Why I think Lockhart will get out of St Mungo

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 145526

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jelly92784" <jelly92784 at y...>
wrote:
>
> Corey said:
> 2 The curse that he got hit with was not a extremely bad curse so
> while it did cause distress and damage it should not keep him in
> St.Mungo for the rest of his life.
> 
> Gerry said: 
> Actually it was an extremely bad curse. His memory charms were
> good enough to take credit from lots of people and write books
> about their heroic deeds passing them off as his own. His memory 
> charms had to be permanent for that, ... life, only this time he
> hit the wrong person. 
> 
> Janelle:
> Keep in mind that the reason Lockhart got hit with the memory
> charm in the first place is that he was using Ron's broken wand.
> It seems likely to me that his condition is much worse than that
> of others he performed the same charm on, due to some complication
> with the  wand.  ...
>

bboyminn:

You are all missing one critical point here. What Lockhart did to the
people whose deeds he stole was a selective memory charm. He simply
removed their memory of the event Lockhart was taking credit for.

That is completely different from what he intended to do to Harry and
Ron. He intended to completely wipe out their memories. He intended
the memory wipe to be so complete that it appeared that Harry and Ron
had lost their minds. That 'mind wipe' was the spell that backfired on
him, and he is now suffering from what he intended to inflict on Harry
and Ron. 

So, that is an important point to remember when evaluationg Lockhart's
condition. 

Given the totality of the 'mind wipe', I don't see Lockhart
reappearing in any significant or helpful way in the next book.
However, I do not think he will have to spend the rest of his life in
the hospital. At some point, he may be well enough to care for
himself, but I think his days of adventure and wealth are over with.
He is now, or eventually will be, doomed to an obscure existance,
living of meager royalties from some of his remaining books.

Just a thought.
Steve/bboyminn