In Defense of Snape (long)

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 122425


Dungrollin wrote:
I've found some canon to suggest that fear is actually a
good motivator, and particularly for Neville:

OotP, chapter 25 The Beetle at Bay:

"Harry was pleased to see that all of them, even Zacharias Smith,
had been spurred on to work harder than ever by the news that ten
more Death Eaters were now on the loose, but in nobody was this
improvement more pronounced than in Neville. The news of his
parents' attackers' escape had wrought a strange and even slightly
alarming change in him. He had not once mentioned his meeting with
Harry, Ron and Hermione on the close ward in St. Mungo's and, taking
their lead from him, they had kept quiet about it too. Nor had he
said anything on the subject of Bellatrix and her fellow torturers'
escape. In fact, Neville barely spoke during the DA meetings any
more, but worked relentlessly on every new jinx and counter-curse
Harry taught them, his plump face screwed up in concentration,
apparently indifferent to injuries or accidents and working harder
than anyone else in the room. He was improving so fast it was quite
unnerving and when Harry taught them the Shield Charm - a means of
deflecting minor jinxes so that they rebounded upon the attacker -
only Hermione mastered the charm faster than Neville."

vmonte responds: 
This quote is not about fear, it's more about revenge. Neville has 
just learned that Bellatrix has just escaped. He now has a reason (a 
mission) to learn all that he can in order to avenge their attack.

Vivian