PoA Chapter Seven

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Malfoy returns to class acting as if he’s the survivor of some heroic battle. Which only Harry actually is, btw.

Even more shocking, Malfoy is marginally interested in girls when he plays the part of stoic sufferer to Pansy. Draco’s such a Mama’s boy.

Snape tells the class to settle down and Harry and Ron indignantly think about how if they’d walked in late they’d have gotten detention because Malfoy’s allowed to get away with anything in Snape’s class. Okay, hold on. No he isn’t. Nobody is. The Trio’s actually probably got a worse record in Snape’s class than Malfoy does—he likes Snape so he behaves.

And here, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Even if Snape would have given detention to Harry and Ron here, he’d have been wrong to do so. So it’s not like Malfoy’s getting away with anything.

Malfoy does display enough intelligence to annoy Ron. But that doesn’t take much.

Draco drawls to Snape that he needs something else done so Harry has to do it. If I was Harry or Ron here I’d have started laughing too by this point. Draco’s being a dick, but just the little stinker kind. Ron and Harry react to him like he’s being evil.

This book is generally a favorite because the Sirius reveal is great. But that gives JKR the problem of having no real villain, since Sirius isn’t trying to hurt Harry and neither is Peter. So she comes up with the Buckbeak story instead. Only the Buckbeak story is a non-issue, because it’s basically the story of an inept guy given a teaching position through favoritism who shouldn’t be hiding behind a bunch of kids to save his ass anyway. And that means the villain role falls to a kid whose crime is making a mistake in class and being unsympathetic about the consequences. Even the innocent animal isn’t innocent since it attacks Draco for the same reasons everyone else in canon does.

Harry’s shaking with anger now because Draco says his father’s made complaints about Hagrid. Even if I didn’t like Draco I couldn’t think of this as some huge injustice that Hagrid’s job is in trouble, especially when I know Hagrid is a bad teacher who can’t be fired because of Dumbledore.

This is why the series often depends on seemingly unimportant things like loving Hagrid. If you don’t see Hagrid being fired any differently than Harry sees Trelawney being fired, it’s hard to get worked up.

Oh! Here’s that big moment where Snape threatens to poison Trevor and totally would have done it too because he’s evil! I really don’t think the scene’s meant to be taken as seriously as Ron and Harry take everything in it. Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

Seamus reports Sirius has been sighted by a Muggle who thinks he’s just an ordinary criminal. Which he actually is. Okay yeah, he’s a wizard, but get over yourselves, guys. There are Muggles who have killed more people at once than Sirius.

I love the way Malfoy’s such a pariah amongst the heroes that whenever he’s needed as part of the story he’s always got to be forcing himself into a conversation between people who are glaring at him and wishing him dead.

Luckily Malfoy’s face is always twisting into various positions of “malicious,” “mean,” “nasty,” and “malevolent” so we know they’re just reacting to him like the cowardly demon he is. He should really be perched on Harry’s shoulder like an imp.

Can’t help but imagine what Ron and Harry look like from Draco’s pov. I suppose various stages of “morally outraged,” “righteously angry,” “heroically protective,” and “Crucio-level indignant.”

Draco’s bad jokes always have to over-played so Harry can notice (as if he’s not always checking Draco out), but give him a really dramatic moment and the boy knows how to play it just right. He draws Harry into the truth about Sirius “quietly,” “breathing” his lines instead of speaking them. And people wonder why H/D is so popular?

Still, why is Draco the only person telling Harry this story? Besides the obvious meta-reasons? Just like in GoF, Draco’s actually surprised that he knows more about Harry’s life than Harry does. Presidents of the fanclub probably often do!

Also, Hermione pops in and out of the scene after class, because she just Time Traveled. Despite knowing that Time Turners exist, and that they live in a world of magic, it doesn’t occur to Ron to think Hermione’s done anything magical. After all, it wouldn’t be OOC for her to have started Apparating early. (If Hermione heard that theory we all know she’d tell them you can’t Apparate inside Hogwarts.)

Lupin tells them to put away their books, which by now we know is code for “good teacher.”

Lupin mentions Filch, whom the narrator tells us is constantly waging a war against the students. By grumbling at them as he cleans up their messes.

