TBAY: The Night The Jabberknoll Screamed

[elfundeb at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 38981

After a long and exhausting weekend at the Memory Charm Symposium, Debbie is 
back at work, her Featherboa, somewhat worse for the wear, draped over the 
back of her chair, her newly acquired paddle hanging on the wall, the 
hangover gone, and her outburst at the third session banished from memory.  
Her colleagues inquire as to the nature of the symposium ("Er, it was about 
Depreciation theories.") and fortified with coffee, Debbie peruses the latest 
mail and takes up her quill to jot down her thoughts in the margins, as Cindy 
has yet another new theory:

> And the key to it all is the Jabberknoll.  According to Fantastic 
> Beasts and Where To Find Them, p. 23. "Jobberknoll: "The Jobberknoll 
> (northern Europe and America) is a tiny blue, speckled bird which 
> eats small insects. It makes no sound until the moment of its death, 
> at which point it lets out a long scream made up of every sound it 
> has ever heard, regurgitated backwards. Jobberknoll 
> feathers are used in Truth Serums and Memory Potions."
> 
Is it necessarily correct to assume that a Memory Potion is a memory 
enhancer?  A Memory Charm is a memory eliminator.  I think a good case can be 
made, based on the description of the Jabberknoll that its feathers are used 
for potions that hide memories and release them.  After all, that's what 
happens to the Jabberknoll.  It makes no sound, so it hides its memories 
within, then at death releases its memories, quite incoherently.  In fact, 
that seems to be what the name means, as jabber is a synonym for talking 
incoherently and knoll is a synonym for knell, as in death knell.  But either 
interpretation is reasonable.  So I proceed to the story.

> With that canon on the table and our FEATHERBOAs in our laps, here's 
> what I think happened the night the Longbottoms were tortured.  [snip]
> The Pensieve Four (the Lestranges, Crouch Jr. and Fourth Man) show 
> up and barge their way into the Longbottom home.  Why don't the 
> Longbottoms flee?  Who knows.  Maybe they were asleep and the 
> Pensieve Four sneaked up on them.  Maybe they were friendly with one 
> of the Pensieve Four (Fourth Man or Crouch Jr.).  Take your pick.
> 
> Now personally, I like to think that Crouch Jr., being young and 
> impressionable, is the key to how the Pensieve Four got the drop on 
> the Longbottoms.  Sirius tells us that Crouch Jr. "was caught with a 
> group of Death Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of 
> Azkaban."  This suggests that the other three had been sent to Azkaban, but 
> Crouch Jr. had not.  He was a neophyte to being an Evil 
> DE.  Or he was totally innocent and had no idea *why* Mrs. Lestrange 
> was so interested in finding the Longbottom home, but he agreed to 
> help out.  
> 
I think the Lestranges talked their way out of being sent to Azkaban in the 
first place, as Avery and countless others did by the Imperius defense.  (And 
this is the only interpretation if Avery is Fourth Man.  He would never have 
gotten a second chance out of Azkaban.)  I have to say, too, that I'm 
beginning to buy into the "Crouch was innocent" story, since canon implies 
that Crouch Jr. was only caught with the others.  For Crouch Sr., though, 
even if his son was merely associating with DEs, it would probably be enough 
for him to put Jr. away for life, because of the damage to his career.  

> If Crouch Jr. 
> socializes with the future Minister of Magic, it isn't such a 
> stretch to think that he also knows the Longbottoms.
> 
Well, I can definitely buy this.  My scenario is the same, except that it 
involves Fourth Man.  I rejected Barty Jr. only because I didn't think the 
professional/social relationship between the Crouches and Longbottoms would 
lead to social visits from the Crouch's 19 year old son; it would be simpler 
for Fourth Man to be a good family friend.  But Crouch works, since the 
Longbottoms undoubtedly know him.

> up, that's right.  We have ourselves yet another Ambush!  Crouch 
> Jr. set up Frank Longbottom!  Crouch Jr. shows up on the doorstep, 
> Frank recognizes him immediately as Crouch Sr.'s terrific boy and 
> swings the door open.  Oh yeah.  That's what we need – another 
> Ambush scenario!  Before the Longbottoms can apparate away or escape 
> or do anything else, they've all been captured.  
> 
> On this point, Elkins had objected:
> 
> "The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror -- Frank
> Longbottom -- and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse..."
> 
> Yup.  That's right.  "Capturing."
> 
> Now, you really don't call it "capturing" when somebody is assaulted 
> in his very own home, do you? 

