Neville's powers

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 98306

AmanitaMuscaria:

> Now, why would Neville refer to himself as a Muggle and not as a 
> Squib? He's been brought up in the magical world, and would know 
the 
> different terms, wouldn't he? He may have been hidden because 
> he's 'The Other' or for a different reason, but for someone whose 
> powers have been very downplayed, he's had a lot of pagetime.

I fear the reason is that JKR didn't want to introduce the concept 
of a Squib (as a social category - the idea that you can be born to 
wizards without powers is of course implicit in what Neville's 
saying) at that point.  In COS Neville does say something 
like 'everyone knows I'm practically a Squib'.

His powers are evident if you look carefully, of course; see
http://elkins.theennead.com/hp/neville.html (you will have to scroll 
a little way down).

David