Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Neville Longbottom
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Neville Longbottom | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Unknown |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Related Family | Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, Augusta Longbottom |
| Loyalty | Albus Dumbledore |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Neville Longbottom is a member of Gryffindor House and is in the same year as Harry Potter. In fact, they were born a day apart, Neville on 30 July, Harry on 31 July, a crucial element in the series' plot and one that significantly connects them. Along with fellow classmates Harry, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, Neville helped battle powerful Dark Magic at Hogwarts. He lives with his grandmother, who has raised him since he was a small child.
Despite being born into a powerful wizarding family, a young Neville appeared to have inherited little magical ability. It was even feared he might be a squib. He also suffers from a poor memory, although just why remains unclear. However, under Harry's influence, his magical skills have developed to a point where he has become a valuable asset to Harry and his friends.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Philosopher's Stone
We first see Neville on the platform of the Hogwarts Express, where he is talking to an exasperated older lady with a stuffed vulture on her hat, explaining that he can't find one Trevor. Our first encounter with Neville is on the Hogwarts Express, where Neville stops in to see if Harry or Ron has seen his pet toad, Trevor. Neville later manages to enlist Hermione to assist him. When they reach Hogwarts, the first-year students are shepherded to a lake, and to a number of small boats that will take them across to the castle. While they are climbing into the boats, Hagrid asks whose toad he has found; Neville recognizes it as Trevor.
At the Entrance Feast, we see Neville being Sorted into Gryffindor House. Harry notes that the Sorting Hat takes a long time to decide that Neville is a Gryffindor. During the feast itself, we overhear that Neville's grandmother had been extremely pleased to get the letter from Hogwarts. They had been afraid for the longest time that Neville couldn't do magic. It was only one time when his great-uncle dropped him out the window by mistake and he bounced that his family started to believe he might have some magical ability.
Very shortly, also, we see Professor Snape's merciless persecution of Gryffindor students, Neville and Harry in particular. Neville manages to melt the cauldron that he shares with Seamus; Snape holds Harry partly responsible, and penalizes him.
Neville receives a Remembrall from his grandmother, and Draco tries to take it from him. Harry and Ron rise to his defence, and Professor McGonagall also appears. Draco, outnumbered, departs.
That afternoon, Gryffindor and Slytherin houses have flying lessons with Madam Hooch. Neville kicks off from the ground too soon, and is unable to control his broomstick; he falls off and fractures his wrist. Draco spots the Remembrall that he has dropped, and takes it away to hide it in a tree for Neville to find later; Harry, chasing after him, finds that he is a natural flyer. When Draco throws the Remembrall far away, Harry catches it before it reaches the ground. This is witnessed by Professor McGonagall, who much to Harry's surprise, does not expel him, instead introducing him to Oliver Wood, the captain of the house Quidditch team.
Finding that Harry has not been expelled, Draco then challenges him to a Wizards Duel, that night at 11 in the Trophy Room. Hermione, overhearing them, says that they would be asking for trouble to accept. As they leave for the duel, she follows them, still nagging. She finally gives up, but when she tries to return to the common room, she finds that the Fat Lady has gone visiting and she can't get back in. She accompanies Harry and Ron to the trophy room, on the way collecting Neville who is sleeping out in the hall because, though discharged from the infirmary, he has forgotten the password and cannot get back into Gryffindor Tower. The four of them, in the Trophy Room, hear Argus Filch approaching, and attempt to escape; Neville, however, runs into a suit of armour. Avoiding Filch and Peeves, the four find themselves in a room with an enormous, three-headed dog. They manage to escape from the dog, and return to Gryffindor Tower.
Some time later, Neville makes his way into the Gryffindor common room with his legs immobilized. He tells Harry that Draco had hit him with the Leg-locker jinx. Hermione frees him, and Harry gives him a Chocolate Frog. Neville returns the Chocolate Frog collector's card to Harry, and Harry, noting it is Dumbledore's card, suddenly remembers that this is where he had heard the name Nicholas Flamel. As the Trio have been hunting for reference to Flamel since hearing the name mentioned accidentally by Hagrid, this proves a very important clue.
