What Happened to the Longbottoms?

There are no real spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t finished the book all you will find out from this is that we do not find out why the Longbottoms were tortured by Bellatrix and other Death Eaters.  Maybe it is not all that important to the story and that is why Rowling did not mention it, but I wanted to know the reason for their torture.

Is it because of the prophecy?  This does not make sense to me, because their torture happened after Voldemort had disappeared, and therefore it had been decided that the prophecy was talking about the Potters, not the Longbottoms.  Maybe these Death Eaters thought the Longbottoms had information on Voldemort’s whereabouts?

Does anyone else have ideas or suggestions?  Or do you feel that if it wasn’t important enough for Rowling to put it in the book, then it must not really matter?

 

The Importance of Bellatrix

J.K. Rowling has just given us another clue to Book 7.  In a recent interview with Helena Bonham Carter, she let on that Rowling revealed to her that Bellatrix will be very important in the last book.

Bellatrix Lestrange had been mentioned in a couple of the middle books of the series, but she became important in Order of the Phoenix, when she broke out of Azkaban and participated in the Battle at the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries.  We know that Neville especially has it out for her, since she was one of the Death Eaters who tortured his parents into madness.  Will the two of them be part of the climactic battle in Book 7?

Bellatrix also considers herself one of Voldemort’s most loyal followers and might have had a lot of inside information  into the Death Eaters and Voldemort’s use of horcruxes.  Being a cousin of Sirius and Regulus Black’s, did she know anything about the locket?

And, what I consider to be most important, why did she torture the Longbottoms after Voldemort had already disappear?  What did she believe she had to gain?

 

The Longbottoms & The Potters

According to the Prophecy, “The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches.  Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…”  Dumbledore informs Harry that only two children fit that description – Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, but Voldemort chose to mark Harry, a half-blood, instead of Neville, a pure-blood.

What was it that the Longbottoms and the Potters did to thrice defy Lord Voldemort?  Both sets of parents belonged to the original Order of the Phoenix.  Were they working together?  Are the actions they took against Voldemort of any importance now?

Harry knows that it could have just as easily been Neville who was marked by Voldemort.  Will he tell Neville and, if so, how will Neville take this information?

 

Neville

Here is a curious character. He has been fairly prominent in all of the books, but his role becomes more important with each book. He has gone from being just a socially-awkward classmate of Harry’s at Hogwarts to a star student in Herbology to a friend who more or less lost his parents to by followers of Voldemort to the other child to whom the Prophecy could have been referring.

Neville will most likely be a key character in Book 7. I think he might even accompany Harry on his quest to find the rest of the Horcruxes, because as we learned in Order of the Phoenix, the fight against Voldemort and his followers means just as much to Neville as it does to Harry.

We still have a lot to learn about the Longbottoms. Why were they tortured? I believe they must have had important information regarding Voldemort, and possibly even knew about the Horcruxes at that time. We also know that they had thrice defied Voldemort, and I am curious as to what it is they did.

Does Neville know how close he was to being the Chosen One? Will he find out and how will that affect him?

 

Ollivander

What happened to Ollivander?  Did he flee for a reason or was he captured by Death Eaters?  Neville claims to have bought one of the last wands he sold before his disappearance.  Does this have any significance?