Mind Manipulations: Potions or Worse?

Happy Friday, Fanaticals! Today we are, in fact going to go just a tad bit darker on the darker side of Harry Potter. Over the last couple days, we discussed more of the racist-themed side of the wizarding world, and today we are going to go into the more emotional and mental side of things; while not quite abusive, it definitely falls under manipulations. We are going to discuss four different theories today!

Today does, in fact, come with some trigger warnings: one of the theories we will be discussing DOES involve mental health, depression, mentions of abuse, and psychiatric wards. If any of this triggers you, please be wary as you read. I will warn you that the theory this warning covers is the LAST THEORY for today. With that being said, let's dive in!

Neville Forgets Things Easily

In the very first book/movie, Neville's Gran sends him a remembrall shortly after school begins. A remembrall is a glass sphere that has smoke that turns red when the person holding it has forgotten something. With the presence of this artifact, we can only assume that she sent it to him because he forgets things easily. However, it is never really covered WHY he has memory issues. My theory (which I have seen many online agree with) is that he had an oblivation happen that went wrong.

From what we know, similarly to Legilimens and Occlumens, powerful witches and wizards are able to cast Obliviates perfectly and without harm to the people they are casting on; something that explains why Hermione at only 17 was able to successfully do it on her parents. In the case of Neville, it is absolutely possible that someone tried and botched up the job when trying to erase something from Nevile's mind.

We have to remember that Neville has been through many traumatic moments during his childhood; one of the most traumatic moments is quite possibly when his parents were tortured. However, unlike Harry, we do not know Neville's exact location in the house when this event took place. Some fic writers and theorists will place him in the same room, whereas others will state that considering the round about timeline it happened (possibly later at night) that he would have been in the nursery and therefore did not directly watch the event. If he had been present, though, I could see someone wanting to erase the event from his memory.

On the flip side, we also know that his Uncle Algie was not the best relative to him as he constantly tried to "scare the magic" out of him. Which then makes me wonder: if Neville did NOT see his parents tortured, perhaps there was a really, REALLY bad moment caused by Uncle Algie that Madam Longbottom decided to have the memory erased.

If this is true, is there a possibility that whoever cast it botched the job up which is why poor Neville has so many memory problems. It is mentioned a couple times throughout the books that over exposure to too many memory charms CAN, in fact, have a lasting impact on a person's mind. Bertha Jorkins is a perfect example, as she suffered brain damage from a memory charm placed by Barty Sr.; the question is, was it due to repeated, overly powered, or a botched charm? Not to mention Former Professor Gilderoy Lockhart who tried to perform one with a broken wand, only for it to backfire and completely erase HIS memory to the point that he was also placed in the Janius Thickney Ward beside Neville's parents, this is a perfect example of a botched Obliviate.

On a quick side note, rounding back up to the remembrall; I have seen in a few fics a fan theory that I love and back as well. However, it would show Madam Longbottom in a good light instead of a negative. This quick theory behind the remembralls is that the smoke changes colour based on if you have been charmed or actually obliviated of a memory. It was given to Pureblood Heirs at the age of 11 to help protect them if they were not in possession of their Heirship Rings. In this case, Neville's Gran was aware that he had his memory messed with and sent it to him in the hopes that he would find someone that could help him recover the memories.

I can definitely se and understand the theory behind Neville's bad memory, but I absolutely love the theory behind why the remembralls are there. Both of these theories resound with my full backing of YES!

Molly Helped Dumbledore Manipulate Harry

I won't lie, this theory section has a bit of Molly bashing in it. However, we have discussed Dumbledore's manipulations, and we all know how Molly Weasley can be. Her lack of support of the twins (down to the fact that she-as their mother-can't even tell them apart), including her celebrating "That's everyone in the family!" when Ron received his Prefect badge, amongst other things honestly makes this sort of believable to me. As I just mentioned with the badge, not only did she not include the twins, but she also didn't include Ginny; unless she was speaking specifically about the boys which-again-she still acted as though the twins weren't a part of the family.

Molly has always been a bit... Eccentric. From the way she treats Sirius in his own house, to treating Harry better than her own sons at times, all the way to how she overreacts tot everything. The only real part of Molly Weasley that I have loved is when she flips out on Bellatrix during the Final Battle.

However, the basis of where this theory comes from is from the very moment that we meet the Weasleys at King's Cross. Molly Weasley is the mother of seven children. By the time we meet her, five have already gone off to Hogwarts and the sixth one is JUST boarding for the first time. If she has already sent five children off to school, as well as being a Pureblood, then WHY is she walking through a Muggle station while yelling “What’s the platform number?” and “All these Muggles about!” Is that NOT breaking the Statute of Secrecy? Is the Statute NOT in place so that Wizards and Witches do NOT shout things like that?

