Are the gum wrappers a puzzle?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 87294

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "corinthum" <kkearney at s...> wrote:
> Chiara wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> > And then suddenly, the puzzle is complete and there lies the 
> solution to the
> > Longbottoms madness.
> 
> Just a quick comment regarding the message-in-the-gum-wrappers 
> theories.  I don't follow most of these threads, but I'm curious as 
> to why most people think the message being sent would be regarding 
> the Longbottoms themselves.
> 
> I think it much more likely that the Longbottoms really are insane, 
> due to the torture.  However, perhaps they learned something just 
> prior to or during that unpleasant experience.  Wouldn't it be much 
> more interesting and heroic if they were trying to send this vital 
> information to those who could use it?  Much more heroic, in my 
> opinion.
> 
> Just an incomplete thought; perhaps I'll think more and expand on it 
> later.
> 
> -Corinth


Carol:
I like that thought and I do think that Neville's mother is trying to
communicate with him in some way related to the past, not the present.
(His father appears to be too far gone to reach out to him in any
way.) We need to remember that these people were hit with prolonged
and probably multiple Cruciatus curses from four powerful wizards at
once. You can get up and go on after being Crucio'd once by one
wizard, as Harry was, but the Longbottoms were tortured to the point
that their only refuge was insanity. If a botched or overly strong
memory curse can permanently ruin Bertha Jorkins' brain (or give
Gilderoy Lockhart amnesia to the extent that he has to learn "linked
up writing" again like an eight-year-old), think what multiple
Cruciatus curses could do. I don't see any hope for the Longbottoms'
full recovery, but it would be very touching if Neville's mother could
recognize her son and speak his name.

Carol, who has no idea what the gum wrappers mean but is glad Neville
doesn't throw them away