There's not much to go on

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "mooseming" <josturgess at e...> wrote:
> <arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
> > 
> > You know what this reminds me of?
> > "Kill the spare."
> 
> Ah yes, exactly! He didn't kill Harry because he had a use for him 
> (blood of my enemy) and wanted to make an example of him, although 
> that wasn't such a good idea in the end!
>

Kneasy:
The more I think about this, the less satisfactory the whole episode seems.

OK, the simplistic explanation (from DD) is that Voldy was forewarned
that a usurper in pampers had the potential to spoil his party. There were
two candidates but he picks on Harry as his primary target, so off he trots to
sort the little bugger out. It all goes pear-shaped, Voldy has a fit of the
vapours and Harry gets who knows what as extra software.

Things to consider.
If DD and the collective brains of the MoM were uncertain as to which of
the two were likeliest to be Voldys!Bane it's a racing certainty that Voldy
couldn't know either. (The MoM's still not certain according to the label on
the Prophecy globe, though DD admits to no doubts). Voldy being Voldy he 
was probably going to cover all possibilities and knock off both - when the
opportunity arose.

The betrayal of the Potters presented just such an opportunity. The
frustrating thing is that we don't know what was going on with the
Longbottoms, though logic dictates that if DD thought either of the sprogs
could be the one, then both were in hiding.

Similarly, both would have protective spells poured over 'em like molasses.
What is interesting is that Peter - or whoever - told Voldy where to find
the Potters but the presence of protective spells either slipped his mind
or he didn't know. Now if you trust someone so completely that you make
them SK, wouldn't they also know about the protection? Probably - unless
someone like DD suggested that you kept quiet about it. Why do that?
Well, the spells don't just 'protect', they have an offensive capability too.
Harry is a minefield, primed and ready for Voldy to wander along and
self-destruct. 

Dual-purpose magic; protect and destroy. Which function would DD 
consider to be the most important? Protecting one boy or destroying a 
menace to the whole world? If he really is the war-leader as is claimed
then there can only be one answer. Which raises the possibility  that
the leak re Godric's Hollow was deliberate. It was a trap; Harry the bait
and the 'ancient' magic the jaws. 

There seems to have been two protective spells -  the 'blood' protection
invoked by Lily's death that allows Harry protection from *all* forms of
malign magic if he's in the family abode, and the 'ancient' magic invoked
by DD that appears to be specifically anti-Voldy and applicable anywhere,
not just in Privet Drive. Since the graveyard the anti-Voldy spell is now 
defunct, indeed Voldy makes a big thing out of it "Look lads! I can touch 
him!" but it's implied that the Privet Drive protection still stands.

All well and good - but nobody seems to be thinking about Neville.
*If* he had the same protections as Harry (and why wouldn't he?) then his
situation is the reverse of Harry's. The 'blood' protection was never invoked
- his parents are still alive, *but* the 'ancient' magic has never been tested 
- he's never faced Voldy - yet. That could be an interesting encounter. Is
this protective magic the 'latent strength' that Jo tells us Neville possesses? 
 
> Jo:
> So what plans for Neville, what use is a knobbled infant Neville? A 
> spy in the ranks needs to receive orders and/or convey information, 
> is Trevor transmitting? Is that why he keeps getting 'lost'. Neville 
> was searching for a 'lost' Trevor when he first encounterd Harry on 
> the Hogwarts Express and who should show up shortly thereafter? One 
> Malfoy Jnr plus goons. Is Trevor a homing toad?

Kneasy:
The actions of the DEs should be a clue, but I'm damned if I can suss it
out. The story is that they expected the Longbottoms to know what had 
happened to Voldy, yet the morning after GH  the entire WW was talking
about nothing else. What else was there to know? The Potters were dead, 
Voldy had gone down, defeated by a burbling infant. Why confront the 
Longbottoms? What could Frank and Alice possibly tell them that everybody
else wasn't talking about? With the little we know about GH and the 24 Hours
their actions don't make much sense. Unless they suspected that  Neville
had the same protections as Harry  and they wanted to find out just what
effect the protections had. That might make some sort of sense - identify 
the magic, see if there's a counter-spell. Or - they knew that the vaprous
fraction of Voldy (that part I regard as Sally!Essence) is to all intents and
purposes immortal and would have survived the magical encounter.

The thing is, if as surmised above Neville did have the same protections
as Harry, he'd be absolutely helpless when the DEs came a-calling. His
parents are still alive and it ain't Voldy that's looming in the living room,
so neither protection applies. Neville is wide open. If you had the same
nasty disposition as the Lestranges, what would you do? Kill him or get
clever and maybe try and turn the tables on your enemies? Is Neville
the repository of a bit of DE deviosity?

If he is, I'll bet it'll be triggered when (if) Neville encounters Voldy.  

> Jo:
> It's funny that this JKR's faq response, which made me despairing, 
> is throwing out some intriguing possibilities. Which leads me to:
> 
> "As for the prophecy itself, it remains ambiguous, not only to 
> readers, but to my characters."
> 
> Dumbledore is a character so I take we can happily nix his 
> interpretation then! Yippeee.

Kneasy:
Oh good.
Mind you the interpretation of prophecies is a mugs game.
Hear a cryptic prophecy and then rationalise subsequent events so
that they match the assumed prophecy conditions.
DD really should know better.