Neville: and some random thoughts.

[katzefan]

No: HPFGUIDX 39269

This is somewhat late but here goes anyhow:

> In POA, before he takes on the boggart...
>Lupin says ... "Neville, I belive you live with your grandmother?"
>"Er yes" said Neville nervously "But I don't want the boggart to 
>turn into her either"
>Is Neville really that scared of his gran or is it just that he 
>doesn't want to hurt even something that looks like a member 
>of his own family? 

That's an interesting point, about Neville being afraid of his gran. 
I was more of the impression it was (b) he didn't want to even try 
to hurt something that looks like a member of his own family. His 
gran (from the little we've heard of her) sounds formidable, but 
not at all unkind ... *not* like, say, Aunt Marge.

>And what is he nervous about, the boggart or people 
>asking him why he was bought up with his gran?

So far, Neville has come across as afraid of nearly everything, 
including his own shadow. In most of the books he's jittery and 
has very little confidence in himself. And since he's so frightened 
of Snape, it's not surprising he'd be nervous about facing even 
an imitation of Snape.

> I don't understand why Neville hasn't mentioned his parents to 
>anyone? Could it be that he is intimidated by Harry? .... Or does 
>he feel responsiable in a way, to what 
>happened, is there more to his story then meets the eye?
>I think there is something for that last question because after 
>Moody's lesson in TGOF, Neville say (in a high voice)
>"oh hello", intresting lesson wasn't it? I wonder what's for 
>dinner, I'm starving aren't you?"
 ...etc."
>Neville is in fact trying to say the same thing twice!!! ...why does 
>he repeat it and get the second time wrong. Is it something to 
>do with the fact that he is trying to forget what he saw because 
>he had witnessed or is it a side effect of of memory charm? ... 
>Also Neville talks in a very high voice after the dementors enter 
>the train in POA.

Neville's about the same age as Harry, and the torture of his 
parents took place *after* Voldemort's downfall, so I think it's 
quite possible he was a witness - either a direct eyewitness or at 
least somewhere nearby where he would have had to listen to 
his parents' screams. His parents may have hidden him and 
ordered him to stay put, leaving him torn between obeying them 
(and his own instinct for self-preservation) or rushing out to them 
when the trouble started. Alternately, Voldemort's supporters 
may have simply shoved him off to one side with no way to 
escape. I don't think he was a direct eyewitness, because 
frankly, he would have been too good a weapon to waste. The 
mere threat of harm to their (very young) child (perhaps 
accompanied by a few light flicks of the Cruciatus curse) would, I 
think, have been something neither of his parents would have 
been willing to defy.
As for his comments about lunch,  I wonder if he was struggling 
under the same thing as Harry in Book 3, when the Dementors' 
presence caused him to hear his mother screaming and 
pleading with Voldemort. If Neville was a witness (in any sense) 
to his parents' deaths, I would think he'd be in some shock after 
watching the spider under the Cruciatus curse; it probably 
brought back terrible memories. I got the impression he was 
trying to cover it by making casual conversation, but it wasn't 
working, which is why he repeats himself and can't quite get the 
sentence straight (and also why he's speaking with a higher-
than-normal voice; if he were in shock and distress he might 
have been having some trouble breathing properly).
Also, Harry has had two or three people (Lupin for sure, and I 
think also Sirius and Dumbledore) with whom he can talk about 
his parents' deaths and the Dementors' effects. We've had no 
indication so far that Neville has talked to anyone. His gran may 
not be able to cope with discussing it, since it would have been 
either her daughter or son who died. 
That's an interesting point about a memory charm; I wonder if 
someone used one on Neville to try and help him deal with 
things. If so, it seems to be losing its effectiveness....

>...And on a random side note, is Neville allowed into 
>Hogmeads now becasue in POA, McGonagall banned him 
>from all future Hogsmead visits, was that just for the third year 
>or no?

I  would think it would be just for the rest of the year. Anything 
further would really be unnecessarily harsh.

>...Neville is quite powerful because surely the caldrons have 
>some sort of charm on the to stop 
>them melting in a ways to cause an acciedent especially in 
>school where anythong could happen. Even in the muggle 
>world, it'll take some doing to melt pewter that casually.

There was some speculation quite some time back that Neville's 
apparent lack of magical powers may be another side-effect of 
his parents' horrible deaths, but that at some point in a future 
book, he's going to be really backed against a wall and 
somebody's going to get a nasty surprise, because he's a much 
more powerful wizard than even he knows.