Gum Wrappers--Return of the Good SHIP SILK GOWNS

[Peggy]

No: HPFGUIDX 112797

Big Snip
> Terpnurse now:
> I remember this came up a month or so ago and I had a forehead-
slapping 
> moment. Someone, I believe it was Kneasy, mentioned that if not the 
> wrapper itself, perhaps it's a message contained in the gum. We 
know 
> that Droobles Bubble Gum produces bubbles (globes, spheres) that 
last 
> for days. Maybe Alice is trying to get something across to Neville 
> along those lines. Kneasy was thinking along the lines of the 
Prophecy 
> Globe, but I wondered if it wasn't something 'closer to home' as it 
> were.
>(snip) 
> Alice has spent well over a decade in St. Mungo's. What spell? 
> Or a low-level noxious charm that keeps their long term patients 
from 
> recovering? Any other ideas?

Now Peg:

Ahoy and Avast!  OK, TBAY seems to be neglected, or at least much 
emptier, since OOTP was published.  But I was one of the crew who 
signed up on the good SHIP S.I.L.K. G.O.W.N.S.  There were a whole 
series of post about this good ship, and I don't know how many more 
crew are still on board.

A summary:
The planks that make up the good SHIP are that Mr. and Mrs. 
Longbottom are being kept in a mental state of some kind.  Lucius 
Malfoy is suspected of being the moving force behind their condition, 
whether it's to keep them from informing on other DE's or for some 
other reason is unknown.  The Longbottoms may, in fact, be getting 
the potion in the gum.  It does seem odd that bubblegum would be 
given to mentally ill patients, and if it were really Drooble's, 
we've been told in GoF that it produces bluebell-colored bubbles that 
refuse to pop for days.  So, where are all the bluebell-colored 
bubbles?  I think the bubble lights are a hint--they're described as 
being clear most of the time, but red or green at Christmas.  No 
bluebell, though.  Hmmm.

The crew of the SILK GOWNS tried to decode the name of the gum, but 
didn't generate much of anything except a lot of index cards . . .

If you want the whole theory, I'd suggest searching on SILK GOWNS--it 
will fill you in much better than this summary.  And writing this up 
has reminded me that I saw a potion mentioned in OOtP that may be 
tied up in this.  It's toward the beginning, and seems to be a "throw 
away" line, as most of JKR's clues are.

'Scuse me--I'm off to start checking this out.

Peg--deckhand on the SILK GOWNS  Cap'n Jennie, where are you?