Algernon Longbottom

**Algernon Longbottom**, also known as **Algie Longbottom**, is the great-uncle of Neville Longbottom.

## Biography

### Family Lineage

Algie is a member of the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, which came to England before the Fall of Rome. Cantankerous Nott listed House Longbottom in the Sacred 28, and it has held Wizengamot seats since the body’s establishment. The House of Longbottom is exceedingly wealthy, earning the bulk of their income from their extensive land holdings, where they grow and sell magical herbs and plants. Aside from the family’s ancestral home, Longbottom Manor in Lancashire, they also hold a summer home in Wales and a Mandrake Farm in the Australian Outback.

### Early Life

Algernon Longbottom was born as the younger brother of Lord Archimedes Francisco Longbottom. When their father passed Algie inherited a small amount of land and money, though it was nothing compared to the Lordship his brother received.

Sometime after completing his NEWTs, Algie succesfully raised a *Mimbulus mimbletonia*, becoming the first Longbottom in decades to do so.

Archie married Augusta Crouch in 1953, and Algie remained his heir until the birth of his son Frank in December of 1957. Around the same time Algie married a woman named Wendy, with whom he had two children named Reginald and Enid Longbottom.

Shortly after Frank's birth Algie was visited by Archie, requesting the return of L.B., a stuffed black teddy bear that had been passed down from father to son in the Longbottom family for three generations, and which Archie had given to Algie when he turned seven and deciced he had outgrown stuffed animals. In the years since, Archie had reconsidered the importance of L.B., and now wanted to pass it on to his son Frank, while Algie wanted to give it to his own son Reginald. The argument between the brothers quickly escalated and ended with Algie throwing L.B. at his brother and telling him to get out of his house. The two would not reconcile until the following Christmas where Archie apologised to Algie. Algie accepted, but never forgot the incident, which had instilled him with the belief that he would always be the second son, entitled only to a small inheritance with no estates, vaults, or heirlooms to his name.

Both Archie and Wendy were claimed by a dragon pox outbreak in 1972. As Archie had died three months before his son's fifteenth birthday, the Longbottom charted demanded that Algie serve as regent for the duration of those three months. After turning fifteen Frank thanked his uncle and presented him with a small brass plaque reading "To Algernon Longbottom. In appreciation for services rendered." For the remainder of that decade, Algie and his nephew spoke no more than a dozen times, with their last conversation involving Frank denying Algie's request to sponsor his cousin Reginald for a job at the Ministry, citing lacklustre grades.

### First Wizarding War

On 2 November of 1981, shortly after the fall of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange entered Longbottom Manor with the aid of Barty Crouch Junior, and tortured Frank and his wife Alice into insanity using the Cruciatus Curse. As Frank had never made a will, the Wizengamot appointed Algie as Regent of House Longbottom until his infant nephew Neville came of age, as Reginald would inherit the Lordship if Neville turned out to be a squib or died before siring children of his own.

### Post-War

When Neville was two, he showed his first sign of accidental magic by summoning L.B. all the way from Longbottom Manor to Algie's house, a distance of over 50 miles. As the only witness, and having been incensed by the memory of L.B. and his argument with Archie, Algie Obliviated his nephew and vanished L.B., telling him to remember only that there was once something he loved that he lost forever because he wished for it too hard. When Neville was three, Algie attempted to murder his nephew by dropping a bookshelf on him, whispering to himself as he did it that is was all for Reginald, but Neville levitated the books back into place. When Neville was four, Algie attempted to kill Neville during a visit to a Longbottom summer home in Wales, leading him into a greenhouse filled with poisonous and carnivorous plants, but Neville's presence made the plants completely docile and even protective of him. Algie Obliviated him after both incidents. On Neville's seventh birthday his grandmother took him to Blackpool, where she had had her first date with Archie and where Neville's parents had celebrated their honeymoon. Algie followed them until Augusta stepped away for a moment to go to the bathroom, which is when Algie approached Neville to take him to the Blackpool Pier in an attempt to drown him. He is caught by Augusta, who does not believe his story of attempting to coax accidental magic from Neville and tells him to never come near his great-nephew again.

A year later, Algie showed up to Neville's eighth birthday party, where he caught Neville alone in a room and stoked Neville's fears that he was a squib, and that even if he were a wizard, he would never be a great one and would always be a dissapointment to his parents. Algie tried to convince Neville to jump from the window to prove he is not a squib, but Neville called for help and Archie Obliviated him again before throwing him from the window. Rather than falling to his death however, Neville bounced upon hitting the ground, an event witnessed by both his grandmother and and Wizengamot member Griselda Marchbanks, solidifying Neville's status as Heir to House Longbottom.

In the three following years Algie worked ceaselessly to convince Neville and Augusta that he held no malice towards Neville, while secretly forming a plan to ensure Neville failed his OWLs, which would give Algie legal grounds to petition the Wizengamot to have Neville retroactively declared a Squib. On Neville's eleventh birthday Algie took him to Diagon Alley (as Algie held the only key to the Longbottom family vault), where Ollivander procures a wand for Neville that is identical to his father's, prompting Algie to swap Neville and Frank's wands while in the Longbottom vault, as well as throwing away the family Rememberall so all his tampering with Neville's memory would not be discovered. Algie also gives Neville a toad named Trevor, a mildly poisonous South American toad who would affect the memory and magic of wizards who were exposed to it over long periods of time, and finally uses a Confundus Neville to prevent him from revealing anything to his grandmother and to convince him that Rememberalls are for informing someone that they have forgotten someone, not that their memories have been tampered with, just in case Neville did come across a Rememberall at school.

