Neville's powers (was RE: Will Harry loose his powers?)

[Susan]

No: HPFGUIDX 98219

Melanie wrote: 
> The truth is it's not his fault that he is slow, by 
> all accounts he probably naturally had a lot of magical talent.  It 
> is not directly stated but somewhat implied that his forgetfullness 
> is the result of very powerful memory charms that were preformed on 
> him as a little child.     
> But even if his forgetfulness and need to work hard isn't from a 
> memory charm the  truth is there are plenty of reasons why things 
> would come harder to some people and not others. 
> I personally think his Grandmother is extremely hard on him, and 
> probably doesn't know what magic he may have possessed as child, she 
> didn't take care of him completely until he was over a year old.

I think it is implied somewhere that Neville's struggles are related 
to his early childhood and what happened to his parents.  I keep 
thinking about the part in OoP (don't have the book in front of me) 
where we and the gang see Neville and his Gram visiting Neville's 
parents.  Now let's think about this.  His parents were obviously 
Aurors, and given that, they must have been quite powerful wizards.  
Seeing what has happened to his powerful wizard parents as a result 
of their run-in with LV would be very disturbing, particularly when 
he obviously visits them on a regular basis.  

Now when I was a very small child, I truly saw my parents as 
invincible, all powerful, super-human, etc.  Of course, as I grew up, 
I got to find out that they were just normal people, that not all of 
their stories were entirely true, etc.  What I'm saying re: Neville 
is that he never got the opportunity to discover that for himself.  
They were taken away from him at an extremely early age, and unlike 
Harry, he has to see his parents' suffering and the staggering 
cruelty of LV and the DE's on a regular basis, and starting at a very 
young age...probably way before he was capable of understanding 
exactly what happened to them.

Anyways, I don't see him putting much stock into magical abilities 
while he's growing up.  I mean, magic didn't help save his parents.  
He's probably rather afraid of magic in a way because it let his 
parents down so horribly. And he's definitely insecure about his own 
abilities.  If his grown Auror parents couldn't cut it (so to speak) 
then what contribution to magic and the WW could he see himself 
making, especially as a child, and in particular, one who has no 
parents to guide him?

And Gram, I agree, is hard on Neville, though I'm sure she thinks she 
needs to be, but she's proud of Neville's parents because of their 
noble fight and their effort, despite their obvious loss, and I think 
that she almost resents the fact that Neville seems ashamed of them 
because of what they've become instead of recognizing and honoring 
them for their sacrifice.  I'd also like to add the whole generation 
gap here.  My Gram had a much harder life than me, her values were 
quite different, etc.  Just for starters, she lived through two WWs!  
She had to be tough.  And this is completely ignoring all the modern 
conveniences that have sprung up in her lifetime, like say an actual 
washing machine, etc.     

Ok, so Gram seems harsh but feels she has to be to prepare Neville.  
And Neville, because of his parents and because of his Gram pushing 
him all the time, turns out to be quite scatterbrained and insecure.  
And Melanie, you're right, we don't know exactly what happened in 
Neville's younger years, specifically why it was a toss-up between 
Neville and Harry re: the prophecy (aside from his birthday).

Susan (who's proud of Neville's accomplishments and bravery in OoP).