Neville's Grandfather

[Peg DiGrazia]

No: HPFGUIDX 148436

Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I just finished OotP and this jumped out at me:  We know that Neville can see thestrals because he saw his granddad die (OotP, p. 449, US hardcover edition.)  It seems to me that Neville would have been too young at the time of his parents' torture for a death to "register" in his mind enough to give him the ability to see the thestrals, so his grandfather's death must have occurred later.  During the battle in the DoM, Lucius Malfoy says, "It's Longbottom, isn't it?  ...Well, your grandmother is used to losing family members to our cause....  Your death will not come as a great shock...."  (OotP, p. 800.)  I'm wondering if Gramps tried to avenge his son's torture at some point, and Neville saw him killed by DEs who avoided Azkaban.  Could this be significant to book 7?  I love Neville to death and desperately hope to see him avenge his family!
   
  Also, a footnote on the discussion last week about verbal vs. non-verbal curses:  At the DoM, even after Dolohov gets his voice back and hits Neville with the tarantallegra, he casts the curse he used on Hermione on Harry, but still doesn't verbalize it:
   
  <<     ..."Now, Potter -- "
  <     He made the swame slashing movement with his wand that he had used on <Hermione just as Harry yelled, "Protego!">>  (OotP, pp. 802-803)
   
  This seems to be in conflict with the idea that the curse would have been more effective if Dolohov had been able to say it aloud...
   
  Peg