Can’t wait until Harry starts heroically hexing the guy in a few years to put him in his place. Uppity squib janitors are the worst!

Snape leaves the teacher’s lounge when they come in, taking care to get in a last shot at Neville for letting Hermione help him in Potions. Well, really so that Lupin has a sense of what’s going on with Neville so he can give him some of that confidence that is the basis for all ability in good people.

Lupin might have thought he was out of practice humiliating Snape but 20 years later, Moony’s still got it!

Harry finds it hard to answer with Hermione bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet and waving her hand next to him. Hee! Hermione was so cute. A little young for 14 (which she would be by this point) but still.

I once did a post on how books 3-6 are like one book for each house? And this one’s totally the Gryffindor book, so there’s a big theme about courage. Hagrid’s class required some already, but now we’ve got a Boggart, which is pretty entirely about being able to laugh at fear.

A lot of people used to point to Snape’s being Neville’s boggart as proof that Snape really was Satan as a teacher, since he’s beating out every other fear for a kid whose parents were tortured into insanity. To me it more just says that Neville didn’t witness his parents’ torture and he’s had a relatively normal life so has a normal kid fear of a mean teacher.

I love that Harry can’t even think of how to make a Dementor less frightening. Because Nazgul rip-offs are just so terrifying they can’t be funny. Start with a pair of tap shoes and a hoodie and work from there Harry, jeez. Family Guy got a whole character out of it.

Heh. That reminds me of a LOTR fic. I think it was called “The Littlest Nazgul” where Frodo did become a wraith. The other Nazgul were annoyed at having to get him a black pony, and the fact that he called the pony Mushroom.

Seamus’ greatest fear is of course a banshee. If you cut Seamus open every Irish stereotype in the world would spill out.

Lupin’s boggart was the moon, of course.

And again with the courage theme, Harry’s still obsessing over his humiliating faint on the train and thinks Lupin kept him from facing the boggart because he didn’t trust him not to faint again.

I’m going to give some props to Lavender here for wondering why Lupin’s afraid of crystal balls. And JKR for calling attention to it without really calling attention to it.


Things happening twice:
While Ron and Hermione don’t get why, Harry becomes actually interested in Draco when he starts talking about taking action in revenge for your family, which will happen again in HBP.
Harry will also have the urge to show off for Cho the same way Malfoy is here. It just takes him a couple of years.
A Boggart shows up again in OotP.
Neville seems to have as much trouble as Draco when it comes to listening in class, and Potions has been known to also cause violent accidents. Only here it’s not Neville’s fault.

It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
Lupin’s boggart
Since Lavender brings our attention to it, and we hear about everyone else’s, it’s got to be something.
Status: Fired with a mighty bang!
Malfoy’s cryptic remarks
He says if it were his family he wouldn’t just go to school like a good boy.
Status: Fired—he actually would take some action.

OMG, Hermione didn’t get to face her boggart!
What if she has to face one in the future?
Status: Fired, but harmlessly. I can’t remember if it’s at the end of this year or during her OWLS, but she can’t do it right. She should have just thought to make McGonagall’s face break out in pustules that said “Old Maid” or something.





Misdirected Answering
I know the Boggart class was an elaborate set up for a couple of things, but I don’t remember Boggarts ever really being important. Especially once the big tragic scene in OotP points out that adult fears tend to be a lot harder to make funny.

Jabootu Score: 1

Comments

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"Still, why is Draco telling Harry this story?"
I haven't read PoA for a long time, but from what I remember Harry learns the (false) story of Sirius when he eavesdrops Minerva and co at The three broomsticks. What does Draco tell him in this chapter?

[eri1980b.livejournal.com]

Ah, the good old days, when I could have respect for Lupin even if he's taking a swipe at Snape in his first lesson. I never noticed it before but on rereading he comes across a bit passive agressive or is that just me? Also, hothing mentioned to Harry by Lupin or anybody else for that mater about Lupin's relations with Harry's family etc. One could almost say he was distancing himself from the whole affair.

Actually, what is Lupin actually teaching here? Is it DADA or is it just a masterclass on how to deal with Dark Magical Creatures? In fact, I would say a lot of this shold be covered in COMC but of course Hargid can't do it.