### Book 1 - The Prince of Slytherin

Algie escorts Neville to Platform 9¾, where he warns him not to "lose his toad", which Harry Potter briefly takes to be some kind of magical euphemism. Early in the school year Neville mentions his near-drowning in Blackpool and his being dropped from a window on his eighth birthday, the only two incidents Algie had been unable to Obliviate him of, and theorises that his uncle had been trying to murder him, disturbing Harry and Hermione Granger. Neville also shares his belief that his uncle's actions somehow stunted his magical growth due to his struggles in wand-based classes (being unaware that he is using the wrong wand). On Halloween Neville witnesses Jim Potter, Harry, and Hermione effortlessly learning the Fifth Year Accio spell, he laments his inability to learn even First Year spells, and considers writing to his great-uncle to voluntarily step down as heir, calling himself "a squib in every way that matters".

Algie's plot is foiled however, as Augusta Longbottom had written to her cousin, Barty Crouch Senior, shortly after Neville's birthday, asking if Neville could borrow his old Rememberall. Algie made a brief attempt to commit suicide using the Killing Curse, but is unable to summon enough hatred to cast it. Despite Augusta wanting to drag him before the Wizengamot, which would could have resulted in a twenty-year Azkaban sentence, Neville relents and shows him mercy. Algie is sent to the Longbottom Mandrake farm in the Australian Outback as a form of forced retirement and punishment with the condition that he will be arrested and sent to Azkaban should he return to the British Isles.

### Book 2 - The Secret Enemy

Harry meets Algie's children Reginald and Enid at Neville's eleventh birthday, and neither seem to hold a grudge over Algie's banishment, applauding loudly as Neville receives the Heir's ring from Augusta. When Neville faces a boggart as part of Gilderoy Lockhart's DADA Patronus Classes, it manifests as a giant piece of pavement rushing towards him, which Neville turns into bouncy rubber.

### Book 4 - The Resurrection Game

During the riots at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, Neville is inspired by his recovered memory of accidentally controlling a greenhouse full of plants to control a Blackthorn bush and fend off Tiberius Nott's Barghest.

## Physical Description

During their brief encounter on Platform 9¾, Harry Potter found Algie to be creepy-looking.

## Personality & Traits

Algie is a proud man who bore his perceived position of always being second to his brother Archie for years before finally snapping and making several attempts to murder his great-nephew Neville. He attempted to justify his action to himself as being for the sake of his son Reginald, who would inherit the Longbottom Lordship after him. Algie showed a cruel streak in his efforts to disinherit Neville, needlessly confunding him several times to make him more timid and attempting to subject him to cruel deaths by poisoning or drowning.

Algie could not cast the Killing Curse, as he had no true hatred for Neville, only "a pitiful selfish jealousy mixed with a bitter self-loathing".

## Magical Abilities & Skills

Algie shows some skill at Obliviations, making several changes to Neville's memories while his grandmother was only feet without her noticing.

## Behind the Scenes

Arcturus Black describes Archie Longbottom (Algie's brother) as the son of Harfang Longbottom while listing the Ancient and Noble Houses to his son and how many of them have lost knowledge of the Anathema Codex. However, this would make Archie and Augusta first cousins, a taboo among wizards.

## Canon Divergence

In canon, Algie Longbottom (who is never referred to as Algernon) is a minor character who believed his great-nephew Neville to be a squib, and thus pushed him off the Blackpool pier and accidentally dropped him from an upstairs window. He also gave Neville a toad named Trevor for his eleventh birthday and a *Mimbulus mimbletonia* for his fifteenth.

Canon Algie is never shown to have any bad intentions towards Neville, and is certainly never shown to be murderous.

## References

Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 90 - Reactions & Overreactions (Pt 1),

The Wizengamot scene includes a brief description of the history of Ancient and Noble Houses and the Sacred 28..
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 42 - The Birthday Party (Pt 1),

Harry briefly discusses the Longbottom family's growing business, describing them as "[having] magical plant nurseries and farms on three continents.".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 83 - Prelude (Theodore Nott),

Theo takes the Knight Bus to Longbottom Manor.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 74 - Endgame (Pt 1),

Neville excuses his competency with Mandrakes by referencing his family's farm in Australia..
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 15 - Meet the Longbottoms (Pt 1),

Algie recalls how he became estranged from his sister-in-law Augusta.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 12 - Halloween 1991 (Pt 2),

Neville begins raising a Mimbulus mimbletonia.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 105 - Chaos in Hogsmeade (Finale),

Snape reveals what he learned from Rabastan Lestrange.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 7 - Potions and Process,

Neville briefly describes the Death Eater attack.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 16 - Meet the Longbottoms (Pt 2),

Algie's attempts to claim the Longbottom Lordship escalate.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 5 - Introductions on a Train,

The Potters greet the Longbottoms at Kings Cross.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 9 - Study Sessions,

Neville talks to Harry and Hermione about his magic.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 11 - Halloween 1991 (Pt 1),

Neville considers stepping down as the Longbottom heir.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 17 - Interlude by the Lake Shore,

Harry and Neville discuss the events of the last several days.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 41 - Countdown to a Birthday,

Harry meets Reginald and Enid Longbottom at Neville's birthday.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 56 - The Boggart (Pt 1),

Neville faces a boggart.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 151 - The Quidditch World Cup (Pt 6),

Neville defeats a Barghest.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 79 - Meet Regulus Black,

"Harfang Longbottom died before his time, and I don't even know if he passed along the ancient knowledge to his son Archimedes.".
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 114 - The Blackest Day (Pt 3),

"My mother, Charis Crouch was born a Black, but my connection with Bellatrix is remote. I believe she is a Third cousin twice removed,".