I do think someone can be "captured" in their home.  My dictionary says 
capture means to gain control by force.  If they were caught elsewhere the 
correct word woul have been"abducted" because I doubt Frank was tortured 
right there on the street.
> 
> Mrs. Lestrange, who is probably the ringleader based on her Take-
> Charge Demeanor in the Pensieve, starts off with the Imperius 
> Curse.  Now, there's nothing in canon that says anyone used the 
> Imperius Curse on the Longbottoms.  But come now.  The logical way 
> to get the information out of the Longbottoms is with the Imperius 
> Curse.  It's fast, and it's a whole lot more quiet and easy on the 
> nerves than all that ear-splitting crying and screaming.  
> 
I agree here with James and Finwitch's objections to the idea that Imperius 
is a truth-telling device.  IMO someone can be forced to talk, i.e. words can 
be put in the victim's mouth, but I don't think you can point your wand at 
someone, say "Imperio" and "tell the truth!"  Crouch Jr. states, "I kept him 
alive, under the Imperius Curse.  I wanted to be able to question him. . . . 
I also needed his hair to make the Polyjuice Potion."  I read this sentence 
to mean that Crouch needed to keep Moody alive and that he used Imperius to 
control him and keep him from getting out of the trunk.  I don't think this 
statement means that Crouch used Imperius to force the truth out of Moody.  
Instead, I think Crouch used Ennervate when he wanted to talk to Moody, and 
perhaps Veritaserum (he had access to Snape's storeroom) to get truthful 
answers when he needed them. 

Naama also asked:

> Or, for that matter, why did Voldemort bother torturing Bertha? 
> Definitely an inconsistency in the story, I'd say. Imperius and the 
> Veritaserum, in my opinion, are very problematic in that sense (as is 
> the Time Turner). You can just solve so many things by just using 
> these things. E.g., if you want to know what happened at some point 
> in the past, why not use the Time Turner to get there? You could 
> arrive covered with an invisibility cloak, in order to avoid changing 
> the past. Why don't they use Veritaserum on every suspect DE? Etc.
> 
I've asked the Veritaserum question before.  The Time Turner is inefficient, 
I think, because you can't use it to jump back to a specific time in the past 
and jump back when you're done with it.  You have to turn the Time Turner 
over x thousand times to go back and then you have to re-live that entire 
time hiding so as not to be seen.  When do you eat?  Where do you sleep?  As 
for Imperius, I don't think it's a truth-telling device so much as an 
action-controlling device.  

> But the Imperius Curse doesn't work, does it?  That's because Frank 
> and his wife have *no idea* where Voldemort is.  
> 
> Barb Purdom raised a similar point:
> 
> >> The information that was being sought, as I understand it, was the 
>> whereabouts of Voldemort.  Inasmuch as the Longbottoms probably 
>> didn't possess this information (why did anyone think they did?  
>> were they on the scene at Godric's Hollow soon after he tried to 
>> kill Harry and failed?) they couldn't very well give up what they 
>> didn't know.  
> 
Why wouldn't Frank have the information?  I'm not sure why so many people 
assume the Longbottoms knew nothing about Voldemort's whereabouts.  
Dumbledore makes the following statement near the end of the Pensieve 
chapter:  "Bertha Jorkins has vanished without a trace in the place where 
Voldemort was certainly known to be last."  This indicates to me that there 
was ongoing activity after the fall of Voldemort to keep apprised of his 
whereabouts to prevent exactly the sort of Find and Revive expedition 
Lestrange & Co were planning.  Frank Longbottom could certainly have been 
part of that effort.  Maybe he had been away from home before the Crucio 
attack and everyone assumed he had been out investigating the whereabouts of 
Voldemort's spirit.  All three descriptions of the Pensieve Four's capture 
and trial (Sirius, Dumbledore and Crouch Sr.'s statements in the Pensieve) 
are consistent
with the notion that the objective was to find out Voldemort's whereabouts.
> 
> If popular Frank the Auror knew Voldemort's whereabouts, Frank would go 
> finish off Voldemort himself.  
> 
No, I don't think he *could* finish him off.  Isn't Voldemort immortal?  He's 
already lost his body, it's just his spirit wandering around.  Dumbledore 
states specifically at the end of PS/SS that "not being truly alive, he 
cannot be killed."  In fact, I thought the point of the rebirthing was that 
it was an anti-baptism in which Voldemort regained his mortality.  He'd lost 
his body at Godric's Hollow but he didn't lose his spirit because he had 
rendered himself essentially inhuman by his magical transformations.  So it 
would be pointless to go off and try to kill him, but very wise to keep track 
of his whereabouts as much as possible.  Unfortunately, after Fudge took over 
as MOM, the Ministry's efforts to keep track of Voldemort probably faded 
away.  But Dumbledore seems to have tried to keep up.
> 
> Anyway, Mrs. Lestrange . . . starts 
> hitting Frank with the Cruciatus Curse.  Again and again and again, 
> he swears that he doesn't know where Voldemort is, and each time he 
> says this, he gets another Cruciatus blast.  Mrs. Lestrange doesn't 
> believe a word Frank is saying, and the unspeakable torture just 
> goes on and on and on.  Finally, Frank collapses into a wreck of a 
> wizard who doesn't even move or make a sound when Mrs. Lestrange 
> hits him with the Cruciatus Curses.  Frank is Finished.
> 
> [snip] Desperate, she turns to Frank's wife (which is really a 
> long shot anyway because Frank's wife is almost certainly just 
> Frank's wife and not an Auror).  Mrs. Lestrange figures it is worth 
> a shot, on the off chance that Frank said something Important to his 
> wife.  After a long while, a very long while, Mrs. Longbottom 
> succumbs and collapses on the floor with Frank.  She, too, is 
> Finished.
> 
This scenario exactly follows Crouch Sr.'s description of the crime in the 
Pensieve.  Subject Frank to the curse, and when he doesn't talk, use it on 
his wife.  But isn't there something odd about it?  Why would they torture 
Mrs. Longbottom after Frank could no longer talk?  And why, even if they were 
gibbering wrecks, would the perps leave them alive?  They have no assurance 
that the Longbottoms' unfortunate states are permanent.  So this tells me one 
of two things:  either the MOM made up the charges against the Pensieve Four 
as best they could without enough evidence, or the scenario is missing a key 
fact, i.e. at the end of the Crucio segment, the Longbottoms were not insane 
and something else happened later to cause their insanity.  (A careful review 
of canon indicates that Dumbledore, our sole source of information on the 
Longbottoms' condition, does not actually state that their conditions wer the 
result of the Cruciatus Curse.)  That's one of the reasons I came up with 
those dark dark theories -- they attempt to explain why the Longbottoms were 
left there alive.  I think they're Bangy, too, especially the more extreme 
ones.  And if you combine the Memory Charmed Longbottoms with the MOM 
attempting to break through the charm in a desperate attempt to find and 
convict the attackers, you can account for the MOM identifying and finding 
the Pensieve Four.