When Hagrid is finally prevailed upon to let his pet dragon, Norbert, be taken to Romania by Charlie's friends, Draco learns of the plan. He, in turn, boasts about how he is going to catch Harry and Hermione in the act, in a place where Neville can hear him. Neville, attempting to warn Harry and Hermione, is caught out of bed by Professor McGonagall. When Harry and Hermione are caught by Filch and brought before McGonagall, Neville is still there, and his outburst at seeing Harry causes McGonagall to assume that the three of them were conspiring to get Draco in trouble. Each of the three is penalized fifty house points and given a detention.
Detention is served with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Something has been injuring and killing Unicorns, and the four of them (Draco also having received detention) are tracking an injured unicorn to see what they can find out about what's killing them. Draco and Neville initially are teamed up together, but Draco deliberately scares Neville. After answering Neville's call for help, Hagrid re-shuffles groups to keep Neville and Hermione with him, leaving Harry and Draco, with Hagrid's boar-hound Fang, as the other group. We don't see a lot of what Neville is up to during this time.
Determining that Voldemort is active and after the Stone, and believing that, assisted by Snape, he now knows how to reach the place where the Stone is concealed, Harry, Ron, and Hermione prepare to go in after him. Neville discovers their plan, and attempts to prevent the trio from leaving, saying that the three of them have lost enough House points already. Hermione, with great reluctance, immobilizes him.
At the Leaving Feast, for having had the courage to stand up to his friends, Dumbledore awards him ten House points. This is the first time Neville has won any points for anything, and is sufficient to allow Gryffindor win the House Cup at year's end.
Finally, it is noted that despite his abysmal Potions grade, Neville has managed to pass his exams.
[edit] Chamber of Secrets
It becomes apparent that the Chamber of legend has been opened, and there is a general assumption that whatever monster is resident in the Chamber is attacking Muggle-borns, those of non-Wizarding descent. There is a brisk business in protective amulets, and Neville buys some. Asked what he is afraid of, as he comes from old Wizarding stock, Neville says that his poor magical skill makes him practically a Squib, and the monster had first attacked Filch.
In the Dueling Club run by Professor Lockhart, Neville initially was paired with Justin Finch-Fletchley. After that goes badly awry, Lockhart suggests setting a single pair and allowing the rest to watch. He initially suggests Neville and Justin, but is overruled by Snape who cuttingly remarks that Neville causes havoc with every wand stroke. Snape suggests having Harry and Draco Malfoy demonstrate instead.
[edit] Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry, having accidentally inflated his Aunt Marge, departs the Dursley home, and while trying to decide what to do next, trips over his trunk and manages to summon the Knight Bus. When the conductor asks his name, Harry, afraid he is a wanted man already, gives Neville's name. This deception lasts until his destination, the Leaky Cauldron, where Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, recognizes him.
Harry later sees the real Neville in Diagon Alley, where he is being chastised by his grandmother for forgetting his booklist.
When the Hogwarts Express stops short of Hogsmeade, Neville and Ginny make their way to Harry's compartment. The arrival of the Dementor causes Harry to lose consciousness briefly. Neville later mentions this in Draco Malfoy's hearing, and Draco teases Harry about this.
In their first Divination class, Professor Trelawney asks Neville to hand out teacups, predicting in an off-hand way that he will break at least one. He does, in the course of the lesson, break two of them.
In the first Potions class of the year, Neville manages to make a horrible mess of his potion. Snape forbids Hermione to help him set it right. When Neville's potion is reasonably correct at the end of the class, Snape, assuming he can't have done it on his own, penalizes Hermione five House points for helping him. (Hermione had, in fact, been helping, but Snape had no direct knowledge of that.)
In the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year, Professor Lupin has the class learn to combat a Boggart. Entering the staff room, the class finds Snape present. Snape again makes a cutting remark about Neville's abilities with a wand, and Lupin responds that he had planned to have Neville start the demonstration. Snape sweeps out, and Lupin asks Neville what he is most afraid of. On hearing that it is Snape, Lupin further asks what Neville's grandmother usually wears, then asks Neville to imagine Snape wearing his grandmother's clothes. The charm Riddikulus, if invoked with a clear picture in mind, will force the Boggart to take the shape of what the caster is imagining. It is laughter that defeats the Boggart, so the object of the exercise is to force the Boggart into a shape that is laughable. Neville, nervously, watches Snape emerge from the wardrobe, and forces him into his grandmothers' clothes. In turn, everyone in the class except Harry and Hermione have a shot at the Boggart, and finally Neville triumphantly finishes it.
