A theory about the Agent in Place

[CaptainOverkill]

First time poster, on-and-off lurker here.

I hope this doesn't sound too far-fetched to people, but something occurred to me as I was re-reading this story (this really is my favorite Harry Potter story and I find myself returning fairly frequently to it). When I was reading chapter 25, the incident with the Valentine poem occurs despite the fact that Ginny didn't send it. Harry and Ginny assume Fred and George raided her room and that it was supposed to be off-limits, which leads to their prank involving Melissa Bulstrode.

Except they never actually confronted Fred and George about it and the twins, to my memory, never confessed to it or apologized. There have been other interesting theories posted about how the Agent in Place might be a time traveler like Harry and I'm sure the line about Draco Malfoy disappearing before the end of the war has been discussed here before. If Fred and George did not send the poem, then who did? A Draco Malfoy from the future could certainly have remembered the event.

So let me sum up my ramblings before this gets any longer. I believe the Agent in Place is Draco Malfoy from the future, and I think he is trying to recreate the events of the first few books to make sure Voldemort revives and wins this time. I think he is directly responsible for a lot of the odd occurrences that have been accredited to the Agent in Place and I think he is probably either possessing someone (other than his younger self or Severus Snape) or, if he managed to somehow get his body back in time, is using Polyjuice to disguise himself like Barty Crouch Jr. did. My candidate for a possession victim/disguise is a Hogwarts professor as opposed to a student, because McGonnagal mentioned that every student's wand was checked when Melissa was murdered. The problem is, I am not sure which professor.

Taking this further, I suspect that Harry will take out Barty Crouch early on during the Tri-Wizard Tournament and then get kidnapped by the Agent in Place (in the professor's body) to accomplish the revival of Voldemort.

If my theory is correct, all the Horcruxes Sirius rounded up may be fakes.

What do people think?

[Calinero]

The idea of a time traveling Draco is certainly a strong candidate, but I have a few problems with it. We clearly hear the agent in place musing about giving drugs or potions to his 'cat's paw,' which is heavily implied to be Draco. Unless the Draco of the future managed to find a way to travel back with his body as well (which even Harry himself couldn't do with Dumbledore's help, meaning there's no way Draco would be smart enough) then he would have ended up inside his younger body. And that's assuming he didn't just create a third timeline with his traveling, and didn't end up in the same continuity as Harry at all. So, the fact that the agent in place talks about Draco seems to imply that it isn't him....

[CaptainOverkill]

My thinking is that Elder Draco (if he exists) took over someone else's body and is just using Younger Draco as a cat's paw. He may have had a particular victim in mind before he went back in time and took over - there's no reason the spell couldn't be modified slightly to throw a spirit into someone else's body. Honestly, my top candidate would be Snape if the Authorlord hadn't made it clear that he felt Snape's behavior as depicted in the fic was normal for him.

[Psaid]

Might be that my opinion on time traveling is weird, but in my opinion it would be very unlikely that there was another time traveler from the first timeline because the moment Harry traveled back he created another timeline, so if another person traveled back they would have to travel back to the exact same moment that Harry arrived, and I doubt that anyone (especially Draco) could time travel that accurately.
That would mean that if there is another time traveler it is more likely that they actually come from the timeline harry created by going back, which would just make the story really confusing.
Personally I don't think that there is another timetraveler, I think it more likely that there is a group that has always worked behind the scene even in the first timeline even if they never really did much the first time around because it was already going the way they wanted (and the moment it didn't they got killed by Voldie, and couldn't really do anything).

[Lthayer3]

I have to agree with Psaid. The Authorlord would have to get really inventive in order to explain away a separate time traveler. It could be possible, though, that someone somehow hitched a ride with Harry when he went into the past, or that Harry accidentally dragged someone else with him (though very unlikely, seeing as Harry and Dumbledore probably understood the process as well as is humanly possible).

Another time traveler from the new timeline is an interesting possibility. And convoluted -- like the story with Harry's son timetravelling, too (I forget the fic's name). I doubt this is the case, though I suppose it cannot be ruled out entirely.

