Neville in Herbology (was sig. of Neville)

[ssk7882 <skelkins@attbi.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50559

Tanya wrote:

> It seems to be universally agreed upon that Neville excels in 
> Herbology. However, the only canon I remember seeing that supports 
> this statement is that which comes directly from Crouch/Moody's 
> mouth. If I remember correctly, Professor Sprout herself never 
> mentions Neville's skills at all, not even once. Nor do I remember 
> Rowling ever writing any scenes in Herbology that even hints 
> towards Neville excelling in it. 

Kathy offered:

> At the end of the book (page 307 in the scholastic paperback 
> edition) Harry and the rest of the students get their exam results. 
> JKR writes that "Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology 
> mark making up for his abysmal Potions one." This suggests that 
> Neville has a history of success in Herbology and is clearly his 
> best subject. 

We also get reinforcement of this idea even before Crouch/Moody's
tete-a-tete with Neville in GoF.  When Neville raises his hand
in DADA class to volunteer the name of the Cruciatus Curse, we
are told that:

"The only class in which Neville usually volunteered information 
was Herbology which was easily his best subject."

So no.  I don't think that Crouch Jr. was making it up.

Besides which, his plan wouldn't have been a very good one,
would it, if Neville hadn't been genuinely interested in 
Herbology and at least reasonably competent in it?  Only 
an interested student would have bothered to do out-of-class 
reading voluntarily, and Crouch's plan depended on Neville 
having read an entire book -- or at least far enough into 
it so that he would possess the information about gillyweed 
which Crouch hoped that he would later pass on to Harry.
And indeed, when Harry runs into Neville in the dormitory
after his tea with Crouch/Moody, Neville seems to be quite 
absorbed in that reading.

So I'd say that he's both genuinely interested in and reasonably 
skilled with Herbology.  "Excelling" I don't know about.  But
it does seem to me that he's probably pretty good at it. 

Kathy also wrote:

> IMO, I believe that Neville's skills in Herbology may come 
> into play later on in some future plot or sub-plot. 

It wouldn't surprise me.  JKR does seem to have been setting
it up for some time now -- since the first volume, in fact.
And I agree with you that Neville is likely to take a more
center stage in future volumes.

Some people on this list have suggested in the past that
Dumbledore designed the obstacles to the Philosopher's Stone 
very consciously as a test not only for Harry, but also for
his friends.  Some of them have cited the Devil's Snare 
obstacle as evidence for the supposition that Dumbledore 
fully expected Neville to be accompanying the Trio on their 
quest when he designed the barriers.  The Devil's Snare, they 
claim, was tailored to Neville's particular talent, just as 
McGonagall's chess set was tailored to Ron's.

I'm not sure if I really believe that one, myself.  But it's
a neat theory. 

Star Opal listed a number of ways in which Neville is brave.  
Mainly a "me too" on those, except to add one that she left 
out:

Neville is an adolescent boy who wears fuzzy slippers.

Without shame.

That's courage.

Star Opal also wrote:

> So that's why I'm particularly amazed by Neville when Harry 
> ditches him to go to Hogsmeade (PoA ch 14). He never brings 
> it up to Harry. Never says anything to Harry, we don't even 
> see him again till ch 16 IIRC. 

Yes, and that's another way in which Neville has real courage.
He puts up with an awful lot of abuse without complaining.
He never reproaches Hermione for casting that Body-Bind on him 
at the end of PS/SS.  He doesn't go squealing to a teacher
when Draco harasses him in the corridors.  He never objects 
to being punished (and rather harshly, too) for leaving his 
list of passwords lying around where they could be found in 
PoA, even though as we later discover, he did *not* leave 
them lying around where just anyone could find them.  They 
were stolen from off of his bedside table by Crookshanks.  
Neville does not whinge.

He also refrains from pressing his company on Harry, Ron 
and Hermione, even though he seems to have no other friends.
The only place we ever see him pressing his company on
Harry is in that scene in PoA, right before Harry ditches 
him to go to Hogsmeade, and one could argue that the only 
reason that he is willing to do so there is because he has 
reason to believe that Harry, whose *real* friends are all 
away and who has no one else to talk to, might welcome a bit 
of companionship.

Stoicism isn't a very flashy sort of courage, perhaps.  But 
it is courage.

James wrote:

> I am not sure Neville's mother is even named, except as 
> Mrs. Longbottom or Frank's wife or some similar formula.

Nope, she has no name.  She wasn't an auror, either, as 
surely if she had been, then the defendents in the Pensieve 
scene would have been standing accused of abducting and 
torturing *two* aurors, rather than an auror "and his wife?"

Rather irritating, that, isn't it?  Yet another nameless 
martyr mother, taking her place alongside the unnamed 
Mrs. Crouch and Tom Riddle's equally unnamed mother.

<sigh>


Elkins, who is really just so very *tired* of JKR's faceless
martyred maternal figures