Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby ashez2ashes » April 19th, 2008, 11:18 pm

Ok, if you've been reading closely, you would have noticed that there's a secret person (or even faction) that is running counter to Harry's goals. There's some suggestions that this person is a student and may even have future knowledge like Harry. It is also heavily implied that this person had a hand in Mellisa Bulstrode's death.

So I was wondering... who does everyone think it is?


My Guess:
Draco is the obvious guess (one of the hosts of the Harry Potter podcast thought so too) but I don't think he's competant enough for anyone to want as their agent.

My random guess is that its one of the more minor Slytherians from canon, or a completely new character. And my REALLY out there guess, is that I think that they're getting their information from Voldemort himself. Voldemort lived a different non-canon life, found out about the kill yourself to go back in time bit, and used the spell to send himself back to when he was fairly young. It fits with Voldemort always being evil and gifted from an extremely early age. It also shows why the agent was wondering why things weren't progressing as they should be (Voldy left instructions maybe?). It's also kind of insane, I admit, but the implication that Voldemort was a bad seed since day one always bothered me a bit.

I'm not sure I like the idea of having another time traveler though. It kind of overly complicates an already mind bendingly complicated idea. Oh well, one of the reasons I'm asking is that I'm not all that fond of the theory I came up with.

Your thoughts? And please, no betas or Matt torturing us with 'ha ha I know and you don't!' giggles okay? (I know you guys want to, deep down, in your special place) :-P
Last edited by ashez2ashes on April 20th, 2008, 9:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Zerrat » April 19th, 2008, 11:23 pm

I'm actually thinking more, "Ravenclaw". One line makes me think this:
And so one of the few minds worthy of being associated with his house considered the possibilities and planned for all possible contingencies.
- Chapter 25

Sure, Slytherins are ambitious and cunning, but Ravenclaw feels a bit more... cerebral. Sure, it could easily be Slytherin though.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Lunaludus » April 20th, 2008, 2:53 am

We can be sure it's not Draco. The same scene in Chapter 25 Zerrat quoted from strongly suggests that Draco's uncharacteristic behavior the previous scene was due to the agent having essentially drugged him.

The fact that our agent was able to get close enough--for a long enough stretch of time--to "carefully and subtly" administer the potions to Draco suggests that he is indeed in Slytherin, as does the strong implication that his orders were to retrieve Tom Riddle's diary, so it could be sent to Ginny (as that's what Draco eventually did).

If he wasn't working for Lucius Malfoy, he was working for someone else who knew what Malfoy had planned (assuming we're not dealing with a second time traveler here) and wanted Malfoy to succeed in it--in other words, another Death Eater. This again suggests Slytherin.

(If Melissa's death is taken as retaliation for her helping Harry with the failed attack at the end of second year, that would again suggest Slytherin, both because it's avenging the Slytherin team and because the only non-Slytherins who even knew of the attack were Harry & co., McGonagall, and Dumbledore, none of whom would be likely to share. However, I doubt Melissa's death was just about Slytherin Quidditch--though it's possible, if you assume that the same agent was also responsible for the attack on Cho--so we should probably leave that alone until we know more.)

If he is a Slytherin, unless it's an OC the most likely candidates would be Blaise Zabini or Theodore Nott. The agent's sarcastic reference to his "patron"--in quotes in the text--makes me think it's more likely to be Nott, since that would make the "patron" his Death Eater father.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Zerrat » April 20th, 2008, 3:34 am

Yes, Draco is unlikely to be steering things. He appears to have been coerced/drugged into acting irrationally and uncharacteristically in order to further the agent's goals and appears to be willing to work with him. (see the petrifying spell before Draco hit Harry with the stunner). This agent is likely to be doing things through the subtle manipulation (in a stark contrast to Harry, whose subtleness of late could be likened to a steam train) of characters who have it in for Harry.

If Lucius has a grip on Fudge, then the 'patron' and agent appear to have a grip on the Malfoys, and through them, Snape. These three characters understandably have it in for Harry, which is probably why they were chosen. It wouldn't look STRANGE to an unwary Harry, which is precisely what the patron and the agent appear keen to avoid.

I have a bad feeling that Tom Riddle Sr's bones were stashed away somewhere safe long before Sirius got to them. :?

In any case, Lunaludus, your argument for a Slytherin agent makes a lot of sense.

But if the agent is dangerous, the patron is deadly. He/she’s the one pulling all the strings and appear to have knowledge of the original timeline and are actively trying to subvert Harry’s mission.

