main target of the operation, the DEs should
be extremely stupid to start before they have some intelligence
regarding his whereabouts. They may have been waiting for any news
from Rosmerta. 

So as a whole this sounds to me like rather big leap to deduce the
existence of a traitor, but it should definitely be interesting to
chart the timeline of that night.

BTW, who's Virginia?


Neri