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harry potter - Why did Snape have it in for Neville?


It's clear why Snape picked on Harry (because of James); or on Hermione (Harry's friend; and ALSO a Gryffindor, AND a muggleborn, with audacity to know the subject and annoyance of showing it off when he wanted Gryffindors AND muggleborns to look stupid and incompetent).


But why would he pick on Neville so hard?


Neville wasn't Harry's friend, he wasn't a typical Snape-rubbing-raw Gryffindor, and for sure Snape wouldn't have hated him for his parents having been Aurors.


Being bad at Potions doesn't seem to be it either - otherwise he'd pick on Crabbe and Goyle more than on other Slytherins (though less than on any Gryffindors).



Answer



It seems that it was because Snape resented Neville for not being the "Boy-Who-Lived".



Snaped loved Lily, and Lily ended up dying because Voldemort chose Harry and



... marked him as his equal ...



[with the influence of Snape himself].


So Snape seems to have been resentful of Neville (and probably himself) for not being the one who should have died. Meaning that Snape thought Neville's parents should have been the ones to be killed and not Lily (and James). As pointed out in the comments.


Other Points:



  • Neville was also horrible at Potions (and everything else), right up to the events in the Order of The Phoenix and was an easy target.

  • Snape was a bitter and resentful person in general, especially towards anyone in Gryffindor.


  • Snape has a 'tough-love' approach. We see him outwardly mistreat Harry at school all the way up to the end. But find that he was always inwardly protecting Harry from the shadows. He may have been doing similar things with Neville; except Neville needed a lot of 'tough-love'!


All of these put together, makes for a horrible experience from Snape towards poor old Nev.


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