Peg Kerr's Journal

I decided to grow a pot this year in memory of alt_neville.

I miss Alternity. I wish that at least we could get the wiki fixed. *sigh*

You adorable bad-ass!






Cannot WAIT for this movie....

Edited to add: It also amazes me how much he looks like the person we chose for Frank Longbottom's icons in alternity, Luka Bloom. You really could believe they are father and son. Compare, for example, this image with this image.

I'm late to the party, but...

naomikritzer sent me a link to a story a few months back because she knows I'm interested in reading good fanfiction depictions of Neville Longbottom. I didn't get around to reading it until this weekend, but the story sucked me right in. It's a re-telling of Deathly Hallows from Neville's point of view, covering what happened at Hogwarts, with Neville running the D.A. An author's note at the conclusion of the story ended with this:

...This story is not dedicated to my readers, or to a group of fictional, if -- at least to me -- compelling teenagers [i.e., the D.A.]. It is dedicated to the real-life soldiers who gave their time and effort to help me with the psychology of war. Many of these young men and women are as young as eighteen themselves, and they are not fighting with wands and hexes on the grounds of an imaginary wizarding school. They fire real bullets and shed real blood on the very non-fictional battlefields of the Muggle world even as you read this, and their courage, their sacrifice is too often ignored because they do so out of our daily sight...Go ahead and drop me some feedback if you want, but I would also ask that the next time you spot a young man or woman in uniform, take a moment to shake their hand. Their truth is greater than fiction.

That's quite a particularly graceful note, I thought. I remembered that Rowling has said that the series, and particularly the last book, is about recovering from the scars of war. Perhaps this fanfiction writer worked at the Veterans Administration or something?

There was something about that last line that niggled at me, though, something half-remembered. Who was this author, anyway?

I took a look. The author's name was "thanfiction" (on Livejournal as thanfiction). I sat there for a second and then my eyes widened. Thanfiction? Wait a minute. I spent a couple minutes googling, following up on something I'd noticed fleetingly on my friends list sometime in the last month.

I told you I was late to the party. Well, it was a weird trick of timing, actually. Naomi had sent me the link months ago, before the knowledge hit the internet (she said she's a little embarrassed about doing so, in retrospect), and I didn't look at the author's name until I had finished reading the entire story. But yes, dear reader, I had unknowingly spent the last two days reading and enjoying Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness (the "DAYDverse") a work written by one of the craziest people I've ever encountered on the internet: the notorious Amy Player AKA Victoria Bitter AKA Mr. Frodo AKA Jordan Wood AKA Andrew Blake AKA thanfiction. The dots were connected that thanfiction was the person that fandom_wank calls "VB," I guess, about a month ago.

( Read more )

So what did I really think about the story? And how did my opinion change, once I knew the authorship?

( Armchair psychology is so much fun )

Tell me about an author whose works you enjoy, rather against your own inclination, because you find the person doing the writing to be absolutely reprehensible. How do you reconcile that for yourself?

I am thinking about Neville Longbottom again.

When I wrote my Seven Deadly Sins/Seven Heavenly Virtues essay on the Harry Potter books, I argued that Neville embodied the virtue of Fortitude:

Fortitude means strength, courage, endurance and resoluteness. Some might term it “grit” or “guts.” This virtue is the first of the Seven Heavenly Virtues derived from what the Greeks termed the cardinal virtues. Note the etymology: the words “fort” and “fortify” are derived from the same Latin root, “fortis,” meaning “strong.” Like a fort, fortitude is something which shields the hero under siege, like Harry and his friends, all assailed by Lord Voldemort. Fortitude thus is a protective virtue, both for individuals and groups. . . . Fortitude manifests itself both in active and passive forms. Passive fortitude means bearing things (ranging from the merely vexing to the dreadful) without giving up or giving in. For Harry, at a more minor level, this means for example enduring the jibes of classmates who mistakenly think he cheated to get his name in the Goblet of Fire (of course it helps to have Hermione sitting beside him intoning, “ignore them, ignore them, ignore them.”) It means stoically bearing the pain of Dolores Umbridge’s detentions without breaking. This kind of fortitude, because it is passive, can be easily underestimated or overlooked. A very subtle example of this, perhaps, might be Neville Longbottom, who earns Harry’s belated respect once Harry realizes that Neville has lost his parents to Voldemort, too. Neville carries on, nevertheless, trying to conquer his fear of Snape in Potions class, without a murmur of complaint, without even telling anyone. Just quietly going on about his life and humbly doing his best, while continuing to faithfully visit his parents at the hospital on his holidays, although they are unable to even recognize him. Harry is ashamed that he has never truly seen the truth about Neville before learning it in Dumbledore’s Pensieve, but it is understandable why he did not—this kind of fortitude does not draw attention to itself.

I was thinking about this, as I mulled over the movie. I have seen all sorts of squeeing on line about Matthew Lewis' performance (oohh so cuuuutteee! What a woobie! I luuurrrved seeing him dance with Ginny!) Well, yes, but that is not what I think about when I reflect on why I hold Neville so close to my heart. I admire him the most when he is standing out there in the corridor after the three unforgiveable curses lesson, gamely trying to pull himself back together without letting any of his friends see. It breaks my heart particularly because it's the kind of heroism that people will never notice. You admire Harry Potter for facing a dragon, and I do, too. But there are people, like Neville, who truly bear unbearable things every day, and no one is ever there to applaud or award them a Triwizards cup. It never even occurs to them that they are doing anything worthy of admiration.

Neville, I really do admire you. And to all the real-life Neville Longbottoms of the world: I salute you. May you someday enjoy the respect that you truly deserve.