Folly, A Harry Potter Fanfic, Part 2

[terri_testing]

Summary: Snape’s life has been a series of spectacular errors of judgment, to put it kindly.

This has to have been his worst.

“Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly any body to love….” Jane Austen, Persuasion

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Comments

[ioanna_ioannina]

I love the detail that the body change should hurt - and that one about Severus thinking, how much it hurts the newborns.

[terri_testing]

Yeah, why would the text claim that the potion caused "discomfort," except that the babies given it cried?

Although I do wonder if Severus is right that this is the first time it's been used on an older human. One can see applications in any society that believes strongly in "blood".

Thanks!

[ioanna_ioannina]

Everybody using it on an older child would face the same problems with the neighbours as Severus: who is this new child? Where were it living its first five, six, ten years of life?
But still, not impossible. I can see a childless family adopting a promising muggleborn this way. They would certainly want to be sure, that the adopted one would be at least magically capable.

[terri_testing]

Oh, as you say.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Does the potion affect the fine structure of the brain too? Will Neville's personality become somewhat Severus-like too? Will Neville's magic be similar to Severus'?

Of course, this is the Potterverse, where souls are physical things and separate from brains, so maybe the above does not apply.

[mary_j_59]

Honestly, I hope not! Canon Neville is fine as he is. ) Also, I don't see that the physical changes would impact Neville's mind and soul as much as a couple of other things:
1. The little boy will not be living with the constant disapprobation of his relatives, and also won't be brought to St. Mungo's on a regular basis to see his mum and dad, whom he cannot help.

2. He will be living with a young foster-father who (in spite of his difficulties expressing it) has a loving heart and a strongly protective nature. Also, he'll be given tasks to do at which he can be competent.

Both of those things would tend to boost Neville's confidence; he won't be the victim he was initially in canon. Otherwise, I'm not sure how or whether these things would alter his essential nature. Self-esteem is overrated, IMHO, but letting a child be competent and genuinely helpful is a very, very good thing.

My two cents!

[terri_testing]

As you say. And really, the more closely I read canon!Neville, the worse I think of Augusta. Really, she's worse than Algernon

[oryx_leucoryx]

Just imagine Harry being given to the Longbottoms, becoming Augusta's preferred grandson. Yikes!

[borolin]

It could also be used by would-be imposters, pretending to be somebody's long-lost relative in order to claim an inheritance they weren't entitled to. It would raise identity theft to a whole new level.

I suspect canon Neville may be dyslexic, and can't read Snape's notes on the blackboard. But it's been pointed out that Neville performed better once he'd got his own wand.

Agree with you about Neville's family. And Saint Frank must have been either a torturer or a colleague of torturers, so unless he protested against what many of the Aurors of his day were doing, he must have been a dodgy character himself.

Two minor language Britpicks. Snape would call it a toyshop, not a toy store, and he would say "a little way". not "...ways".