Neville Longbottom

[Indigo]

No: HPFGUIDX 22961

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Cheryl Dimof" <cheryl_dimof at y...> wrote:
> 
> This may have been discussed before, but I couldn't find the 
posts.  In GoF,
> Dumbledore tells Harry about the torture, and subsequent insanity, 
of
> Neville's parents.  Does anybody have any thoughts as to who might 
have been their torturer (it took place after Voldemort's fall) or as 
to what  accusations they might have made that Dumbledore said were 
unreliable due to  their mental condition?

I'm inclined to stick with popular opinion here that it was the 
LeStranges.  

As for what accusations they might've made? They were probably 
calling everyone a DeathEater once they'd been driven insane.
> 
> Also, why do you think Snape is so mean to Neville?  Is it just 
because he's
> a mean guy and Neville is afraid of him and does things incorrectly 
in his
> class?  Or is there something else going on there?
> 

My guess is that Snape has long figured [as has Dumbledore] that 
Voldemort will find a way to come back, and that when that happens, 
weak sisters need not apply. 

So Neville either needs to find his backbone, put it up straight, and 
grow some courage, or he's going to fall in the next rise of 
Voldemort because everyone else  will be too busy  protecting Harry 
and themselves to look after him.  To that end, Snape bullies him and 
pushes him and gives him a hard time, hoping to provoke Neville into 
getting mad enough to do stuff right "to show Snape!"  

Professor Sprout is going about it a different method, by encouraging 
Neville with books and praise when he does well.  

Neville's grandmother isn't really easy on Neville either, and she's 
family.

I just hope somebody told Neville and his grandmother that the 
passwords to Gryffindor tower were STOLEN and that Neville didn't 
just "leave them lying out for anyone to find." 

It seems many of the adults in Neville's life are trying to steel him 
for the worst yet to come in their own way. Snape's way just happens 
to be harsh. 

But given what he's been through,  to him it may not seem all that 
harsh.

Indigo