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Reader Comments: (Page 4)

It’s clear that Neville has a lousy memory but I hardly believe his Gran putting some kind of memory spell on him, otherwise, why she would bother sending him a Remembrall? Besides she seems to be very upset about Neville not being a good wizard or not getting enough OWLs. Even more she is very pleased about his grandson fighting against the eaters in OotP.
Maybe he witnessed when his parent were tortured and he’s kind of traumatized, or maybe he got the Cruciatus curse too, though Bellatrix would have tease him about that in the Ministry, when Sirius d.

About Neville being “the chosen one” I think the prophecy is very clear about Voldemort marking him as an equal, what he already did. About the chosen one having powers that Voldemort doesn’t know, I don’t think is referred to some kind of power that Neville hasn’t shown yet, I think it’s about the “ancient magic” that Lily put on Harry when she d trying to protect him.

I do have a question about Ms. Longbottom or other people trying to protect Neville. If Dumbledore at some point thought Neville would be the chosen one (as much as Harry) he must offered some kind of protection to the Longbottoms in the same way he gave protection to he Potters; that could imply that Ms. Longbottom knows about the prophecy and probably the Potters knew about it too, in order to accept Dumbledore’s protection…

Posted by Karina from Santiago - Chile on May 29, 2007 1:53 PM

I just wanted to elaborate a little on my earlier post about Neville's mother giving him the bubblegum wrappers and they being some sort of clue or message to Neville. Here in the states we have a certain brand of bubblegum and its wrappers have either jokes, comics or fortunes (like fortune cookies) on them. I can't find anything in the books...yet!...that says whether the droobles gum wrappers have anything on them but it would stand to reason they do have such things on them because of all the weird things in the wizard world. Like chocolate frogs having wizard cards, etc. It's these sayings or whatever is on the wrappers that Neville's mother is using for a message perhaps.

And in response to everyone wondering if a memory charm was put on Neville and why...it's possible there was and maybe it's because as a baby he witnessed his parents being tortured by the cruciatus curse and it was too tramatic for him so his memory was wiped and it's just affected him in every aspect of his life...till now! And if it was done by his grandmother if you notice in every book little by little Neville stands up to his grandmother or begins to rebel so to speak against her gradually so maybe he's breaking her spells on him. Both Harry and Neville have a tremendous amount of love for their parents and their friends. And we've been told how important the "love" issue is. The two together could be force to be reckoned with.

Posted by sm on May 29, 2007 2:27 PM

Interesting article.

I don't think Neville is actully 'The chosen one', and no, atleast I really hope, he won't go to the 'Dark side'.

The only thing I'm sure about, is that we'll get to know more things about Neville in the seventh book, all the hints we got in the first 6 books must mean something.

Posted by An!ma9us from Israel on May 29, 2007 2:36 PM

i think orlando has made a great point about how harry hermione, ron and neville could all have been in different houses. this would definitely bring neville deeper into the plot meaning that when the final battle occurs all four of them face voldemort together and there be powers and qualities from each of the four founders of hogwarts and this could be enough to him. as dumbledore said in HBP "it take uncommon s to defeat a wizard like voldemort", wouldn't this count as uncommon s with four friends combining qualities from each house but all sharing the most important one which is gryffindors "bravery"?

Posted by Carl from Birmingham, England on May 29, 2007 2:45 PM

About what claudia said about the gum wrappers on page 2:
when you scramble drooble's best blowing gum like that I think you meant to say that you get 'bribery below st Mungo's', not under st mungo's.

Posted by oscar from Il on May 29, 2007 3:43 PM

The sequence of people going into hiding is set forth well in POA. Interestingly, it mentions that one of Dumbledoor's spies reported that Voldemort was after the Potters. (this would have been Snape...and before the of Lilly) There is no mention of the Longbottoms going into hiding either at the 3 broomsticks conversation nor in Dumbledore's explination of events to Harry.

The Longbottoms were, of course, tortured AFTER Voldemort's fall for the purpose of discovering where the loyal Eaters could find Voldemort to assist him. The Eaters always seem to wish to threaten the smallest or most vulnerable of a group to cause the others to talk.

