Neville Longbottom is first seen on Platform 9¾, telling an irate old woman that he has lost his pet toad yet again. Later, during the Sorting Hat ceremony, he asks to be placed in Hufflepuff as he feels intimidated by Gryffindor’s reputation of being fearless and daring. However, he ends up in the latter — and rightfully so.
While his idea of bravery does not involve brandishing his wand at his enemy, he learns about picking the right battles, and fights for the cause he believes in. He proves to be one of the series’ most dynamic characters, and his development is actually significant to the storyline of Harry Potter.
Who Is Neville Longbottom?
After Voldemort’s downfall, a group of Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr., capture Frank and Alice Longbottom to find where their master is. They torture the couple with the Cruciatus Curse, which eventually drives them to madness. The four of them are sentenced to life in Azkaban, and the Longbottoms are placed in the permanent ward at St. Mungo's Hospital. They are unable to recognize their own son, who is then raised by his grandparents.
Shortly afterward, Neville also watches his grandfather die in front of him. As he is the only child of well-respected Aurors, his grandmother Augusta Longbottom, a strict and formidable woman, would often chide him for not upholding the family honor. This is the major reason why Neville severely lacks self-esteem when he comes to Hogwarts. He is timid and clumsy, and most of his time at school is marked by several mishaps. He falls off his broom during his first flying lesson, breaking his wrist. He accidentally lets Sirius Black enter the Gryffindor Tower when he leaves a list of its passwords lying around. He is incessantly bullied by the Slytherins and Professor Snape, which kills his self-confidence and makes him believe he is “almost a Squib”.
However, as Harry reminds him, he is “worth twelve of Malfoy” and the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor after all. A memorable example of his bravery is when he attempts to stop the Golden Trio from going after Professor Quirrell as he attempts to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone, just so that Gryffindor does not lose any more points. For confronting his only friends in loyalty to his house, he earns ten points, helping Gryffindor win the House Cup that year.
He is also one of the first students to join Dumbledore’s Army and, under Harry’s guidance, improves his magical skills “beyond all recognition”. He also joins Harry and the others to fight against the Death Eaters in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. When Bellatrix taunts him about his parents and casts the Cruciatus Curse at him, he still asks Harry not to hand over the prophecy to her even though he faces the risk of having the same fate as his parents.
In his seventh year, he revives D.A. with the help of Ginny and Luna, to rebel against the new regime at Hogwarts. They attempt to steal the sword of Gryffindor, and also protect students from the Death Eater professors Alecto and Amycus Carrow. When Luna and Ginny don’t return to Hogwarts later on, Neville is left alone to lead the D.A.
In the Battle of Hogwarts, he proves to be indispensable when he slays Nagini, Voldemort’s last remaining Horcrux.
What Is the Neville Longbottom 'Chosen One' Theory?
According to Professor Trelawney’s prophecy, a boy born “as the seventh month dies”, and to “those who have thrice defied” Voldemort, will be the one who will have “the power to vanquish the Dark Lord”. As Dumbledore explains to Harry, he is not the only one whom the prophecy could have applied to. Neville is also born at the end of July and his parents (members of the original Order of the Phoenix) have also defeated Voldemort three times previously.
There has been speculation among fans about whether Neville is the Chosen One after all. Some of them have even brought forward the theory that, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Neville’s broomstick is thrashing around in the air because Quirrell tampered with it (just like he does later on with Harry’s broomstick). This could be because he thinks the prophecy could refer to either Harry and Neville and, acting upon Voldemort’s orders, curses both their broomsticks to not take the risk.
The prophecy also states that the “Dark Lord will mark him as his equal” and, with Voldemort believing that the prophecy is about him, seals Harry’s fate as the Boy Who Lived. It is only his decision that leads to the events that follow, otherwise Neville could have very well been the one whose fate is intertwined with Voldemort’s. Dumbledore points out that his choice is probably based on the fact that Harry is also a half-blood like him, whereas Neville is a pureblood.
Another opinion says that Voldemort actually deems Neville as his equal when he says to him that they “need your kind”. Neville’s refusal to become a Death Eater can seem like an attempt to “vanquish” him, especially since he pulls out the sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat after — which only a true Gryffindor is capable of – and kills his snake.
J. K. Rowling once called Neville “the boy it could have been”, and said that “the great thing about Neville's story is that he proves himself to be a boy that could've done it too”.
What Happened to Neville Longbottom?
According to an interview with Rowling, Neville serves as an Auror after the second wizarding war: “Kingsley would've wanted Ron, Neville, Harry [to become Aurors] and they would've all gone”. However, he later becomes a professor of Herbology (a subject he has always been well-versed in) as well as Head of Gryffindor House. He impresses his students by occasionally showing them his D.A. coin, which he and a few other members still keep as a momentum.
He goes on to marry his former classmate Hannah Abbott. They live at the Leaky Cauldron, where Hannah is the new landlady. According to Pottermore, Rita Skeeter publishes a distasteful article about the childless couple, and how they are “enjoying a little more Ogden's Firewhiskey than most would expect from custodians of our children”. However, it is unknown whether this is another true or another one of her baseless rumors.
At another point, she also reveals how Neville is also the godfather of Harry and Ginny’s second son. During the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, the Potters, Scamanders, Weasleys and Neville are sharing a box to watch the final between Bulgaria and Brazil. As a commentator of the match, Rita remarks how Neville is “spiritedly describing the precise manner in which [Viktor] Krum sustained his nosebleed for the benefit of his godson, Albus Potter” — an act which she describes as being “oddly callous”.
Ginny is also seen saying to her son James to “give Neville their love” when he goes to Hogwarts, during the epilogue set 19 years after the second wizarding war.