Draco's task (For Magpie and those who agree with her)

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 157732

Carol wrote:

> Rather than quoting from the Draco thread, which has become rather
> tangled lately, I'd like to ask Magpie and those who agree with her a
> question. Do you think that Voldemort never intended for Dumbledore to
> die and that his only intention was to kill Draco or have the DEs kill
> him for failing to kill DD? Or do you think that LV has such a limited
> understanding of DD that he assumed that DD would kill the boy?


Sydney:


Question 1:  I'm going with Snape here, and his opinion is that
Voldemort intends Snape to kill Dumbledore "in the end".  He intends
Draco to "try first", in order that Draco will be killed.  The two
ideas don't have to be linked by any means.  Draco isn't an asset that
Voldemort wants to use, except as a means to punish Lucius.  This is
the "punish Lucius" plan.  I don't think the "Snape kills Dumbledore
at some point" concept would have really featured Draco in Voldemort's
brain.

Question 2:  Evidently Voldemort *does* have such a limited
understanding.  I'm going with Dumbleodore's opinion here, which is in
the US edition but not the UK one:  "Nobody would be surprised that
you had died in your attempt to kill me -- forgive me, but Lord
Voldemort probably expects it."  Narcissa, who we would suppose to
have the typical mindset of the other side, immediately assumed that
that was the only reason Draco could possibly be sent on such a
mission, an opinion with which Snape seems in agreement.  Until I see
a good reason to discount all three opinions, I  think I'll stick with
them.

I don't think in general this is true of the 'real world'-- most
terrorists seem to rely on their opponents liberalism and care of
civilians-- but that JKR is applying this psychology to Voldemort is
pretty clear.  The whole series starts with Voldemort not anticipating
the Lily love-magic thing, 'deep magic' that he'd forgotten about,
because he didn't expect Lily to die for Harry.  

Carol:

> I think, regardless of whether Draco went to LV or LV came to him,
> that the Vanishing Cabinet plot was in place from the beginning. Draco
> would fix the cabinet, allowing the DEs into Hogwarts.

Sydney:

I don't think so, otherwise Snape would have had an inkling of it.
Snape seems to have no idea what's going on, aside from Draco flailing
around with unknown plans to kill D-dore.  I think Voldemort gave a
blanket order to the DE's to help Draco in any way that he asks.  

Carol:

> And since Draco, despite his bluster, has no authority over Greyback,
> it must be LV who sends him.

Sydney:

See above.

Carol:

> Draco buys the Peruvian Darkness Powder in Diagon Alley on the same
> day as the confrontation with Borgin. To me, that indicates that his
> plan is already in place and the DEs are aware of it.

Sydney:

Why does it indicate the DE's are aware of it?  To me it indicates
that Draco has been given his assignment and is stocking up with
whatever he can think of-- the necklace, the Darkness powder, hey! 
the cabinet that can bypass Hogwarts security!  That could come in handy!

Carol:

 The pressure on
> Draco begins when he hasn't finished his seemingly minor repair job
> before the Christmas holiday (he panics and resorts to the mead and
> necklace ideas) and intensifies throughout the year, with death
> threats to his family by the time that Harry finds him crying in the
> bathroom.


Sydney:

See, I'd always tied the crying in the bathroom in to Draco reacting
to the near-deaths of Ron and Katie-- that is what wraps up the
storyline with Dumbledore's "You're not a killer" line.  The cabinet,
the necklace, and the mead, all have in common that they are ways for
Draco to avoid directly being a killer-- he gives the necklace to
someone, who gives it someone else, who will give it to the murder
victim... he'll fix the cabinet so someone else will magically appear.
 It's avoidance.  


Carol:

> My point is that surely Voldemort knows about the cabinet and expects
> Draco to repair it so that he can get his DEs into Hogwarts to set the
> trap. Also, even though he certainly expects Draco to fail to kill DD
> once they're face to face, the DEs are there to ensure that both Draco
> and Dumbledore will die. <snip>

And failing that, there's Snape, who'd
> "expected to do it in the end," whether or not LV knows about the
> Unbreakable Vow.

Sydney:

I don't think the Snape part is the backup to the DE's, though. 
Snape's line that he's intended to "do it in the end" sounds like
Voldemort has always intended Snape to do it, and that this idea was
in place pretty much since Snape was put in position as a spy.  Snape
being out of the loop for the whole year, and Voldemort not ordering
Draco to bring in his Big Gun, to me says the actual "Kill Dumbledore"
plan was be a separate one.


Carol:

> I get the idea that people think LV has just sent in his goon squad
> and expected all of them to fail, with Dumbledore winning the day. I
> don't think that was the plan. For one thing, Brutal-Face (Yaxley?),
> at least, is not an idiot, and he expects the others to follow orders.
> And it's clear that they *do* have orders. 

Sydney:

The orders they seem to have, are to obey Draco's orders, and not to
harm Harry.  The latter is spoken by Snape who is out of the loop, so
it's probably more by way of a standing order.

I think Voldemort's plan is as stated, by Snape, Narcissa, and
Dumbledore:  for Dumbledore or his side to have to kill Draco.  This
would accomplish a lot PR-wise;  but that's reading back and trying to
make sense of a plan of Voldemort's, which, let's face it, have never
made that much sense yet.  Voldemort's plans such as they are seem
pretty impusive and random, so this one seems perfectly in character.
 Of course we can read back and try to make the plan make sense, as
people have tried to do with the Barty Crouch/Portkey/Cup Plan of
Inefficiency;  but when this retrofitting starts clobbering out some
of the supporting structures of what to me is the main point-- Draco's
arc as laid out in the plot-- then that's when the protests start.

Sydney