Memory Charms

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 145715

Catlady (Rita Prince Winston) wrote:

Simon wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/145596 :

<< Tom Riddle breaks a memory charm in between PoA and GoF, Bertha I
think her name is. So I believe that Lockhart will get his memory back. >>

The means that Voldie used to break the Memory Charm on Bertha "were
powerful, and when [he] had extracted all useful information from her,
her mind and body were both damaged beyond repair." Some listies think
that means that Memory Charms are broken by torture in general or
Cruciatis Curse in particular, but I think it means that there are
spells or potions for breaking Memory Charms, but they have side
effects that would result in Lockhart NOT being released from St Mungo's.


Debbie:
The notion that Voldemort used torture to break Bertha's Memory Charm has
specific canon support.  In GoF ch. 35 Crouch Jr. (under Veritaserum)
states, "My master had found out that I was still alive.  He had captured
Bertha Jorkins in Albania.  He had tortured her.  She told him a great deal.
. . . He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had
placed on her.  She told him I had escaped from Azkaban."

Canon doesn't tell us is whether the torture consists of the Cruciatus Curse
or whether there is a specialized curse for breaking through Memory Charms
that acts on the brain.  I suppose I should be a proponent of the Cruciatus
Curse, as that fits best with my age-old speculation that Frank and Alice
Longbottom were tortured to break through a Memory Charm, but I don't think
it matters.

Of course, St. Mungo's can't use torture to cure a memory charm, because
their function is to heal and not to damage the patient's body and mind
beyond repair. ;-]  In fact, the memory damage can't be cured at all; the
St. Mungo's healer points out that the closed ward is for *permanent* spell
damage.  Even with "intensive remedial potions and charms and a bit of luck"
they can only produce "some improvement."  (By the way, Fantastic Beasts
indicates that memory potions are made from the feathers of the
Jobberknoll.)

So, I doubt we'll see Lockhart -- or the Longbottoms -- in Book 7.

Debbie
wishing everyone a happy new year


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