Snape somehow hears about the shape Neville had forced the Boggart into, and now bullies him mercilessly in Potions class.
Sirius Black had managed to enter the castle on Hallowe'en and, refused entry to the Gryffindor common room by The Fat Lady, had destroyed her portrait. The only portrait who would accept the job of guarding the Gryffindor common room after this attack was Sir Cadogan. Sir Cadogan was changing passwords several times a day, and Neville had trouble remembering them, so he had asked Sir Cadogan for the full list and had written them down. Shortly before Easter, Harry meets Neville, who is trying to convince Sir Cadogan to let him in; it seems he has lost the list.
Two nights later, Ron awakes to find Sirius Black looming over him with a knife. His yells awaken everyone in Gryffindor and summon Professor McGonagall. Queried, Sir Cadogan proudly states that he has let a man into Gryffindor Tower, because he had the password. He had all of them, in fact, written on a piece of paper. Professor McGonagall asks who was so stupid as to have written all the passwords down and left them lying around. Neville shamefacedly raises his hand.
As a result of this, Neville is barred from further Hogsmeade trips, receives detention, and is no longer allowed to be given the password, so he must hang around waiting for someone else entering or leaving Gryffindor tower to let him in. He also receives a Howler from his grandmother.
Though not having permission to visit Hogsmeade, Harry plans to use the secret passage revealed by the Marauder's Map and his Invisibility Cloak to accompany Ron there. Neville, almost painfully glad to see that Harry also can't go to Hogsmeade, almost prevents Harry from getting to the secret passage.
It is mentioned that, at Easter break, Neville is looking strained. Like the other third-years, he has received a lot of homework to complete before the end of Easter break.
In the Shrieking Shack, Sirius Black reveals that Neville's list of passwords had actually been stolen for him by Hermione's cat, Crookshanks.
[edit] Goblet of Fire
We first see Neville on the Hogwarts Express. He expresses envy that Harry and Ron had been to see the Quidditch World Cup; his grandmother had refused to get them tickets. When Ron produces his souvenir figurine of Viktor Krum, Neville is entranced, watching it walk back and forth across Ron's hand.
In the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Moody asks the students to name the Unforgivable Curses. Neville timidly names the Cruciatus Curse. After class, we see that Neville is very profoundly affected by something; he seems to be all right, but his speech is somehow off and he seems over-cheerful. Professor Moody invites him back to his office for tea. Later, we see Neville in the dormitory with a book that Moody had given him, Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties. Neville seems rather cheered up, both by the book, and by Moody's having told him that Professor Sprout had said he was adept at Herbology.
When Harry opens the Golden Egg to try and figure out the clue for the Second Task, it makes a loud, screeching noise. The noise scares Neville, who thinks it sounds like someone being tortured.
Neville asks Hermione to go to the Yule Ball with him, but she turns him down; she is already going with someone else. When Harry asks Ginny, she tells him that she is going with Neville, who had already asked her. At the Yule Ball, Harry notes that Neville's dancing is even worse than his own; he seems to be treading on Ginny's feet rather a lot.
Left alone in Dumbledore's office, Harry finds Dumbledore's Pensieve. While exploring this, he finds a number of Dumbledore's memories, including one of the Wizengamot trial of four Death Eaters, presided over by Bartemius Crouch. The four Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, and Barty Crouch Jr. (Bartemius' own son), are being tried for having tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity in an attempt to find out what had happened to Voldemort. In later discussion with Dumbledore, Harry learns that those were Neville's parents, that they were left permanently insane, and that they now are resident in St. Mungo's Hospital. This is why Neville was being raised by his grandmother. Dumbledore cautions Harry not to talk about this to Ron and Hermione, saying it is Neville's decision to reveal that part of his life.
