Memory Charms (was: Is there anything that bothers you....)

[Laura]

No: HPFGUIDX 56747

Melanie Ellis wrote:
> > >
I see the standard Memory Charm as being nothing more than a 
gentle "nudge" on the charmee's brain, something that shouldn't hurt 
*anybody*, muggle or wizard. The two instances we have of Memory 
Charms actually causing harm were outside the norm:

Crouch Sr. on Bertha Jorkins: I see him casting his Memory charm on 
her in a bit of a panic - he's worked so hard to keep this secret, 
then he walks in the door one day and finds all his hard work coming 
crumbling down. He doesn't take the time to concentrate and make sure 
he was only charming out the last few minutes of her life, he just 
slams her with all he's got and ends up harming her in the process.
> > >

Me (Laura):
I agree to a point.  You're most likely on to something- no doubt 
Crouch was panicking.  However, Bertha is harmed two times.  Firstly, 
Crouch's memory charm is said to have permenantly damaged her 
memory.  Secondly, LV's breaking of the memory charm further harms 
her.

"She told me many things. . . but the means I used to break the 
Memory Charm upon her were powerful, and when I had extracted all 
useful information from her, her mind and body were both damaged 
beyond repair.  She had now served her purpose.  I could not possess 
her.  I disposed of her." GoF, Ch.33: The Death Eaters, p. 655, US 
paperback

Now, aside from being a very creepy passage that gives us a glimpse 
at how twisted LV is, this also tells us a bit about memory charms.  
The means to break the charm were powerful, from this I assume that 
the memory charm was also powerful.  Crouch Jr also says (Ch. 35: 
Veritaserum, p.685) "She [Bertha] confronted him.  He put a very 
powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found 
out.  Too powerful.  He said it damaged her memory permanently."

He may have panicked.  Or it may well have been intentional.  I 
believe you can put different amounts of magic into spells.  For 
example, Hermione's "Alohomora" spell works on the locked door on the 
3rd floor, but not in the obstacles leading to the Stone.  This may 
imply that one door was locked magically, and one door was locked a 
lot more magically.  =)  Point being, you can put a simple memory 
charm on someone or a powerful one.  A Muggle who notices a wizard 
with odd money can be given a simple charm to forget this even 
happened.  But in the case of the Crouches, Crouch Sr. wanted to make 
damn sure no one found out what Bertha had, so he hit her with an 
extra hard charm.

Of course, this was no match for LV, who was only able to break 
through the charm with "powerful" means.  So although Crouch was 
unable to keep his secret, he tried hard and at least made it 
difficult for someone else to break through.


> > >
Prof. Lockhart on the way to the Chamber: I think the reason that the 
Memory Charm did him so much harm is because it basically "blew up" 
in his face because of Ron's broken wand. It wasn't a simple matter 
of it rebounding at the same strength that it left him (like 
ricocheting off a mirror), it actually got mangled and magnified by 
coming out of the broken wand. He was also in an excitable state, so 
he may also have put more force into it than was necessary just like 
Crouch Sr. did.
> > >

Again I beg to differ- CoS, US paperback, Ch. 16: The Chamber of 
Secrets, p. 303

< < <
"The adventure ends here, boys!" he [Lockhart] said.  "I shall take a 
bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to 
save the girl, and that you two *tragically* lost your minds at the 
sight of her mangled body- say good-bye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's Spellotpaed wand high over his head and 
yelled, "Obliviate!"
< < <

He intends to tell everyone that Harry and Ron "lost their minds."  
He can't really just make them forget the last hour, because they're 
still in the Chamber and it would lead to some awkward questions, 
like, "How did I get here?"  The only way to effectively rid the boys 
of this memory would be to do it when they get back to the school- 
which would be impractical, since now is the only chance he might 
have (being wandless).  He inteds to make them "lose their minds."  
Not necessarily just forget the last hour, but to forget everything.  
IMO, Ron's wand only commits 2 errors: backfiring at Lockhart instead 
(as we'd already seen in CoS with the slug scene) and secondly, 
exploding. =)

The wand exploded because the spell was too powerful for the broken 
wand to handle.  However I think it did get the inent across- 
Lockhart lost his mind- *all* his memory.

We have an example in GoF of Harry being an direct witness to a 
memory "modification" instead of an all-out memory oblitteration.  
(Ch.7: Bagman and Crouch, p. 77)

< < <
At that moment, a wizard in plus-fours appeared out of thin air next 
to Mr. Roberts's front door.

"Obliviate!" he said sharply, pointing his wand at Mr. Roberts.

Instantly, Mr. Roberts's eyes slid out of focus, his brows unknitted, 
and a look of dreamy unconcern fell over his face.  Harry recognized 
the symptoms of one who had just had his memory modified.
< < <

Mr. Roberts afterwards handed the Weasley's their map and change.  He 
didn't say, "uh, where am I?"  He obviously knew where he was and 
went on with his job as he knew how to do.  He didn't forget his 
whole life- just the last 5 minutes.

So from these quotes, I am concluding 2 things- 1) That there are 
levels of power that one can put into Memory Charms and 2)That there 
are 2 kinds of Memory Charms- those that can make someone forget a 
few hours time or a specific event or thing, and those that can 
totally wipe out a person's memory completely.


-Laura

Slightly OT, I always found it interesting that once he'd forgotten 
that he was supposedly this big, famous and handsome wizard, Lockhart 
turned out to actually be a modest, humble, decent guy. (IMHO)  He 
says something along the lines of "I suspect I was horrible!" when he 
is informed that he's actually a teacher.  Apparently he was a nice 
guy underneath it all who was just horribly corrupted by fame 
inflating his big head.  JKR really was thorough on that lesson. =)  
Anyone else suspect that we haven't seen the last of Lockhart?  I 
can't remember any characters that have just disappeared that we 
haven't seen back again or are expecting back...