Mimbulus Mimbletonia (was Neville's Wand)

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 79022

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "James Redmont" 
<jamesredmont at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, yellows at a... wrote:
<snip> 
> > There's *clearly* something more going on with Neville, that's 
> > accepted. But Gran and his uncle are likely part of his mystery, 
> > too. The bubblegum wrapper makes me really wonder. There has to
> > be a  reason Neville's mom handed it to him -- when I get my 
> > copy of OoP back, I'm going to check it out.  :) I wish I had it
> > with me now. 
> >  
> > What could bubblegum symbolize? Hasn't she given him a lot of
> > them already? Do the wrappers say anything on them? Have we
> > ever heard of bubblegum wrappers before in the series? Could
> > bubblegum be a device to save the world from LV?  ;)

So I says to myself (Richard):

What's wrong with a simply theory like this?  The wrappers are all 
she has to give to her son, so out of love for him (and an addled 
brain), she gives these to him.  He keeps them because he they are 
emblematic of the love she still feels for him, but also because they 
are all he expects to ever have from her that can remind him of that 
love.  They in a sense embody her love to him.  He need not 
consciously think such, but it would be sufficient reason for a 
loving child who misses the love he would have known to cherish the 
symbols of that love.

James Redmont wrote:

> I just read through the whole hospital part, and when they get in 
> the queue to find out where Mr. Weasley's room is, (p. 486 U.S. 
> version)...well let me quote:
> 
> A very old, stooped wizard with a hearing trumpet had shuffled to 
> the front of the queue now.
> "I'm here to see Broderick Bode!" he wheezed.
> "Ward forty-nine, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time," said
> the witch dismissively.  "He's completely addled, you know, still 
> thinks he's a teapot....Next!"
> 
> Could this be Great Uncle Algie, delivering the devil's snare??

Which made me (Richard) think:

It COULD be, but we have no reason to think it is except that we know 
Great Uncle Algie to be old, and this gentleman is here at roughly 
the time Neville and his Gran are.  But, there are problems.

First, Uncle Algie would know there is a fair chance of running into 
Gran and Neville at St. Mungo's.  If he did, and he was walking in 
with a Devil's Snare, suspicions might be raised.

Second, were he to be seen and recognized by other than Neville and 
Gran, people might wonder why he had not visited his niece/nephew 
(whichever is his closer relation) with Neville, and if he DID visit 
with Neville, he would likely be remembered as having done so, again 
increasing the risk of being recognized, remembered and caught.

Third, if he has been here to visit his niece or nephew, he might be 
recognizable to at least some of the staff, who might then remember 
him as having delivered the murder weapon.  The minimal staffing of a 
holiday may reduce the risk of this, but it doesn't eliminate it.

Fourth, a great-uncle is of a generation with one's grandparents.  
Given the longevity of those in the WW, and the formidable manner and 
mien of Neville's Gran, it doesn't seem likely that Algie would be so 
stooped and shuffling ... unless disguised, of course.

Fifth, Algie tossed Neville out of a window, which doesn't sound like 
something a stooped and shuffling man would be able to do.  If he had 
used magic to do the tossing, I would have expected Neville to SAY in 
some manner that magic was used.

Not all of these are particularly GOOD arguments, but I'm sure that 
there are others I missed, as well as better ways of stating these, 
and they still lead me to think that it wasn't Algie at all.