TBAY: Lives Intertwined---Long

[linlou43]

No: HPFGUIDX 79265

	

	It was very quiet on the shore of theory bay as the sun 
slowly rose over the horizen, when quite suddenly a slight pop 
disturbed the pristine scene and a stranger stood upon the beach. 
Linda looked around her speculatively. It was as beautiful here as 
she had imagined. The waves were gently lapping at the sand and the 
slowly lightening sky was cloudless, only disturbed by the 
occasional owl. "Well", she said aloud to no one, "early bird gets 
the worm and all that. Time to get some work done."

         Shading her eyes against the rising sun, she looked out 
into the bay itself. The spanking new vessel she had anchored in 
the bay overnight was dwarfed by the Big Bang but it was a sturdy 
ship and its highly polished canons reflected the early morning 
light as the sun climbed higher in the sky. It had yet to be 
christened but was, a far as she knew, a new vessel, with the 
exception of quite a large proportion of the canons. Many of them 
were from early in the series but a little TLC had brought back 
their earlier luster. 

 	"Who, exactly, are you?" demanded a beligerent voice behind 
her. Breaking off her musings in midthought, Linda turned to the 
newcomer. 

	"Hello", she said simply. I'm new here. Name's Linda. I 
anchored in the bay last night." She presented her hand to the 
stranger. "And you are..."

         "Captain Cindy", the stranger answered coolly, not 
taking Linda's hand, "and those canons of yours better not be aimed 
at the Big Bang." 

          "Actually", said Linda, gesturing toward her 
cruiser, "as you can see they're pointed out to sea at the moment. I 
wasn't planning to attack any of the established vessals on the 
TBAY, just to add my own theory to the mix.

       	   "Oh, that's alright then", said Cindy smiling, extending 
her own hand. "Welcome to the bay. So what is this theory of yours 
that has that much canon the moment you sail in? 

        "Well", replied Linda," it's pretty simple really. 
There is a quantifiable connection between Neville and 
Harry."                    .

      	"No kidding",Cindy commented caustically. Dumbledore told us 
that much when he explained the prophecy in OOP."
		
  	"Yes, he did, as far as he went", Linda explained."However, 
the connection I'm making is that the boy that wasn't marked is 
integral to the success of the boy that was. Quite a few of the 
events that give Harry the tools or information he needs have 
stemmed in some way from Neville", explained Linda. "There's loads 
of canon to support it."

        "Not very bangy", a frowning Cindy commented. " And 
where exactly is all this canon you're going on about?"

      	"All through the series," explained Linda. "It starts all 
the way back in SS..."

	"But we don't even meet Neville until well into the book!" 
interupted Cindy.

         "I know that," countered Linda. "If you notice, I 
did  not say all, just *quite a few*. Anyway, the first part of SS- 
Harry finding out he was a wizard, getting to school and all that- 
was mostly set-up and therefore not germane to the actual conflict 
part of the story. The actual meat of the story doesn't really start 
until Harry gets to Hogwarts, and we meet Neville on the train 
before he even gets there. Give me a minute. You asked, I'm trying 
to answer."

          "OK. I'm listening," said Cindy. "Shoot."

          Glancing at the formidable armament the Big Bang 
showcased out on the bay, Linda pondered Cindy's choice of words and 
decided to continue anyway. "It starts with the remembrall 
incident. If Draco hadn't stolen Neville's remebrall, Harry wouldn't 
be the youngest seaker in a century. If that flying talent hadn't 
been fostered that early on, Harry might not have been able to catch 
the flying key and he probably wouldn't have been able to get past 
the dragons in GOF. Second, although it was not caused by Neville, 
he was with HHR when they discovered Fluffy and therefore is 
connected by association. Next, Neville is instrumental in the trio 
finding out about the Sorcerors stone. If he hadn't hopped into the 
common room under the influence of the leg locker curse, Harry 
wouldn't have given him the chocolate frog which was followed by 
Neville givingn Harry the Dumbledore card. If Harry had eaten the 
frog himself he most likely would never have looked at the back as 
it was a card he already had. In this way Neville was indirectly 
responsible for the trio finding out who Nicholas Flamel was and 
therefore about the sorcerors stone. I would count these as three of 
the most important events in the first book but feel free to 
disagree."
        	
	Cindy looked pensive. "Alright, so far you may have a 
point", she ventured thoughtfully. "You've caught my attention at 
least. What else have you got?"

	Encouraged by Cindy's interest, Linda continued. "Next we 
move on to COS. This was a difficult book to reconcile with the 
theory because we really don't see a whole lot of Neville.  The only 
connection I've been able to come up with is that Lockhart had not 
chosen Neville for the dueling demonstration, Snape may have not had 
a reasonable cause to veto the choice. This set up the match-up 
between Draco and Harry, which led to the discovery of Harry's 
ability to speak parsel tongue. Without that discovery, Harry could 
never have gotten into the chamber. It's indirect, I know, but it's 
still a valid connection. I never said the connections would have to 
be caused by Neville, just that they would exist. Maybe, through the 
first part of the series, Neville's incompetance is necessary to 
Harry knowing what he needs to know. He certainly would not have 
been involved in any of the incidents I've mentioned so far if he 
wasn't so hapless at magical skills."

