TBAY: Longbottoms and memory charms

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 132188

This has all been cooked up without reference to my books, so I may 
end up with scrambled chicken ovae across my features spelling 
out "idiot". 

Brief foray into TBAY stuff (scroll to the *** if you hate it)

A light breeze gently tickles the palm fronds above Theory Bay, 
directing the onlooker to note a dark bruising on the horizon, the 
promise of an impending storm. Not just any old storm, oh no. Three 
years in the brewing: this one will be bigger than the last, 
narrowing our options for boat-design still further. There is still 
ample evidence of the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Jo in the 
summer of 2002. The carcasses of once-proud can(n)on-laden craft 
litter the shore, and clog the depths. Newly-built vessels seem to 
be shallower on the draught, and nimbly pick their way between the 
aging masts which yet reach up from the seabed, waving their rotting 
sails in the current as if calling for the observer to take heed.

A new craft rounds the point. At first sight it looks suspiciously 
as though the designer has been unduly influenced by the stylish 
prow of the ELKINS AVENGED... But no, there are differences, (it is 
smaller and less well-built, for starters) and as the stern makes 
itself visible, there sits one big fat (and only slightly 
extrapolated) can(n)on, which distinguishes it from the ELKINS 
AVENGED.

***********************************
Neri pointed out some interesting facts about Crouch and the 
Longbottoms a couple of weeks ago:

1. Crouch the elder, as head of the department of magical law 
enforcement, was the Longbottoms' boss.
2. The fact that it was his son who attacked the longbottoms (and 
his certainty of his son's guilt), suggests that the attack was 
planned on information provided by Crouch the younger obtained from 
his father.

To which I would like to add:

3. According to JKR the Lestranges were not in on the prophecy, and 
their reasons for attacking the Longbottoms were not to do with 
Neville.
This is the important bit ---->
4. The state in which we currently find the Longbottoms, sounds 
uncannily like the state of Bertha Jorkins after Voldy had finished 
breaking through her memory charm (but before he disposed of her, 
obviously).<-----
5. That memory charm was performed by Crouch the elder when Bertha 
Jorkins accidentally discovered Crouch the younger under an 
invisibility cloak in Crouch the elder's home.

Can you see where I'm heading?  Crouch had a history of putting 
memory charms on people when they find out things he doesn't want 
them to know. What would Crouch have wanted the Longbottoms to 
forget?

Neri (while constructing the ELKINS AVENGED in post 130839) reckoned:
"Deep inside the Longbottoms' tortured minds must be hidden some big 
secret, and I mean BIG. It's not the prophecy. The prophecy wasn't 
such a big Bang even when it was revealed in the end of OotP, but 
solving the Longbottoms' mystery in Book 6 or 7 only to find the 
prophecy *again*, that would definitely be a Dud. Besides, JKR 
already told us that the Lestranges didn't know about the prophecy."

No, but Crouch Junior might have heard from his father that he had 
to memory charm two of his best Aurors to keep a secret safe from 
the DEs who were still at large.  Crouch Junior could then have 
assumed that the secret was to do with Voldy's whereabouts – what 
else could be so important as to merit a memory charm on the good 
guys?

I've never been particularly convinced by the attempts to anagram 
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (though some of the results are most 
amusing). However, the idea that Alice is trying to communicate with 
Neville through the gum wrappers has a decided appeal. Best I've 
come across so far is that the enormous bubbles produced by the gum 
resemble prophecy orbs, and it is this that the Longbottoms are 
trying to tell Neville. I can't remember who to credit with that 
one – was it dear-departed Kneasy? (may-his-back-posts-be-
eternally-re-read).

Thus, it is not the secret for which they were tortured which has 
important plot ramifications (the BANG quotient), but who else knew 
about it.  JKR hinted as much when she shot down speculation that 
Bella and co were after Neville when they tortured his parents. She 
said that she couldn't go into too much detail because it touched on 
who exactly knew the prophecy, but that the Lestranges (irritatingly 
she didn't mention Crouch Junior) weren't in on the secret.

So "Who Knew The Prophecy?" is an important question, the answer to 
which JKR is not yet ready to reveal. As to BANGiness... well, I 
suppose it depends how she decides to handle it. I can't fathom why 
it's important for the moment, unless we're about to find out about 
the eavesdropper and more double agents.

But what about Crouch Senior? We never saw DD and Crouch together, 
except in the Pensieve, where they hardly had the opportunity to 
give us clues about their relationship. I don't necessarily think 
they particularly liked each other, but they may well have shared a 
good deal of information about fighting Voldy. The head of the Order 
of the Phoenix, and the head of the Department of Magical Law 
Enforcement exchanging information and working together. Sounds 
plausible, right?