Yes Draco's being a complete numpty in this chapter but really, is he any more different than what any other kid would do in his situation. My nephew kicked a lamp post playing football the other day and managed to wangle a day off school because of it. I just don't get the "evil" vibes I think we are supposed to be getting.

On Neville's fear of Snape - didn't we all have a teacher that scared the bejeesus out of us? I still remember mine and he was terrifying right up until sixth form when I realised it was all a front to get through the working day and really he was a pussycat. I was even brave enough to tell him so. That is how I've always read this situation; Neville's too scared of Snape to see that he is just another person like everyone else after all.

How come Malfoy is the only one bringing up Sirius' relationship to Harry? Seriously, wizards don't gossip? Ok, Hermione won't know and Ron may have been silenced by his mum but Seamus and Neville would have heard something! Maybe they just didn't like Harry enough to care to tell him...

"Heh. That reminds me of a LOTR fic. I think it was called “The Littlest Nazgul” where Frodo did become a wraith. The other Nazgul were annoyed at having to get him a black pony, and the fact that he called the pony Mushroom." - I NEED to read this fic! I have had such a crappy day and this made me laugh out loud.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I never noticed it before but on rereading he comes across a bit passive agressive or is that just me?

Passive-aggressive is Remus' style. We will see more examples of that in the next chapter when Severus brings him the potion. I'd say even his way of guilt-tripping Harry into giving him the Map and refraining from further sneaking to Hogsmeade is done in a passive-aggressive way.

On Neville's fear of Snape - didn't we all have a teacher that scared the bejeesus out of us? I still remember mine and he was terrifying right up until sixth form when I realised it was all a front to get through the working day and really he was a pussycat. I was even brave enough to tell him so. That is how I've always read this situation; Neville's too scared of Snape to see that he is just another person like everyone else after all.

Yes, I had one of those too. I found it unpleasant to sit in his class. Part of it was his body language, part of it were his tirades about what was personally wrong with each one of us and another part was the way he quizzed us on details with tangential bearing to the topic. One day I talked to him after class and told him how I felt. I think I managed to surprise him a bit. He gave me a long lecture about the difference between physical fear and moral fear and how inferior I was to fear him that way. Somehow that put an end to the problem.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Iirc, Draco is basically the one who implies that there *is* a story. So Draco knows it (the basics, at least) but he doesn't actually say it. He just hints darkly at it and says Harry's got reason to be going after Sirius.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think Lupin's very passive-aggressive--I sort of love it about him. Unfortunately in later books I think it tips too far with Harry calling him out for abandoning his wife and kid by volunteering for the war effort (which is incredibly weird). But in this book he comes across to me more as a guy who is always pleasant because he doesn't think he has the security to be anything else so it's become part of his personality, but he finds little ways to let his hostility out.

Lupin is teaching DADA. Third year seems to be all about the monsters.

This is definitely one of the examples that shows why I could never consider Draco a real bad guy. He's being a total little stinker but I just feel like at some point it should tip over into being funny. Maybe I've just watched way too many TV shows where eventually this kid would be an accepted member of the group--like yeah, he's a pain in the neck, but he's *our* pain in the neck.

Yeah, I definitely think Neville's fear here is making Snape more scary than he is. Not that he doesn't have reason to do that. Snape does yell, he insults him, he puts him on the spot. I completely sympathize with Neville. He's just not actually in danger. I think as an adult he would laugh about how Snape used to terrify him.

I remember Frodo and Mushroom getting stuck in a shrub at one point.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Wait, so Neville being afraid of Snape meant that Neville was really expressing a fear of his family? Or--oh, I think I see. You mean that Neville was exceptionally scared of Snape because he'd been conditioned to expect violent treatment from people trying to make him perform well magically. Snape gets frustrated and yells and Neville has good reason to think he'll next be tossing him out the window?

Part 1

[oryx_leucoryx]

And here, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Even if Snape would have given detention to Harry and Ron here, he’d have been wrong to do so. So it’s not like Malfoy’s getting away with anything.

In chapter 9 he will take points off Harry and Ron for being late. Of course they won't be returning to class for the first time after being injured.

