Oh yeah--that's totally how I read that line of McGonagall's. It just surprises me because that's really a huge thing she throws out there casually, you know? Because just as you said, Neville *has* always been trying to be what his gran wanted. It's such a huge thing, but it's never really said. Another kid might have been totally freaked out--or defensive!

McGonagall vs. Mrs. Longbottom. That would be tough. But then, I think McGonagall is like her in a lot of ways as well. I think Gran, too, takes that sort of "buck up, stiff upper lip" attitude in sometimes the wrong way for Neville. I wonder if Snape is kind of the dark side of that, in his way.