Neville Longbottom

## Neville Frank Longbottom

Longbottom (c. 1996)

**Neville Longbottom** (b. 30 July 1980) was a British pure-blood wizard, the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom and the older brother of Stephanie Longbottom. Neville's parents were well-respected Aurors and members of the original Order of the Phoenix.

At the time of his birth, Neville was marked by a prophecy as being one of two children with the potential to defeat Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and feared Dark Wizard in the world. However, Voldemort's first attempt to circumvent the prophecy by killing Neville's later friend and classmate Harry Potter, ultimately established Harry as Voldemort's nemesis.

Neville began school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991 and was sorted into Gryffindor House, along with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley. Throughout his school years, he was mostly a shy, clumsy, introverted boy who was constantly being told by his grandmother that he was not good enough or living up to his parents' accomplishments. However, in his later years, he showed that he possessed great courage and perseverance: he became an important member of Dumbledore's Army, an organisation taught and led by Harry Potter with the goal of helping other students learn spells to attack and defend themselves.

## Biography

### Early Life (1980-1991)

Neville Longbottom was born on 30 July, 1980, to Frank and Alice Longbottom, a pair of Aurors. Moments after his birth, Neville was able to adjust his blankets so that he was swaddled more snugly, but no one witnessed this unusually precocious display of underage magic. The midwife who attended the birth assumed that his father had tucked him in more tightly. Neville was born "several hours" before his classmate, Harry.

As a pure-blood wizard, he was likely related to other wizarding families such as the Weasleys, Crouches, Potters, and the Blacks. Neville's parents were members of the Order of the Phoenix and in these roles, they defied Lord Voldemort at least three times. Neville was one of two infants referred to in a prophecy made by Sybill Trelawney about the person with the power to defeat the Dark Lord. The other was Harry Potter, and it was Harry whom Voldemort targeted on 31 October, 1981 making Harry his equal and leading to his first defeat.

Shortly after, a handful of Voldemort's most loyal followers attacked the Longbottoms. Frank and Alice were tortured with the Cruciatus Curse by Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband Rodolphus Lestrange, her brother-in-law Rabastan Lestrange, and Barty Crouch Jnr. The four Death Eaters were all sentenced to Azkaban for their crimes, while Frank and Alice were sent to St Mungo's Hospital for several months. Neville was subsequently. At some point early in his life, he also witnessed the death of his grandfather.

His relatives feared that Neville might be a Squib, though this was disproved when his great-uncle Algie was holding him out of a window by his feet when he was offered some lemon meringue and let go. Miraculously, Neville bounced. Previous to this, there were various attempts to make him show signs of magic, including dropping him off Blackpool pier, where, according to Neville, he nearly drowned.

At some point in 1982, Neville met Harry Potter as their parents had been friends at Hogwarts, the two became good friends and was introduced to Ron Weasley by Harry as well.

### Hogwarts Years (1991-1998)

#### First Year

*Main Article: "1991-1992 School Year"*

Neville began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on 1 September, 1991. While with his grandmother at platform 9¾, he lost his toad Trevor. Once on the train, he met Hermione Granger, who agreed to help him find his lost toad. After arriving at Hogsmeade station, Neville managed to retrieve his toad from Rubeus Hagrid.

Neville felt intimidated by Gryffindor's reputation for bravery. During the Sorting Ceremony, he silently argued for a long time to be placed in Hufflepuff, but the Sorting Hat won in the end, and Sorted him into Gryffindor. Neville was so nervous that when the Sorting Hat shouted out his house, he ran across the Great Hall with the Hat still on his head; he had to return to the stool to hand the Hat to the next student. On the way to Gryffindor Tower after the Welcoming Feast, Neville had a bundle of walking sticks dropped on his head by Peeves the Poltergeist.