Oh! Here’s that big moment where Snape threatens to poison Trevor and totally would have done it too because he’s evil! I really don’t think the scene’s meant to be taken as seriously as Ron and Harry take everything in it. Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

Well, he did give Neville an unpleasant scare. OTOH if Neville in his 3rd year still didn't figure out a pet had no place in Potions class then I can understand Severus arriving at the conclusion that only shock treatment would do the job.

A couple of fic recommendations with relevance to this point:

Lessons in Safety by bohemianspirit (Severus/Charity drabbles)
Pedagogically Effective - Charity delivers Severus' message to Neville.

Also, Hermione offers to fix Neville's potion, then whispers instructions to him - how much is Hermione's overbearing 'helpfulness' a factor in Neville's ineptitude?

Still, why is Draco the only person telling Harry this story? Besides the obvious meta-reasons? Just like in GoF, Draco’s actually surprised that he knows more about Harry’s life than Harry does. Presidents of the fanclub probably often do!

Yes, with the remark that in Harry's place he'd want revenge it is clear Draco knows what the accusations against Sirius were. Including his personal betrayal of the Potters, not just that he killed 12 Muggles and a wizard in one curse. Perhaps Lucius took an interest in who was accused as a DE when he made his plea of Imperius - he needed his story to be believable to Crouch Sr and the rest so he had to know what they knew and thought about the various prisoners.

Also, Hermione pops in and out of the scene after class, because she just Time Traveled.

She is also starving because it is much later in the day in her subjective timeline.

Lupin tells them to put away their books, which by now we know is code for “good teacher.”

In contrast with Umbridge who tells them to put their wands away. But in HBP when Severus remarks on Hermione's quoting of the textbook he is evil.

Remus is described as looking much healthier than he did on the train. However this is Thursday September 9th. Friday November 5th is a full moon (when Remus will be absent from class). Counting backwards he should probably be absent for his transformation. One of many calendar anomalies in this series. (Also, in November DADA is on Friday and Monday, here it is on Thursday.)

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, third year is all about the monsters, yes. Between Lupin's DADA and Hagrid's CoMC the whole year is about the monsters. (About saving the monsters, actually.) But that's just because it's Harry's 3rd year. I'm reasonably certain that Percy's 7th year DADA class was all about the monsters too. And Ginny's 2nd year DADA, as well as the twins' 5th.

Re: Part 2 - The Boggart lesson

[oryx_leucoryx]

Hogwarts must have plenty of dark enclosed spaces. Harry and his friends spend much time sneaking around - in closets, secret passages and the like. Yet the only times they come across Boggarts are when Remus needs them for lessons or in the Triwizard maze. I call BS. I don't believe Remus when he says that Boggart moved into the wardrobe in the staff room the previous day. IMO he owl-ordered it or something and put it in the staff room. The story is for dramatic effect. Choosing the staff room over the DADA classroom may have been done with the intent of provoking Severus.

A lot of people used to point to Snape’s being Neville’s boggart as proof that Snape really was Satan as a teacher, since he’s beating out every other fear for a kid whose parents were tortured into insanity. To me it more just says that Neville didn’t witness his parents’ torture and he’s had a relatively normal life so has a normal kid fear of a mean teacher.

I agree with marionros that Neville's exaggerated fear of Severus has its roots in the way his loving family treated him. Boggart!Severus is reaching inside his robes, presumably for his wand. When does Severus hex students - except as a Defense exercise? Also, note that when Remus suggests to Neville to think of his gran his reaction is that he does not want the Boggart to turn into her. IMO if Neville didn't have Severus to fear his Boggart would be either Gran or Algie. Which would place him in a no-win situation - either he is defeated by his family or his has to ridicule his family - in front of his friends.

I love that Harry can’t even think of how to make a Dementor less frightening.

In the Triwizard maze he sees a dementor, but decides it is a Boggart when Harry's Patronus causes it to trip over its robes. A bit of reversal of logic there.

I’m going to give some props to Lavender here for wondering why Lupin’s afraid of crystal balls.

In chapter 11 Trelawney reports Remus fled when she attempted to crystal-gaze for him. Totally scared of crystal balls.

[sunnyskywalker]

yeah, he's a pain in the neck, but he's *our* pain in the neck

Draco = Hermione?

