Hermione's Knowledge of the Longbottoms

[magpie1112 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26798

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., b.jebenstreit at b... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., catherine at c... wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at y..., cynthiaanncoe at h... wrote:
> Don´t hit me, but I think Snape will become DADA teacher at the
end 
> of the series. He has the knowledge and the skills. And the way 
> they are using them up, there is bound to be an opening for DADA 
> teachers. But only *after* he has done his part of learning. How to 
> treat students like Neville, for example.
> > 

I think that it will be *Neville* who will end up as the DADA 
teacher.  It's always been my feeling that Neville will show his true 
Gryffindor colors by the end of these books.  If he didn't have 
bravery, daring and nerve he would have ended up in Hufflepuff (which 
isn't a bad place to be - it's my own house and I'm proud of it - but 
loyalty and hard work, rather than bravery, are 'puffers strongest 
traits).  And it strikes me that Neville would be the type of person 
that would want to help others overcome their weakenesses - as he 
overcame his.  So he'd probably stay on at Hogwarts as a teacher.


> > One more thing on Neville - it has been postulated before (and I 
> > do agree with this) that Neville's bad memory is akin to Bertha 
> > Jorkins - ie. he was traumatised in some way by what happened to 
> > his parents and had a memory charm put on him.  I am wondering if 
> > his near-squibness is also related to this.  The trauma of his 
> > early life having the opposite affect it had in Harry's, in that 
> > he suppressed his magical ability somehow?  
> 
> Interesting thought. I am undicided on the trauma issue. But even 
> for an absend minded person Neville *is* unbelievably absent 
> minded. And like it is with Harry, magic comes to him, if it is 
> necessary. It is not for luck of skill, that he keeps failing. It 
> is because of lack of memory and nervousness and confidence.
> Ethanol

I've got to play devil's advocate on this one.  On the one hand, 
there have been instances where characters have unknowingly self-
sabotaged their powers because of low self-esteem or fear (the 
character that immediately springs to mind is Nynaeve of Rober 
Jordan's The Wheel of Time series).  So Neville may be doing 
something similar.  Somewhere in his brain he could be 
thinking, "magic is dangerous - look at what happened to mum and dad".

OTOH, Neville could be suffering from anxiety, stress and low self-
esteem and *that* could be causing memory (as well as confidence) 
problems.  I'm sure that wizards are just like muggles in that 
regard.  You just can't do well if you don't trust in yourself.

So anyway, I'd love to hear other views on Neville.  


- Denise (who just wants to see what Neville can do once he starts to 
believe in himself)