OoP: Neville's Wand

[Professor Granger]

No: HPFGUIDX 64624

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "woodsie426" <kmeier at l...> wrote:
> Manson - 
> 
> I think that Neville is already becoming an more powerful wizard.  
> His problems in the past likely have a lot to do with his secretive 
> past (his parents' conditions) and his fear that everyone will find 
> out.  
> 
> Also notice that he is not portrayed as clumsy and forgetful!  
> Instead, we see him in a new light - he advances more than anyone 
> else in the DA, getting to where he masters spells faster than anyone 
> else (except Hermione).  When it's time to go to the MoM and fight, 
> he refuses to be left behind; indeed, when Bellatrix enters the 
> picture he seems keen to let her have it!  Plus, I want to point out 
> the Crucio curse that Bellatrix used on Neville!  He lay there in 
> such pain and told Harry to keep the prophesy away from the DEs!  
> Such bravery and strength of character - so there folks who thought 
> he didn't belong in Gryffindor!
> k
 
Don't forget that at the end of OoP, Neville said that his grandmother would be angry that he had broken his wand because it was his father's old wand.  In PS/SS, someone, I can't remember who, probably Ollivander, said that you will never achieve such good results with someone else's wand.  I think that once Neville has his own wand, and is more confident in himself (the fight in the department of mysteries should do wonders for him in that regard), he'll improve even more rapidly.  
 
This of course depends on the type of teaching he gets.  As much as I like and respect Snape's character, he is an overbearing bastard, especially in potions.  From what I gathered in the D.A. scenes, Harry's a much gentler teacher, as is Professor Sprout, which are two of the subject areas that Neville does well in.  Even McGonagall has confidence that he will do well in his O.W.L.s, that he is powerful, despite what others say, and what he somewhat consistently shows in class.
 
And remember: we could just as easily have been reading the Neville Longbottom series, since there were two possible choices for who the prophecy was about.  It was Voldemort's incomplete information that led him to attack the Potters instead of the Longbottoms.  In hindsight, I thought that it was very appropriate that it was Harry and Neville battling the Death Eaters while everyone else was injured, instead of it being between the Death Eaters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione (no offense to those two characters).
 
In the end, I have to agree that Neville has the most potential as Harry's partner in the future, since they have so much in common: Parents taken at around the same age, and by the same group of people.  Being raised by less than desireable relatives (Mrs. Longbottom is not brutal like the Dursleys, but I don't think I would want to live with her either), and a common set of enemies - Snape, Malfoy and co, Voldemort.
To wrap up, Neville is one of the most underappreciated characters in the series, and I have a feeling that because his secret is now in the semi-open, and he has his own wand and Harry's respect, he will play a much larger role in the last parts of the series, as well as the war itself.
 
~*~Professor Granger~*~


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