[lissa2.livejournal.com]

"How come Malfoy is the only one bringing up Sirius relationship to Harry? seriously, wizards don't gossip?

I wanted to ask this question for some time: Is "character X doesn't know something that logically he should have known a long time ago" a common element in children literature? or is it just JKR that's notorious for doing that?
Is there anyone here who's an expert in children literature and can answer this? thanks.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Harry thinks of Remus as a great teacher, but aside from his private anti-dementor lessons with Harry, how useful was his teaching? In DH the kids are camping for months and the only monsters they ever run across are the dementors, and only because Voldemort persuaded them to leave Azkaban, normally they aren't out and about. I suppose some of the purebloods have boggarts, ghouls and other such creatures in their homes - like we see at 12GP, or the Weasley's ghoul. But it appears there aren't that many red-caps and hinkypunks in the British countryside.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Which makes it all the stranger that Patronuses are considered "too advanced" for people in school. They're practically the most useful spell we see in canon and they're not taught.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'm an expert but I've worked a lot in it in different capacities and I would say no, it's not a staple any more than it is anywhere else.

I would say that it's maybe easier to get away with in kid's lit because there's so many things that kids by definition don't know. A lot of things that adults would consider common knowledge a kid wouldn't have come across yet. I think it's actually really cool the way JKR uses this a lot of the time, like the fact that it's really *neat* that Harry learns that these random adults are his father's friends and that they were kids together just like him and his friends. But it strains things when they're also notorious criminals that everyone is terrified of and yet nobody ever manages to spill the beans to Harry. And Harry doesn't do any research on his own about it either.

Re: Part 1

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Right--it was the fact that he was coming from the infirmary that made me think he shouldn't get points. If he was just coming in late he should get points taken off. (And I wouldn't be surprised if Snape played favorites there and didn't take them off either.)

Also, Hermione offers to fix Neville's potion, then whispers instructions to him - how much is Hermione's overbearing 'helpfulness' a factor in Neville's ineptitude?

This just made me realize something interesting (to me). I often use the analogy with Buckbeak and Draco that it would be like putting Hermione in front of an animal that didn't like being corrected. She might not be able to stop herself. And here we do have a similar situation. I don't think it's purely protecting of Neville here, though she does want him to get it right. I think it's almost impossible for her to watch him struggling through this without piping up.

I wrote a whole post once, actually, on Hermione's pattern of sabotaging things subtly. Her helpfulness is often a problem.

Re: Part 2 - The Boggart lesson

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Interesting to think Remus ordered it. Makes me wonder if he ordered a bunch and all the classes were told they were defeating the one boggart in the school. Instead of only Harry's class getting to learn it!

Yup, I do agree, now that I understand, the point about Snape being linked to Neville's family. Interestingly Neville's gran seems to ultimately be a good guy. I wonder how his relationship with her was supposed to have turned out in the end. Snape was a good guy too, of course, but he didn't become friends with Neville.

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

RE: Hermione's boggart. We know what she said to her friends, not what she had really seen. I find it hard to believe she would be helpless in face of McGonagall, when we just had an entire chapter of Neville(!) successfully confronting Snape. VoxM apparently felt the same and wrote a good short fic "The Only Thing We Have To Fear", describing her take on what Hermione saw and her subsequent conversation with Lupin. Highly recommended: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/445344/1/

Especially once the big tragic scene in OotP points out that adult fears tend to be a lot harder to make funny.

Yes, in VoxM's fic Lupin says "Sometimes those fears are things that one cannot ever come to terms with." But Catlady in her "Lupin's Boggart Class with the Third Year Slytherins" short fic did succeed to have kids have adult fears and (mainly) deal with them believably. Unfortunately, I couldn't find her profile on fanfic sites, but I have the fic in a word document. If somebody wants, it can be e-mailed.

Draco drawls to Snape that he needs something else done so Harry has to do it. If I was Harry or Ron here I’d have started laughing too by this point.

