I realize you are still annoyed with me for persuading young Neville to leave behind his Auror training and take up a position as Pomonaâs research and teaching assistant, apprentice, and eventual successor. I believe the terms you used were âencouraging him to waste his potential and settle for mediocrity.â I will pass over the implied insult to my chosen profession, here, in favor of telling you instead about an incident that took place at the beginning of the year, which will hopefully clarify to you just why I believe your grandson to be not only a useful, but an essential addition to the Hogwarts faculty.
Professor Viktor Krum, whom you may remember has been hired to teach DADA this year due to a shortage of British wizards wishing to take on that position, was having distinct difficulties with one of his second-year students, a young Ravenclaw boy. It is not that the student wished to be difficult - he is a sweet child, normally quite cooperative and eager to please - but he had been a particular target of the Carrows last year, and he was having panic attacks that kept him from even approaching the DADA room. He ended up huddled on the floor across from the room, shaking and flinching every time Viktor tried to speak with him. Now, Viktor is a kindly young man who is more accustomed to being pestered for autographs than to seeing a child cringe in terror at his approach, and he was quite disturbed. Naturally, he went looking for Poppy, who at that point was conferring with Pomona about various herbs she required for her treatments, and requested assistance. Neville was working nearby, and upon hearing the childâs name, looked up and said, âLet me try.â
He knelt down next to the boy, and asked, âDo you remember me?â The child looked up, and it was as if the fear left him in a breath.
âYouâre the Gryffindor, youâre the one who stood up to them. You took a Cruciatus for me.â
âI did, and Iâd do it again. Come in with me. Iâll sit with you. I wonât let anyone hurt you again, I promise. And Viktor wonât, heâs not like them. I know him, heâs a good man.â
The boy nodded, took his hand, and Neville sat with him throughout that class and every DADA class after that for weeks, until he decided he was ready to do it on his own. And that boy wasnât the only one - when your grandson walked into that class, every second-year in the room, nearly in unison, breathed a sigh of relief. They knew they were safe with him.
Augusta, dear, you should know your own boy better by now. Neville is not capable of mediocrity - there are many ways to be great, and he will find one of them whatever path in life he chooses. Frank and Alice were Gryffindors to the bone, and so are you, and so am I - but only your grandson is the Gryffindor to the younger students of Hogwarts. To us, he is a young man to be proud of - to them, he is a legend.
[Addendum: Viktor Krum teaches his class about boggarts a year before they normally do at Hogwarts - at Durmstrang they believe in facing oneâs fears early - so Neville is present for that class. The next morning, Pomona Sprout finds fresh flowers, sunflower and agrimony, on Remus Lupinâs grave.]
[Addendum 2: one of the Ravenclaws makes a snide remark about Hufflepuff brains, only to be greeted by a glare from Neville and a quiet, but stern, âDonât you talk about my girlfriendâs House that way.â The boy ducks his head, shamefaced, and says, âNo, sir, sorry, sir, I wonât do it again.â No Ravenclaw of that year speaks ill of a Hufflepuff ever again.][Or perhaps Neville just says, in quiet, deadly calm, âYou do realize that both my mentor and my girlfriend are Hufflepuffs?â]
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