I was listening to the MuggleCast, and they were discussing who R.A.B. might be. One of the broadcasters said, "R.A.B. could stand for Ryan and Bertha." This got me thinking - what if it did stand for two different people?

A few days before listening to the MuggleCast, I was on Scholastic's web guide - specifically the pronunciation guide. I saw a name there: Rodolphus Lestrange, husband to Bellatrix Lestrange. When I got to thinking about the possibility of R.A.B. being two people, I immediately thought of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange.

I know, I know. Bellatrix constantly proclaims her loyalty for Voldemort. But this would not be the first time for J.K. Rowling to deceive us like this. I mean, it's J.K. Rowling's style of writing, which she exemplifies in every book, for the deception to become greater in each book. For example, Professor Quirrell being the evil teacher (instead of Professor Snape, who Harry thought was) to steal the Sorcerer's Stone for Voldemort. Another example being that Sirius Black was a debauched man in Prisoner of Azkaban, but in fact it was Peter Pettigrew, believed to be dead, that had given away the Potters' hiding location to Voldemort. And the most infamous example of deception made by J.K. Rowling is in Goblet of Fire, when the trusted Mad-Eye Moody was actually the imposter Barty Crouch, Jr.

Now, to put my theory to the test of possible truth. First, Bellatrix is in fact a Black herself:

"But Harry was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange"
...
"'Does it matter if she's my cousin?' snapped Sirius"
(144, OotP)

Bellatrix was Sirius's cousin, meaning that she had access to the Black House, and she was able to securely hide the necklace in there, and make sure no one would find it:

"'It's ideal for headquarters, of course,' Sirius said. 'My father put every security measure known to Wizard-kind on it when he lived here. It's Unplottable, so Muggles could never come and call - as if they'd have wanted to-...'"
(115, OotP)

This passage illustrates why the House of Black would be ideal to hide the necklace. Muggles could never enter the house, and there were many precautions taken to protect the house. I'm sure that some of those safety measures taken were that a non-Black family member couldn't enter the house uninvited, making sure even a wizard - if he or she had questionable reasons - couldn't enter the house.

In the note left in the locket it says, "I know I will be dead long before you read this..." What if both Rodolphus and Bellatrix were expecting to be tried as supporters of Voldemort? What if they were expecting the Dementor's Kiss instead of a life sentence in Azkaban from the Wizengamot?

"The dementors were gliding back into the room. The boys' three companions rose quietly form their seats; the woman with the heavy-lidded eyes look up at Crouch and called, "The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!'"

We know now that heavy-lidded woman yelling at Crouch was Bellatrix Lestrange. Now what if this was an attempt, extremely feeble as it was, to get Crouch and the Wizengamot to reconsider a life sentence in Azkaban for a Dementor's Kiss, that which would kill them. Maybe Bellatrix thought that she knew the Wizengamot would give any supporter of Voldemort the Dementor's Kiss because that had happened to past Death Eaters. Rodolphus and Bellatrix were definitely Death Eaters, and they were even able to get to know Voldemort on a personal level.

I think R.A.B. may just be Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange. Although Regulus Black is the obvious person, J.K. Rowling has deceived us in previous books, so we've learned to not only look at the obvious, but also the abnormal.

8/24/05

Posted by: Nicole