After Harry's return from the graveyard duel, he is taken aside by Moody, who boasts that he had been smoothing Harry's path through the Triwizard Tournament. The book he had given Neville had contained information on Gillyweed, but when Harry had not consulted with Neville, Moody had instead commented loudly in Dobby's hearing about the effects of Gillyweed, and Dobby had carried that information to Harry.
[edit] Order of the Phoenix
We meet Neville on the Hogwarts Express when he is trying to find a compartment. Ginny suggests one, and Neville points out that there is someone in it. Ginny says it's just Loony Lovegood, and leads Harry and Neville in, introducing them. Neville shows Harry his birthday present, a rare Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant. Showing off its defence mechanism, he sprays everyone and everything in the compartment with stinksap, just as Cho Chang arrives to say hello to Harry. An awkward moment passes, and Cho departs; Ginny cleans the stinksap off everyone.
After the Arrival Feast, it is Neville who knows the password to Gryffindor Tower ("Mimbulus Mimbletonia"); Hermione and Ron, shepherding the first-years up to the dormitory have not arrived yet. When Harry reaches the dormitory, again ahead of Ron, he finds that Seamus had almost not come back to Hogwarts because of Harry and Dumbledore's reputation as besmirched by the Daily Prophet. Neville defends Harry, saying his gran believes Dumbledore, and Dean remains neutral. The situation remains tense until Ron arrives and forces things to a close by means of his powers as Prefect.
Neville is one of the early members of the Defence Association, or as it becomes known, Dumbledore's Army. He is present at the first meeting of the group, which takes place on the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, in the Hog's Head. When Zacharias Smith derides Harry's experience, Neville is one of the many there present who leap to his defence.
When student groups are banned the next day, Neville is one of the Gryffindors who are reassured directly by Harry and Hermione that the Association will continue to meet anyway.
Later, while they are waiting to enter Potions, Draco Malfoy, taunting Harry whose actions have been attributed to supposed mental problems by the Daily Prophet throughout the summer, comments about people with mental disabilities and how they should be kept in St. Mungo's. Neville, stung, leaps to attack Draco, Harry and Ron try to restrain Neville. Professor Snape, appearing on the scene, penalizes Gryffindor house for fighting. Ron asks what that was all about; Harry, knowing about Neville's parents, understands why Neville flew at Draco, but cannot tell Ron.
At the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army, Neville works hard and actually manages to disarm Harry once. Harry, feeling a need to walk around the Room of Requirement, where the group is meeting, leaves Neville with Ron and Hermione to practice.
At Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creatures class after his extended journey to the land of the Giants, Harry's class is learning about Thestrals. Of the gathered students, only three can see them: Harry, Neville, and an unnamed Slytherin student. Hagrid explains that in order to see them, you have to have seen death.
At Christmas, visiting an injured Mr. Weasley in St. Mungo's Hospital, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny meet Neville and his grandmother. They are visiting Neville's parents, Frank and Alice, who, Harry knows, were once Aurors and former Order of the Phoenix members. Both were tortured into insanity with the Cruciatus curse by Sirius' Death Eater cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. They are permanently hospitalized at St. Mungo's. Neville is embarrassed that his classmates know about his parents, the more so when his mother shambles over and grandly gives him a wrapper from a package of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum; his grandmother says he should just throw it away, but Harry sees Neville surreptitiously smooth it out and pocket it, and suspects that Neville has a large number of such apparently worthless items. Neville's grandmother says that Neville should be proud of how his parents defended themselves against their attackers. After Neville and his grandmother depart, Harry admits that he knew about Neville's parents, but that Dumbledore asked him to say nothing.
After Christmas, there is a mass outbreak of Death Eaters from Azkaban Prison. Among the escapees are Bellatrix Lestrange, and at least one of the other Lestranges. Harry expects that Neville will become fearful on hearing that the Death Eaters who had tortured his parents to insanity; instead, though, it seems to motivate him in his work in Dumbledore's Army. Of all the students, only Hermione masters the Shield Charm faster than Neville.
We see Neville in passing after Harry has given his interview for the Quibbler. Harry wonders if he has done the right thing getting the story of Voldemort's return published. Neville, Dean, and Seamus all say he did the right thing, and admit that it must have taken a lot of courage.