I favour the idea that the Longbottoms *agreed* to have their 
memories erased by Crouch and Dumbledore, knowing that their 
knowledge of the prophecy would be invaluable to the Death Eaters. 
Bella and co broke through the memory charm, but were hauled off to 
Azkaban before they could finish the job of extracting the 
information, leaving the Longbottoms once again in possession of the 
secret, but being unable to communicate it to anyone, except by 
repeatedly giving Neville bubblegum wrappers.


Snape said at some point (again, sorry for my inability to quote 
comprehensively – somewhere in PoA) that James died because he
was too arrogant to think he could have been mistaken in Black. It's 
often been assumed that this meant Snape warned James that Sirius 
was the spy and was laughed at. It can also be read as Snape being 
truly stunned by the arrogance of someone refusing DD as a secret-
keeper.  James died because he refused DD's offer.  Perhaps the 
Longbottoms didn't. Perhaps because DD knew they were safe, because 
he was their secret-keeper, he felt secure enough to tell them the 
prophecy. With the Potters, DD suspected that someone close to them 
was passing information to You-Know-Who, and they went and refused 
his secret-keeping. I wouldn't tell them the prophecy either, in 
that situation.

In fact, one of the questions I'd love to put to JKR is "Why didn't 
Lily and James accept DD as their secret-keeper?" It seems to me to 
be either a clumsy plot device to allow the whole GH debacle to 
happen (but then why have DD offer to be the secret-keeper at all?), 
or it's there to hide something more important.  And JKR has already 
connected the Longbottom attack with knowledge (or otherwise) of the 
prophecy.

I'll stop rambling and summarise:

DD wanted to set up Fidelius charms to protect the Longbottoms and 
the Potters, with himself as secret-keeper.  For whatever reason 
(though I'm happy to agree with Snape that it was James' arrogance), 
the Potters refuse, and go with Sirius.  The Longbottoms accepted 
DD's offer, and so he told them the prophecy, knowing that the 
information was safe with them.  After Voldy got gassed at GH, a 
number of DEs were still at large, and DD and Crouch knew that this 
meant the Longbottoms were in danger of revealing the prophecy. So 
they all got together, and Frank and Alice agreed to have their 
memories modified. At home, Barty Crouch Senior lets slip that he 
had to modify the memories of two of his best Aurors because they 
knew something important, and Barty Crouch Junior (assuming 
excitedly that this means they know where Voldy's hiding) scurries 
off to his Death Eater pals to plan an evening's Auror torture.

To be honest, the only bit I'm sure of is that Crouch Junior and 
Bella and co tortured their way through a memory charm, which had 
been placed on Frank and Alice.  The rest is all trying to make 
sense of it.

But I like it, you know?  In fact, I like it so much that I'm going 
to name it "CROUCH INvolved in General, Tapestry of Intrigue Gets 
Extremely Ridiculous, Headmaster Involved, Dumbledore Decides to 
ENact Charm, Aurors Told Prophecy, Obviously Obliviated."

Or, if you prefer:
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN CAT POO

And anyone caught insinuating that I only involved Crouch and 
cobbled the thing together at all because I liked the acronym will 
be... ahem... correct.

****************************************
TBAY resumed:
The brooding monstrosity of water vapour on the horizon has inched 
imperceptibly closer. The soil of Theory Bay is parched, and the 
leaves dusty.  Three long years since the last refreshing rains, and 
now... it is so close.  Make hay while the sun still shines, lest 
your unpublished theories rot where they stand in the wake of the 
hurricane, having never furnished a stable floor (which is all most 
of them are good for, let's be honest).

The CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN CAT POO glides to a halt in the middle 
of the bay, open to can(n)on fire from all sides. It will 
undoubtedly start soon.  The captain, Dungrollin (for it is she), 
lowers the anchor, battens down the hatches, readies her can(n)on, 
and waits for the inevitable.  Having prepared as best she can, she 
lounges back in her hammock, gazes out at the bay and swigs the 
leftover champagne from the lonely launch party, hoping that someone 
will come and join her soon  (for there is still another unopened 
bottle or two to tempt them).  

Have I missed something obvious? Do you have any can(n)on to help? 
Or do you want to sink me now? Do tell, do tell. Either way, there's 
champagne and little sausages on sticks to be had, and we can polish 
off the firewhisky and watch the sun go down sitting on the slowly 
sinking wreckage, if necessary. 

Dungrollin
Fervently hoping that all in London are well.