LOL! I just imagined the scene. Sistermagpie, one could create a good humor fic or a comedy film with Draco-type character being all annoying and your-type character laughing at it. Poor Draco would be lost for words at the sight of Trio laughing and taking their turn to tell others this story in a funny way, a bit like Draco loves talking about Harry's visits to Madam Pomfrey, only not viciously and with true humor. Are there books/movies like that about YA or are most child protagonists indignantly (& boringly) serious? The only character I can imagine laughing in that situation is Emily Starr from Montgomery's series. That's why she was more interesting than Anne Shirley, who can laugh too, but not in this way. Would love to get recommendations and see more similar characters.

Even little kids get that Snape isn’t really going to poison the toad. In the next book he’s threatening to poison everybody.

I re-read the chapter and Snape did sound scary here. I bet there is post-HBP essay somewhere "From toad poisoner to DD's killer - Snape's progression through the series".

I once did a post on how books 3-6 are like one book for each house?
I don't remember seeing it. Can you give a link, please?

[oryx_leucoryx]

See My Slytherins for a Slytherin Boggart lesson. I don't know if it is the same one you were thinking of.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't have any trouble believing Hermione's boggart. It wasn't McGonagall, it was McGonagall telling her she'd failed all her classes. But thanks for the link to the fic!

I'm trying to think of characters who laugh in that sort of situation...I can't think of any off-hand in children's books but there must be some. I mean, Draco's being such a drama queen I'm sure kids would laugh at it too.

I re-read the chapter and Snape did sound scary here. I bet there is post-HBP essay somewhere "From toad poisoner to DD's killer - Snape's progression through the series".

LOL! I'm sure it's out there. What's funny is I mostly think of this scene as inspiring all the people who talk about Neville being rude by bringing his toad to class at all.

Found the link: http://sistermagpie.livejournal.com/98360.html

I totally didn't realize in writing it that PoA was Gryffindor until someone pointed it out in the comments so it's there now.

Hilariously, I come to the conclusion that since the books go PoA (Gryffindor), GoF (Hufflepuff), OotP (Ravenclaw) and HBP (Slytherin) the seventh book might be about unity! Bwahahahaha!

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

I don't have any trouble believing Hermione's boggart. It wasn't McGonagall, it was McGonagall telling her she'd failed all her classes.

I don't have any trouble believing it, either. The reason why McGonagall was involved is probably because Hermione is more worried about disappointing her than her other professors. Or it might just be that McGonagall would be the one most likely to tell her she'd failed everything. (shrug)

Still, it is interesting how when Hermione's boggart takes the shape of a teacher, everyone's ready to believe that it isn't about the teacher (or that she's lying about what it was). But when Neville's boggart takes the shape of a teacher.... Dunno. Part of that is also probably because Neville accurately predicted that the boggart would turn into Snape, so Snape himself would appear to be central to Neville's fears. But it still could well be more complex than that.

I do wonder if anyone's written about the significance of Hermione's boggart being McGonagall rather than Dumbledore, Snape, her parents (assuming they opened a letter with her grades before Hermione saw it), etc.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Here's that bit of the scene:


“Right, Neville,” said Professor Lupin. “First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?”

Neville’s lips moved, but no noise came out.

“I didn’t catch that, Neville, sorry,” said Professor Lupin cheerfully.

Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, “Professor Snape.”

Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.
“Professor Snape…hmmm…Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?”

“Er — yes,” said Neville nervously. “But — I don’t want the Boggart to turn into her either.”

“No, no, you misunderstand me,” said Professor Lupin, now smiling. “I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?”

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It does link the two there, doesn't it. I mean, if Ron or Harry had said "I don't want the boggart to turn into Mum/Aunt Petunia" it would have been more of a joke. But Neville does seem to not want to face his gran when she's angry either. I don't think he's saying that he's scared of her the way he is of Snape, but probably that he doesn't like facing her when she's not happy. We know she dominates him.

Also the class laughs when he says Snape, I think because they both get why Neville would be afraid and no that it's not so serious it can't be laughed at.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, Hermione did disappoint McGonagall that year, in a way. It was Minerva who went through much effort to get her the Time Turner so she could take extra classes, and Hermione didn't prove herself worthy when she fell apart.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Ah, so some of that could be specific to that year. Makes sense.

I do think that the prospect of failure would continue to play a role in Hermione's boggart, but McGonagall might not.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Well, that or he's used to laughing at himself to encourage his house-mates forgive his flaws.