I guess we’ll just have to wait for the next snippet of information.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby viridian » April 20th, 2008, 3:42 am

Just out of curiosity, did anyone pick up on why Cho Chang was attacked?
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Zerrat » April 20th, 2008, 3:44 am

After about a minute's thought, I concluded, "Because the authorlord made it so."

Which is, of course, the truth. 8-)
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Druid » April 20th, 2008, 4:15 am

I'm actually thinking more, "Ravenclaw". One line makes me think this:
And so one of the few minds worthy of being associated with his house considered the possibilities and planned for all possible contingencies.
- Chapter 25

Sure, Slytherins are ambitious and cunning, but Ravenclaw feels a bit more... cerebral. Sure, it could easily be Slytherin though.
That was pretty much my thinking as well. Seemed to be a fairly clear hint to a Ravenclaw. Remember also the attack that damaged Harry's broom during a match, and all the Slytherins' wands being check, and coming up neg. As for Draco, all he's been throughout has been a patsy as far as I'm concerned.

The explanation for this agent in place will be interesting whenever it comes up.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby calgary » April 20th, 2008, 10:46 am

I'm actually thinking more, "Ravenclaw". One line makes me think this:
And so one of the few minds worthy of being associated with his house considered the possibilities and planned for all possible contingencies.
- Chapter 25

Sure, Slytherins are ambitious and cunning, but Ravenclaw feels a bit more... cerebral. Sure, it could easily be Slytherin though.
That was pretty much my thinking as well. Seemed to be a fairly clear hint to a Ravenclaw. Remember also the attack that damaged Harry's broom during a match, and all the Slytherins' wands being check, and coming up neg. As for Draco, all he's been throughout has been a patsy as far as I'm concerned.

The explanation for this agent in place will be interesting whenever it comes up.

Intersting indeed. I did think it was Thomas Knott, at first. Just might be a Ravenclaw.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby taillwh » April 20th, 2008, 2:57 pm

Just out of curiosity, did anyone pick up on why Cho Chang was attacked?
Perhaps I'm thick, but no, I didn't, and even now plenty of chapters later I still haven't picked up on it. :) Care to enlighten the ignorant masses?
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby DIT_grue » April 20th, 2008, 5:18 pm

Just out of curiosity, did anyone pick up on why Cho Chang was attacked?
I'm pretty sure I only got it after reading some of the discussion on the mailing list, but
Spoiler: show
Cho was injured to reschedule the match so that Harry could be isolated after his detention.
I'm assuming that the agent is in Slytherin - the cerebral argument actually points that way for me, since that's what Ravenclaw is mostly about. I haven't entirely ruled out Snape, even though I'm fairly sure that's a red herring (use of potions, assumption of personal superiority to those around him).

One of the few things we know about the agent is that he's male - the passage doesn't even specify that the communication from his patron was a letter.
Actually, I hadn't seen any indication of a second time-traveller, and I still don't.
Melissa was making herself plenty of enemies in her house even without her contact with Harry - remember the argument that got the male prefect dismissed?
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby VoiceoftheNephilim » April 20th, 2008, 6:22 pm

I had always thought that the "Agent in Place" was Draco, and I thought it confirmed. I may be very wrong about that though.

I'd assume that whomever shot Cho out of the sky was practicing, to see if it could be done, since they had planned to do it during the Third Year Quidditch Match, when the Dementors would be distracting everyone to the point where no one would catch the caster.

I rather think that Draco was able to travel back in time as well, which falls in line with the increased animosity between Harry and Draco, Draco using the Polyjuice potion (having been done to him in the original timeline), and such.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby unknown59 » April 20th, 2008, 6:39 pm

I was almost positive the agent in place was a Ravenclaw. I was almost sure Draco was confirmed *Not* to be the agent because the agent is still active and in Hogwarts after Draco was kicked out. Plus I was really, really hoping it would be a Ravenclaw because it's NEVER a Ravenclaw who does anything, its always Slytherin of Gryffindor with a couple of Hufflepuffs thrown in for flavor.

