Neville's future role/Evil!Neville

[Meredith]

No: HPFGUIDX 97124

I looked over the last 10,000 threads or so, searching for an Evil!
Neville theory/prediction (for today's purposes, he can just be Evil!
Neville and not ESE!Neville). I couldn't find anything relatively 
recent using the yahoo search, but we all know that doesn't mean 
there isn't anything there. *rolls eyes* If anyone knows where in the 
archives to find something similar to this, let me know. I'm am not 
proposing Neville is already evil, or has been spying on our hero, 
more that he may have a tendency to become corrupted, and that we may 
have canon evidence that foreshadows this. 

Many people, including me, believe the marauders and the trio-and-
friends share many similarities, and that Harry and his friends 
parallel Harry's parents and their friends. IMO, Harry=James 
(obviously), Ron=Sirius (loyal, adventurous best friend), 
Hermione=Lupin (academic, follows rules more often), Draco=Snape 
(slytherin nemesis of the hero), Ginny=Lily (this, of course, is up 
for speculation and all I'm really going on is the red hair/green 
eyes, and the possibility of a H/G ship). Where does that leave 
Neville? Why, he's Wormtail, of course!
 
Neville is the elusive 5th wheel. Seamus and Dean are best friends, 
and Harry and Ron are best friends. Neville floats somewhere in the 
middle. Now, obviously it's good to be friends with the-boy-who-lived 
(popularity by association). We see Neville with R/H/Hr a good deal 
in SS/PS. Neville serves detention in the Forbidden Forest with 
H/Hr/DM. Although the group is friendly with Neville, he never breaks 
into their circle the way Hermione does after the troll incident on 
Halloween, or Luna does in OotP, or even the way Ginny does in CoS, 
and then again in OotP. In fact, in SS/PS Harry does not want to be 
teamed with Neville in charms: (SS, pg 170-171, American paperback 
[Halloween]) "Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to 
practice. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan, which was a relief, 
because Neville had been trying to catch his eye." By OotP, Harry has 
still not come to totally trust Neville or his abilities. When in the 
Forbidden Forest, Neville, Ginny and Luna want to accompany H/R/Hr to 
London. Although Neville is in the same year as the trio, Harry has 
huge doubts about his abilities. He also called Neville the most 
forgetful wizard he knows (CoS pg 86, American paperback [Gilderoy 
Lockhart]) "Neville was a round faced and accident prone boy with the 
worst memory of anyone Harry had ever met."

So although Neville looks up to Harry (as most Gryffindors do, based 
on his several defeats of you-know-who, his quidditch ability, and 
his trouble making exploits, such as the Ford Anglia incident), Harry 
doesn't trust Neville, at least not his abilities. Neville 
accompanying the trio to the MoM is also a parallel (albeit a weak 
one) of Wormtail tagging along with James and Sirius when they became 
animagi. Yes, he did it, but I think Peter was trying to fit in. In 
Snapes worst memory James and Sirius seemed to ignore Peter for the 
most part, and probably would have been just as happy to leave him 
behind if he had never become an animagus, and continued their fun 
without him. At the same time, Peter was obviously idolizing James, 
and even Sirius and Lupin to a lesser extent.

Now onto Neville's life. First, there is a theory that Neville is 
forgetful because he had a memory charm placed on him so as not to 
remember his parents being tortured. I don't know if I believe this, 
since Neville obviously knows his parents were tortured. It's obvious 
from Neville's hatred of Bellatrix during the fight in the DoM, the 
fact that he keeps his mother's gum wrapper, as well as his 
embarrassment in telling anyone about his parents, that Frank and 
Alice Longbottom are a painful topic. Coupled with that, Neville is 
the "other kid" the prophecy may have been applied to before Voldy 
got to Harry. (I'm still not entirely convinced the prophecy is about 
Harry, in fact.) 

Based on comparisons between Neville and Wormtail, as well as the 
assumption Neville would do anything for his parents, I believe if 
Voldemort somehow offered to restore Frank and Alice Longbottom, 
Neville might accept his offer. It would, afterall, be an offer he 
couldn't refuse. Neville hasn't shown the talent his father had, and 
therefore won't be following in his footsteps to become an auror. It 
would be beneficial to Voldemort to have Neville in his back pocket, 
just in case the prophecy really IS about him. 

The more I think about it, though, the more I think the following 
scenario might take place instead. Neville will be given an offer by 
Voldemort, similar to the above scenario, but will refuse. People 
have wondered why Neville is in gryffindor rather than, say, 
hufflepuff, sicne there doesn't seem to be anything remarkable about 
him. Showing his bravery by standing up to Voldy would prove him to 
be a true gryffindor. I can support this theory because of 1) 
Neville's bravery in the DoM (he was the last one standing with Harry 
after the others had fallen by the wayside), and 2) When he stood up 
to the trio in SS/PS, earning gryffindor just enough points to break 
their tie with slytherin. Neville said "'I don't think you should be 
breaking anymore rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up 
to people!' 'Yes, but not to us!' said Ron in exaperation." (SS/PS pg 
272 American paperback [Through the trapdoor]) This would also prove 
Dumbledore's "It's our choices, Harry, that define who we truly are, 
far more than our abilities." (CoS pg 333, American paperback 
[Dobby's reward]) Neville would be given the ultimate good/evil 
choice and show that he is more than his abilities (or lack thereof). 
I'm dearly hoping our darling Neville plays a larger role in the next 
two books, but not that he becomes evil. :-)

 

Again, please let me know if this has been discussed. If not, please 
let me know what you think! (Apologies for the long post.)

 

~Luckie, who thinks the fact that Peter's animagus form was a rat 
should have sent off major warning bells in Sirius, Lupin and James's 
heads, and would like to know what Neville's form would be.