Lupin as a teacher/Snape as teacher

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 138669

Laura Walsh wrote:
> ><snip>  Even if Lupin had not originally intended to use Neville as
the example student, once Snape criticised him in front of the whole
class, using Neville was perfect.  Lupin could guide him through the
entire exercise as part of his teaching, thereby assisting him in
getting each of the steps done correctly.  All that Neville really has
to do is to concentrate and do what he has been told. <snip> It is a
perfect example of scaffolding. Using a student with poor
self-confidence helps him to become successful and boosts his self-esteem.
> 
houyhnhnm reaponded:
> 
> That was my take on the scene, too, the first time I read it. 
Lupin's behavior struck me as much less innocent on a second read. 
Certainly the suggestion to dress the Snape boggart as an old woman
came from Lupin.

Carol responds:
I'm not sure how to respond to Lupin with regard to Boggart!Snape.
Quite possibly you're both right. 

But my take on Snape's role in the incident has always been that he's
reminding Lupin that the "class contains Neville Longbottom," whose
parents were Crucio'd into insanity by Death Eaters. (Don't they
exchange glances there, a possible bit of mutual Legilimency or mental
telepathy?) At any rate, Snape would logically assume that the Death
Eaters Neville saw in infancy would be his greatest fear, especially
given his parents' fate, and IMO he is warning Lupin to be careful.
Neville could be traumatized by such a boggart and the rest of the
class terrified by a face-to-face confrontation with the seeming
embodiment of undeniable evil. (Also Neville's boggart would reveal
the secret of what happened to his parents, which Snape may think
should remain concealed at this point.)

Snape does not, of course, anticipate that he himself, hardly a
comparable threat (a sarcastic teacher vs. a Crucioing Death Eater),
will be Neville's greatest fear, and his intention to help (if I'm
correct) backfires ironically. Snape being Snape, he probably assumes
that Lupin mocked him intentionally and his dislike and suspicions of
Lupin are intensified.

As for Lupin, I think he does the best he can in an awkward situation
(though I think he finds Neville's boggart and his method of
ridiculing it more amusing than perhaps he ought to). More important,
I think he does apply Snape's warning, not with regard to Neville but
with regard to Harry, whose boggart Lupin assumes will be Lord
Voldemort, and which he prevents the rest of the class from seeing (as
I think Snape expected him to do with Neville's supposed DE boggart).
If not for Snape, perhaps Harry's boggart would have been revealed in
that class and Harry might never have had the one-on-one Patronus
lessons with Lupin.

On a sidenote, Lupin may have been applying the same strategy to avoid
embarrassing Hermione, whose boggart he apparently guesses has
something to do with educational failure. If so, the ironic
consequence of this generous impulse is that she fails a segment of
her DADA "practical" and gets an E instead of an O for her DADA OWL.

All part of the persistent theme throughout the books that actions
have unintended consequences.

Carol