Neville/what's obvious

[lupinesque]

David wrote:
 
> Eerm.. I hate saying this sort of thing, but my point was not 
whether 
> it is obvious that Neville is under a charm, but whether it is 
> obviously a possibility JKR wants us to consider.

I follow you.  No, I don't think either one is obvious.
 
> Trying to get outside the HP-verse into JKR's mind is IMO a cultural 
> habit.

I guess I don't think of it too much as trying to get into her mind.  
It is more about trying to discern patterns in her writing--or am I 
splitting hairs?

E.g., here's a case of trying to discern patterns:

"We know that JKR plants background information that becomes central 
to a plot as much as two books later:  viz. Polyjuice Potion, an 
entertaining dead end in CoS, but crucial in GoF.  What incidental 
information in books 3 and 4 do you think will turn out to be plot 
essentials in future books?"

I suppose you could call this trying to get into the author's mind, 
but that makes it sound so, I don't know, nosy.  I prefer to think of 
it as astute literary analysis.

<g>
Amy