TBAY: Two Little Boys

[Kirstini]

No: HPFGUIDX 79447

On board the Narrative Ark, Kirstini and Hayes were polishing their 
most recently acquired can(n)on.

"Ever So Fallible!Dumbledore has become a favourite  theory of mine 
recently." Kirstini said, happily. " If we're right about this shift 
towards realism, then Ever So Fallible!DD's relevance is traceable in 
Harry's increasing frustration with DD in OoP. The parts of the 
narrative that focalise through Harry (which I think we could 
describe as the parts which pass explicit moral judgement) have never 
so much as questioned DD's actions before, let alone judged them 
anything other than absolutely right. OotP  sets DD up for potential 
fallibility, and offers Harry the beginnings of a survival instinct 
independant of him. Ever So Fallible!Dumbledore is VERY...um...grey."
She put down her duster, disconsolately.  

"Oh Hayes, we really need some sort of acronym! Anyway, I think it's 
going to ultimately lead to his death."

"Ooh, blood?" Hayes breathed, a worrying gleam in her eye. 

"Yup. Lots and lots of blood – Dursley blood, wizard blood - all 
those lives that would be lost by him caring about Harry too much may 
ultimately end up endangered anyway, perhaps because he attempts to 
stick too rigidly to his master-plan." She paused, tilting her head 
as she rubbed a particularly sticky spot off the flank of the canon.

"You know," said Hayes "We should think about getting ourselves some 
natty grey FEATHERBOAS to go with our uniforms...just for 
evening/occasional wear
I mean, blood can still be realistic, 
right...WHAT?"

Kirstini had jumped up in alarm. A voice in her ear had begun to 
whisper:

"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. There's loads of canon to support 
it..."

Kirstini flailed around deck, bewildered. "Whaasss? Wha?"

"I think this might be your problem," Hayes observed, pulling a piece 
of flesh-coloured string off Kirstini's hat.

"Oh, it's one of those faulty Extendable Ears I took a delivery of in 
July," Kirstini said.

"Want me to chuck it?"

"Naah, hang on. That sounded interesting."

Kirstini held the string up to her ear again: 
"...PoA was actually easier to work with than COS," the little voice 
continued. "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 awa...ccckkrrr..."

"Darn reception's mucked up," Kirstini muttered, and began to wander 
about the deck, bobbing her head about through the static until the 
voice returned.

"...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 Gryffindors in their 
year to share that level of past horror. Of course, it could be 
argued that each of their experiences are direct results of the 
prophecy but that's another theory...ccrrrxxxxx..."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" shouted Kirstini, shaking the Extendable Ear 
in frustration. The voice continued, suddenly.

"Neville's character changes purpose. In fact, IMO, he becomes more 
instrumental to Harry than he had previously been. Harry's choices, 
in fact his very personality, precluded the Neville 
connection...rrkbeeeeooo...This aspect of the relationship 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...beeeoooophhsst...the never ending connection between 
Harry and Neville...Neville is responsible for Harry's moral 
development. 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."

"Interesting," Kirstini muttered. She pulled a little notebook out of 
her hatband and scribbled a couple of entries in it. 

"Hayes, would you mind having a flick through the archives for me?" 
she said, handing Hayes the notebook.

"Yeah, those aren't a problem at all," Hayes said, tucking her arm 
back into her jacket. Kirstini descended to the cabin, and marched 
purposefully past Talisman's empty portrait to the fireplace. She 
picked up a handful of glittering powder from a small pot on the 
mantlepiece, and threw it in the fire. "Linda, I want a word!" she 
shouted.
There was a flash, and Linda stepped out onto the hearth, dusting her 
trousers down.

"Nice place you've got here," she said, conversationally. MC!James, 
who had been skulking in a corner contemplating making a large 
donation to charity, jumped up and ushered her into a chair.
Kirstini perched on the table next to her, beside the large plate of 
tapas MC!James had set in front of Linda, and began.
"Right. About this connection between Neville and Harry. You said 
that you wondered why Neville's was the first name that popped into 
Harry's head when he was on the Knight bus – and it put me in mind of 
something else."

