Neville's Poor Memory

[Weasleyfanforever]

Is Neville's memory problem an effect of the Cruciatus Curse that cause his parents insanity? We know that his parents are in St. Mungos with permanent (or so we are lead to believe) brain damage as an effect of the Cruciatus Curse that the Lestranges performed on them. Could it be that Neville's parents knew some deep secret about Voldemort; such as how to kill him, or how to return him to power? Thus causing the Death Eaters to go to their house and toture them? Or could Neville's memory be so terrible because after the fact of the attack on his parents, either he knew something very important about that night, or he was so young and traumatized by it that his memory had to be modified to help him? Could the memory modifier been too strong, and damaged his own memory, or did it perhaps did the spell go wrong, thus causing the damage?

[Tinkerbell]

I have a feeling that perhaps Neville was traumatised by the events and that some form of memory charm had to be performed, but the fact that his has a bad memory is due to the fact that some of what he may have witnessed is trying to get through and therefore muddles his train of thought?

[Alz]

So many questions spawn from this one subject, I will avoid the temptation to go 'off topic' ...

It seems that Neville is a tragic result of the spell that rendered his parents mindless and vacant, maybe because it was his age, his brain not fully formed to be addled by the curse but it has left a mark ....
Interestingly enough he is showing signs of recovery, cue the stink sap plant and yet another thread and discussion ... so much to talk about :o

The future of Neville is looking rosy, he is showing that indeed he really does possess some skills and has always had qualities that were admirable as indicated by Dumbledore in PS/SS ...

[Nagini]

Perhaps Bellatrix etc. tried to perform the Cruciatus Curse on Neville but as Hermione said in OoTP and for reasons we dont yet fully know, you can't use magic on a baby.

Maybe it did leave some sort of damage to his brain and he grew up forgetful or his grandmother put a memory charm on him - although it would seem, if this is the case then memory charms are not very useful if you want the person to continue to live their normal lives so perhaps with the memory charm mixed with the curse caused for Neville to be the way he is?

[catchthesnitch]

OK, going out on a limb here.

Perhaps it wasn't Bellatrix who attacked Neville, (even though Bellatrix attacked the Longbottoms) but V himself, before he attacked Harry. Maybe V did originally think that Neville was the one the prophesy was about, went after Neville, and something went wrong with that too, making him mark Harry instead.

Maybe Neville's poor memory now was somehow the result of V "marking him as his equal?"

I know its nutters, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

[Alz]

The attack on the Longbottom's occured post Voldemort's death ... in fact they were there to see what the Longbottoms knew about the Dark Lords death ...
Unless Neville was attacked 'prior' and this information never made it out to the magical world ... then I dont think it was possible ... and it does seem strange that the details wouldnt have come out by now ...

The interesting question - and the one JKR eludes to is that of why the Death Eaters attacked the Longbottoms thinking they knew where Voldemort was ....

This is a another topic, let me go post that one up ;)

[Tinkerbell]

I think Gini has a good point here about not being able to use magic on a baby - perhaps that is another reason Voldemort's AK did not work!

[Alz]

Yah that is good - but wouldnt Voldemort know this?
If you cant use magic on babies full stop - then surely he should know this?
Unless, the suggestion is that the effects of the unforgivable spells on a baby werent known then yeah, I am liking that a lot!

I still think it is as a result of the Neville being in the room when his parents were attacked but also like it as an 'insurance policy' the Death Eaters took out ...
The Longbottoms were effectivly silenced that night - either by effect or on purpose - and perhaps Neville was awake and looking - they didnt want to take the chance that he might re-call certain information however unlikely it sound but it seems like a supression exercise rather than a life attempt on the Longbottoms ...

[Jenelle]

Maybe Bellatrix was afraid to curse Neville as a baby, she had just heard what happened to "the most powerful wizard of all time" when he tried to curse a baby. I for one wouldnt push my luck with it. I say she is the one that modified his memory.

[Alz]

Well, I think we then cross over into did she know about the Prophecy and then saw what happened to the boss as a warning?
because if that was the case - she would have known that the one to Vanquish the Dark lord - blah blah ...
What I am saying, she knows that the boss picked the right boy and as such there was nothin really that special about Neville ...
Also - Neville wasnt the target when they attacked the Longbottom - they were there to get information on the whereabouts of Voldemort - the torture I suppose was a way of extracting what the Longbottoms knew - Neville was just in the room as it was all going off :)

[Weasleyfanforever]

OK, as e have recently been informed by JKR via her site, Blaise is right. The Lestranges were not after Neville, but his parents. Also, Bellatrix didn't know about the prophecy.

Back on topic though... Neville's memory is notoriously poor, and I wonder if in order to get information out of the Longbottom's, Bellatrix didn't torture Neville somehow? i don't think that it is above her, she is insaine. Causing pain makes her happy, and to cause that much pain to Neville, as well as his parent's would have been delightful to her.

I also think that this could have been one of the reasons, along with the fact that this curse was used on his parents, that Neville had such an adverse reaction when Moody was performing the Cruciatus Curse on the spider. He may have had a falashback as to what happened to him that night...

[Alz]

It's evil and twisted isnt it!
But yah, sure Bellatirx was desperate to find out what the Longbottoms knew ...
I would say against it though that no parent woul stand by and let their child be tortured right ... I would have expected one of the Longbottoms to have been killed trying to stop them attacking Neville ...
Also it has always been recorded - but cant be confirmed - that the parents were tortured and not Neville ...

I think the reason Neville had such an effect when Moody was performing crucio on the spider was because he was in the room when his parents were being attacked ... and somewhat may have been affected by hearing his parents screams of pain and anguish ... afterall Harry could hear his Mum scream - why couldnt Neville not remember his parents ...

I think Neville's bad memory is of his own supression - trying to clear and block out the memories he has of hearing his parents in pain ... :(

[Tinkerbell]

I think the reason Neville had such an effect when Moody was performing crucio on the spider was because he was in the room when his parents were being attacked ... and somewhat may have been affected by hearing his parents screams of pain and anguish ... afterall Harry could hear his Mum scream - why couldnt Neville not remember his parents ...

I think Neville's bad memory is of his own supression - trying to clear and block out the memories he has of hearing his parents in pain ... :(

I agree and also think that the introduction of the Remembrall when Neville started at Hogwarts was significant - particularly when he says he can't remember what he has forgotten - namely the awful night his parents lost their minds!

[Alz]

Strange - I am just reading that part in my Chapter by Chapter thing ... so expect expansion in there :D

There is a difference between what someone remembers - doesnt remember and also doesnt want to remember - all could point to bad recollection but often it runs deeper and is actually repressed ...
He could spend so much time keeping those thoughts locked away it kills any chance of his remembering other things ... hence the bad memory :)