The Longbottoms (was: Re: OoP Book covers)

[grace701]

No: HPFGUIDX 54223

jenny_ravenclaw wrote:
><snip>
>>We know that Neville's parents are in St. Mungo's now and that 
>>when Neville goes to visit them, they don't recognize him.  What 
>>if there's more to it than that?  If many of us believe that Fudge 
>>would have Harry deemed insane, maybe he (or a previous Minister 
>>of Magic) sent the Longbottoms away as well.  Maybe they know 
>>something that someone with a lot of power in the WW doesn't want 
>>to be known.  We've seen characters in the Potterverse under all 
>>sorts of spells; perhaps the Longbottoms are not really insane but 
>>under the Imperius. 

> Annemehr:
> Oh, good -- let's play with this!
> Earlier I had proposed a theory that involves Lucius Malfoy.
> A recap:
> The Longbottoms were sent to St. Mungo's after being tortured 
> because they truly needed it.  However, although they could have 
> eventually recovered, Lucius Malfoy is bribing someone there to 
> keep them alive but incapacitated (for reasons unknown).  The 
> large contribution to St. Mungo's that Fudge mentions at the Q 
> World Cup is such a bribe (after all, we know that Lucius 
> doesn't actually care about poor ill wizards, now, don't we?).  
> There is a quote in the Rita Skeeter article (in which she 
> suggests Harry is unbalanced) that could come from a wizard in 
> league with Malfoy and up to no good.
> 
> Now let's mix Jenny's theory and mine together.  What if Fudge 
> *is* the one holding the Longbottoms in St. Mungo's in an 
> artificially maintained stupor?  Maybe he's actually blackmailing 
> Lucius Malfoy because Malfoy actually had something to do with 
> their torture and wasn't caught, or maybe Fudge has an agent at 
> St. Mungo's who overheard the Longbottoms, in their distress, 
> raving about something incriminating they knew about Malfoy.  
> Fudge checked it out, realized it was true, and has been accepting 
> bribes through his St. Mungo's agent ever since, and thus needs to 
> keep the L's alive but helpless.  
> Fudge is still somewhat afraid of the formidable Lucius Malfoy, 
> however, and tries to mollify him somewhat by getting him prime 
> tickets to sporting events and otherwise letting Malfoy exert his 
> influence in the MoM.

> We also know, from the few lines of OoP that have been released, 
> Dumbledore will share something important with Harry; something 
> that(I'm guessing) Harry needs and deserves to know.  Perhaps the 
> Longbottoms were more connected to Harry's parents than we  
> thought,  and Harry takes it upon himself (as we know he likes to 
> do) to get them out of St. Mungo's.
> > 
> 
> Annemehr:
> Yeah.  The Longbottoms could be very important in the fight 
> against 
> Voldemort, and here's idiot Fudge keeping them locked away for the 
> sake of some money and a battle of wills with Lucius Malfoy!  And 
> Harry goes to get them out -- I hope he does it *with* Neville, 
> though.  I've been hoping for more of Neville through three books 
> now...
> 
> 
> > Or maybe the recent political events here in the US are just 
making 
> me 
> > think more about conspiracies...
> 
> Huh?


I LOVE YOUR THEORIES!!!! I always had a feeling the Longbottoms know 
something they shouldn't know and that someone is keeping them in 
St. Mungo's because they know something.  Though I'd like to think 
that the Longbottoms know something about BOTH Fudge and Malfoy.


Greicy, who also thinks Harry on OoP doesn't look like Daniel 
Radcliffe and who is willing to buy an OoP shirt if Scholastic ever 
replies to Annemehr