Neville's powers

[amanitamuscaria1]

No: HPFGUIDX 98370

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "davewitley" 
<dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> 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

AmanitaMuscaria again:
Hmmm - maybe - he could just have said 'They didn't think I was very 
magical'
Like you, I believe Neville will surprise us; I just said his powers 
were downplayed, not that he didn't have them. What I mean is, he's 
not just used as a foil to show off everyone else's better wizardry, 
he has a large role in his own right. I just think that role will get 
larger.
Cheers. AmanitaMuscaria