NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM
Neville Longbottom with his pet, Trevor and his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom
Photo taken from Forbis at DeviantArt
Neville Longbottom is the only son of aurors, Frank and Alice Longbottom. He has grown up with his paternal grandmother, Augusta after the death eaters tortured both of his parents to insanity. Most of his relatives thought that he might be a squib (non-magical person from a pure-blood family) since he did not show signs of magic at an early age.
He was always on the receiving end of Draco Malfoy's bullying but he fought back after a pep talk with the trio. In the first book, he fought Crabbe and Goyle when they were bad-mouthing the Gryffindor quidditch team, Ron Weasley, and himself while watching a match. He obviously couldn't take on the two of them and was sent to the infirmary. During his first year, he also showed courage by standing up to his friends, the trio. He tries stopping them from breaking more rules to keep Gryffindor from losing more points. He was lauded by the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore and the rest of his house.
And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. I award ten points to Neville Longbottom!"
—Albus Dumbledore about Neville
He was also on the receiving end of Severus Snape's bullying during Potions. He showed abysmal performance in this class as a result. He fears Snape the most during these years and fought a Snape-boggart during DADA lessons with Lupin. In the fourth book, we learn more about Neville's past. He is shaken by the fake Moody's display of the Cruciatus Curse. This was the curse used by the death eaters to torture his parents. In this book, we begin to see his transformation.
In the fifth book, he joins Dumbledore's Army and learns spells and counter-curses from Harry Potter. He gains considerable skill as a wizard in these hidden lessons. In this year, a few death eaters escaped Azkaban including those that tortured his parents. He did not speak of it though the others noticed a change in him. He was more devoted to learning the spells in the DA.
Neville: "Fourteen years ago, a Death Eater named Bellatrix Lestrange used the Cruciatus Curse on my parents. She tortured them for information, but they never gave in. I'm quite proud to be their son. But I'm not sure I'm ready for everyone to know just yet."
Harry: "We're gonna make them proud, Neville. That's a promise
He joined Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood in the Battle at the Department of Mysteries and encountered Bellatrix Lestrange. She was one of the four death eaters condemned for torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom.
In the sixth book, he also fought along with the Order of the Phoenix during the Battle at the Tower. In his seventh year, he co-headed Dumbledore's Army with Luna and Ginny stepping up for the trio's absence at Hogwarts. He gave the Carrow's (death eaters assigned at Hogwarts) a hard time and had to hide from them at the Room of Requirement.
During the Battle at Hogwarts, he rallied the other members of the DA upon the trio's arrival. He used his skill in Herbology in fighting by using plants as an attack as well as using spells learned in the DA. Before entering the forest, Harry Potter talked briefly with Neville and told him it was important to kill Voldemort's snake, Nagini.
When the Death Eaters were moving towards Hogwarts with the 'dead' Harry, Neville rebelled and crossed to the no-man's-land between the Death Eaters and the survivors. Here, I will place another excerpt as this the best one to show a Gryffindor at his best.
“And who is this?” he said in his soft snake’s hiss. “Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?” Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh. “It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?”
"Ah, yes, I remember,” said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in the no-man’s-land between the survivors and the Death Eaters. “But you are a pureblood, aren’t you, my brave boy?” Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled in fists.
“So what if I am?” said Neville loudly. “You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom.” “I’ll join you when hell freezes over,” said Neville. “Dumbledore’s Army!” he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort’s Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold.
Voldemort was obviously angered by this and he placed a burning Sorting Hat on Neville while he was under the Body-Bind curse. I would not put all the details here because it's already a lengthy post. To make it succinct, many things happened because of this. The crowd from Hogwarts started to move the same time as Harry and Neville to continue the fight against Voldemort and his supporters.
In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him; the flaming hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle.
The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or of the stampeding centaurs, and yet, it seemed to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake’s head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and Voldemort’s mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake’s body thudded to the ground at his feet.
Neville is one of my favorite characters in the series because he's grown so much from that bumbling, cowardly student to a courageous wizard. He truly proved himself a true Gryffindor and no one can deny that in the last book.
I'm sorry about the really long post. I just love Neville's character and know that he's under-appreciated so I wanted to show my admiration. I'll try to make the rest shorter. ;P
The four drawings depicting Neville in the chapter, "The Flaw in the Plan" is by Loonyl at DeviantArt.
Here's my Top 5 favorite Gryffindors. I will edit this when I'm through with all of them and make these names clicky.
1. Harry Potter
2. Ron Weasley
3. Hermione Granger
4. Neville Longbottom
5. Fred and George Weasley
Honorable mention/s:
- Colin Creevey