With what (admittedly little) evidence we have about the agent, it is much more reasonable to assume the simplest explanation: an already present conspiracy is actually acting due to changes Harry has already made. And until something truly bizarre happens that actually points to timey-wimey interference, I'll be following Occam's razor.

[jgkitarel]

Probably the best bet.

Frankly, I'm pegging one of the older Slytherin males, or perhaps Blaise. We don't know a lot about them, and at least with Blaise, we have a potential candidate. It would be a nice twist if it were Blaise, as he (even when portrayed in the proper, male, gender) is usually portrayed as neutral, quietly on Harry's side, or openly so. In fanfiction at least.

Of course, some of the hints play a little closer to Draco's circle of "friends."

[JustinS1985]

If it was anyone from the future I'd put my money on malfoy, mostly because of how the authorlord mentioned that Harry never found out what happened to him. As for how he'd get back I have no clue, because I seriously doubt Malfoy is brave enough to avada kadavra himself in the face.

[demonclownbaby]

I *really* hope there does not end up being another time traveler in this story. Time travel is basically a cheat for Harry... but one that only a strange set of circumstances and enough self-loathing to commit suicide could achieve. Someone else would have to think of it it, recreate the process... merge with their younger self... once it happens twice, why not more times? Why not Harry just go back *again* and *again* until he gets it right? Then it's a time traveler's arms race with multiple timelines... no.

Harry did it once, this gives him a big advantage, but he's still 13, and the bad guys had a lot more manpower at their disposal, it too him until 30 to win last time, so this still isn't going to be a walk in the park. The story is good the way it is now, with time-travel being a one-off event that frames the story, it's the *hook* of the story, but not the *plot* of the story.

[jgkitarel]

No, we've managed to place it as not another time traveller. One of the things the Evil Authorlord tries to avoid is using Deus Ex Machina as much as possible. When he does use it, he avoids using it more than once. The main thing for this is that he is using the AIP as a means to show just how much more is going on in the background right now, though I believe that exposing the AIP is probably going to be the main thrust of the story.

It will also probably be where Harry starts coming forward with Albus.

[Dechstreme]

I wonder why people insist on thinking the agent in place is Draco doing Time Travel. Remember how the Death Eater Mark works in NoFP? When the wielder of the Master Mark, AKA Voldemort, dies... every wielder of the Derivative Marks the rest of the Death Eaters have would DIE AS WELL. Ergo, it's impossible for a future Draco from Future Harry's Timeline to even travel on account to NOT EXISTING. As to WHY it can't be the Draco from yet another Alternate Timeline... I don't think Viridian would have ever willingly chosen to go with something similar to the Android/Cell Saga from DBZ route in his story. That would make things too confusing.

[LordVisser908]

How many here think the agent-in-place was responsible for trying to murder or permanently cripple Cho Chang as well as killing Melissa Bulstrode?

Personally, I'm looking forward to Harry murdering the little bastard.

[Frances]

The agent-in-place appears to have set up Draco to take the blame for the attack on Harry at the end of year two in the event that Harry survived to report hearing Draco's voice. The agent was probably the "second shooter" getting Harry with the body bind at the same time Draco attacked. Given that Harry was aware of his body stiffening from the body bind, it clearly hit him slightly before Draco's stunner which would have rendered him completely unaware of any later spell effects. That tells us that the agent was casting either silently or very quietly from hiding and using Draco's less subtle assault as a mask. Had Harry died, Draco might have been in the clear, but as soon as Harry survived Draco was guaranteed to be tagged as the culprit. The description of Draco as a "cats paw" is quite apt. Regardless of the likelihood of another time traveler on the scene, I can't see future Draco using his past self in such a shoddy way. He's too self-centered for that.

I believe that the agent's use of Draco rules out the possibility the agent being anyone who cares very much about Draco, but not the possibility of Lucius being the agent's employer. The agent clearly doesn't feel any passion for the goals of his master, so I suspect buckets of money changing hands. The agent could be willing to use Draco in a way Lucius wouldn't approve, or not know the identity of his employer. I can't see an agent of Voldemort being so callous about his master being disappointed with the results, while an agent of the ministry would probably not be so callous with human lives.

Well, his 'patron' wanted him to use all means at his disposal, and he'd done so. Whether those means would be good for anything afterward was not his problem.

