DH: Short - A continuity error? or some other explanation? (chapt 9 spoiler)

[Karina Aleksandrova]

No: HPFGUIDX 172384

Gary wrote:
>
> This kind of jumped out at me on my first read.
> 
> Early on, Hermione reveals that she altered her parents' memory and
> sent them packing to Australia. Later, in chapter nine, (around page
> 190-200 or so, I don't have the book at hand here at work) they were
> going to do a memory charm on the two death eaters that went after
> them in the cafe, and when Ron said he'd never done a memory charm,
> Hermione claimed that she had also never done a memory charm. So how
> did she alter her parents' memory without a memory charm? Is this a
> simple continuity error, or is there some other way of altering
> memories that she might have used on her parents?
> 
> Trivial issue, of course, but I found it mildly annoying.
> 
> Other than that I thought the book was fabulous.
> 
> --gary
>

I noticed this too, and I didn't like it either. I've seen some people
explaining it away, saying that Hermione could have Confunded her
parents, rather than Obliviated. Hermione only modified the memories,
not completely wiped them, and she said that she can lift the
enchantment, whereas from what we’ve seen of Obliviate (Lockhart’s
example, in particular) it’s permanent. There were several other
examples of Confundus spell in this book (Ron modifying his examiner's
memory to pass the driving test; Snape making Mundungus believe he
came up with the decoy!Potters plan), so it could be it...

I still think that Rowling should have used different wording to make
clear which spell is used if it was Confundus.