FAQ poll answered... (with spoilers for said FAQ poll)

[nkafkafi]

Debbie wrote:
 
> Did you say memory charm?  The first thing that occurred to me was
> that Dumbledore's belief that Neville could not have done what Harry
> did if he had been appointed to Harry's destiny is wrong, and that 
the
> reason Dumbledore (and the reader) can't see Neville's comparable
> abilities is that they've been obscured, if not obliterated
> altogether, by a memory charm.
>

Neri:
If DD is wrong in his judgment of Neville, what implications could 
this have on the plot? After all, JKR says that the question is 
completely hypothetical now. Harry is prophecy boy, period.

I understood what JKR had said about DD's assessment of Neville as 
part of what DD said to Fudge in the end of GoF about the pureblood 
ethos and the Crouches (I don't have books with me now). Maybe 
Neville (and the Logbottoms in general) represent the good-but-weak 
portion of the pureblood families. *Someone* has to represent them in 
order to maintain the balanced description, and I don't see any other 
candidates.    

 
> And for those of us who like our speculation very dark, there are 
many
> variants of memory charm theories, and a very large cast of 
suspects. 
> Everyone from Bellatrix (to keep toddler Neville from pointing her 
out
> in a lineup) to Fudge (to cover up whatever he did to elicit 
testimony
> from Frank and Alice (i) to enable them to round up the right
> suspects, or (ii) against the suspects the MoM had already rounded 
up
> in a desperate attempt to reassure the public that they had found
> whoever was responsible), to his own Gran (to prevent Neville from
> going down the same path as his father).
> 
> Truthfully, I like every one of those theories and there's canon to
> support them all.


Neri:
I also like the Memory Charm theories very much. In fact I'm working 
on one now. But I'm searching for thematic sense as well as canon 
support.



 And at least one of them (the Gran theory) explains
> something puzzling about her behavior; you'd think she would be more
> sympathetic in her treatment of a grandchild whose parents were
> tortured into insanity.  But, most significantly for the current
> story, any memory charm theory leaves Neville shrouded in 
insecurities
> that obscure his true abilities.
> 
> And it would more aptly demonstrate JKR's point that "Destiny is a
> name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic
> consequences" because it would mean that Neville really could have
> been the one but for the effect of others' choices.  He's got the
> bravery when it counts.  He was ready to take the Crucio hit in OOP
> even though he knew that he could end up like his parents.  He's
> willing to fight against impossible odds.  And he has plenty of
> magical power, if only he could concentrate enough to remember the
> spells, or the ingredients, when he needs them.
>

Neri:
Could Neville's hypothetic Memory Charm parallel Harry's scar? Harry 
didn't choose to have the scar, but once he has it, he faces choices 
regarding all the powers and risks that the scar offers. But what 
choices would a Memory Charm offer Neville?



Neri