Why Snape hates Neville

[mfterman]

No: HPFGUIDX 127611



What makes Snape's treatment of Neville so interesting is that Snape
almost certainly has to know about what happened to Neville's parents.
That they were tortured into madness by Death Eaters. Given that Snape
is a reformed Death Eater (theoretically), there's the question of why
Snape would be cruel to someone who has suffered so much at the hands
of Death Eaters. If Snape was the person to switch sides, he's not
totally without a conscience.

My own feeling is that Snape has been trying to push Neville to reach
his potential. All of the indications in the series have been that
Neville was never a weak wizard. He's just blocked mentally, out of
fear. Once he overcame that block in OotP, he started showing real
power and potential. Snape is a demanding teacher, but as he comments,
he gets above average scores from his students in the OWLs.

mfterman