Much of his first year was plagued by similar mishaps. In his first Potions lesson, Neville melted Seamus Finnigan's cauldron, and was subsequently drenched in the boil-curing potion they had been brewing. The following week, in his first flying lesson with Madam Hooch, Neville accidentally broke his wrist after falling off his broom from a great height; afraid of being left behind on the ground, he had pushed off too early. He was taken to the hospital wing and his wrist was healed. Several hours later, he ended up heading to the Hogwarts Trophy Room with Harry, Ron, and Hermione for Harry's duel with Draco Malfoy. Nearly getting caught by Filch, they end up in the forbidden third floor corridor, where Neville drew Harry's attention to a giant three-headed dog. They manage to escape and safely return to Gryffindor Tower.

That year, Neville received a Remembrall from his grandmother as a gift which was flown in by an owl. This particular gift later allowed Harry Potter to become Gryffindor seeker. Draco Malfoy threw the small sphere into the air, and Harry flew to grab it, standing up for Neville. Minerva McGonagall saw how easily Harry retrieved the ball and asked him to join the team.

Shortly after the Christmas holidays, Neville was the target of a cruel prank by Draco Malfoy, in which his legs were stuck together with the Leg-Locker Curse. Neville had to bunny-hop all the way to Gryffindor Tower so someone could perform the counter-curse. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione urged him to report Malfoy, Neville replied that he didn't want more trouble. Harry gave Neville his last Chocolate Frog from Christmas and consoled him by telling that he was worth twelve Malfoys, and that the Sorting Hat chose him for Gryffindor, while Malfoy was in "*stinking Slytherin*". Several seconds later, Neville inadvertently helped the trio identify Nicolas Flamel when he gave Harry Dumbledore's collectible card from the Chocolate Frog.

Neville was sent to the hospital wing a third time after a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. During the match, Malfoy began to taunt the Gryffindor Quidditch team, as well as Neville. Neville challenged Malfoy on hearing this, and single-handedly took on Malfoy's friends Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, while Ron fought Malfoy. Although he was knocked out by Crabbe and Goyle, Madam Pomfrey insisted that Neville would make a full recovery. This was the first time that Neville stood up for himself.

In time, Neville learned about Harry and Hermione's attempt to take Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback up to the Astronomy Tower to send to Ron's brother Charlie. When he learned Malfoy was trying to get them caught, Neville snuck out of Gryffindor Tower to find them and warn them. He instead ended up getting caught by Professor McGonagall. He lost fifty House points, and was put in detention with Harry, Hermione, and Malfoy. Sent into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid to search for an injured unicorn, Neville and Malfoy went along one path with Fang, while the other three took another. When Malfoy snuck up behind Neville and grabbed him to scare him, Neville panicked and sent up wand sparks to warn Hagrid. When Hagrid learned the truth, he instead paired Neville with himself and Hermione.

The night Quirinus Quirrell attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone, Neville followed Harry's advice and attempted to stop Harry, Ron, and Hermione from sneaking out, though he did not know what they were trying to do. However, he thought that they should not be breaking rules and risking that Gryffindor would lose more points, and blocked the portrait hole, willing to fight them to make them stay. Hermione apologised and struck Neville with a Full Body-Bind Curse so that she, Harry, and Ron could leave. This was another early instance where Neville showed bravery, standing up to his only friends.

For standing up to the trio, Neville won ten points for Gryffindor at the end-of-term feast. Having moments before, tied Slytherin for the House Cup, this pushed Gryffindor into undisputed first place. In the final exams, he scored well in Herbology, making up for his poor marks in Potions.

#### Second Year

*Main Article: "1992-1993 School Year"*

In 1992, after the Start-of-Term Feast, he applauded Harry and Ron for flying a car to Hogwarts. The following morning when Ron received a Howler from his mother, Neville warned him to open it quickly.

In Gilderoy Lockhart's first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, a pair of "freshly caught" Cornish pixies picked Neville up by the ears and hung him, by his cloak, from a chandelier. Moments later, he crashed back to the ground when the chandelier collapsed.

After the Basilisk attack on Colin Creevey, Neville feared that he might be attacked, due to his poor magical skills, and tried to protect himself by purchasing a large, "*evil-smelling*" green onion, a pointed purple crystal, and a rotting newt tail. However the other students pointed out that Neville should be all right; he was a pure-blood and thus unlikely to be attacked. However, he thought he was very close to being a Squib and was still in danger anyway.

