Is there anything in the HP world that bothers you?... And Neville

[mongo62aa]

No: HPFGUIDX 56622

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Melanie L Ellis <emeleel at j...> 
wrote:

Now, about Neville. I think the poor boy is a much more powerful 
wizard than anyone believes him to be. I think he's just *scared* to 
be anything more than the mediocre bumbler that he is. Why? Would YOU 
want to be a full-out wizard if your parents had been reduced to 
simpering mental patients because they were tortured by fellow 
wizards? We know that his Gran takes him to see his parents 
regularly, so he knows just exactly what happened. I think that 
subconciously, he's afraid that if he develops more than a minimal 
amount of power, he just might end up in the same position for some 
baddie to come after him. So he does terribly at the powerful magic 
stuff, and is much better in the "safe" stuff like Herbology.

Me:

I also believe that Neville's problem is not power, but control.  
Remember the first flying lesson?  most students were barely able to 
make the broom move, while Neville's broom was shooting around like a 
rocket.  His problem was *controlling* the broom.  I would say that 
there is a similar reason behind all of his cauldrons melting - he is 
pushing too much magic into the process.  (I do not think that a 
Muggle could successfully brew a potion, magic is part of the process)

Neville appears to have some kind of psychological block against the 
use of magic, no doubt related to the torture of his parents.

Bill