Neville Questions....

[Littlered32773 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 30639


> Poor kid doesn't get enough credit. I rather think that he'll end 
>up an unlikely hero


ABSOLUTELY!  I am a HUGE Neville fan, and my theory is that something 
he knows, locked up by a memory charm, is going to be the key to 
Voldy's downfall.


>a lot has been said about Neville's forgetfullness.  Remember the 
>side effects of using too many memory charms on a person, or using a 
>really powerful memory charm for that matter?  That person's memory 
>gets damaged.

>Although for the life of me, if Memory charms have been used on 
>Neville, why does he still know about his parent's torture?  Coz I'm 
>assuming that's why he was so freaked out during that fateful first 
>meeting with "Prof. Moody".  Unless he was merely freaking out on 
>the curse itself...?

I would think that Neville would know about his parent's torture, 
even if he is under a memory charm to forget the actual event.  He 
goes to visit them at St. Mungo's, and his family surely had to tell 
him why his parents were there and why they didn't recognize their 
own son.  It seems (to me, based on the Pensieve) to be common 
knowledge amoung the older wizards, and I would assume that Neville's 
family would want to be the ones to tell him, rather than risk him 
hearing from someone else.  It does strike me as peculiar though that 
the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have never said anything about it (perhaps 
to be conveniently overheard). It also stikes me as odd that Draco 
hasn't used it in some kind of taunt against Neville, as surely his 
parents must have mentioned it at some point or another.  This is, of 
course, going from my assumption that many of the older wizards know 
about it.  
I think he was freaked out for both the reasons you mentioned.  He 
knows that's what was used on his parents, and he sees the results 
every time he goes to St. Mungos.  I think he may have been freaked 
out by the curse itself, because he was actually 'witnessing' the 
curse that destroyed his parent's minds.  That would freak me out too.
Does anyone think that fake Moody/Crouch Jr. might have gotten a 
little bit of sadistic pleasure out of showing those curses to the 
kids?  He questions Neville as to his parentage, but surely he had to 
have known who Neville was in advance.  How many 14 year old 
Longbottoms could there be?  He only stopped the curse when Hermione 
yelled at him to do so (IIRC), so could it be that he enjoyed showing 
the curse off, especially in front of Neville, given that he was 
allegedly one of the tortures (I use alleged to be fair, but I'm SURE 
he was in on it!)


I think we should start our own Neville fan club.  What should we 
call ourselves? N.I.B.T.A.K.-Neville Is Braver Than Anybody Knows

Cheers!
Slon