Neville's Potential/Wizardly Cheating (was:Teacher vs. student help on tasks)

[Babs Elf AKA Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 27658

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., cynthiaanncoe at h... wrote:
> One more observation:  Crouch/Moody clearly believes students are 
> allowed to get help from other students.  He gave the waterplants 
> book to Neville expecting Harry to ask for help:  "I expected you 
> to ask everyone and anyone you could for help".  That suggests that 
> students can help students.  Harry could have even sought more help 
> than he did; he is just too proud to do so.

I think this is less an example of Harry's being proud and more of an 
example of EVERYONE underestimating Neville.  One might think it odd 
of Crouch to do this, unless one considers that the last time he 
encountered Neville's parents, they were very powerful Aurors, and it 
required several Death Eaters, including him, to take them down.  I 
think Crouch had a great deal of respect for the Longbottoms as 
opponents, and he has transferred that respect to Neville.  He, more 
than anyone else, probably has the best measure of what Neville could 
really do if he put his mind to it.  He hasn't seen the difficulties 
that Neville has had in school for the previous three years.  If he 
had, he would have known that it would never have occurred to Harry 
to ask such a seemingly-troubled student for help.

As for your concerns, jenny from ravenclaw, about the "tradition" of 
cheating in the Triwizard Tournament, consider that Slytherin was 
supposed to have captured the House Cup many years running before 
Harry arrived at Hogwarts.  Do we seriously think this was done 
without cheating?  There seems to be a tradition not only of cheating 
in the wizarding world, but of turning a blind eye to it, as though 
the people who did not cheat (or win) wish they had the nerve to do 
this, and so cannot in good conscience penalize those who had the 
chutzpah to actually do it.

--Barb