The Plan--Long (was: HBP theories...

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 159949

Neri:
Not touching the conspiracy theory with a ten feet pole, naturally,
but the reconstruction of the night events is the most comprehensive 
I've seen so far. Which is why I must correct two details:

> Talisman:
> Meanwhile Bill, Lupin, Tonks, McGonagall, Ron, Ginny, and Neville
> are mixing it up with Fenrir, Blondie, Alecto, Amycus, Brutal Face,
> and Draco.
> <snip>

> While everyone is chatting in the night air, the Order members have
> nothing to do downstairs but dodge one blonde DE's erratic jinxes.
> 
> (We won't dwell on how lame it is that they can't manage to
> neutralize him.)
> 

Neri:
Actually there are also *at least* two more anonymous DEs with
Blondie. We know this because when Harry is joining the fray (p. 599)
we are told that "Ron, Professor McGonagal and Lupin, each of whom
were battling a separate Death Eater". Who are these three DEs?
McGonagall is probably dueling with Alecto, because too paragraphs
later she seems to send a farewell jinx after her, but this still
leaves two DEs. They can't be Brutal Face, Greyback or Amycus, all of
them taken down by Harry just a few seconds before. Blondie is
battling with Tonks and Gibbon is already down. Conclusion: there must
be at least two more DEs, and they were not up on the tower so they
were below with Blondie. Of course, if there are two additional DEs
*for sure* then there may be even more that JKR doesn't bother to
mention. The battle downstairs now appears more realistic.   


> Talisman:
> Rowling goes to the bother of telling us how long a walk it is from
> Hogsmeade to Hogwarts:
> 
> "They set off toward the lane that led to the
> school (158)
[t]hey trudged up the dark deserted lane...
> (158) ...they tramped on through the night in silence... (159)
> Having always traveled there by carriage, Harry had never before
> appreciated just how far Hogwarts was from Hogsmeade Station. With
> great relief he finally saw the...gate [to Hogwarts grounds]" (159).
> 
> The dilligent reader recalls this very long walk when considering
> the long walk *DD* and Harry take on the fateful night.

Neri:
In fact, according to JKR's map of Hogwarts:
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas/hogwarts/atlas-h-jkrmap.html
and better seen in the map drawn by El Cronista de Salem from JKR's map:
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas/hogwarts/atlas-h-ecmap.html
the distance from the castle to Hogsmeade is considerably shorter than
the distance to Hogsmeade Station. Hogsmeade is almost right out of
the front gates, but the train station is all the way to the other
side from the gates. This arrangement indeed concurs with the
description in several books of the way from the Hogwarts Express: the
first years travel across the lake by boat and the rest of the
students in carriages that go some distance before they reach the
front gates. 

Neri