Independence nothing. I had to work today.

[pauraque_bk]

Support is damned addictive. Someone should have warned me. Improving the quality of the answers by making it a competitive game is a stroke of genius. Reminds me of how we eliminated employee lateness at my job: by awarding first pick of lunch times to those who showed up first.

Speaking of my job, is it bad that when this:

turned up on my desk the other day, my first thought was "huh, Neville/Draco"?

---

Last night, chresimos and I had a lengthy conversation that at some points involved GoF. Specifically, the logistics of the whole Peter-Voldie-Bertha situation. When Peter kidnaps Bertha, he hasn't found V yet. V doesn't think Peter knew she would be useful. But if that's so, why did he kidnap her? Perhaps she worked out who he was, but in that case, why not Obliviate or even kill her? What was he doing dragging her around the Albanian forest while looking for V?

When Peter finds V, he's non-corporeal -- a shadow being. chresimos wondered how he and Peter were able to converse. I think V possessed Peter, as he did Quirrell. True, Peter wasn't useful for transportation, as it were, but that doesn't stop V from possessing him just to communicate.

So, at some point, Bertha is tortured to death, and V transforms from a shadow being to a fetus-thing. We don't know in what order these things happen. Did V do this while he was possessing Peter? Did he do it after he was a fetus? Would he have been strong enough?

And how did he become corporeal? Peter magicked him that way, we assume, but the specifics are unclear. He's a fetus... that suggests pregnancy. I initially had evil thoughts of MPREG, which would be entertaining in fic, but not likely in canon. But there's Bertha... wouldn't it be interestingly horrible if, before or in conjunction with her dying, Bertha gave birth to the fetus Voldemort?

---

On a totally different note:

Harry Potter and the Guy Who Left Jail and Stuff, Part 6: buckbeack gets dead. plausive ownz joo.

Comments

[woolf.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to have nightmares about giving birth to Voldemort now.


but it seems plausible...

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Squick! >.<

Actually, it makes sense, and is ruthless practical in Peter's "no morals at all" way; Bertha's there, she's female and thus can make a new body, which Voldemort needs. It's horrible, though, more horrible to me than them just killing her for information; murdering her after forcing her to give birth to the Dark Lord's body strikes me as an intensely female nightmare.

of course, that leaves the question of whole fathered DemonBaby!Voldemort's body... and since Peter is the only one around... double squick!

[pauraque]

of course, that leaves the question of whole fathered DemonBaby!Voldemort's body... and since Peter is the only one around... double squick!

I hadn't considered that -- I was imagining shadow!Voldemort impregnating her all on his own -- but I like your idea better.

[spug.livejournal.com]

*wheezing voice* Don't start doing Support! Run, before it's too late!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

With regards to posessed!Peter as donor for impregnating Bertha... I really want to read that fic now. It's scary.

And it is Neville/Draco! Hee.

[tarnationawaits.livejournal.com]

There was a time when I, too, became hopelessly addicted to support. There's just something inherently satisfying about being able to tell people to RTFM, and get points(!) for doing so. Yes, the points were fairly useless, but still. It calls to the competitor in me. Good luck escaping, it took me long enough.

RE: Bertha and Voldemort. Fascinating idea. And, ew.

[arwencordelia.livejournal.com]

wouldn't it be interestingly horrible if, before or in conjunction with her dying, Bertha gave birth to the fetus Voldemort?

Can't help thinking "OMG that's it!!"
Isn't there all kinds of lore about occult rituals of women being kidnapped to use in some sort of dark ritual which ends in giving birth to some evil entity?? Could be Bertha was pregnant already... Peter (and Voldemort) found out, then the spell/ritual was all about transferring Voldemort's non-corporeal "essence" to the existing fetus, resulting in EvilBaby!Voldemort. And he feeds on Nagini's milk to survive, further suggesting a fetus/newborn...
Interestingly horrible indeed!

[pauraque]

And he feeds on Nagini's milk to survive, further suggesting a fetus/newborn...

Yes, GoF's first chapter definitely calls to mind a parent and baby, with Peter feeding him out of a bottle, fussing over him and asking if he wants any more...

It's certainly possible that Bertha was already pregnant (if she let that slip to Peter at the inn, it could have given him the idea), though I really like neotoma's thought that Peter could be the physical father of this incarnation of Voldemort. Not only is he interacting with V like a parent would, he has it in him to argue against V's plans... as if he's feeling some sort of authority over him, faint and confused though it may be.