Hayes came clomping up the stairs and handed some books and a pile of 
what looked like junk to Kirstini. She was covered in dust. 
"Hmmm...ah! Here we go," Kirstini cleared her throat and began to 
read.
	"By the time they were sixteen and had reached the fourth 
form...they remained unmistakably Brodie, and were all famous in the 
school, which is to say they were held in suspicion and not much 
liking...Along came Mary Macgregor, the last member of the set, whose 
fame rested on her being a silent lump, a nobody whom everybody could 
blame" (1) The same character is later described as "officially the 
faulty one."

"I don't remember a Mary Macgregor in canon..." said Linda, confused.

"It's not canon. It's a quotation from "The Prime of Miss Jean 
Brodie" by Muriel Spark, said Hayes. "You see, in addition to the 
fine theorising work we conduct, the Ark is also a place for archival 
research. We've got thousands of shelves of reference 
material...would you like a cough drop, Kirstini?"

"No, but I'd like to get on with the can(n)on I found for Linda," 
said Kirstini.

"I'll show you later," Hayes mouthed to Linda. Kirstini continued, 
picking up the second archive Hayes had brought her.

"Here's some more:
>>>
>Gen made the point that writing Neville off is easy because of the
way he's usually portrayed. I agree. We see Neville from Harry's
perspective, and Harry tends to write Neville off most of the time.>

That's an excellent point -- Harry (pre-GoF) wrote off Neville, 
because it's easier to ignore/feel-sorry-for the helpless or clueless 
types when you're busy saving the world.>>>(2)

"That was a listie called Matt, writing way back when the messages 
were only in quadruple figures. I just felt that it backed up what 
I'm getting at – Neville has been bred into a particular attitude 
which makes him secondary to Harry. He's not really got any 
especially good friends, and this is something constant through all 
five books, although he does appear to have developed a bit of an 
(unrequited) crush on Ginny. Harry, meanwhile, discovers himself 
famous and popular for the very first time – his social trajectory 
moves upward on entry to Hogwarts where Neville, the pureblood, moves 
downwards, partly because he's been taught he's inferior, partly 
because he instinctively shies away to prevent the truth about his 
parents from coming out. The truth about Harry's parents, of course, 
is widely known. 

"Until Harry finds out about the Longbottoms, and begins to empathise 
with Neville, Neville has been "officially the faulty one." Not that 
HRH are as mean as the girls in this book, but they don't really tend 
to take him into account. There's that awful scene after Moody has 
demonstrated the Unforgivables, when Harry is too wrapped up in 
himself..."

"As per usual," Hayes muttered.

"Hem *hem*...when Harry is too wrapped up in himself to realise that 
only a few beds away there's someone else still awake who is 
suffering, and who understands exactly what is going through his 
mind. Neville's is the first name he thinks of on the Knight Bus 
because Neville has been trained up – by his family, by Snape, even 
by the releative exclusion he exists in in Gryffindor Tower – to be 
an all-purpose scapegoat, much as Harry was at the Dursleys.

"However, for Harry to identify to any degree with Neville involves, 
at first, an identification against social type. Harry (much like 
Draco)is a leader who has been suppressed. Neville has also been 
suppressed, but his place in the social dynamic takes on a different 
form. We've got a lovely canon upstairs based on the premise that 
Neville finally develops past the inevitable description "a round-
faced forgetful boy" in OoP because Harry is finally beginning to 
realise that people are hugely complex, and not easily labelled. It's 
a nice counterpart to all the Mudblood-ing that the baddies indulge 
in. 

"Anyway, the step that Harry makes in beginning to include Neville in 
his esteem is a big one in his development into an appropriate hero. 
He's not there yet – remember that on the train he's hugely 
embarrassed, not just because Cho sees him covered in Stinksap, but 
because he's sitting with Neville and Luna at the time.
But I digress. I called you here to point out to you that someone 
else besides your good self and Dumbledore has made a connection 
between Harry and Neville."

