The Big Bangers and Neville

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 35930

Kimberly wrote:

> When I think of 
> Neville's backstory I get all misty-eyed and impressed.  To me 
it's 
> tragic and terrifying and... something else that starts with a T.  

Uh, oh.  I need some help here.  Does the third T stand for "True"?  
What exactly are you trying to say there, Kimberly?  ;-)

Kimberly again:

> So then, did you *like* my insane backstory?  Because I did my 
best 
> to put in all the Bangs and angst I could.  It made me a little 
> queasy, but I did it for your entertainment.  You didn't like my 
> scenario on the ambush being Snape's idea, so I'm feeling a little 
> vulnerable now...

Oh, not to worry.  I love Faith.  She's pure, she's thoughtful, 
she's well-groomed, she's the girl-next-door, she probably wears 
plaid skirts and tights.  She's disciplined enough not to stray from 
canon *at all* -- what's not to like?  

I'll let Faith in on a little secret (Faith is probably very good at 
keeping secrets).  It's *tremendously* important to me that Neville 
have a Bangy backstory, see.  Neville isn't Edgy.  Or Tough (no, 
standing up to his friends and enduring a full-body bind does not 
count).  Or Funny.  Or Competent at the Big magical arts.  Or good 
under pressure.  There's not a whole lot to admire there, for me 
anyway.  He's kind of just vulnerable and rather weak at the moment, 
IMHO.

For the first three books, I wrote Neville off as someone to read 
past to, uh, get to Lupin.  But now, JKR has suggested that there's 
something going on with Neville.  If she leaves the backstory 
exactly where it is now, that is, exactly as Faith has it, well, it 
might not be enough to rehabilitate Neville in my eyes.

Jklb66 wrote (about why Neville visits his parents):

>It doesn't matter that they can't recognize him; they are 
> still his parents and it isn't strange that he visits them 
> occasionally.  

Hmmmm.  That's true, if you're Faith.  I think the question of why 
Neville visits his parents is better directed to Memory Charm 
Neville.  If he has no memory of the torture of his parents, I 
snicker at the idea that he would be very interested in visiting 
them.  But I'll try to snicker behind my hand so no one can see.  :-)

Elkins wrote:

> You still haven't sold me on the entire group of DEs being willing 
to 
> spare Neville.  I do like my DEs grey, it is true, but I also like 
> them vile.  If they had known the kid was there, then they would 
have 
> brutalized him.

Well, having all four DEs spare Neville does get rather Bangy, 
though.  We have Avery outside trembling all over.  We have Mr. 
Lestrange basically just trying not to make Mrs. Lestrange mad.  We 
have Crouch Jr. deciding Neville should be spared.  So Crouch Jr. 
decides that this is the time to finally challenge Mrs. Lestrange.  
You know, in all bad-guy movies, there is a moment when one of the 
bad guys gets brave and stands up to the Most Supreme Evil bad guy.  
Ah, more on-camera conflict when Crouch Jr. grabs Mrs. Lestrange's 
arm just as she is about to curse Neville.  Their eyes meet as he 
holds her arm for just a little bit too long . . . 

Wait, I didn't mean to go that far.  After all, Mr. Lestrange is 
standing *right there*.  But as you see, having Crouch Jr. finally 
stand up for what is right has Hollywood written all over it.  Then, 
when Crouch Jr. turns out to have been *wrong* and sparing Neville 
gets them all caught and sent to Azkaban, well . . .  It's a good 
thing Crouch Jr. lost his soul, because if he hadn't, Mrs. Lestrange 
would have ripped it out of him manually.

Elkins again:

> The Reverse Memory thing wasn't actually a 
> charm at all.  It was a *potion.*  A new and experimental potion, 
in 
> fact, which had just recently been invented by that young hotshot 
of 
> Dumbledore's -- Severus Snape.
 
<snip fantastic Memory Retrieval Potion idea>

I like it, I like it.  You see, I originally conceived of it as a 
charm because I was trying to thwart the Memory Charm crowd.  But 
you're right that now is the time to break free of the Memory Charm 
straightjacked completely and . . . run about waving our arms freely.

It has one disadvantage, in that it shifts the focus back to Snape 
rather than Moody (who is the one who would cast the Reverse Memory 
Charm).  But then again, Moody's contempt for Snape is extra-
compelling if Moody thinks Snape bungled the Memory Retrieval 
Potion.  

Yeah, Potion probably works better than Charm.  Aside from the fact 
that we get a humorous shot of Snape forcing icky medicine down the 
throat of a 2-year old, we can also have the frustration of Snape 
being unable to concoct an antidote.

Cindy (who agrees with Kimberly about Sissy Spacek, and who would 
admit to having become emotional while watching "In The Bedroom", 
except that she doesn't admit to things like that)