I'm also pretty sure that the Death Eaters are a red herring, someone or something else is behind this conspiracy. Hell, crazy thought, the agent might even be a time agent tasked with keeping the timestream pure. Most of the overt actions taken so far have caused distorted echoes of what happened in canon. The Agent's goal might just be to keep the timeline stable, to stop Harry's major changes
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Essex » April 20th, 2008, 8:31 pm

I don't have a firm identity on the agent, but I do suspect that he must be an older student. This guy can apparently either brew or buy potent poisons and behavior altering drugs, is capable of casting fairly strong curses, and is capable of dealing with a goal by making multiple plans that work several steps ahead. Even with a lot of 'dark' extracurricular training, I'd suspect that he'd have to be at least 15.

Without looking through the entire story again for any supporting evidence, my best guess would be either the Slytherin upperclassman who replaced the one that had his prefect badge removed or the Ravenclaw who replaced Cho as Seeker.
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Re: Whose the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby SquirrelyRequiem » April 20th, 2008, 9:22 pm

Is it possible that the incident with Cho was simply a red herring in itself? Even if not created by the author to distract readers, perhaps then by the agent to distract certain people while he acted in a manner he was otherwise unable to?
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby unknown208 » April 20th, 2008, 10:03 pm

I can't say I've kept up with all the hints and discussions, so my theory may already be disproven, but I always assumed voldemort was affected as well considering how Harry and he are connected. when harry went back he pulled whatever remnants of voldermort were leftover and they reunited with him about the same time harry did.

All of a sudden, he wakes up with years of memories from his own future leading up to his defeat, and he has no idea how or why. so he tests his memories... sees if they happen. But all of a sudden things are changing, event's are being modified, so he meddles, resulting in events that harry sees as being unchangeable.

This is where I think I may be disproven. As a result of Harry's changes and his treatment of Snape, Snape isn't as willing to help the good side and works more for voldemort than Dumbledore. Snape is the agent and voldemort the patron. This story isn't following DH is it... i hope not. It makes sense because snape can be linked to almost all of the events that seem to repeat despite Harry's best efforts.
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby coronal » April 20th, 2008, 10:57 pm

I think the "only mind being worthy" comment was still about being Slytherin. Look at most of them. They blatantly attack Potter, openly badmouth him, are SEEN repeatedly sabotaging him. That's not sly. That's not clever. That's just dumb.

To be truly sly, you need to be smart, yes. But you need to be able to manipulate people without getting caught. You run things from BEHIND the scenes, which is what a TRUE Slytherin would do. Look at Slughorn during potions, and you'll see what I mean.


That said, I personally think the 'agent in place' is Theodore Nott. While it COULD be one of the others, canon generally has Zabini as more of a moderate or a neutral. We know it's not Bulstrode, and Parkinson is out of the question. Greengrass, perhaps, but that is it within Slytherin, unless there is someone OC.
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Zerrat » April 20th, 2008, 11:25 pm

When we look at current day Slytherins, Salazar must be spinning in his grave. They aren't ambitious or smart, like you said. They're just evil bullies, even in NoFP fanon.

But that said, Slytherins aren't just about slyness or cunning; they're ambitious. Ravenclaw is practically the incarnation of intelligence, which makes me feel that the agent is not a predictable and overused 'OMGevil!Slytherin' but a darker Ravenclaw. Slytherins aren't the only ones who can go dark, and since Harry has been so focused on Slytherin, this might surprise him. *shrug* I'm just looking at it from a 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if this happened...' perspective, which isn't always correct, but is darn fun! :)

There is evidence for both sides, as both houses use the intelligence trait. Either way it goes, this agent is an interesting fellow!
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Darkarma » April 21st, 2008, 12:22 am

I've of two minds of this, the Agent specifically mentioned the original timeline so either he's been briefed someone who is a time traveling or he is the time traveler. Now we know one important thing about the sorting hat, it seems be the ultimate being of mind reading and capable of breaking through many barriers. The first reason why I think this is both Snape and Dumbledore arrive at the conclusion that Harry is a natural at occlumancy yet they never really note the fact that this should have stopped the sorting hat from sorting him since if he was really a natural and not a time traveler he probably would not have been sorted. They're both smart enough to realize that.

This creates several possible scenarios...

First, the agent was told what was going to happen and enter Hogwarts as a student, unlikely as how many children that young would act at that age in such a manner that could be that truly calculating regardless of being a brain case to rival Hermione. Another reason why this is unlikely is that the sorting hat would have noticed that more than likely alerted Harry when they were next near each other.

The second scenario is that the agent time traveled like Harry only he showed up after he'd been sorted. Negating the change of the hat of catching.

