Still-Life With Memory Charm

[talondg]

No: HPFGUIDX 36805

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ssk7882" <skelkins at a...> wrote:

Very, very well done. Bravo!

[snip]

> I think Neville's got one, myself.

And I agree with you. Neville's abnormal forgetfullness is hammered 
home just a little too often for there NOT to be some reason for 
drawing attention to it. And JKR does not strike me as the type who 
would fall back to a "muggle" reason for it, like a psychological one.

If Neville's forgetfulness is a plot device, not a character detail, 
then it is almost certainly magical in nature.

[snip]

 > So why *would* Neville have been given a memory charm, anyway?

Ahhh... the $20k question....

[snip]

> Elirtai mused:
> 
> > The reasons why he got the charm aren't that clear to me - the 
> > most obvious reason would be to help him get over the trauma of 
> > the DE attack on his parents. . . . . 

Except that this doesn't jibe with the Wizarding World's attitude to 
life in general. They're very elemental, these wizards. No touchy-
feely therepy for them! Either suck it up and deal with it, or get on 
with the business of going mad....

That's not to say Neville wouldn't have been comforted, that people 
wouldn't have tried to take care of him, that he wouldn't have 
recieved sympathy and empathy. Wizards may be harsh, but they're not 
_cruel_. But hiding the trauma from Neville for his own psychic 
health doesn't seem in character.

*Especially* if there are known detrimental side-effects to the 
Memory Charm....


> And wizards do seem to be, on the whole, a terribly delicate breed, 
> don't you think? 

Hmm.. I dunno.

I think that they're subjected to very much greater levels of stress 
and pain than most muggles. The Wizarding life is a very intense one. 
They do nothing by half-measures.

Azkaban in particular strikes me as being the most horrible place 
imaginable. It would be like slipping into the most brutal, black 
depression that any person is capable of, and then _staying there_ 
with no relief _at all_, ever.

It's not that they go mad, but rather, that some actually manage to 
avoid it somehow.

[snip]

> But what if the memory charm weren't placed on Neville purely for 
> his  *psychological* benefit?  Anna suggested that it might have 
> been some kind of wizarding witness protection scheme:

Which witness?

What if Snape were involved? He could have been there, involved, 
undercover, and perhaps his testimony is what sent the torturers to 
Azkaban.

Could Neville's memory charm be there to prevent him from 
inadvertantly blowing Snape's cover?

[snip]

> Neville sometimes gives the impression of being simply incapable of 
> performing magically.  Far more often, though, his blunders in 
> canon are portrayed as powerful but unfocussed, rather than as weak 
> and ineffective. 

I agree. Neville's problem seems not to be power, but rather control.

That's not suprising. The core of controlling magic appears to be 
words, technique, and concentration - and Neville's memory is 
damaged. Not so far gone as the protagonist in "Memento" perhaps, but 
he'd suffer from similar issues. It must be very difficult for 
Neville to learn anything.

> Kitty suggested that Snape might be deliberately trying to break 
> through Neville's memory charm by antagonizing and frightening him 
> in Potions Class.

And I don't think that is what is going on. I think Snape just 
doesn't suffer incompetance very well.

Face it - as nice as he is, Neville is disruptive. He's _dangerous_. 
Teaching a class with Neville in it has to be very frustrating.

DG