Cabinet FIRST! One last time. (Long--sorry!)

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 157888

> Betsy Hp:
> But here's the thing: Who *does* know about the cabinet at this 
> time?  Seriously, as per canon, does anyone, including Draco have 
> any idea about using the cabinets?
> 
> Because again, there is *no* canon suggesting that this plan has 
> occured to Draco yet.  And there's massive canon to suggest that 
it hasn't.  Certainly canon weighs very heavily *against* Voldemort 
> being aware of this plan even if Draco has thought of it already.
> 
> I've brought it up before, and it's been routinely ignored, but if 
> Voldemort was aware of the cabinets (heck if Draco had thought 
this idea up) *why* would he wait so long, why would Voldemort allow 
him  to wait so long to confirm that the other cabinet is available 
and  the cabinet in Hogwarts is even fixable?
> 

Tonks:
In all of this talk about what came first and who, how, what and why 
about the cabinets, what if LV knew about the cabinets all along?

LV must have known about the cabinet when he worked for Borgin. If 
the other one was at Hogwarts at the time I think he would have been 
aware of that as well.  It is part of my theory of how he would have 
gotten into Hogwarts to plant the Hufflepuff cup or Ravenclaw tiara 
there, if in fact he did. 

It is possible that he had forgotten about them over all of these 
years. But if he had plans to get DE into the castle I thing the 
cabinets might be the first thing that he thought about. The 
Hogwarts cabinet was broken by Peeves just the year before and then 
LV was most concerned about getting the prophesy from the MoM, so he 
wasn't fixed on getting into the castle.  It is not until he 
realizes that he must kill DD to get to Harry or that he must kidnap 
Trelawney to get the prophesy that a way to sneak into Hogwarts 
would be important.  IMO, the fact that Draco figured out that the 2 
cabinets are connected is no big revelation to LV.  We don't know if 
LV knew that the cabinet connection was broken, or if he did know we 
don't know when and how he found out.  We do know that "everyone" 
thought that Draco would not be able to fix them.  "Everyone" could 
be just one person, two or more. 

Why would it take LV so long to try to get DE into the castle?  
(First I agree that LV would be the one to gives the orders for DE 
involvement. Draco is only a pawn, he has no power to order anyone.)

I think we have to look at the events as a game of chess.  This is a 
war and chess is a game of war.  Chess is not a quick game.  It is a 
game of careful thought and planning.  Perhaps it would help if we 
set up the board and think this through like LV who is both the 
Black King and the player.  I am going to need a bit of help here.  
So those of you who remember all of the events better than I do, 
fill in the blanks and ponder the moves.  I think that this might 
help sort this out.

Black side:
King is LV
Queen is Bella /or is it Snape?
Bishops are: Snape? 
Rooks are:
Knights are:
Pawn is Draco
Other Pawns are:

White Side:
King is Harry
Queen is DD
Bishops are:
Rooks are:
Knights are:
Pawns are:

>From LV POV, Harry must be checkmated. What moves does LV have to 
make and with what pieces to get into the right position to take out 
Harry? This is chess, so it will take many moves and a few 
sacrifices to get everyone in position for the final 
confrontation.   What moves has LV made thus far?  Who is in what 
position on the board?  LV has planned to kill off the White Queen 
to make the path to Harry easier.  What moves did he have to make 
and with what pieces to do this? 

(Note: I know that in the first book the good side was represented 
by the Black players. That is a bit confusing, but was probably that 
way because LV's side made the first move. But let's keep it simple 
here.  Bad guys are Black and Good guys are the White.)

Tonks_op
Who hopes this method of thinking will help this discussion.