We hear that Neville has been working very hard in Dumbledore's Army, mastering every spell. Harry is thinking about Neville's progress just before Dobby arrives to tell him that Dumbledore's Army has been betrayed.
When Harry becomes convinced that Sirius has been captured by Voldemort and is being tortured in the Ministry, he arranges a diversion so that he can try to contact Sirius, by means of the Floo network and Professor Umbridge's fireplace. When Ginny, Luna, Ron, and Hermione, who are creating the diversion, are caught, Neville, with his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, is swept up with them and brought to Umbridge's office. Harry and Hermione manage to take Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, ostensibly to look at a weapon they've been building for Dumbledore. After Umbridge is taken away by the Centaurs, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna meet up with Harry and Hermione. Thestrals are attracted to the party, and after some debate, Harry arranges that each of the six will mount a Thestral, and they all fly off to London and the Ministry, to rescue Sirius.
As a group they reach the spot where Sirius is supposedly being tortured, but they find nothing there. Ron finds a small glass sphere on a shelf that has Harry's name on it. Harry reaches it down, and the group are suddenly confronted by Death Eaters, led by Lucius Malfoy, demanding that Harry hand over the sphere.
Harry, who is the center of the Death Eaters' attention, manages to tell the other students to arrange a distraction, and they run for the Atrium and the way out of the Ministry. Entering the hall of Time, Hermione seals the door behind them, and Harry discovers that only Neville is with them; Ginny, Luna, and Ron have gotten separated from them. Two Death Eaters enter the hall, and Hermione Stuns one of them. Neville, attempting to disarm the other, manages to disarm Harry as well. Neville's next attempt, a Stunning spell, misses and hits a cabinet of Time-turners instead. Hermione Stuns the second Death Eater, and they again try to set out for the Atrium.
As they head towards the exit room, they are intercepted by another pair of Death Eaters who trip them. One of them starts to call his fellows, but Hermione, regaining her wand, quiets him; Harry Body-Binds the other. The silenced one casts a wordless spell that knocks Hermione out, then kicks at the still-sprawled Neville, breaking his wand and his nose. He then wordlessly demands the sphere from Harry, but is distracted by one of the earlier-incapacitated Death Eaters, and Harry Body-Binds him as well. Carrying Hermione, Harry, and Neville (with Hermione's wand), now return to the round room which is the single point of access to the Department of Mysteries. Here, they meet Ginny (who has an injured ankle), Ron (who seems drunk), and Luna. Death Eaters, led by Bellatrix Lestrange, burst through another door; Harry and the others retreat, finding themselves in a room with brains floating in tanks. Luna is disabled while trying to seal doors into the room, Ginny, unable to dodge because of her ankle, is Stunned; Ron, who has injudiciously Summoned a brain to himself, is fully engaged in getting it off himself, and Neville cannot properly speak the spells he is trying to use through his broken nose, so Harry, knowing the Death Eaters are after him, runs off through one of the unsealed doors, finding himself, after a fall down the stone steps, at the bottom of an amphitheatre where a tattered veil hangs across a broken archway. Here he prepares to make his stand alone, against the ten remaining Death Eaters, trying to spare the other students.
Neville, however, has other ideas, and charges through the door, trying fruitlessly to Stun Death Eaters. He is quickly subdued, and Bellatrix Lestrange sadistically tortures him, saying that she remembers doing the same to his parents, in order to get Harry to give up the sphere, now identified as a Prophecy, which he still holds. Harry is about to surrender the prophecy when Sirius, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Lupin, and Moody arrive. Macnair grabs Harry around the neck and demands the prophecy; Neville pokes his eye with Hermione's wand, and he releases Harry. Harry Stuns Macnair, but Neville is jinxed by Dolohov, who then makes two attempts at Harry before Sirius distracts him. Harry Body-Binds Dolohov, and hands the Prophecy to Neville to free his hands. Harry grabs Neville's robe to pull him up the steps; the robe rips, and the orb falls from Neville's pocket and is smashed. The wispy vapors inside turn into a ghost-like figure speaking the prophecy, which vanishes unheard amid the battle sounds.
Albus Dumbledore's arrival ends most of the battle, though Bellatrix and Sirius are still dueling; a Stun spell pushes Sirius through the veil, and Bellatrix runs up the steps to escape.
