[HPforGrownups] Re: Cabinet FIRST! One last time. (Long--sorry!)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 157815

Mike:
> So what do we have?
> 1. Draco knew about the cabinets before the LV summons. Most logical
> canon interpretation.
> 2. LV assigned DEs/ally to infiltrate Hogwarts. Canon.
> Logical extrapolations:
> 3. LV was informed of some method of secret infiltration.
> 4. LV assigned DEs to be available to Draco, at least some from the
> beginning.
> Logical Interpretation:
> 5. Draco told LV about the cabinets at the beginning.
>
> How about a compromise?

Magpie:
Well, I'm not compromising on this thread at all, it seems, so I'll say no, 
since that's not the way I read the story.:-)  I don't think a lot hinged on 
exactly who was thinking what when at all times.  JKR's timelines seem 
mostly only important in a very general way--X happened first in the story 
and Y had to happen somewhere after A and before C but we don't know when 
exactly.  The parts in canon that seem to be the important bits read to me 
as:

1. Draco hears Montague's story, either during fifth year or just after, and 
figures out what it means at some point during or after that.

2. Voldemort gives Draco the assignment to kill DD.  He has some DE help at 
his disposal, and can use anything he wants.

3. Draco decides to use Montague's Cabinets to get DEs into the castle for 
back up to help him.  He begins this plan when he goes to get his 
schoolbooks.

4. The Cabinet is hard to fix. He tries other methods of murder and is upset 
by the results.

5. He concentrates exclusively on working on the Cabinet, which will bring 
in other people.  Although it's not working, he does not try any other 
murder attempts since the ones he tried before Xmas.  That's it for him and 
direct acts of deadly potential. (Except for he himself almost dying 
accidentally at Harry's hands.)

6. He gets the Cabinet working on that night towards the end of the year.

That covers what I think is all the important parts of the story, including 
making Draco's Cabinet plan the surprising thing he has up his sleeve that 
throws a monkey wrench into the plans of all the adults on both sides. 
Draco's also gaining confidence from a plan of his own rather than 
completing a plan for Voldemort.  Voldemort doesn't have to know all 
thedetails of what Draco is doing. His only interest in whether he's gotten 
killed yet trying to kill DD.

As for Voldemort: he's not a great planner, as we see in GoF.  But this plan 
is perfectly good (probably because it's not a focus)--as long as you don't 
try to make it about killing Dumbledore or getting Snape to kill Dumbledore 
and instead see it as a cruel joke on the Malfoys which winds up having 
surprising adults because of various reactions to that joke--Snape's, 
Narcissa's, Dumbledore's and Draco's.  Then it's a pretty good story, imo, 
and one that ultimately will suggest, I think, that love is stronger than 
fear.

Dumbledore's plan, ironically, is the more risky but also fairly 
straightforward.  I agree with Sydney that Snape is probably going crazy 
sitting back and letting Draco muddle his own way towards moral development, 
but I suspect he's following DD's orders on that anyway.  Snape would 
probably much rather just step in and neutralize Draco, saving him and other 
people.   I can imagine many conversations where Snape's trying to keep 
control, like after Ron gets poisoned, and DD reminding him about his own 
youth and how he had to make a mistake before he was truly able to make the 
right choice or ask for help.

-m