Chapter Discussion: Chapter Fourteen, Goblet of Fire: The Unforgivable Curses

[geoffbannister123 at btinternet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 192208

-- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at ...> wrote:
 
Geoff: 
> > There are more instances, as I suggested, later in the books, later than 
> > the chapter we are considering.
> >
> 
> Annemehr:
> There may be.  I can't think of any that are real instances of friendship or cordiality as opposed to just being thrown together by circumstance.  At least, not until later in DH after Neville had demonstrated some competent heroism himself.
> 
> I don't *really* intend to be criticising Harry here.  Actually I'm just frustrated because from the first book I saw Neville as an interesting character full of potential, and was continually disappointed that Harry never did.  Because without Harry's interest (and by extension, JKR's?) there was never nearly enough Neville in the books.
> 
> Or to put it another way, it seems to me that Harry usually had the same estimation of Neville that Neville himself did.  And in the first six books, that was much too low.

Geoff:
I'm afraid that I stick with my comments in post 192205.

In my class at Grammar School, many of us had a couple of close friends 
and a lesser degree of contact with others. "Being thrown together by 
circumstance" didn't mean that we had a low opinion of them or ignored 
them. We would acknowledge them if we met outside school and we 
would interact in circumstances where we came together perhaps in a group 
but might not necessarily seek out each other individually. 

In adult life - in teaching for example - my fellow colleagues and I would 
usually maintain amicable contact (excepting perhaps the odd "Snape" type 
on the staff!) but again, there were depths of contact outside our discipline; 
mutual friends, hobbies and interests, life views. 

I think that the interaction in Gryffindor was much more multi-layered than 
the perhaps two-level situation you see. Perhaps this is a gender thing for I 
see it a lot in male groups.