Yvain comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 5 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: NihilCredo 02 November 2010 06:57PM

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Comment author: Yvain 21 November 2010 12:30:53PM 6 points [-]

But then what wand did Voldemort use to duel James and Lily and to cast Avada Kedavra?

It's not really clear whether Bella knows how Voldemort died. She recognizes Harry from his scar, and it's improbable that she could have been captured so soon after Voldemort's death that she didn't have time to read the newspapers. But she also says:

"My... Lord... I went where you said to await you, but you did not come... I looked for you but I could not find you..."

Which would be an odd thing to say if she knew his body had been found on the floor of Potter's house. Maybe she knew about the horcruxes and other dark magic, and figured Voldemort losing his body would be only an inconvenience?

So either Voldy gave Bella his wand and used a different wand to duel the Potters (which meant he knew something was up and probably planned to die), or she just took the wand from the corpse or stole it from the authorities or something.

Comment author: [deleted] 21 November 2010 07:35:02PM 3 points [-]

As his most faithful servant, Bella likely dismissed the possibility of Voldemort's (permanent) death out of hand, burned corpse or not. Several people do so in canon, with her group's torture of the Longbottoms occurring specifically because the former thought the latter had information regarding Voldemort's location.

Comment author: DaveX 24 November 2010 02:18:13AM 1 point [-]

Any reasoning from Bella's apparent knowledge should take into account the Dementor-induced censoring of good memories, (e.g., sun, clouds).

Perhaps she can still remember parts of the plans that went wrong without remembering the successful parts.

Comment author: marchdown 21 November 2010 05:07:30PM 0 points [-]

Pettigrew's?