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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 94577

-Carol <snipped by Joe> wrote:
Meanwhile Lupin is thrown a curve. The boggart is not a DE but a
professor, and he has no choice but to help Neville find a way to 
make
his boggart ridiculous. It would have been better for staff 
relations
to let him use his grandmother instead, but Lupin probably didn't 
want
to undermine Neville's relationship with his grandmother, either.
<snipped by Joe>
> 
Joe wrote:
One thing that I think keeps getting missed is that "Neville's 
afraid of what Neville's afraid." I don't think anyone can convince 
Neville (or anyone) to be less afraid of X and more afraid of Y.
Neville's boggart takes the shape--for whatever reason--of Snape and 
not his Gran, not the Lestranges, not LV. 
 
It is what it is.

Carol:
Oy! You're right about Neville's gran and about Boggart's reflecting
actual fears. But my point was that Snape may have assumed that the
boggart would be a DE (as IMO it logically should have been, but fear
isn't logical) and warned Lupin so that Lupin could avoid having such
a fearsome boggart appearing to Neville and his classmates. That's why
Lupin *asked* him what he was most afraid of rather than merely having
him take his turn. Had it been a DE, he might have decided to work
with Neville privately just as he did with Harry (who was not even
allowed to face his boggart with his classmates). Instead, Neville's
boggart turns out to be the very person who had just tried to warn him
about Neville's potentially disturbing boggart. (Poor Snape!) But
Lupin is now stuck dealing with a boggart that looks like his
colleague and has no choice but to make him look ridiculous or leave
Neville unable to deal with a boggart. I'm trying to say that the way
I read it, neither Snape nor Lupin is at fault in this scene. They're
both trying--one covertly, the other overtly--to help Neville to deal
with his boggart.

Carol