Lupin's resentment : An inside to Snape's resentment

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 94236

> Neri:
> I have been carefully maintaining neutral silence during this
surge of Snape posts <snip> but this one had got to me. I just
can't avoid replying. Did you think for a minute, how is it that
Neville's greatest fear is Snape? We are talking here about a
boy whom both his parents were tortured to insanity. A boy
whom his own uncle was throwing him out of third floor
windows and piers. And what is he most terrified of? His
teacher.<<

Pippin:
Neville went to pieces in his very first potions class, before
Snape had done anything to him. 

Neri:
Neville regularly goes to pieces. He also did it before the first 
flying lesson, and during the first five minutes he managed to break 
his arm and disrupt the lesson completely, but do you see Madam Hooch 
mistreat him? Neville is a disaster in every subject except 
Herbology, but do you see any other teacher mistreat him even once?

Pippin: 
I think his great fear of Snape
may have something to do with his mysterious past. That doesn't
mean Snape is guilty. I keep thinking about children who have to
be taught not to be afraid of firefighters in their turnout gear, so
that they won't run away from their potential rescuers. Snape
bursting in, wand raised, to rescue baby Neville from the DE's
who had tortured his parents would be a terrifying sight to a
toddler.

Neri:
Well, if this or something similar turns out to be true, I'll post 
here an official apology to Snape. Honest. In the meantime this 
speculation doesn't have much support in canon, while there is plenty 
of canon for Snape's continuing abuse of Neville.  

Pippin:
I am not going to defend Snape's teaching methods.

Neri:
I wasn't discussing his teaching methods at all. I cowardly leave 
this to Susan, who does a heroic job with Kneasy. I was only talking 
about behaving like a decent human being towards kids one was given 
responsibility for.   

Pippin:
I've had my
share of Snapes and so have my children. If we didn't know that
wizarding children don't come down with Muggle afflictions, I'd
wonder if Neville had attention deficit disorder. I have seen a
brilliant, award-winning teacher whom I would love to study with
turn into a complete monster trying to deal with undiagnosed
ADD. This isn't the place to rehash MemoryCharm!Neville, but it
wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Neville has the magical
equivalent of a learning disorder.

Neri:
I happen to have a niece who is ADHD diagnosed. I know from first 
hand how problematic these kids can be (Neville is not even close). 
And yet, if her parents would have find out that one of her teachers 
is picking on her *of his own accord* (as there is plenty of canon 
for Snape doing to Neville) I'm sure they would have taken her out of 
this school.

A question: you seem to think that Snape knows about what happened to 
Neville's parents. I agree that he most probably does know, whether 
your speculation above is correct or not. What does this say about 
him continuing to abuse Neville?   

Pippin:
But we were talking about Lupin. You understand that it's wrong
for Snape to humiliate Neville in front of the whole class. But you
don't see anything wrong or discourteous about Lupin doing the
same thing to Snape?

Neri:
In this specific case, no. I don't see anything wrong, and much 
right. Lupin correctly identified who is the bully and who is the 
victim here (not very difficult, LOL). Sure, if this was a normal 
muggle school, Lupin should have file an official complaint against 
Snape and make sure he would be thrown out of the school and not have 
a chance to abuse students anywhere else. In Hogwarts things don't 
work this way, apparently, so Lupin armed Neville against his worst 
fear the best way he could. Yes, I admit that I most ungraciously 
gloated in Snape's humiliation when I've read this. It was a tiny 
sample of the dish he feeds Neville each and every lesson.   

Pippin:
If the point of the exercise was to help Neville deal with his fear
of Snape, or to discourage Snape's bullying, then it didn't work.

"Snape didn't seem to find it funny. His eyes flashed menacingly
at the very mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was
bullying Neville worse than ever." --PoA ch. 8

Lupin is too shrewd a judge of humanity, and Snape, not to have
anticipated such an outcome. IMO, Neville was heartlessly
manipulated into a situation that only made things worse for him.

Neri:
IMO the difference between "just the ordinary bullying" and "bullying 
worst than ever" is not that critical. What is critical is the 
ability to confront your worst fear without going to pieces. Lupin 
gave this ability to both Harry and Neville, using similar methods. 
IMO he was bang right both times.

Sorry Snape fans, our Potion Master may be talented, charismatic, 
sexy, brave, shrewd, and a superb secret agent. He is also a chronic 
child abuser. I see no way out of this conclusion. And in my book, 
people who abuse children are bad people.  

Neri