TBAY: MD with Lupin -- Neville with Invisibility

Sun Feb 9 00:04:17 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 51889

Melody and Cindy sat silently in Melody's bedroom in the Safehouse,
pondering the possibility that Neville might have been spared his
parents' torment only due to being obscured by Popular Auror Frank 
Longbottom's Invisibility Cloak.

"But," Melody said after a long silence, clutching the stuffed and 
toothless toy Coney that Pip had given her just the other day to help 
soothe her nightmares tightly to her chest.  "But if Neville's 
parents had a Cloak, then where is it? Surely Neville doesn't have 
it."

"No," agreed Cindy.  "Neville doesn't have it. And..."

"Oh, *doesn't* he?" a voice boomed.

Melody squealed and pulled her covers hard over her head.  Cindy 
leapt to her feet, Big Paddle at the ready.  She squinted 
suspiciously around the room.

"Who is that?" she demanded.  "Show yourself."

"Er, it's just me, I think," said the voice, now sounding a lot less 
boomish and rather more plaintive.  "Elkins.  I'm pretty sure I must 
be somewhere in the Safe House.  There's this room, and there are 
lots of dials and switches, and monitors showing things all *over* 
the Bay, and there are some speakers, and..."

"That would be the Comm Room," said Melody cheerfully, emerging
from under her blankets.

"You guys *really* need to do something about the security in
this place," Cindy told her.

"Hey, cool!"  Elkins' voice crackled slightly with static.  "It looks 
like a bunch of people are doing an experiment down in the laundry 
room.  They're trying to find out if the Magic Dishwasher will still 
get the canons every bit as shiny and bright if you use Wolfsbane 
Potion as your detergent, instead of belladonna."

"Does it?" asked Cindy, with some interest.

"Don't know yet.  So far it seems to be working okay, but if you ask 
me, it's a little bit redundant.  I mean, Snape's already been 
canonically established as Dumbledore's spy, hasn't he?  Still.  I 
guess he could be using Lupin as well.  Spymasters often *do* use 
their people that way, don't they?  Setting them at cross-purposes?  
That happens all the time in spy novels, at any rate.  So maybe it 
does make sense after all.  I'm withholding judgement until I see how 
the rinse cycle works out, myself."

"But what are you doing in the *Safe House,* Elkins?" asked Cindy, 
frowning.  "Since when do you go in for espionage theories?"

"Well, there is Fourth Man With Deep Undercover," Elkins pointed 
out.  "And I did name the Fourth Man theory the *Fourth Man* theory, 
didn't I?  Even though it's not really a spy theory.  But I didn't 
actually *mean* to come to the Safe House.  I was just doing a bit of 
clean-up around the Bay -- you know, trying to get some of the trash 
picked up -- and before I knew it--"

"Ah."  Cindy nodded grimly.  "Say no more."

"Pip never told me anything about a Portkey to the *Comm Room,*" 
objected Melody indignantly.  "I can't even imagine what the purpose 
of setting one of those up would be!  It would totally compromise us!"

"A very plausible-sounding denial," said Elkins approvingly.  "Like I 
said.  Spymasters *don't* always keep all of their people informed 
about every last one of their plans.  But I'm rather hoping that it 
was just a terrible sloppy oversight, myself.  I always like it much 
better when it turns out that people screwed up big time than I do 
when it turns out that they were actually being very clever and 
getting things right all along -- which is part of the reason that I 
don't come around here all that often, actually.  Nothing personal, 
you understand.  Nothing to do with plausibility.  Just my own 
subjective preference.  Certain types of competence just really get 
on my nerves, is all.  But listen.  About that Invisibility Cloak 
that Neville's not been telling anyone that he's got?"

"He doesn't have one," said Cindy decisively.  "Don't make me throw a 
Yellow Flag your way, Elkins.  Especially since I don't even know 
where you *are.*  We've never seen any indication in the canon that 
Neville has an Invisibility Cloak!"

"Oh, haven't we?  Doesn't Neville seem to disappear a lot?  Where 
does he go on the train at the beginning of Goblet of Fire, for 
example?"

"What?"

"Well, he's standing right there, talking to Ron.  Ron has just 
tipped the Krum figurine into his hand.  And then Malfoy and his 
cronies show up...and he *vanishes!*"

"What do you mean, he vanishes?  Elkins, that doesn't make any sense!"

"One minute he's there, the next he's not.  Read the scene. You'll 
see what I mean."

Cindy frowned, then picked Melody's copy of _Goblet of Fire_ up off 
of the bed.  She flipped a few pages, then read:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh wow," said Neville enviously as Ron tipped Krum onto his
pudgy hand.

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Right," said Elkins.  "So then where does he go?"

"Well, he..."  Cindy flipped through pages, frowning.  "He...By Jove, 
you know you're *right?*  He *does* disappear!"

"Let me see that," said Melody.  She took the book from Cindy and 
squinted at it.  "Oh!" she exclaimed, after a few moments.  "There he 
is again."

------------------------------------------------------------

A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the 
station. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville climbed gratefully into 
one of them, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, 
with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling 
and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"So you see?" she demanded triumphantly.  "He *was* there.  He was 
there all along."

"Just invisible," said Elkins drily.  "Happens to him all the way 
through the novel, actually.  First he's not there, and then, all of 
a sudden, he's there.  He appears as if by magic!  He's not part of 
the conversation about the Triwizard Tournament...until suddenly he 
*is,* so that he can talk 'gloomily' about his Gran wanting him to 
bring glory to his family name and walk right into that trick step.  
Harry, Ron and Hermione leave DADA class, and somehow Neville's got 
out into the corridor *ahead* of them.  The kid's just plain creepy 
that way, if you ask me.  One minute he's there, the next minute he's 
not."

"So you think that he actually *did* inherit his father's 
Invisibility Cloak?" asked Melody.

"Well...maybe," said Elkins.  "Maybe.  We do know that he's prone to 
keeping secrets about his parents, after all.  That's established.
He also really freaked out when the Gryffindor common room got tossed
in CoS, didn't he?  His reaction makes a lot of sense if you assume
that he had something worth stealing.  Something he'd been keeping
secret?  And what do we make of Harry in the Egg and the Eye, getting
trapped in the trick step just like Neville always does -- and *in 
his Invisibility Cloak?*"

"Another one of your parallelisms, Elkins?" asked Melody.

"You aren't really suggesting that Neville's been carting around a 
secret Invisibiility Cloak for the past three years," asked 
Cindy.  "Are you?"

"It's always possible," Elkins voice said.  "But really, I suspect 
that what Neville's got is something even *more* magical.  Something 
even *weirder.*  Something that neither Harry, Ron nor Hermione
will *ever* have!  *Ever.*"

"Super reality phase-shifting powers?" asked Cindy, her eyes wide.

"Time-travel?" asked Melody.

"No.  I mean authorial disinterest.  Narrative invisibility."

*************

Elkins

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