It is entirely possible that Neville was also tortured at the time of his parents. In that regard a memory charm might have been the only thing which would have kept him sane.

As to Granny and the rememberall... she sent it to Neville simply because she already knew he has such a bad memory and, as always, wished to help him at school. She sounds like a normal elderly Gran of a particular generation...like my own for that matter.

Posted by Charlie Tarbox from Gettysburg, Pa on May 29, 2007 4:46 PM

Neville got Ollivander's last, or one of his last, wands.
There is a reason Ollivander is missing, good or bad I dont know. I think Neville's new wand could be significant.

Posted by Tirnanog from Stevenage on May 29, 2007 5:11 PM

Although it is a fantastic theory, Jo said in an interview that the gum wrappers were just gum wrapers--no secret messages.

Posted by scrammie from nj on May 29, 2007 6:08 PM

I didn't even think of scrambling the words of droobles best blowing gum...but you can't get the word "bribery" because there's no "y". But "below st. mungos" makes sense. I've been trying to come up with other words or something at all with those letters and I can't quite get there so had to take a break. You can get the words "dig", "go", "bible", "rebel", "lie", "lies", and on and on....But JK likes to scramble words just like Tom Marvolo Riddle is "I am Lord Voldemort" so that makes sense. Does anyone know for sure is the gum called droobles best blowing gum or droobles blowing gum or something else? I'm seeing droobles blowing gum in the chapter where she gives neville the wrapper.

Posted by sm on May 29, 2007 6:26 PM

everyone knows neville has a really bad memory but I doubt neville's grandmother had ever put a spell on him, but thinking about it, she looks like the kind of person who would do that, but damaging his memory so bad? that would be cruel, and if something else had ever happened the night the longbottoms were, well let's call it ATTACKED, neville was just a year old i think, so he wouldnt remember anything at all, just like screams i think as harry can remember a lot of green light as he calls it, and a cold evil laugh...

and neville betraying harry as peter did? i seriously doubt that. neville wouldnt ever be in voldemort's "gang", seeing as he ordered his followers to attack the longbottoms, and even if he was acting on his own, i dont think neville would ever come up like a plan with that magnitude, would he?

perhaps neville's mother IS trying to tell him a message through bubblegum wrappers, what could it possibly be?

Posted by SaLo on May 29, 2007 7:25 PM

Ok if you scramble the letters of drooble's best blowing gum you can get this, "gold bribe below st. mungo's". I believe there was some mention of Lucius Malfoy donating a substantial amount of gold to st. mungos (maybe he's paying someone to keep the Longbottoms insane...maybe that's stretching it a bit but he did donate gold to st.mungos) or could it have something to do with the goblins?

Posted by sm on May 29, 2007 9:00 PM

This is a great article, and yes, one of the fascinating aspect of JKR's writing is the way she plants hints and leads, and hides them so well. Neville's clumsiness and forgetfulness have been a "comic relief" but slowly, his character has gained maturity and strength. Maybe there was some dark secret under those comic anecdotes about him... However, we see clearly that his grandmother has always expected him to be the replica of his bright father, and kept comparing her son and her grandson - to Neville's disadvantage. She certainly did not put a memory charm on him - or she would not have those expectations. But-good point- someone else may have...
The wrappers from Neville's mum could also mean something else than what the witnesses of the scene presumed. Maybe Neville's mother witnessed the memory charm put on her son before being tortured, or in spite of her insanity she is still aware of a secret (a traitor?) that she tries to tell Neville about- which could also be what Neville was made to forget about?
There is no way Neville could turn bad though. One of the foundations of the books show how courageous choices can transcend talent and gift, and Neville is the living demonstration of this. The Marauders and Harry and his friends are very different. Harry and his friends are more mature - probably due to Hermione's influence, and also because of the dark shadow of Voldemort on their schooling years. JKR not try, I think, to "equate" the Marauders destiny with what happen to Harry and his friends.

Posted by Cecil from Tacoma WA on May 29, 2007 9:00 PM

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