[HPforGrownups] Neville's memory & Snape

[porphyria at mindspring.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 36623

Kitty espoused a theory I'm particularly fond of myself:

<Now, on to Neville. I've just finished listening to/reading GoF for the 3rd time. The whole thing with Bertha's memory being severely affected by memory charms and the theory about Neville having had Memory charms placed on him to forget the torture scene makes a lot of sense! I think it is a JKR clue. Part of the reason Snape is so heartlessly cruel to Neville could be because he doesn't agree with coddling Neville and fuzzing out the ugly truth. Maybe he thinks he can jog Neville's memory by antagonizing him.>  

Yeah, at the risk of sentimentalizing Snape, I'd say the books do hint at this very possibility. Regardless of how mean Snape is to Neville, he's warm and fuzzy compared to Neville's own family. Uncle Algie literally endangers the child's life (multiple times) in order to smoke out his magical ability, which is one among several indications that adrenaline directly affects wizarding skills. And when Voldemort needed to break Bertha Jorkin's Memory Charm, he did it by repeatedly torturing her. So I've wondered many times whether Snape imagines that if he can either terrify or infuriate Neville enough that it'll break the charm. Doesn't that have Big Bangy potential? I wouldn't put it past Snape's degree of cunning, especially since...

Kitty again:

<Another way he deals with the kids is by being nice to Malfoy & co.  Give them false sense of security so that they trust him and he can manipulate them later.  Also doesn't hurt for those rotten little boys to tell their DE dads how Snape is wonderfully evil and baits HP. Different motives for why he treats different kids the ways he does.>

Yeah, I've argued this a couple of times myself, especially given Snape's extraordinary double-bluff in CoS when Draco offers to recommend him to his father for the position of headmaster. He manages to say something loyal and supportive of Dumbledore while leaving Draco (and everyone else) with the exact opposite impression. It's really brilliant. 

And regardless of what we imagine Snape's "real" attitude towards his students to be, the net result is that he does toughen Harry up by honing his sense of stubbornness in the face of antagonism (qualities which serve Harry well against LV later on) and he does no favors for his Slytherin by pampering them.

Back to Neville again, I'm always amazed at the way Neville tells his own story towards the beginning of PS/SS. Quoted in part:

"My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me -- he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned -- but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced -- all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy."

What does everyone make of the way Neville phrases it? Is this his black humor? Breezy stoicism? Abject emotional distance? If nothing else, he's not expecting sympathy from his listeners. His speech is the product of a culture whose idea up upbringing is quite merciless and unyielding. If Snape's own concept of education partakes of this same philosophy then it's quite possible that he does intend the best for Neville after all. Maybe the image of Snape in Gran's clothing symbolizes more that we first suspected...

~~Porphyria