Neville Longbottom and the Prophecy

[pegruppel]

No: HPFGUIDX 68498

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lucettehall" <lhall at n...> 
wrote:
> Question: Now that we know that Neville was a possibility to be the 
> one prophesied to destroy V, was his parents killed trying to 
protect 
> him?  Was his magical ability masked by some spell to look non -
> threatening so that he would be safe? We see in the fight at the 
MOM 
> that he was a formidable ally to Harry when everyone else was 
> neutralized.  Thoughts?


Me:

Well, Neville's parents aren't dead, but insane, which happened well 
after V was incapacitated by his attack on Harry.

After re-reading the prophecy a few times, I was struck by the 
possibility, based on its phrasing, that it was V who made the choice 
of which of the two children was to be his enemy.  It was V's 
*choice* as to which one of the two boys who fit the general outline 
of prophecy would be his enemy.  He chose by making the attempt on 
Harry.  If he had attacked Neville, the "backfire" would have had 
similar effects on V and Neville would have been the "chosen one."  
Interesting, really.  If V had *not* attacked Harry, it's possible 
that his (Harry's) parents would have lived, and Harry wouldn't have 
suffered the way he has.  On the other hand, maybe James and Lily 
would have been tortured into insanity instead of Neville's parents.

JKR has insisted that it's our choices that make us who we are, and 
it seems to me that V has chosen his own mortal enemy.  I suspect 
that Harry is going to find out, in one of the next two books, that 
the prophecy could have applied either to him or to Neville, 
depending on which one was attacked.  That sets up a nice situation 
where Harry gets to wonder what his life could have been like . . .

I've believed for a long time that Neville was just too rattled by 
his grandmother and the rest of his family to show just how much 
talent he really has.  With that much pressure, few people are likely 
to perform well.  Furthermore, since he's grown up knowing what his 
parents got for being who they were, why should he expose himself to 
the possibility of a similar fate?  After all, if he's not magical 
(something he proves by being inept), how could anybody want to do to 
him what they did to his parents?

Just some thoughts . . .

Peg