[HPforGrownups] Neville and the Canary Creams

[Shannon]

No: HPFGUIDX 36185

At 11:58 PM 3/7/2002 -0000, Elkins wrote:
>I'll even let you in on a little secret here.  I thought that Lupin's 
>oh-so-blatant "let's bolster Neville's confidence" was kind of 
>condescending too, to tell you the truth.  And you *know* how much I 
>adore Lupin!


I assume you're talking about the boggart incident?

I might agree in other circumstances.  However, Snape had just been
horrible to him yet again, for no good reason.  From Neville's perspective,
this was the first class with a new teacher who may not yet have gotten
wind of his reputation.  A chance to not be the one who always screws up.
And then Snape tries to humiliate him.  Lupin probably hadn't thought about
who would start the lesson until Snape opened his big nasty mouth.  In
Neville's place I'd have been ready to pledge undying loyalty to Lupin for
so smoothly deflecting Snape's obvious attempts to torture Neville.  And
because of that, Neville, who is miserably bad in most every other class
with the teachers who have no confidence in him at all, succeeds.

Shannon