After the battle, in Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore says that it was the Prophecy that Voldemort had been seeking. Harry tells Dumbledore that the prophecy was destroyed, but Dumbledore says only a copy of the original was lost. He knows the contents because it was to him that the prophecy was first revealed. Sixteen years ago, Dumbledore interviewed Sibyll Trelawney for the Divination position, meeting her at a pub in Hogsmeade. Although she was descended from a gifted Seer, she herself seemed minimally talented. Saying she was not acceptable for the post, Dumbledore was about to leave.
Dumbledore stops speaking, and, producing his Pensieve, extracts a memory from his mind and places it therein. Sibyll Trelawney's veiled image rises, and in the harsh voice Harry heard once before, says, "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
Dumbledore says there were two boys who fit the prophecy: Harry and Neville Longbottom, born days apart. Both Harry's and Neville's parents, who were Order of the Phoenix members, defied Voldemort three times. Dumbledore believes Voldemort attacked Harry because he is a half-blood like himself, and therefore possibly more dangerous; Neville is a pureblood. By deliberately choosing Harry, Voldemort "marked" him as his equal, leaving behind the scar on Harry's forehead.
It is noted later that Neville has made a full recovery from his injuries. We see him briefly in the Hospital Wing: when Harry goes to visit Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, who are still recovering, Luna and Neville are also there visiting them.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
On the Hogwarts Express, Harry sits with Luna and Neville, while Ron and Hermione visit the Prefects compartment. Harry is finding it odd to be once again in demand, rather than having people shun him. Romilda Vane, a fourth-year student, arrives and asks Harry to sit with her and her friends, but Harry turns her down, saying he is sitting with his friends. Romilda turns a disparaging look on Luna and Neville before departing. Harry, seeing that Neville is concerned by this, points out that Romilda was not at the Ministry. This brightens Neville up, and he starts talking about his OWL results, wondering if an Acceptable result in Transfiguration can be made to sound good enough to allow him to progress to NEWT level.
Harry, listening to him and thinking about the Prophecy, wonders what would have happened if Voldemort had decided to attack Neville first; whether it would be Neville with the scar and the popularity.
A third-year girl appears with invitations to lunch with Professor Slughorn for both Harry and Neville. Once in Professor Slughorn's compartment, it is obvious that he has selected those who have famous relatives, or in Neville's case, have been involved in public activities on their own. While Slughorn does attempt to find out what had happened in the Ministry, neither Harry nor Neville is forthcoming, and Slughorn does not pry.
When selecting courses for Neville to take, Professor McGonagall says she cannot accept Neville into her Transfiguration class with only an Acceptable OWL. However, his Charms grade was Exceeds Expectations, he could still take NEWT-level Charms with Professor Flitwick. Neville mumbles that his grandmother thinks Charms is a soft option. Professor McGonagall acerbically comments that Augusta failing her Charms OWL was not reason to deny that to Neville, and sensing Neville's delight at this revelation, adds Charms to his timetable and sends him on his way.
We see almost nothing of Neville during the year, as he and Harry share very few classes. As the end of the year approaches, Dumbledore takes Harry to the site where he believes a Horcrux is hidden. Having heard what he believes is a sound of exultation from Draco, Harry feels that this is a bad time for the school to be left without Dumbledore's strength, and tells Ginny, Ron, and Hermione to round up any members of Dumbledore's Army who will help, to guard specifically the Room of Requirement and Snape's office. After the death of Dumbledore, Ron tells Harry that only Neville and Luna, of all the members of Dumbledore's Army they had talked to, had been willing to help. Ron, Ginny, and Neville had been guarding the Room of Requirement, and had seen Draco emerge from it holding an awful, dried-up hand thing. Seeing the three other students, he threw some black powder at them, and everything went dark. Draco could still evidently see, because by the sound he was leading a number of people very quickly out of the Room of Requirement. Ron, Neville, and Ginny didn't dare throw any jinxes because they couldn't see if they were going to jinx each other or other innocents.
Neville is injured in the battle, and must spend some time in the Hospital Wing. Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, visit him and Bill, who was also injured. We also see Neville briefly at Dumbledore's funeral, but do not speak to him then.
