Why Snape Hates Neville

[Sabrina]

No: HPFGUIDX 127684



mfterman wrote:

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. 

Sabrina wrote:

I was wondering if the reason as for Snape hating Neville, and Harry 
has to do with who is "the one."  I think that Snape is mean to 
Neville, because he has some knowledge that Neville is actually "the 
one" who has to defeat Voldemort, and that is referred to in the 
prophecy.  Snape is mean to Neville, because Neville is not up to par.  
Snape knows that he has to bring out Neville's potential.  He can't do 
it in a supportive, caring way as Lupin might do because he also has to 
keep up the act of being a death eater in disguise, therefore cannot 
openly be nice to Neville.  

This may also explain why Snape is so much more horrible to Harry.  Not 
only because of his gripe with James Potter, but also because he knows 
that Harry is not "the one."