The Fall of the House of Longbottom/Re: Neville Longbottom.

[cathubodva_raven]

No: HPFGUIDX 40871

First of all, apologies to Amanda Geist & Bboy_mn.  Yes, that example 
of Harry was a case of movie poisoning.  I've taken the antidote 
potion and I'm feeling much better now, thank you.  I do think that 
even though the example was rotten, the point was valid, blah blah 
blah.  I swear never to post from work again (or maybe I need to 
purchase a second set of books to keep at work - an idea, no?)

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Moving right along (and I just know I'm setting myself up for another 
fall, but I'm a masochist, I like it), in reading GoF yesterday I 
began to suspect someone else of being the Longbottoms' attacker.

I'd like to nominate this for the Humphrey Boggart *Riddikulus!* 
award for the theory least likely to be true without actually being 
impossible.  I'd also like to make it clear that I don't actually 
believe it, I tend to favour the 'Dark Aurors' theory myself, but I 
thought this might be good for a laugh...

You're Valdemort.  You've tried to AK baby Harry and found out that 
your body has gone.  Whoops.  In the Graveyard scene, LV talks about 
being bodiless, angles for a bit of sympathy, then says "Only one 
power remained to me.  I could possess the bodies of others.  But I 
dared not go where other humans were plentiful, for I knew that the 
Aurors were still abroad and searching for me."  (GoF ch33)  The very 
first time I read this, I thought 'more fool you, LV', because where 
do you hide a leaf?  In the forest.  If I wanted to be safe from 
Aurors, I'd be hiding in their back pocket.

Voldemort isn't an idiot.  That's been established to my 
satisfaction, so I'm going to take that as a given.  So maybe, just 
maybe, Voldemort had the same thought I did.  Maybe the lines I 
quoted above were a lie with a grain of truth. (An interesting thing 
to note is that Brittish use of the word 'abroad' seems to mean 
'outside of Britain' in a very concrete way.  If Aurors were 
searching for you 'abroad', then the safest place would be 'not 
abroad' ie, Britain.) Let's suppose that Voldemort can possess 
people's bodies, but that he's lying to Harry when he says he dared 
not hang around people.

You're Valdemort, what kind of a plan does this suggest to you?  I'd 
want to possess an Auror.  You're not likely to be suspected, and you 
get to keep a very close eye on how the Aurors' search for you is 
going.  You'd want to pick an individual who is trustworthy, well 
liked, a good wizard, popular...Frank Longbottom?

But there's a problem with this plan.  FL is an Auror, his mind/body 
is too well protected.  Maybe there's an episode where LV tries to 
possess Frank, but fails.  Curses, foiled again.  Do evil overlords 
give up so easily?  I think not.  Possessing an Auror isn't going to 
work.  But you still want to be somewhere where you can watch them, 
where they won't suspect you, maybe even somewhere they'll go out of 
their way to protect you...

...Voldemort posesses baby Neville.

There's no way to guess how long this goes on for, my guess is it 
would be a bit like The Omen.  Perhaps, gradually, horrible 
suspicions dawn on the Longbottoms.  Maybe Mrs Longbottom refuses to 
believe it, she explains away the dark detectors by saying that 
they're broken, even though they behave normally away from Neville.  
No matter what happens, she will refuse to believe that there's 
anything wrong with him, he's just a child!  But Frank is an Auror.  
He can recognise dark magic, he doesn't want to believe it, but there 
is too much evidence to explain away.

This is where I think this theory does something that none of the 
others do.  It explains how the rumor gets around that Frank 
Longbottom knows where Voldemort is.

Still, it isn't easy for him.  He's not just going to walk in the 
front door and AK his only son.  He needs a plan, he needs to talk to 
his colleagues, but he's frightened.  What kind of a parent lets his 
son get possessed in the first place?  What if the others *do* want 
to go and AK little Neville?  What if, dear God, what if he's wrong!  
Frank wants to face up, but he's too scared.  He tries on several 
occasions, but his nerve fails him.  He needs more time.

Frank makes up his mind.  Right or wrong, there's more at stake than 
just his family.  He goes to his study to talk to someone through the 
fire, maybe Moody.  He 'fesses up.  'Voldemort's got my son,' he 
sobbs, 'what can I do?'  Moody(?) says the only thing you can say: 
Wait there, I'll get the guys, we're coming over.

But lurking outside Daddy's door is Voldemort!Neville.  His cover has 
been blown, he has to act fast.  He's stolen Mum's wand again, and he 
slaps the Crucio on Dad.  Mum hears the screams, she comes running.  
Same medicine for her.  Voldemort now has a real problem.  He has to 
think fast, the Aurors will be there any minute.  He doesn't want the 
general public to know that he can squat in their bodies, it might 
cramp his style later on.  Killing the Longbottoms would be nice, but 
it would draw too much attention to his cover identity, particularly 
considering the last little boy who survived the double-murder of his 
parents.  No, Valdemort is trying to lie-low, he won't kill them, 
he'll just memory-charm their brains out of existance.

There's a knock on the door.

This is where you can take your pick of the other theories to insert 
at this point.

1) The Aurors turn up.  The Longbottoms are drooling, baby Neville is 
crying, and Voldemort is nowhere to be seen.  They work out that he's 
fled, they round up The Usual Suspects, they slap the memory charm on 
Neville so that he doesn't have to remember the terrible things he 
did to his own parents.

2) The Lestrange party turns up.  They really were looking for their 
master.  Voldemort tells them to take the wrap and cover up for him, 
then, having successfully changed the focus of the Auror's search 
from 'abroad' to 'home', he then takes off for abroad.  That's the 
kind of thing he does.  This gives another explanation for why Mrs 
Lestrange is positively glowing at their trial.  "We alone tried to 
find him!" she shouts, but she doesn't add that they *did* find him, 
and help him escape and that's why she's so sure that LV's coming 
back, and that they will be rewarded.  Also, in this version, Barty 
jnr was telling the truth when he says he didn't do it.  So, maybe 
the Lestrange party memory charmed Neville to protect their master.

Does it end there?  Not quite.

Neville gets older.  But having shared his body with the Dark Lord 
has given him power.  (Why didn't LV possess a death eater?  Only 
because it's the worst possible hiding place).  Neville is a good 
boy, he doesn't like his dark powers, that's why he tries to suppress 
them. (If I were Trevor, I'm not sure I'd be keen to hang around 
Neville either)

Maybe Gran knows the whole story.  Maybe she's trying to bully the 
dark magic out of him.  Maybe she just can't forgive him for what 
Voldemort!Neville did.

And one other thing.  There are two people who know how criminals 
work.  The detectives, and the criminals.  As a former DE, the 
sensuous and succulent Severus Snape also recognises the taint of the 
Dark Lord on Neville, and that's why he makes his life so dificult.

So, that's the whole haddock.  Give the head & tail to Mrs Norris, 
the rest you can use as bait.

(waiting to be deafened by canons)
Cathubodva.