The third possibility I enjoy the most is, the Horocrux part of the hat was awakened by Harry's presence in some way and from there on allowed the agent in scenario two to pass unchallenged. Which could bring up a neat idea. The Sorting Hat calling the shots on behalf of Moldywarts

Scenario Two and Three have some interesting problems, Harry shows that the the mind of the adult and child is pretty a true 50/50 blend between both personalities. Both sides seem to have equal influence creating a being that is more or less both an adult and a child and not just an adult in a child's body. So the agent if they are like Harry would probably have to have a similar disposition as a child to be willing to murder without second thought. I'll let you come up with your conclusions on how that would work.

The fourth scenario is that were working and adult to absorbed their future self, so perhaps someone a bit older in the future with say a older teenager or a young man. How he's working for a patron when he has enough power to send himself this far back in time... That seems a bit odd.

The fifth scenario I see as the most probable, an adult or child who's been fused with a horocrux of their future self, something with the ability to assert its dominance over a being regardless of their disposition and then someone else pulling the strings.

Possibly Viridian is pulling a Star Trek Enterprise where the communication is spanning across time between the agent and the Patron. But that seems like it would require a LOT of power. Which just gives me an idea, the future reality where Draco manages to harness the Elder Wand's full power and is using that to influence events from the future.

Anyways just some ideas.

So unless the Sorting Hat is doing something evil I'm more than likely thinking that the agent is an adult of some kind. Voldemort? Maybe but I think that card has already been played and were dealing with an OC character who filled Voldemort's power vacuum in the future.
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Bug-Eyed Earl » April 21st, 2008, 1:18 am

I don't think the agent mentioned the original timeline- "Things were not progressing as they should and he was to ascertain why." Given that most of the events in that year revolved around the Chamber, I think the AIP was simply the son of an accomplice of Lucius Malfoy who knew the Chamber was supposed to open soon.
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Darkarma » April 21st, 2008, 10:33 am

Spoiler: show
Fortunately, the week-long detention would not interfere with the timeline. That would be… unfortunate… after the lengths he’d gone to in order to set up that particular chain of dominoes.
Then again the timeline could just be the plans already set in motion...
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Zerrat » April 21st, 2008, 7:32 pm

Yeah, it could be an unfortunate choice of words desgined to be a red herring. :shock:
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Kalaras_Of_Haven » April 21st, 2008, 8:49 pm

Yeah, it could be an unfortunate choice of words desgined to be a red herring. :shock:
Oh, Matt would never do something so evil. :roll:
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby unknown187 » April 21st, 2008, 9:18 pm

If Draco had successfully mastered the Elder wand in the future, since the truth was never uncovered because Snape had already been killed by ol' Voldermort and the secret never revealed(probably long forgotten by both parties), it could be conceivable that a smarter more talented Draco could send back his whole being back. Then for him it would be a simple matter of Polyjuicing into Croshanks to fall into Ron's waiting arms after Wormtail's gone even if things progressed faster than expected. In this case the "patron" would be someone whom Draco confided in and is now getting curb stomped into doing what they want, Lucius perhaps?
My other theory is...Ron, either through his own choice(due to some primal fear of death) or under someone's command(read patron) which actually leads me to think of Darkarma (btw is that "Dark arma" or Dar karma") Star Trek theory with a more powerful Draco calling the shots in the alternative future, as suggested by the lack of change in future Harry's memories or is that side effect of the fusion that cuts him from the flow of time as it relates to the future?

Edit: Factoring in the psychological effect it would have on Harry meeting Ron as an enemy later it works strategically and Draco's cowardice would cause him to flee as soon as things turned bad so he hid but with Ron's sensibilities he wouldn't return to Harry for obvious reasons. The red-haired one was horribly mutilated due to anger, or perhaps to hide his true identity. Harry would quickly bury the body out of a sense of duty and never bother to check the true identity due to grief(what a wonderful mind-killing emotion). Also if Ron saw the spell his last act would be to cancel the spell, leaving the death eaters in a very nasty position.
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Bug-Eyed Earl » April 21st, 2008, 10:06 pm

Question for MAtt:

Is the AIP, for all intents and purposes, intended to take Draco's place as his school nemesis, albeit a sneakier and more subtle one designed to counter Harry's power and future knowledge?
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Re: Who's the 'agent in place'? *spoilers for latest chapters*

Unread postby Darksnider05 » April 22nd, 2008, 6:26 am

Mr. Smith from the Matrix... maybe.
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