OTOH, as Naama suggested, it could just be a FLINT, as they should have 
started with Neville if he was there.  Maybe JKR got the torture order wrong, 
just as with Priori Incantatem.
> 
> Before you know it, owls are arriving at MoM carrying panicked 
> messages about the Dark Mark over the Longbottom's house.  The 
> citizens are coming unhinged at the sight of the Dark Mark again.  
> Moody, the best of the Aurors, is dispatched to investigate.  But 
> guess who else shows up at the Longbottoms' house?  
> 
> Snape.  [snips the best part of the story, about the argument and the 
> Jobberknoll]

> nape makes the Memory Potion, which causes Neville to be able to 
> communicate exactly what happened.  But Snape was right about the 
> side effects – Neville`s memory and magical ability are in fact 
> compromised.  Neville's memory of the torture has been permanently 
> enhanced, and he hears the screams of his parents to this day.  
> 
I have to pay attention to any scenario that puts Snape and Moody at the 
Longbottoms together cleaning up the aftermath on the fateful day. I really 
love the story.  I do.  But I still don't think Neville is currently under a 
Reverse Memory Charm.  Cindy tried to persuade:

> The Egg's screeching sounds to Neville just like the death scream of 
> the Jobberknoll.  No wonder poor Neville likens it to the sound of 
> someone being tortured! The Jobberknoll death rattle is what Neville 
> is reacting to in that scene in GoF, not the actual cries of his 
> parents, which would be *plenty* comprehensible.  
> 
But wouldn't his association of the Jobberknoll death rattle with torture 
indicate that in fact he doesn't remember what Cruciatus actually sounds 
like?  So, if Neville heard the Cruciatus, the memory seems to have been 
erased.

And on the Dementor argument:

> Harry and Ginny react more than Neville to the dementor on the train 
> because they both survived near-death experiences at the hands of 
> Voldemort, whereas Neville merely witnessed an atrocity.  
> 
He "merely" witnessed an atrocity?  He hears his parents scream.  Harry hears 
his Mum scream.  They are different?  No, can't buy the idea that Neville is 
presently memory charmed.

But, but . . . maybe Snape is feeling guilty, and he knows what the Memory 
Potion has done to poor little toddler Neville.  So he does his own Memory 
Charm on Neville.  There you have it:  The Memory Potion Paddleboat meets 
Memory Charm Paddleboat, they lock together, back to back and pedal poor 
Neville into big loopy forgetful circles.

Cindy, you will not like this.  You will think it's not Bangy.  But it is.  
Every melted cauldron is a Bang.  Every time Snape takes it out on Neville 
because he is a constant reminder of the fact that Snape is not a Charms 
master -- the charm was too big, and Neville is lost in forgetfulness.  So 
maybe if Snape torments Neville a little bit more, he will coax him out of 
that charm.  Actually, you know, maybe that's not Bangy either.  Well, that's 
why I still like the Frank the Double Agent and Evil! Gran scenarios.  Nobody 
will ever claim they're not Bangy.

Debbie, still rather awed that Elkins liked her portfolio of Memory Charm 
theories so much



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