[HPforGrownups] The Hogwarts Quill

[broken at pixicore.org]

No: HPFGUIDX 28617

> 2) Neville.  If his family had known that Neville's name was in the book, they needn't have gone to the trouble of dropping him out of a window, etc.  This implies that the names in the list are kept confidential, or at least, no effort is made to let people know.  (There is a possibility that Neville's parents were told before they went mad, but I can't imagine his formidable gran not insisting on her rights as guardian with McGonagall.)
> 

> Huh?!  I'm sorry.  Is ther something I'm forgetting, didn't catch in regard to Neville?  I don't follow this paragraph at all!

He's making a reference to the time Neville got thrown out to window. Apparently, because he's so magically incompetent, his entire family thought he was a Squib. Consequently, they'd do weird things to him to see if he displayed any sign of magical ability. So one time, his uncle (I think... maybe it was his grandfather?) dangled him out the window while holding on to his foot then dropped him to see what would happen. He survived the fall, and his family then knew that he was a wizard after all, and not a squib. Only a half-squib *grin*

So what he's saying is that, if the Magical Quill at Hogwarts writes down the name of any magical-born child, then all the Longbottoms would have to do to find out whether or not Neville was magical is to check the school's baby records. So this might be evidence to prove that these records are confidential or just obscure.


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