Neville Has A Memory Charm? Not! & Catching the Lestranges

cindysphynx cindysphynx at home.com
Tue Dec 18 17:55:24 UTC 2001


No: HPFGUIDX 31860

Hmmm.  Perhaps I can make a quick effort to close the sale on a few 
people who replied.

*****

Mahoney wrote (about the Lestranges' capture):

>Besides, we don't know the circumstances 
> of their capture; there may have been another witness; they may 
have 
> left evidence at the crime scene; the victims may have been driven 
> nuts and mentally damaged, but still capable of fingering their 
> torturers; they may have been caught in the act.

Slon added:

> Besides, I don't think it states in cannon (please correct me if 
I'm 
> wrong-not that I need to ask with this group!) that Neville is the 
> only person to witness the crime.  Perhaps someone else came over 
to 
> their house while the curses were being performed and managed to 
get 
> away and contact the correct MoM dept to get the wizard pleese-men 
> over and catch them in the act.  

 
Dumbledore gives the impression that catching the Lestranges was not 
a simple matter, and it was a terribly high priority.  He 
says, "Those attacks caused a wave of fury such as I have never 
known.  The Ministry was under great pressure to catch those who had 
done it.  Unfortunately, the Longbottoms' evidence was -- given their 
condition -- none to reliable."

That means the perpetrators definitely were not caught in the act, or 
there wouldn't have been mounting pressure to catch them.  Any 
evidence left at the scene wasn't sufficient to lead to an easy 
arrest for the same reason.  If we believe Dumbledore, the 
Longbottoms definitely could not identify their attackers.  I also 
think that if another wizard stumbled onto the scene and fled, it 
would have been a simple matter to provide this evidence to the MoM 
and catch the perpetrators.

Does canon tell us that Neville was present when the attacks 
occurred?  No.  I would guess that the logical place for a toddler 
would be with his parents, but that is sheer speculation.  BTW, if 
the attacks occurred in the presence of a toddler, that would be 
further reason for there to be a wave of fury over them.  In any 
event, there is nothing in canon to suggest anyone else was present 
other than the Longbottoms, possibly Neville, and the DEs.

I think it makes more sense that the MoM (especially Crouch Sr.) was 
simply caught flat-footed.  They had two insane people and a toddler 
as potential witnesses.  Pressure was mounting and Crouch Sr. figured 
his rise to Minister of Magic if he could solve this last crime, so 
Crouch Sr. did something awful -- enhanced Neville's memory to 
extract the information.  Yes, this is nasty stuff, but Sirius 
suggests Crouch Sr. was more than capable of it:  "I would say he 
became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side."

Susanna wrote:  

>My guess is that, even after V's defeat, the DE network still worked 
>pretty well, more undercover than before, but it worked. So the 
>remaining DEs (and among them Malfoy) knew that the Lestranges and 
>Marty Jr. were going to the Longbottom's house. Devilishly cunning 
>as he is, Malfoy tipped off the MoM, just in time to get the 3 DEs, 
>but too late to save the Longbottoms. 


Hmmm.  Maybe.  Somehow, I don't think Lucius Malfoy would tell Fudge 
or anyone that he was a former DE.  Voldemort tells us in the 
graveyard scene (speaking to Lucius), "I am told that you have not 
renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable 
face."  Also, in Fudge says, "Malfoy was cleared! . . . A very old 
family -- donations to excellent causes."  That suggests to me that 
Malfoy was accused of being a DE but slithered his way out of trouble 
based on family reputation.  I doubt he pulled a "Karkaroff" and 
secretly told Fudge about the Lestranges, although we certainly can't 
rule out your theory.   

Barb theorized:

> If anyone on the "inside" ratted on the Lestranges and Barty, Jr., 
> it was probably Snape.  

A delicious theory, definitely.  I tend to doubt that Snape was the 
one who ratted on the Lestranges, though.  Once Voldemort fell, the 
DEs were in disarray.  Some like Avery were saying they were under 
the Imperius Curse.  Others like Karkaroff were cutting deals.  
Others like Bagman were using their personal charm and reputation to 
stay out of Azkaban.  Others were killed.  That sounds like a DE 
network that was a shambles, and it stayed a shamble even when Crouch 
Jr. fired the Dark Mark into the sky years later.

By the time the Longbottom attacks occurred, I think Snape had 
stopped spying.  Remember that Dumbledore "outs" Snape at Karkaroff's 
trial, so one could assume Snape stopped spying when Voldemort fell.  
Also, we've discussed on list before that the DEs tend not to know 
very much about one another (otherwise Snape would know Pettigrew, 
not Black, was the spy).  

So I think Snape had no advance information about who the 
perpetrators were in the Longbottom case, and if he did, he would 
have ratted out the Lestranges before they attacked the Longbottoms, 
not afterward.  I also think he didn't find out what they had done 
later because by then, they had already fled and probably wouldn't 
bother to contact Snape and admit their guilt to him.

Cindy (considering the "Neville Has a Reverse Memory Charm" 
recruitment drive a stunning success, as the number of members has 
now skyrocketed to two)





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