	"That is stretching a bit isn't it? agreed Cindy."However it 
does exist, I'll give you that. Now what about POA?"

	"That was actually easier to work with than COS," Linda 
replied. "Neville is much more involved in the main body of the 
story. For instance, Harry using Neville's name on the Knight bus. 
Harry is not especially close to Neville. Why would it be the first 
name that pops into his head? Another example is the boggart 
incident. For the first time we see Neville succed at a spell, not 
once but twice in the same class. Is it coincidence that that same 
class leads Harry to achieving the patronus and therefore being able 
to save himself, Sirius and Hermione? I don't think so. Neville is 
also the key to the first inkling we get that Sirius is not after 
Harry at all. When Ron awakes with Sirius standing over him, it is a 
direct result of Neville having to write down the passwords. If he 
hadn't, Crookshanks would not have been able to steal them from his 
bedside table and Sirius would never have been able to get into the 
dormitory. In this case, it was a clue that Harry did not recognize 
at the time but I have to wonder if it entered into his decision to 
believe Sirius in the shreiking shack. At the very least it affected 
the actions of the staff in that they increased the protection on 
the castle in general and the Griffyndor dormitaries in 
particular.Therefore, Harry was better protected. Sirius wasn't 
actually after him but that wasn't known to the characters at the 
time."

  	Linda paused in her narrative and looked at Cindy. She 
hadn't realized that she had been staring at the ground, absently 
tracing a figure eight into the moist sand as she spoke. Cindy gazed 
back at her, and after a few minutes of silence rang through the 
early morning, she spoke.  "Well. Are you going to continue?"

	"Alright, on to GOF", Linda continued. "Obviously, we don't 
see Neville until we are well into the book since the first section 
is taken up by the QWC, so there is no connection until they arrive 
at Hogwarts. The first one I see is their first DADA class with Fake!
Moody. Only two students are dramatically affected by the 
demonstration of the Unforgivables- Harry and Neville. I know this 
is because of what they each have in their past but I think it is 
significant that they are the only two in their Griffyndors in their 
year to share that level of past horror. Of course, it could be 
argued that each of their experiances are direect results of the 
prophecy but that's another theory. The second connection stems from 
the same class- Fake!Moody's gift to Neville. We are told by 
Moody/Crouch Jr. that he gave Neville the book expecting that Harry 
would find out about Gillyweed from him. It was Harry's stubborn 
pride and sense of honor that prevented this from happening. The 
thing is, whether Harry utilized Neville's knowlege or not, Fake!
Moody CHOOSE Neville to be the bearer of that knowlege. Why? Again, 
Harry wasn't especially close friends with him so why didn't he use 
Hermione or Ron instead. Goodness knows Hermione would never have 
rejected backround reading. Fake!Moody was many things but he wasn't 
stupid. He could easily have found a way to give the book to 
Hermione without arousing suspicion. That way he could have been 
certain that Harry would get the information on Gillyweed-yet he 
gave it to Neville instead.  The use of Dobby as conveyer of the 
info was a desperate attempt to fix that error. Fortunately for Fake!
Moody, it worked."

	"So what you saying", said CIndy slowly," is that Neville 
supposed to be responsible for Harry succeeding on the second task, 
but Harry screws it up. Sounds to me as if your theory is starting 
to take on water.  Harry's choices, in fact his very personality, 
precluded the Neville connection."

	"But that isn't the case", Linda replied. "In this case the 
connection was forged by a third party-Fake!Moody. It wasn't 
necessary for Harry to take advantage of Neville's knowlege for the 
connection to be there.

	Captain Cindy looked at Linda with narrowed eyes."It still 
seems to me that your canons are starting to get slightly ...opaque. 
How the heck are you going to hold this together through OOP?"

	"Well, things start to change after the second task in 
GOF",said Linda. "Neville's character changes purpose. In fact, IMO, 
he becomes more instrumental to Harry than he had previously been. 
This aspect of the relationship has actually been in existance has 
been around since SS/PS. Neville is and is Harry's moral compass, 
leading him toward the maturity he'll need to continue to fight 
Voldemort. He does this by example. Despite his magical 
shortcomings, Neville strikes me as the type of kid who is older 
than his peers in terms of maturity. I've always seen him in this 
way. Yes, in some ways he is very young. But in moral developement 
he is very mature. All the way back to 'standing up to his friends'. 
It really isn't fully evident, however, until OOP. Once he gets some 
confidence in himself, his maturity shines through in spades."

	"Alright, alright I see your point. I'm going to have to 
think about this a bit, get it all clear in my head", said Cindy. "I 
just have one more question---for now. What's with the figure 
eight? "

	"It symbolizes the never ending connection between Harry and 
Neville", answered Linda. Note that IMO, Neville is responsible for 
Harry's moral developement. At the same time Harry is responsible 
for Neville's rise in confidence-especially in OOP. Their paths are 
always circling each other, occasionally becoming twisted and 
crossing, but always connected in the end."

	"Anyway", Linda said as she turned back to look out at her 
ship. "I have some canons to polish. Why don't you take a walk on 
the beach and think on it? You might want to move up a bit more on 
the sand though. The tide is starting to come in." Then, with a 
slight pop, she disapperated, leaving Cindy alone on the beach.

   -linlou, who begs the residents of the bay to be gentle as this 
is her first TBAY post