Longbottoms' Secret Keeper

[boyd_smythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 107436

> Meri now: The Longbottoms weren't attacked till well after the 
> Potters were killed. According to DD that was one of the reasons 
that 
> people were so angry about the attacks. LV had fallen at this point, 
> families were coming out of hiding, and people thought they were 
safe 
> for the first time in ten years. IMHO it would be easy for Crouch 
and 
> the LeStranges to find the Longbottoms at this point (WW yellow 
> pages, anyone?). I would also assume that they were protected by 
> Fidelius, but as to where they hid and who their secret keeper was 
we 
> can only speculate till you know who lets us know. 
> 
> Meri

OK, let's assume for a moment that JKR had decided the Longbottoms 
must be attacked, Crucio'd, driven insane. Since Harry was the one 
marked, not Neville, then the attack could only have taken place 
*after* the fall of Voldemort. So she also adds the whole pensieve 
trial scene and the background on Barty Jr and the couple we assume to 
be the Lestranges, all of which served to move the plot forward in no 
other way that I can think of.

So let's all mentally add up all the time she has spent on Neville/his 
parents/the trial of their attackers. OK, tallied up? Way too much 
time and material spent on this to be of no importance, right? And it 
feels like far too much peripheral detail to be simply a 
personalization of the effects of LV's evil.

So why is Neville and the attack on his parents important?

Some say that Neville has been memory-charmed, but once he recovers 
will be a valuable ally to Harry, perhaps even killing LV himself. OK, 
so then all of Neville's backstory is just to make the ending a bit 
more heartwarming? But Dumbledore has already told Harry that he's the 
one--and JKR has said in interviews that Dumbledore does not lie to 
Harry.

There've also been guesses that the Longbottoms were secretly DEs (or  
spies or turncoats). IMO there would have to be a big and bangy plot 
need for this to be true since we and Neville have been led to feel so 
sorry for them. And what big, bangy thing could possibly hinge on 
this? Even if the Longbottoms recover, the worst that could happen is 
that Neville has to kill them--and why would this be important? Also, 
if the audience for the books includes young readers, then this would 
be pretty borderline.

Maybe we're gearing up for Neville sacrificing himself for the good 
guys, and by sacrificing, I mean taking a bullet (or spell, as the 
case may be) intended for them. Why would he do this? To allow Harry 
or others to avenge his parents. Hopefully, he'll take out a couple of 
DEs first, like Barty Jr and Bellatrix. That at least ties things up a 
little.

But none of these feel like they justify the many pages Jo's spent 
developing this plot line. What else can it be?

--boyd