Neville: was re: Authority and rule-breaking

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 16422

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., koinonia02 at y... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Morag Traynor" <moragt at h...> wrote:
> 
>  He is a 
> > bully/coward, picking on Neville simply because Neville lacks 
> confidence and 
> > will put up with it (no known *issues* from the past there)
> 
> 
> There are no known *issues* from the past that we know of.  I don't 
> believe Snape picks on Neville simply because Neville lacks 
> confidence. There is more to Snape/Neville.  We just don't know 
what 
> it is yet.  

I don't know whether there is more to the Snape/Neville thing, but I 
have had some thoughts recently about the way Neville has been 
treated in general.  I assume that most of the staff know Neville's 
family history.  It is a sad one.  Yet Snape bullies him mercilessly 
and shows absolutely no kindness towards him at all, unlike Professor 
Lupin, who tries to bolster him up and help him be brave.  I always 
wonder whether Lupin knew that Neville's greatest fear was Snape, and 
thought that if he confronted him as a boggart, it would be easier 
not to be a gibbering wreck in his classes.  (I don't think this 
interpretation works particularly well, particularly as Lupin "looks 
thoughtful", although this could be an act.  And how does Lupin know 
everyone's names before he's even met them???)

I don't know why Snape treats Neville in this way, but what upset me 
more, was the way he was treated by Professor Trelawney.  The poor 
boy is definitely a worrier, he never comes across as being 
particularly happy either.  Trelawney knows enough about him to know 
that he lives with his grandmother, so probably knows the rest, and 
what does she do?  She implies that something is going to happen to 
his grandmother, who forms, as far as I can see, what little security 
he has, in order to give him even more reasons to worry.  In my mind, 
that is almost as bad as the way Snape treats him.  At best it is 
thoughtless and unkind, and at worst it is downright cruel.

Catherine, who feels like champion of the underdog tonight.