Dumbledore and Voldemort's past (was: Alice and Frank/Legilimens and Memories)

[Jen Reese]

> Pippin:
> In any case, DD wouldn't know at that time that Little Hangleton
> was connected with Tom, so he would have no reason to be following
> the news there. The Prophet may not have even mentioned the names
> of the Muggles that were killed. 
 
> I think Dumbledore was watching Tom all along, but he didn't start 
> investigating, trying to get other people to tell him what they
> knew and putting things together, until after Tom returned as LV.
> It was only then that it became clear that LV was a danger to the
> whole wizarding world, not just those who crossed him or had
> something he wanted.
> 
> If  DD'd been investigating all along, it seems strange that Tom 
> would have been able to disappear so completely.


Jen: Thankfully JKR doesn't tell us when Hokey and Morfin died, so 
we don't have to put together a time-line based on that information. 
Whew! All we know is Hokey was 'old' and by the time Dumbledore 
traced her, 'her life was almost over.' Likewise, Morfin was said to 
have lived out his life at Azkaban, with no mention of the number of 
years in prison.

Now Morfin would have had to live quite a long time in Azkaban, 25+ 
years, if Dumbledore didn't get to him until Voldemort's first rise 
to power. He was similar to Sirius though, in two ways. First Morfin 
was animal-like and may have exhibited 'simpler emotions' much like 
Sirius did as Padfoot. Also, Morfin had an unhappy obsession to 
focus on with the loss of Marvolo's ring, so the dementors couldn't 
suck that thought out of him. Sirius said his unhappy thought about 
being innocent helped him stay sane.

I do think Voldemort's visit requesting the DADA job sparked 
Dumbledore's detective spree. Dumbledore had watched him closely 
enough to know Voldemort was Tom Riddle & that he had a group of 
followers known as DE's; Dumbledore clearly wanted Voldemort to 
*know* he knew. The whole scene read like a warning to Voldemort--
"I'm watching you closely, Tom. There's someone in the world who 
still knows your history and at least some of your plans, so don't 
think you were successful in murdering Tom Riddle." Maybe that's why 
Voldemort feared Dumbledore, in addition to his magical powers--
Dumbledore had more infomation, *complete* information, than anyone. 
Not only that, DD let Voldemort know he had enlisted others to track 
Voldemort and pass new information to him. DD crossed the line from 
suspicious former professor to formidable enemy during that visit.

Basically, all this is to agree with Pippin on the approximate time 
Dumbledore started his search <g>.

Jen