TBAY: The Night The Jabberknoll Screamed

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 39020

[Sorry for the double post. The first lacked the proper references.]


Debbie quoted Cindy and Barb:

>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. 
> 

And then said:

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. 


Naama:

I should say that not only is it probable that there was a search 
after Voldemort, but that it is highly IMprobable that there wasn't. 
Think of Osama Bin Laden. His organisation is destroyed (one would 
hope), as is the regime that hosted and enabled his activities. 
Nonetheless, the search continues and will continue for decades, if 
necessary. Besides the desire for revenge/justice, it is fairly 
obvious that with his money, connections and fanaticism he is still a 
very dangerous threat. Why wouldn't the WW be just as capable of this 
simple thought process? Of course they would assign Aurors 
specifically for this task – find out whether Voldemort still exists, 
if does - find out where he is, find out how to get to him, find out 
how to destroy him. They must have done that. Dumbledore, for one, 
would never be so stupidly complacent as not to insist on such a 
search. 

Moreover, since the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. seem to be intelligent, 
high ranking DEs, they wouldn't take that desperate one shot at 
finding Volemort in a random, haphazard way. They wouldn't have 
picked any Auror. They would take an Auror that they *know* is on the 
Voldemort finding task force. (Crouch Jr. could easily find who those 
Aurors are through his father and his connections.) 

In fact, using the same argument, I'd say that they wouldn't have 
attacked Frank unless they thought he actually knew something. Why 
would they? They had waited quietly for several years, why expose 
themselves at that specific time, unless they had reason to believe 
that Frank had come up with some crucial piece of information. It 
doesn't make sense that these clever people (clever enough to "talk 
themselves out of Azkaban") would attack if they weren't reasonably 
sure that Frank actually had the information they needed. It's not as 
though they were engaged in some sweeping Auror torturing project. It 
was a focused, targeted operation, taken at great risk to themselves. 
An action taken on a specific person, at a specific time, and, taking 
into account their intelligence and ability to wait, it is highly 
unlikely that either person or time were selected at random. 


All this, of course, doesn't prove that Frank was in possession of 
crucial information. The rumour they had heard may simply have been 
wrong. But <Cindy> how unBangy is that?! To have all this torturing 
and suffering, hints and drama – and no important secret to be 
finally revealed? That would be flat indeed.

The only real problem with assuming that Frank did in fact have 
important information, is the going crazy part. Would he really hold 
on to the secret to the point of going insane under torture? I 
hypothesized (sounds better than "wildly speculated", doesn't it? 
<g>) the Lunatic charm which, a little like the Fidelius charm, hides 
a secret inside a person, so that the moment the person is willing to 
divulge the secret, s/he goes insane. Elkins flew a Yellow Flag over 
that one, I believe. But, still, isn't it a bit strange that with all 
the Cruciatus curses we've encountered, we've never had any 
indication that Cruciatus causes insanity? As far as I remember, when 
Harry is hit with a Cruciatus, the description of what he felt 
doesn't include "Harry thought that if this continues one second 
longer, he would go mad", or something like it (right? I don't have 
the books here). If I'm correct, then it's fair to assume that 
something else (or in addition) caused the Longbottom's insanity. 

Besides all of which, Frank had to know something, so that Neville 
could know something, so that he can be under a Memory Charm, so that 
he could eventually reveal that secret, and help save the world!! 

What could be more Bangy than that, huh? <crashes fist on desk> 


Naama 
<nursing sprained thumb>