Here she paused to hand Linda the last thing that Hayes had brought 
up from the bowels of the Ark. It was a miniscule can(n)on 
labelled "PS – `The Potions Master'" Linda raised it to her face, and 
a tinny voice snapped at her.
" `You, Potter, why didn't you tell Longbottom not to add the quills? 
Thought he'd make you look good if he failed, did you? A point from 
Gryffindor!'"(3)

"Yes, it's Snape again," Kirstini said wearily. "Anyway, this got me 
thinking. This is taken from Harry's very first Potions lesson, when 
Snape has only just met Harry and is reacting so strongly because of 
his resemblance to James. Now, this sort of thing causes big problems 
for the Snapeologists, because they have to spend a lot of time 
defending the fact that they fancy someone who is so utterly mean to 
poor little Neville, with apparently no provocation, bless `em. A lot 
of the time, however, they protest that Snape is actually trying to 
toughen Neville and Harry up to prepare them for the big bad world. 
Apart from the fact that you've got another example of the N-H 
connection right there – not only are they victims of Voldemort, 
they're both victims of Snape, and respond differently, interestingly.

 "I re-read this scene slightly diffently knowing that Harry has an 
extraordinary physical resemblance to James, and that James and Snape 
were rather less like "yourself and Mr Malfoy", and rather more like 
Mr Malfoy and Mr Longbottom. Now, we know that Snape looks at Harry 
and sees James. James probably would have acted in the manner Snape 
accuses Harry of – oh, stop snivelling, MC!James! We've already 
agreed that this doesn't refer to you – and therefore Snape, now in a 
position to do something about it, takes a point from Gryffindor in 
order to teach James MarkII to behave differently. Not a great 
teaching method, but still... 

"Anyway, Snape instinctively makes this particular connection between 
Neville and Harry, perhaps because Neville is vaguely reminiscent of 
Peter Pettigrew, who James continually used to make himself look 
good. Remember, much of Snape's bile is reserved for 
James's "admirers", too. I don't really think even Snape would call 
Sirius an admirer, when he's clearly an equal. Peter, however, isn't. 
If Snape looks at Harry and (mis)reads H=J, then he's also reading 
N=P. Harry and Neville haven't been particularly involved with each 
other up until this point, so Snape's connection isn't based on any 
factual evidence of the lives of the two boys in frot of him. Whether 
he makes this connection simply because he's aware of the original 
prophecy and connects the two boys this way, or because he's aware of 
some greater connection between the two of them, I don't know, but 
that's definitely the connection he makes... I'm not trying to say 
that Neville is a reincarnated Pettigrew or anything – remember, the 
H=J equation is a mistake on Snape's part.

"However, I'm not sure what he's up to, if this is the case. I can 
understand removing all those points from Harry in a misguided 
attempt to teach him not to be his father, but surely knocking all 
the confidence out of Neville would be more likely to encourage, 
rather than squash Pettigrewism. Anyway, this can(n)on's yours if you 
want it. I thought you might be able to build it up...?"

Linda was still catching her breath from this verbal onslaught when 
Kirstini jumped off the table.

"Got an idea!" she muttered, running downstairs to the archives.

"Phew!" said Linda. "I thought she was going to tell me off or 
something. Is she usually this – forceful?" 

"Nah," said Hayes, through a mouthful of aibondijas. "It's just a 
phase she's been going through since she got her rear-admiral's hat. 
I reckon she's just been reading too many Captain Cindy back posts. 
Are you going to eat those?"

        <"((>< <"((>< <"((>< <"((>< <"((>< <"((><
 

1)Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, (Penguin, pp6-8)
2) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/6013
3) As I'm not actually on board a massive ocean-faring 
research/reference vessel, but in my office surrounded by the 
complete works of Muriel Spark and none of the works of JK Rowling, 
I've no way of verifying this quote. I noticed it and tried to 
memorise it last night, though, so it should be fairly accurate.