[edit] Deathly Hallows
Harry, Hermione, and Ron, in order to evade the Death Eaters, are moving from place to place in the countryside. Some time before Christmas, they hear another party doing the same, who discuss events at Hogwarts. Apparently a group of students, including Ginny, had broken into Headmaster Snape's office and attempted to steal the Sword of Gryffindor from its glass case. Hermione has been carrying the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black, and asks him for details. He says that the students involved were Ginny, Neville, and Luna, and that they had been punished by having them work for the half-breed, Hagrid, in the Forbidden Forest.
Harry and Hermione manage to get Phineas Nigellus to reveal a few more details about what is happening at Hogwarts. Snape has re-instated the decree banning student groups, apparently because of a low-level rebellion that is going on at the school. Harry deduces from this that Neville, Ginny, and Luna have taken charge of the D.A. and are working to usurp the Death Eaters in charge of Hogwarts.
When Harry, Hermione, and Ron Apparate into Hogsmeade on the trail of the Horcrux that is located in Hogwarts, they set off an alarm, the Caterwaul, alerting Death Eaters to their presence. They are rescued from the Death Eaters by Aberforth Dumbledore, who is initially extremely reluctant to help them. Aberforth is eventually convinced to help them enter Hogwarts, and sends a messenger via the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore on his wall. When Ariana returns, Neville is accompanying her.
Neville greets Harry, Ron, and Hermione enthusiastically, but Harry is taken aback by his battered appearance. Neville says that he is not the worst by far, wait until they see Seamus. He then tells Aberforth, to his dismay, that there will be some others coming to the school. Neville now leads them back with him along a dark tunnel to the school, telling them that the other seven passageways have been sealed and guarded, and asking for confirmation that the Trio had in fact broken into Gringotts and escaped by flying on a dragon. Neville also tells them about how the school is now being run, with the "Defence Against" part of the Dark Arts course being dropped, and detention being served by being subjects for students practicing the Cruciatus curse. Students who refuse to Curse other students are beaten. The Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow, insists that Muggles are dirty and stupid, and Neville had received one of his scars from asking how much Muggle blood she had. He says also that the Carrows had not wanted to injure him too much because he was of an old, Pureblood line, so he got off lightly compared to many. Neville had managed to re-build Dumbledore's Army, and they had been pulling pranks and creating disruptions, but Luna and Ginny's departure from school had slowed down the rebellion. When the Carrows had realized Neville was the ringleader, they had tried to get at him by kidnapping his grandmother. Augusta, however, had put at least one of her attackers, Dawlish, into St. Mungo's Hospital, and was now on the run. Neville had decided that the time was right for him to disappear.
When they arrive at the school, Harry does not immediately understand where they are; it's a room he has never before seen. It turns out, however, to be the Room of Requirement, which has grown and become more comprehensive as members of Dumbledore's Army have arrived and gone into hiding. The room is of course unable to provide food, but when Neville's need had become great enough, the Room had created a tunnel to the Hog's Head Inn, and Aberforth had been keeping them supplied since. Seamus mentions that Neville really knows how to get the Room of Requirement to give them what they need.
Harry tells the group assembled in the Room of Requirement that there is something that he, Ron, and Hermione must do themselves, and that they will then leave. Everyone in the room is dismayed, but it is Neville who expresses what they are all feeling, that they have demonstrated their loyalty to Dumbledore, and that they feel that it is their right to fight Voldemort alongside Harry.
Later, when battle is joined, we see Neville on his way to the battlements with Professor Sprout and pots of Mandrakes that will be dropped on the attackers. Neville's grandmother arrives to fight alongside him, saying she is proud of what he has been doing. When the Death Eaters manage to breach the walls, we again see Neville, this time with Venomous Tentacula plants, in the Entrance Hall.
At the break in the fighting, Harry, under his Invisibility Cloak, departs the castle towards the Forbidden Forest and his destiny. Along the way, he sees Oliver Wood and Neville carrying the body of Colin Creevey into the Great Hall. Oliver says that Colin is so light he can handle the job himself, so Neville goes out to look for more casualties. It occurs to Harry that Dumbledore always had contingencies available in case his original plan went awry. Deciding to emulate Dumbledore, Harry steps out from under the Cloak, and tells Neville that if he falls, Voldemort's ultimate defeat can only be ensured if Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini, is killed. He says that Ron and Hermione already know this, but if they are not able to kill Nagini, it will be up to Neville. Neville does not understand, but agrees to kill the snake if given the chance.
