Neville: was re: Authority and rule-breaking

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

No: HPFGUIDX 16572

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> I think there's *way* more to Neville than we've seen so far. I 
still
> think he's had his memory damaged by well-meaning relatives. Maybe 
when
> they learn charm-breaking or hex-removing or something, Neville's 
memory
> charm will accidentally be broken? Hmmmm.
> --Amanda

I find this theory very interesting, and quite plausible, given 
Neville's general forgetfulness.  That is, apart from one thing.  
What possible reason could there be for Neville having his memory 
moderated?  He knows what happened to his parents, as was revealed in 
GoF, he spends sleepless nights thinking about it, as we find out 
when Harry has entered Dumbledore's pensieve.  What else could there 
be for him to know?  I'm not discounting the theory - just interested 
to find out what other possibilies there are.

As for your comments about Snape's frustration about Neville just 
being a hopeless pupil...Don't get me wrong, my attitude towards 
Snape has changed a great deal since GoF, if not earlier, and I don't 
see him in the black and white terms with which I feel he is often 
depicted.  However, in Neville's case, he is definitely an extremely 
bad, cruel and bullying teacher.  I come from a long line of 
schoolteachers (I am not one myself, but used to do private tutoring) 
and one thing I can say without equivocation is that the best a 
teacher can do is encourage and be positive about a pupil's 
achievements, NOT to bully, and scare them so much that they are 
always going to do badly in your class because you have turned them 
into a nervous wreck.  Snape may well be trying to get Neville to 
show his mettle, but IMO he is not succeeding, and is really getting 
a sadistic pleasure out of treating Neville badly.
If one was to try and bolster Neville up, and make him feel braver, 
one only has to follow the example of Prof Lupin.  In my mind, it 
bears no comparison.

Catherine,
(who also has a soft spot for Neville, as everyone has probably 
noticed).