I'm not sure how bright NoFP!Draco is supposed to be, but he doesn't come across to me as much of a light. The only clever things I can think of him doing in NoFP revolve around clever insults. And unless he was already thoroughly under the influence of the AIP's drugs by the time of Lockhart's Dueling Club fiasco, he seems to be naturally foolhardy enough to stand on stage and throw lethal curses at Harry with a ton of witnesses. What would have happened to Draco if one of his cutting curses had killed Harry right there on stage? (Not that I really understand why a charge of attempted murder couldn't have stuck anyway with that many witnesses.)

[NotosK]

I had this idea about the 'agent in place' while walking from work to my house

The 'agent in place' is actually Harry from the future who came back again after messing around with the timeline and trying to make some important events happen that didn't happen.

Let me see if i can explain this

Harry[1] after defeating Voldemort travels back in time and tries to fix the time line but he avoids certain events, like not opening the Chamber of secrets, or ginny getting possesed, or fighting with his friends with the troll (with the hope of keeping them safe), this makes their friendship not as strong or something and everything goes worse than in the original time line

harry[1] looking back and knowing where he messed up, travels back in time again but he does't fuse with his older-self and ends ups possessing someone else. This Harry is even more bitter and more extreme in what he is willing to do to save his friends (having watched them die two times) he pretty much not cares for his younger self (think of Shiro and Archer from FSN)

Harry[2] (the harry we read from Chapter 1) is of course unaware of Harry[1] actions or exisctence and everything he sees as fate making things happen again is Actually Harry[1] trying to make the timeline more like the 'canon' one but not so much for their friends to die like in the original timeline.


so we have 3 time lines

One where Harry Kills Voldemort but all his friends die
One where Harry returns back in time but messes things even worse
and the one we are reading where Harry[1] is interfering with Harry[2] to make bad things happen that have actually good effects on the timeline.

For example not opening the Chamber Meant that
1.- They didn't kill the Basilisk, so they didn't get the money and the Vasilisk venom to destroy the horrocrux
2.- Ginny didn't get possessed which was actually an important part of her personality, (she had a weaker character)
3.- They didn't destroy the diary and fell into the worng hands which could mean an earlier return of Voldemort


I know this idea has a few holes here and there but I liked thinking about it

[PeachWookiee]

Lucius seems a more likely candidate to me. And when the potions were mentioned, Snape was still at Hogwarts. So Lucius could still have access via the other Slytherins. Harry being more dangerous in this timeline might make Lucius a bit more dangerous as well.
Of course, we haven't heard about Barty Crouch, Junior yet. What if, in this timeline, he broke free of Winky and his father's control sooner? He could masquerade as Lucius, Severus or anyone else once he got the right potions. We know he could make Polyjuice in the prime timeline.

[jgkitarel]

Lucius was ruled out as the agent, though it was hinted that he was the one backing said agent. Passages in the story showed that the agent himself knew that his using Draco as his tool would meet disapproval, but he essentially used an "Exact Words" loophole. As for Barty Crouch Jr., your idea has some merit, but it would not be the case. It was never mentioned when he broke free, but it was hinted that it wasn't until late in Harry's third year that he developed a sufficient resistance to be able to easily throw off the effects of the Imperious.

[PeachWookiee]

I just reread the last chapter. The oddest idea occurred to me. Someone who might also hate Arthur Weasley enough to use Lucius and have access to Peter without tipping off the Ministry... Fudge. No one would question it.

[PeachWookiee]

Sorry for the double post, everyone. But I think I just figured it out. It's not a future person... it's someone with knowledge of Wizarding chess... a brilliant tactician. I really hope I'm wrong...
ETA: Okay, there's another clue... In one of the chapters, the agent in place is mentioned as "one of the few with intelligence worthy of his house." That points to either a Slytherin or Ravenclaw. And Flitwick didn't test their wands!

[rbear1231]

I do not know who the agent in place is.

i dont beleave it is draco or snape.

lucy is clearly the main bennifactor, his hatred for the weasly name and the muggle protection act are clear ive aways.

crouch jr has some merit.

fudge...to bumbling.

i do beleave they are in the house of the snake, Nott or balize (how ever his name is spelled)