After Harry's apparent death in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort has Hagrid carry him to his confrontation with the occupants of the school. Neville defies him. Voldemort singles him out, and saying that Neville is a Pureblood from an old Wizarding family, asks him to join his side. Neville refuses and charges. Voldemort puts him in a full Body-bind, then Summons the Sorting Hat. He pulls it down over Neville's head, and sets it on fire as a sign that there will be no more Sorting, all of Hogwarts will be Slytherin. Neville breaks out of the Body-Bind, pulls the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Hat, and cuts off Nagini's head.
We don't see Neville again except in glimpses through the confusion of the battle; after the battle, Harry does note that he has survived and is sitting exhausted in the Great Hall.
In the epilogue, it is discovered that Neville becomes the Herbology professor at Hogwarts. Neville also remains a close family friend to the Potters and Weasleys.
[edit] Strengths
Neville is gifted in Herbology and received an "Outstanding" on his O.W.L. He also received an "Exceeds Expectations" on his Charms O.W.L., and is encouraged by Professor McGonagall to take advanced study in that course.
Neville has the potential to be a great wizard. His problems stems, in Professor McGonagall opinion, from a "lack of self confidence." He has grown in magical power substantially since his 5th year when he trained with Dumbledore's Army under Harry Potter, and worked harder than most to master defensive skills. Neville was one of the few who fought at the Department of Mysteries, where he demonstrated his courage and loyalty to his friends. He showed great leadership and bravery when he led a re-formed Dumbledore's Army in their resistance to the Death Eaters' control of Hogwarts in his seventh year.
[edit] Weaknesses
Neville has very low self-confidence, and this affects his wizarding skill. He often gets into accidents, especially in Potions because of his (fairly rational) fear of Professor Snape.
He is very forgetful, which is most apparent in his inability to remember the Gryffindor passwords, though it is likely that his problems with Potions are memory-related as well.
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
[edit] Analysis
Neville shares a dorm with Harry and Ron. In the early years, he is arguably more a friendly acquaintance than a comrade, but he becomes much closer to Harry during their 5th year. Neville is seemingly clumsy and magically challenged in the first three novels, but by the fifth book, he adopts a new persona and develops as a character. Perhaps Rowling is saying that even the most seemingly hopeless student, given time and encouragement, can be a valuable asset. This is evident by Neville's growing role in Book 5, his extraordinary Herbology ability, and that he could have been "the boy who lived."
While we never actually see Bertha Jorkins in the series, she is described to us in some detail in the course of the fourth book, and it seems that she has severe memory problems caused by the use of memory alteration charms. It has been suggested on some fan sites that Bertha's memory issues are similar enough to Neville's that the cause of them might also be the same. In Bertha's case, the memory being restrained was something quite important; the suggestion is that Neville's memory similarly has been altered to hide something very far-reaching. Prior to the release of the seventh book, there had been some speculation as to whether some valuable secret was hidden in Neville's mind, and whether it might be released by way of the Pensieve; but no such secret emerged in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Alternately, we might suspect that Neville had been present when his parents were tortured, an enhancement to the planned interrogation that would have amused Bellatrix. In that case, it is likely that it would have been Neville's grandmother who applied the memory charm to prevent Neville from reliving that episode repeatedly, and Professor McGonagall tells us that Augusta, Neville's grandmother, failed her Charms OWL. The possibility that Neville's memory issues are due to a botched Obliviate charm are, given the assumptions, almost certain.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Greater Picture
Neville's character became more significant in Order of the Phoenix, in which it was learned that, as infants, both he Harry were targeted by Lord Voldemort as the potential enemy foretold in Sibyll Trelawney's prophecy; but, Voldemort chose Harry over Neville. In the seventh book, Neville, along with Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, reform Dumbledore's Army and recruit more wizards to rebel against the new headmaster, Snape, and the Muggle Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, respectively.
