The Boggart incident (Was: Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape)

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 153251

> Carol:
> I think we have sufficient canon to make this theory one of several
> possibilities rather than simply assuming the worst of either 
Snape > or Lupin or both.
> 
> Carol, who thinks that this lesson was Neville's first step in
> overcoming an unrealistic fear of Mean!Snape and working toward
> confronting his true personal demons, chief among them Bellatrix 
> Lestrange
>
Leslie41:

A hundred thousand pardons if someone's mentioned this before, but 
strangely enough I always thought of this scene as Lupin's way of 
getting Neville to face his fear of his *grandmother*, who is scary 
to Neville in an entirely different way.  

Lupin pauses and considers Neville's mention of Snape, but then 
Lupin himself brings up his grandma, whom Neville makes plain he 
doesn't want to see either.

Neville is afraid of Snape but obviously does not love him. But I 
would suggest it's actually perfectly fine for Neville to remain 
afraid of Snape in perpetuity, at least a little. Considering 
Snape's personality I'd be frightened of him too were I his 
student.  Neville must merely be able to function in Snape's class.  
He doesn't have to like it, or the teacher.

It's much more important for Neville to be able to relate to his 
grandmother, who is his guardian.  Even Bellatrix isn't really the 
fear, I think. What if Neville had lost his parents in an accident, 
for example?  

I think in Neville's case the fear of his grandmother is related to 
his inability to fully accept that his parents are probably forever 
lost to him. To love and accept her fully he must stop being afraid 
of her, but if he stops being afraid of her in some way he betrays 
his parents.  He accepts that they are gone.

I don't think Neville wants to do that, at least not yet.  But Lupin 
senses that he should, and provides a way to make his grandmother--
AND Snape--less threatening.