Some Snape thoughts;Flitwick; More Neville

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 35757

David wrote:

> When Harry got cross with his aunt at the beginning of POA, he 
>broke her glass, then blew her up.  Later, in GOF, when Snape 
>cracks his notorious 'I see no difference' remark, (to demonstrate 
>to any vampires present that he is not toothist), Harry imagines 
>all sorts of horrible things happening to Snape - but they don't.
> 
> I wonder if Snape was using all his magical powers at that time to 
>resist Harry's anger, and is in fact *deliberately* winding him up, 
>so that, in due course, Harry can do something spectacular, with or 
>without his wand, when made sufficiently angry.

Hmmm.  So if I read this correctly, you're suggesting that Snape has 
some sort of power to resist Harry's vague wandless magic, and 
that's the reason Snape didn't blow up like Aunt Marge.  Hmmm, very 
interesting, the idea that Snape has these unusual powers. I wonder 
where he got those powers.   Hmmm.  Is there any creature we know 
that requires a special defense, a creature that can only be 
repelled with a Patronus charm, a creature that glides and prowls 
and inhabits dark spaces and sucks the warmth out of the air?  Nah, 
nothing comes to mind.

Elkins wrote:

>Bearing in mind, of course, that the less we know about people
> the easier it becomes to envy their lot in life, I would still 
> like to cast my vote for Most Enviable Character for little
> Professor Flitwick.
 
<snip list of Flitwick's admirable qualities> 

OK.  Now I think I am starting to get Edge.  I understand Edge 
because Flitwick apparently has no Edge *at all*.  It's all smooth 
round corners with Flitwick, if there are any corners at all.  The 
man is *too* perfect.  Even George and Steady State would be 
powerless to construct a convincing backstory for Flitwick.  There's 
just nothing there.  Are we supposed to envy perfection?  Where's 
the fun in that?  ::heavy sigh::

Eileen wrote (about Reverse Memory Charm):  

> Cindy, you've finally sold me on it. 

Thanks goodness!  The Big Bangers just got a fresh shipment of 
Potted Meat By-products and Saltines, so come on over and set a 
spell.

Eileen again (about the torture of toddler Neville):

> Why would the Lestranges leave Neville out of the picture, Cindy? 
>They 
> tortured Mrs. Longbottom to make Frank talk, why would they leave 
>his 
> little toddler out of the business? Because Florence Lestrange was 
>a 
> kind maternal woman in whom Neville awakened the thought of a lost 
> life as Mrs. Sirius Black barefootedly baking cookies for the 
>hordes 
> of little Blacks? No, I don't think so. 

OK, you're going to *force* me to think about little babies being 
tortured, aren't you?  I have to address this, or I will be heckled 
as "squeamish" and I will lose all credibility (or what smidgen of 
credibility I have left).  So here we go.

Why doesn't Mrs. Lestrange fire up toddler Neville with a Cruciatus 
curse to make his parents talk?  I am tempted to say that the 
parents of toddlers are so used to hearing their shrieks that Frank 
would not be troubled by Neville's tortured screams.  :-) But I 
needn't go there.

You see, the reason Mrs. Lestrange leaves Neville alone during the 
attacks is that she doesn't see him as a risk.  He is too young to 
identify her, she thinks. We want our DEs to be grey, right?  So 
even Evil Mrs. Lestrange isn't about to torture or kill an innocent 
toddler unless there's some good reason.  

But if Reverse Memory Charms actually exist as something other than 
a figment of my overactive imagination, doesn't Mrs. Lestrange 
*have* to kill Neville to protect herself?  Nope.  The reason is 
that Mrs. Lestrange (like Elkins) has never *heard* of a Reverse 
Memory Charm, you see.  Really, how often do wizards need to perform 
a charm like that?  It doesn't come up every day.  So Moody the 
skilled Auror knows about it, and Crouch Sr. the head of magical law 
enforcement knows about it.  Evil-Overlords-In-Training like Mrs. 
Lestrange have never heard of Reverse Memory Charm.  Lucky for 
Neville that Mrs. Lestrange didn't know about the Reverse Memory 
Charm, too, because Mrs. Lestrange isn't grey enough to spare 
Neville if she believed him to be a threat.

Actually, this issue presents problems for the proponents of Memory 
Charm Neville.  If Neville is 4 or so when the torture happens, then 
why *does* Mrs. Lestrange leave him alone?  Are we to believe that 
Mrs. Lestrange is the one who placed a memory charm on Neville?  
Doesn't she, like Wormtail and Voldemort, know that memory charms 
can be broken?  Mrs. Lestrange needs to explain herself on this 
point.

Anyway, Mrs. Lestrange can be forgiven her little slip up in leaving 
Neville alive.  There is nothing at all in the Evil Overlord 
handbook about it, after all.  :-)

Cindy