Neville attended the first (and only) meeting of Lockhart's Duelling Club. To practise the Disarming Charm, Neville was paired with Justin Finch-Fletchley. When Lockhart suggested the pair to volunteer spell blocking, Snape shot this down, claiming that Neville had difficulty with the simplest spells, and they would have to send what was left of Justin to the hospital wing in a matchbox.

Shortly after Valentine's Day, Neville informed Harry that his belongings had been searched by someone.

Neville would have been present at the end of term feast that year, having thankfully not been attacked or petrified by the Basilisk, and would have been present when all his classmates who had been petrified returned to full health after being cured by Mandrake Restorative Draughts, and would have been there to greet Rubeus Hagrid following his release from Azkaban.

#### Third Year

*Main Article: "1993-1994 School Year"*

On the train ride to Hogwarts for his third year, Neville became alarmed when the Hogwarts Express simply stopped. He entered the compartment Harry, Jane and Tommy Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron, and Ginny Weasley were in to find out what had happened. A Dementor then entered the compartment, negatively affecting all the students within, though to varying degrees. Then new Professor Lupin gave them chocolate telling them it would help them feel better about the shock. After arriving at Hogsmeade Station, Neville told people about the experience in the compartment. This made its way to Draco Malfoy, who taunted Harry about fainting.

In their first Divination class, Neville accidentally broke two of Professor Trelawney's tea cups while reading tea leaves. As the class departed, Professor Trelawney warned him that he would be late next class and urged him to work hard to catch up with everyone else. In Care of Magical Creatures class, Neville practised bowing to a hippogriff; he constantly backed away from the beast, which did not seem to want to bow back.

The next day in Potions, Neville again managed to earn the ire of Professor Snape. He somehow was able to turn his Shrinking Solution orange instead of green. To ensure Neville would get the potion right, Snape told him that he would feed some of it to Neville's pet toad, Trevor, at the end of the class. Desperately, he asked Hermione for help; she whispered instructions to him out of the corner of her mouth. By the end of class, he was able to turn his potion green, and successfully shrunk Trevor from a toad to a tadpole. Upon returning Trevor to his proper size, Snape took five points from Hermione simply to spite the Gryffindors.

Later that day, Neville helped Professor Remus Lupin's first practical Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson about boggarts. Neville was the first person to be asked. This was most likely because of Professor Lupin's preference for the underdog and him wanting to build Neville's confidence. When asked what scared him most in the world, Neville replied "*Professor Snape*", to which everyone found amusing. To counter the boggart, Lupin asked Neville to picture Snape in his grandmother's clothes. For his help, Neville earned ten points for Gryffindor and he confidently banished the boggart at the end of class.

In the spring of 1994, Neville lost the passwords to Gryffindor Tower; because Sir Cadogan changed them so frequently, Neville needed to write them down so he could remember them. After the passwords disappeared, Peter Pettigrew managed to enter Gryffindor Tower with a knife. After learning Neville was indirectly responsible, Professor McGonagall banned him from all future visits into Hogsmeade for the remainder of the school year, gave him a detention, and forbade anyone from giving him the password to the common room, thus he had to wait outside the portrait until someone came by while security trolls hired to guard the Fat Lady leered unpleasantly at him.

But none of that compared to what his grandmother had in store for him. Two days later during breakfast, Neville received a Howler from her; he tore out of the Great Hall, amid shouts of laughter, and opened it in the Entrance Hall, where his grandmother's angry voice told him he brought shame to their family.

At the end of his Divination final exam, Neville was told that, if he told anyone his results, he would suffer a serious accident.

#### Fourth Year

*Main Article: "1994-1995 School Year"*

In "Mad-Eye" Moody's first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Neville was able to supply information about the Unforgivable Curses, in particular the Cruciatus Curse. When Moody demonstrated the curse on a spider, Neville was terrified; he gripped his desk so hard, his knuckles turned white. Hermione noticed this and called for the professor to stop. After class, Moody — who was in fact Barty Crouch Jnr, one of the attackers of Neville's parents, under disguise by use of Polyjuice Potion — took Neville to his office for a cup of tea.

