Think about Neville

[Eustace_Scrubb]

Eustace_Scrubb:
> > >  > The "why" of the DEs visit to Frank and Alice seems very 
> > >  > likely to be Neville.
> 

Then Jo:
> Except on JKR's official site in the latest rumours section there
is 
> this: 
> 
> 10/12/04 
> 
> The Lestranges were sent after Neville to kill him.
> 
> 'No, they weren't, they were very definitely sent after Neville's 
> parents. I can't say too much about this because it touches too 
> closely on the prophecy and how many people knew about it but the 
> Lestranges were not in on the secret.'
> 
> So not after Neville, which begs the question why bother with them 
> at all? Why would JKR make the attack happen after Voldy is
repelled 
> by Harry. Why debunk *this* harmless rumour at all? Oh its all too 
> fishy with the Longbottoms.
> 

And Anne:
>Subtle.
>
>The Lestranges weren't in on the secret. Well, they didn't need to
>be, because the Lestranges were *sent.* 
...
>JKR's FAQ answer tells us the Lestranges weren't sent after Neville,
>but they could have been sent after his parents because the one who
>sent them knew the Longbottoms were connected to the prophecy and
>presumably knew something about it. 

Eustace_Scrubb again:
I don't think JKR's answer necessarily changes my sense that Neville
is the "why" of the visit.  This is in part because of what Anne
points out...the LeStrange/?Crouch? party was "sent."  So maybe Voldy
(or Lucius?) was smart enough _not_ to tell Bellatrix what all the
running around killing defiant Order members was really about. But
whoever it was probably _did_ know about Neville's potential role in
the prophecy. 

If as Kneasy suggests as one possibility, the mission was intended to
find out what protections were involved in order to avoid another
Godric's Hollow fiasco, they'd need to have a chat with Neville's
parents...he couldn't very well tell them himself.  And if they were
worried about booby-traps set for their spells, they wouldn't expect
to be able to kill Neville.  Again, if they believed Neville was
elsewhere, they would have had to work Frank and Alice over to get
them to reveal the secret.  So there are lots of reasons they may have
been sent after Frank and Alice Longbottom, but I still think it
reasonable that all of those reasons boil down to Neville. 

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb