Neville Longbottom: Biography, Courage and Secrets

Neville Longbottom shows up at Hogwarts losing his toad and ends the series holding the Sword of Gryffindor in front of Voldemort. He is the best proof that courage is not a talent. You learn it, and it costs you.

Who he is

He was born the day before Harry, on July 30, 1980. His grandmother Augusta raises him, loves him, and makes him feel small. His parents, Frank and Alice, lost their minds after Bellatrix and other Death Eaters tortured them, and they live at St Mungo's without recognizing him. Neville is clumsy at nearly everything except Herbology, where he is superb.

Key moments

• Philosopher's Stone, ch. 16: he tries to stop Harry, Ron and Hermione from sneaking out at night. They freeze him to get past, and he still tried. In ch. 17 Dumbledore awards him ten points for standing up to his friends, and those points hand Gryffindor the House Cup.
• Order of the Phoenix, ch. 23: he visits his parents at St Mungo's and his mother slips him a candy wrapper, the only gesture she has for him.
• Order of the Phoenix, ch. 34: he fights in the Department of Mysteries with a broken nose, and keeps going.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 29: he leads Dumbledore's Army inside the school while Snape is headmaster.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 36: he stands up to Voldemort, draws the sword from the burning Sorting Hat and kills Nagini.

Relationships

His grandmother Augusta is both his support and his pressure: she loves him, but she compares him to his father. With Harry, the friendship deepens once they join Dumbledore's Army together. With Luna and Ginny he forms the core of the resistance at Hogwarts during the last year. With Snape the relationship is pure dread: his boggart takes Snape's shape (Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 7).

What almost nobody notices

Dumbledore says in Order of the Phoenix (ch. 37) that the prophecy could have meant Neville instead of Harry. Voldemort chose Harry, and that choice made Harry the one. It could have been Neville.

And in Prisoner of Azkaban (ch. 7), when Lupin has him face the boggart, Neville sees Snape and turns him into Snape wearing his grandmother's dress, vulture hat and handbag. It is a small, very Neville way of losing his fear, and the whole class laughs with him.

If your courage is the kind that builds slowly, take the house quiz. And Nagini, the Horcrux That Breathed: Origin and Death of the Snake explains why the snake ended up in Neville's hands.