Why would Molly Weasley, who seems so obsessed with obeying the law, be shouting in a way that broke that Statute? Especially when she has already sent so many kids off to Hogwarts. She is not a Muggle herself, which means that she should know that platform number by heart. Seven years of attendance herself, and then 11 years prior to Ron starting oof sending children through the barrier. She literally had no reason to be yelling like that, acting like she didn’t know where the barrier was.

UNLESS… She was a part of Dumbledore’s manipulations for Harry. You honestly cannot convince me otherwise that she was not. She just happens to be yelling out information she has no reason to not know by heart, and just happens to be passing by a “random” Muggle raised child who was dropped off by the complete wrong person to have been introducing him into the Wizarding Word in the first place and had no idea where he was supposed to find this barrier. In the deepest depths of my heart, I believe that at the bare minimum, Molly Weasley knew EXACTLY what she was doing; even (just like Dumbledore) knew and DID NOT CARE what was going on with him at his relative’s house. However, with the continuation into the next theory… It gets much worse.

Harry and Hermione were Potioned

While some people will say this is extremely far-fetched, I don’t believe so. For one, Ms Rowling herself admitted that she had originally planed for Harry and Hermione to end up together. The two are constantly pining, and constantly thinking about their respective Weasley even while on the run; right up until Ron abandons them. He even admits that he had gone back that night to the campsite but could not find them. Considering how everything blew up, Ron’s history with his temper and blowing up at Harry, and how long it always took them to get back to normal, him returning that night was not a possibility in my mind. Maybe a week or two later if not longer, but absolutely not that night.

The only explanation I could find for that was that he needed an excuse to get home and get more of the potion(s) (whether it be Love, Obedience, or anything else) too keep them “under control”. There are MANY fics out there where Hermione and Harry are portioned, keyed to their specific Weasleys, and I can absolutely see it. Mostly because (depending on how I am feeling, as my opinions about Ginny will vary) I just don’t agree that Ginny was not a fan girl; she was just a fan girl who got her way and got what she wanted.

A lot of this can also tie in with the theories of the Ancient and Noble House stuff, and the Line Theft. That Dumbledore kept Harry unaware of his real heritage, and Ginny wanting to be Lady Potter. Personally, I believe that the Hermione we see in first year is vastly different from the one we see throughout the rest of the series. At first, she is very much the stickler to rules, and while she does have a specific respect for authority it isn’t as deep as it is later in the series. This could be the turning point that she was potioned. There is also the consideration that Dumbledore absolutely never expected Harry to actually live.

However, on my GOOD days with Ginny, I fully put the blame on Dumbledore, Molly, and Ron for both Harry and Hermione being potioned, as Ginny could have been potioned also in that case to make sure that Harry became an extension of the Weasleys no matter what. I fully see Ginny getting over her childhood hero fantasizing and just seeing Harry as another brother.

Wizarding World is Not Real

For those of you not fully tracking as you read, his is the beginning oof my trigger warning in the beginning. Please do not read this theory if you are sensitive to Mental Health issues; I would fully understand as the first time I read this theory, it triggered me as well.

This is one of the most extreme dark fan theories that comes out of the entire series. I have seen screenshots of multiple Tumblr posts that discuss this theory. It is the theory that the Wizarding World does not exist and is literally all in Harry’s head.

One post stated that he had snapped from the abuse by the Dursleys and made up the entire Wizarding World to escape from the abuse. Another stated that he had ACTUALLY snapped and killed the Dursleys, escaping into the “Wizarding World” to survive. Either way, they both put him in the psych unit; only one of the two is a prison psych unit.

The saddest (and darkest) post that I had seen, ran along the lines of he was in the psych ward, and when he was told that Hogwarts was not real by the psychiatrist, he grabbed a broom and jumped out the window only to jump to his death.

One post even put that Hogwarts was just Harry in the afterlife, which would be horrible as it would probably place him in Purgatory since even his parents were still gone.

Honestly, this whole theory overall is just so horrible emotionally, but none-the-less is a fan theory that took to the ground online and has a lot of traction on Tumblr and Reddit. While it is quite disturbing, if we look at it from a real-life point of view, it would be just like Alice in Wonderland; a child with a lot of trauma that makes up a fantastic world to escape their emotions.

While there was a lot of “Weasley bashing” today, come join our community and tell us what you think about these theories. Do you believe that Harry and Hermione could have been manipulated and potioned? Is it far-fetched to believe that at least SOME of the Weasleys were involved? We’re potions or worse used on Harry, and maybe even Hermione? Or even come to our forums and post a link to your absolute favourite FanFic that would back these theories! Conjoin me tomorrow for our final post of the week, where I will pull apart some theories from the Dark Side of the Wizarding War. Until then, keep on theorizing!