TBAY: Neville and Foreshadowing

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 39414

Faith is on the phone.  She has just received a letter that David 
passed on from Cindy, and has phoned to see what he thinks.  David is 
contactable because he has a phone Cindy gave him:

@------((()

Faith is concerned that David is unsound on foreshadowing.  All this 
slightly fretful talk about coherence suggests to her that he *wants* 
foreshadowing and clues and author manipulation, he just doesn't know 
how to pick it out.  Faith reads out from Cindy's letter:

> You know, this No Memory Charm At All theory has some superficial 
appeal. For one thing, it is neat and clean. There are no messy loose 
ends here. Neville is just Neville. He has weaknesses just like other 
characters have weaknesses. In Neville's case, he is motivated by 
Fear of Power and Fear of Magic. You don't even have to get into 
whether Neville witnessed his parents' torture.

> There's a certain logic there. And a certain appeal. There really 
is.

> No, where Faith gets into trouble (and yes, strays from canon) is 
that Faith would have us believe that things happen in HP for no real 
reason pertinent to important plot developments. 

> That just doesn't work for me. I mean, when JKR includes lots of 
meaningless details, they aren't for the most part meaningless. No, 
almost *everything* in HP is there for a reason. She's always 
including details in one book to set something up in another book, as 
we all know.

Faith drums her fingers on the phone.  She knows he's going to let 
her down.  He says "Hm, I agree with Cindy that there are details 
that are meaningful later on.  And that means that any detail *might* 
be significant later." Faith sighs.  She knew it.  David goes 
on: "But I don't think 'most part' is right.  Take Knocturn Alley.  I 
think it's a racing certainty we'll see Knockturn Alley again.  I 
think too we'll see some of the Dark things Harry saw, and they may 
be significant.  But *most*?  The Hand of Glory: 75% chance, I'd 
say.  That necklace?  The fingernails?  The shrunken heads?  Flesh 
eating slug repellant?  Not only is it pressing credibility too far 
that they are all pivotal somewhere, it will ultimately make for a 
weird reading experience.  We need *some* background that is purely 
background.  At least *one* Hogwarts pet could do with being just a 
pet.  At least one Hogwarts professor should turn out to be a career 
teacher with nothing more on their mind than pedagogic proficiency.  
Just like *someone* should turn out to have innocently committed 
crimes under Imperius.  If the series ends up being all foreground it 
will take on the nightmare quality of an Ionesco play - I just don't 
believe it."

Faith asks: "So are you just going to let Cindy have all those 
Neville points just like that?"

David:  "Well, let's look at them:"

> Neville has a Toad for no real reason.
Faith: "Crookshanks is special.  Scabbers was special. Hedwig and Pig 
are magical owls.  Fawkes is a magical bird.  Mrs Norris is decidedly 
suspicious - even I admit that.  Trevor *can't* be unusual as well!  
It's too much!"
David: "Steady on!  Hedwig and Pig aren't really unusual by WW 
standards, are they?  Owls are supposed to be like that.  They have 
this magic.  So are Phoenices.  Crookshanks too, if we believe JKR's 
statements that he is part-kneazle.  So there might be room for 
Trevor to be more than a typical WW toad.  Verdict: undecided"

Faith puts the phone back to her ear, having jerked it away at the 
mention of JKR.

> He is forgetful for no real reason.
Faith: "I might cut Cindy some slack here.  He is always being 
introduced as forgetful, much as I dislike this pseudo-prophetic view 
of life"
David shifts uncomfortably: "To be honest (and don't tell the HPFGU 
people, will you) I hadn't *noticed* that Neville is forgetful.  Yes, 
yes, I know, the Remembrall, the password list, I did read those 
passages.  But I didn't see forgetfulness as his defining 
characteristic.  If you had asked me what sort of boy he is, I would 
have said 'clumsy', or even 'magical-learning-impaired'.  I never 
believed the façade of almost-squibness and he's not stupid, so I had 
him down as the class dysmagic, to coin a phrase.  He's got it, but 
he can't put it together.  Forgetfulness just passed me by.  But this 
is the big one, since Bertha is forgetful, and Mr, er, I've forgotten 
his name, at the World Cup becomes forgetful-seeming.  Verdict: Cindy 
has a point."

> He is competent in only one subject for no real reason. 
Faith: "Hoy! Canon, please?  Yes, his Herbology is so good it cancels 
his Potions, but given that he passes overall, he can't be a total 
dud.  McGonagall is displeased or frustrated at times, but is it 
really so?"
David: "and significance too?  Is it a case of his leaky magical 
power only coming through in Herbology, or is something more 
envisaged?  Verdict: Requires further explanation."

> He is shaken after meeting with Crouch Jr. for no real reason. 
Faith: "Er, I don't remember that bit - do you have a canon handy?"
David: "No, but I can get one.  Hang on a sec."  David puts down the 
receiver, exits the booth, catches a bus to the harbour, buys a 
ticket, boards the liner the next day, travels for three days, and 
finally gets to theory bay.  He runs up the beach, past the booth 
where Faith is still waiting by the phone, into the canon museum and 
up to the fourth floor, where he eventually finds a canon, in room 
14.  It says:

"They went up to the dormitory to fetch their books and charts, and 
found Neville there alone, sitting on his bed, reading.  He looked a 
good deal calmer than at the end of Moody's lesson, though still not 
entirely normal.  His eyes were rather red.
 'You all right, Neville?' Harry asked him.
 'Oh yes,' said Neville, 'I'm fine, thanks.  Just reading this book 
Professor Moody lent me...' "

David memorises the words, runs back to the liner, sails back and 
catches the bus home and picks up the receiver.

@------((()

"Nope, that's not canon.  He is not shaken.  Verdict: Cindy is a 
paddle short of an armchair."

> Snape is his greatest fear for no real reason.
Faith: "Yes, Snape is horrible to him in Potions.  There is no other 
reason."
David: "No, I think there is something to this, or if not, to the 
fact that putting Boggart-Snape in his grandmother's clothes is what 
deals with the fear.  Witness Dumbledore's Christmas cracker.  
Verdict: this is foreshadowing on some level."

Faith: "Hey, how come you get to do all the verdicts?"
David: "It's my male way of providing comfort.  Any other questions?"

Faith sighs.  She puts the phone down for a minute to consult Cindy's 
letter again:

 @------((()

> Someone needs to explain to Faith that once JKR has Banged in a 
certain way, she is never allowed to Bang in that fashion ever again. 
JKR cannot have another Animagus-Based or Polyjuice-Based Bang. It 
would never, ever work. As Faith correctly says, repetitive Banging 
is really boring. No, JKR must Bang completely differently in OoP. 
That may well be the hold-up in getting the book finished.

Faith sighs again.  She feels so *misunderstood*.  Taking up the 
receiver again, she says "Tell Cindy that I didn't mean that all 
bangs are the same.  I mean that the *same* bang is boring, second 
time round.  Bangy doesn't give a reason to re-read.  L.O.O.N.y 
does.  Subtle character clues unfolding does.  Seeing Moody as Crouch 
does.  But Bangy just goes from flat to floppy."

She puts the phone down again, permanently this time.

 @------((()

References to Faith and banging are to be found in the Files section 
at HypotheticAlley.