Blackwidower!Snape - repost from TOL (long)

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "dungrollin" <spotthedungbeetle at ...> wrote:
>

Swopped your paragraphs round a bit...

> > > Dung
> > > I'm going by one of JKR's faq polls:
> 
> But but but
 JKR specifically said that the Longbottom attack team 
> *didn't* know about the prophecy when they went on their crucioing 
> spree, and so they didn't know there even *was* a "one", let alone a 
> potential other.
> 
> Actually, we don't even know that the Longbottoms went into hiding at 
> all, and we don't know if Voldy even knew they had a son of the right 
> age. All we know is that the Potters knew that Voldy was after them 
> and went into hiding. I've always wondered exactly why Voldy chose 
> Harry over Neville (assuming he knew of Neville's existence), and I 
> don't trust DD's implication that it was just because he was a half-
> blood and Neville was a pure-blood. There's more to it, I'm sure, but 
> just what I don't know.
>
> Um
 isn't that precisely what JKR ruled *out*? They can't have 
> suspected that the Longbottoms were "involved in discussions" since 
> they didn't even know that there was a prophecy to be discussed. The 
> person who suggested they target Frank and Alice may have known, but 
> the ones who did the crucioing didn't.
> 
> But it beggars belief that something so important, that was "widely 
> known" amongst the DEs didn't make it to the ears of Bella or hubby, 
> because the Lestranges very specifically *didn't* know. Besides, "I 
> can't say too much about this because it touches too closely on the 
> prophecy and how many people knew about it" suggests that who *did* 
> know is going to be important.
> 
> Have some chocolate; they're gin flavoured.
> 

This needs more than gin.
Where's me armagnac?

Think of what it implies if the Longbottoms didn't go into hiding.
DD is lying to Harry again, either about there being two possibles
based on birth date and about Voldy picking Harry because he 
identified with him, or Neville was a possibility but DD kept it very 
close to his chest while placing Harry at ground zero.
Does not compute - *unless*  there is some other identifier we
don't know about.

Well, we know that Nev was born at about the right date, so it puts
him on the spot so far as timing is concerned. Nobody would take the
risk of parading him down the High St, would they? So logically one
would expect  Mr & Mrs L to retire to their bunker. If they didn't,
there's something funny going on. I have difficulty believing that
the DEs picking on the L's was sheer coincidence. Somebody knew
enough to consider them a potential source of information.

But this holds true even if they had been keeping their heads down -
and that's what's hinted in OoP - the DEs pounced 'when everyone
thought it was safe'. Safe for whom? The Longbottoms or the WW at
large? I'd assumed the former, 'cos there were still large numbers of
Voldy's cheering section running around loose. 

Difficult to believe that the DEs knew nothing about the prophecy
and I can't really see how it would affect the plot all that much if they 
did. So why the corrections and clarifications?

In fact (heresy coming up) these ex-cathedra statements/explanations
that have popped up on her site.... I've long suspected that at least
some of them are possibly plot patches or post-facto adjustments... 
that on reflection the textual canon doesn't quite fit, so it's shuffled a 
bit and nailed down in that corner like a carpet that isn't quite square -
and another corner springs up elsewhere as the adjustment itself
creates further logical questions.

This does not bode well for the final book.
I've got a bad feeling about this.
And it ain't helped any when there's talk of a 'revised edition' before
the last volume is even published.

Kneasy