Why Not a Memory Charm

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 188002



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "rhkennerly" <rhkennerly at ...> wrote:
>
> I've started a re-reading of book 7 DH and working through the drama of whether or not the Dursleys are going to leave and go into hiding.
> 
> 1.  why was this left to chance? (Nobody in HP's circle loved the Ds, but they wouldn't want them tortured and killed either)
> 
> 2.  why did HG get to use a memory charm on her parents and ship them off the antipodes but HP couldn't do something similar?
> 
> Rick Kennerly
>
Carol responds:
I'm not sure about question 1, but question 2 is pretty easy. Aside from the fact that such a complicated plan would never occur to Harry and he's not as talented as Hermione with complex charms (other than the Patronus Charm), he still has the Trace on him and can't perform magic. The Order has to find a nonmagical way to transport the Dursleys at some distance from 4 Privet Drive. (Also, Hermione probably charmed both her loving and trusting parents at once; imagine Harry attempting to charm all three magic-phobic Dursleys; Vernon would probably throttle him.)

BTW, whatever Hermione performed wasn't a standard Memory Charm like those that Lockhart used on his victims and the Obliviators routinely used on Muggles. Hermione tells Harry in the Muggle cafe on Tottenham Court Road that she's never used a Memory Charm before. The spell she uses on Rowle and Dolohov is her first attempt at Obliviating. (Or JKR somehow forgot about Hermione's Obliviated parents. It could be a Flint.)

Carol, leaving question 1 to someone else