I'm not in the habit of saying things that aren't true, Longbottom. Well, not to anyone who isn't a Death Eater, anyway. What a great Poppy line.
Of course, it would only be because Harry and Hermione and Ron and some of the others weren't here, but still. . . Yes, Neville would think that, poor devil.
He'd hide her in his dorm room if he had to; hell, she could use Harry's empty bed. That’s all of Neville’s courage and all of his pragmatism in one line.
And that little aside had made Neville wonder just how "good" Professor McGonagall might have been, until he became convinced by her prim pursed lips and her tightly-bunned hair and her intolerance of snogging couples that any wondering was laughable. Good thing he can’t access the OLSB writings.
you can rely on me to be a good girl." Methinks Augusta had a point when she wondered about Minerva’s ability to be just that.
Like the fact that you're a goddess." Minerva is right: he is a treasure.
His own painful moment in the corridor, groping fruitlessly after memories that were almost, but not quite, within his reach -- it had given him a better understanding of what she must be going through. Such a great way of showing the growing rapport between these two. Neville both liking and understanding her so much better.
These days, he didn't get laughed at the way he often had as a kid, but he didn't have all that much experience of people laughing with him, either. Great one.
he could be a Neville who didn't have the weight of seventeen years of loser-hood behind him. Terrific way to put it.
A rather cluttered desk, I'm afraid," she added, frowning. Lovely detail – how a very orderly person can still have a cluttered desk – and be quite shocked when she suddenly realises this.
And those are just a few of many, many favourite lines. It’s such a believable story, and yes, I’m actually saying that about a McGonagall/Neville Longbottom story. Who would have thought it.
But this time apart in a world apart that you have created for them works wonderfully well. I’m glad Minerva will never recover these memories, though. The story couldn’t have had a happy end if she had. And for the same reason I’m glad Neville gets to keep his memories.
And is's such a masterpiece of characterization. The cameos are all just so (Filius and his endearing enthusiasm in finding out how the room works, and Pomona adding a bottle of Ogden's Old!), Neville has both the pragmatism and the courage that makes him such a force in Year Seven, and the endless insecurities that go with the way his family and fellow students see and treat him.
And McGonagall! Even if she herself can't remember who or what she is, her personality shines through. The honesty with herself, the not suffering fools gladly, the reaction to the 'weakened state'. It's very much McGonagall, but now that she can't remember she's a professor, it's the private side of her that Neville gets to see. Who can blame the lad for wanting her? So does the whole OLSB.