Having heard from Professor Sprout about Neville's aptitude in Herbology, Moody cheered Neville up by telling him what Sprout had said and gave him a number of books he thought Neville would enjoy. One of them was *Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean*, which Crouch intended for Harry to read in order to learn all about Gillyweed for the second task, but he was stubbornly searching through the library.

A few days later in class, Neville was put under the Imperius Curse by Moody, under the pretence of letting the class know what it felt like. Under Moody's influence, Neville performed a series of "*quite astonishing gymnastics*" that he could not have performed normally.

When the Yule Ball was announced during the Triwizard Tournament, Neville asked Hermione to go with him. After Hermione politely declined, having already agreed to attend with Viktor Krum, Neville asked Ginny Weasley, who was already going with Harry Potter, eventually he asked Hanna Abbott. While the pair seemed to enjoy themselves, Neville accidentally stepped on Hanna's toes while dancing.

It can be assumed that Neville was among the spectators of the third task ( Triwizard Maze), supporting Harry along with his fellow Gryffindors. He was also most likely among the mass of students that attended the Memorial feast to Cedric Diggory, after Cedric was murdered on the orders of Lord Voldemort.

#### Fifth Year

*Main Article: "1995-1996 School Year"*

In 1995, Neville met with Harry and Ginny on the Hogwarts Express. Searching for seats, the trio entered Luna Lovegood's compartment. Once inside, he excitedly showed them his Mimbulus mimbletonia, a birthday present from his great-uncle Algie. He told them about his plans to show it to Professor Sprout, as well as wanting to breed it.

After arriving at Hogwarts, Neville helped Harry get into Gryffindor Tower as Harry had not learned the new password yet, and then defended Harry during a verbal fight with Seamus Finnigan, claiming that the *Daily Prophet* was going downhill, not Harry and Dumbledore. He and his grandmother both believed Harry's claim that Voldemort had returned, and had cancelled their subscription to the newspaper.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione began organising Dumbledore's Army, Neville was among the first to sign up. At their first meeting in the Room of Requirement, Neville was left partner-less when they began practice; Neville instead partnered with Harry. After successfully disarming Harry, Neville then joined Ron and Hermione, so Harry could check on the others. With Harry's encouragement, by the beginning of Christmas break, Neville had improved "*beyond all recognition*."

## Physical Appearance

Neville was said to strongly resemble his mother. He was round-faced, short, chubby, and had blond hair. He was also somewhat buck-toothed. Pansy Parkinson had once called him "*fat*", but this may have been an exaggeration, as she frequently made disparaging comments about Gryffindor students.

## Personality and Traits

When he was younger, Neville was clumsy, forgetful, shy, and many considered him ill-suited for Gryffindor house because he seemed timid. However, Neville proved that the Sorting Hat had seen the bravery beneath his insecurity, as he stood up to his only friends as a first-year and later became one of the D.A.'s most courageous members. Part of Neville's problem seems to have been poor self-esteem, as he referred to himself as a "*nobody*" and "*almost a Squib*" at times. This was likely caused by his grandmother's belief that he was not living up to his parents' accomplishments, and browbeating from fellow students and people like Professor Snape. Though he came from a pure-blood family, he held no prejudice against half-bloods or Muggle-borns.

Neville appeared to suffer from a degree of post-traumatic stress disorder, as the torture of a spider via the cruciatus curse by Barty Crouch Junior in disguise as Alastor Moody was enough to cause him a severe anxiety attack. This was likely due to his own experience with his parents being subjected to the curse. This familiarity of what the Cruciatus Curse could do in skilled enough hands was more than enough to terrify him.

With the support of his friends, the encouragement of Professor Lupin to face his fears, and the motivation of knowing his parents' torturers were on the loose, Neville became braver, more self-assured, and dedicated to the fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.