OWLS/Neville

[Charmian]

No: HPFGUIDX 8762

To Simon B.:  Thanks for your explanations of the British testing 
system. Blarg. I can't keep this on topic by asking more questions 
about the character's scores because I don't have my text with me 
now. 

Re:  Lestranges specifically torturers of Longbottom's--I don't 
remember them being designated as Crouch Jr.'s fellow accused at the 
trial. I remember Sirius mentioned them as people who hung out with 
Snape and became DEs. I think most people assume them to be them 
because Mrs. Lestrange is the only female death eater so far. (New 
thread topic:  Voldemort sexist in hiring practices?)

Y.Y. posted:
"A small, sorta unanswerable thing, page 213: "He watched, as though 
somebody   was playing him a piece of film, Sirius Black blasting 
Peter Pettigrew ( who   resembled Neville Longbottom ) into a 
thousand pieces." Why did JKR put that part in parentheses about 
Neville there?  Many times,   little things that we just overlooked 
at first has ended up that ended up   being a forshadowing of some 
sort... Can this be one?  If it is, in what way?    Any theories? 
It's true that we don't know much about Neville except that he   
seems to be really really clumsy.  Is Neville hiding something?  Or 
maybe   it's something that even Neville doesn't know about... I 
don't know... I'm   kinda just blabbing."

Well, there is sort of a parallel...Pettigrew as the less comptenent 
guy who hung around the fab four, and Neville as the less competent 
guy who hangs around the trio. Of course, this is Harry's 
subconscious speaking before he knows the truth about the situation, 
so who knows what this really means? 

Neville's another Character To Watch in my mind. He's gotten a lot of 
development for a secondary character who could easily just be comic 
relief. BTW, what does one use a toad for? In the letter, they say 
that students could bring a cat, an owl, or a toad, as if they were 
somehow interchangable. An owl can deliver mail, but a cat or a toad 
seem more for companionship. 

Charmian