Nearly The One - Was:Re: Prophecy wording - why not Neville?

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 128402

I'm going to respond to some of Debbie's points in her reply, but in
the end I think we are not really so far apart on this, as you will
see...at the end.

Annemehr, before: 
> Though Hogwarts was known to Neville, it still must have
> > been a great relief to him when his letter arrived - a rescue from his
> > gran's disappointment if he hadn't been magical enough.

Debbie:
> Ah, Gran's disappointment.  Unfortunately for Neville, Gran's
> disappointment is a constant presence in his life, and admittance into
> Hogwarts didn't improve it much.

Annemehr again:
It is true that Neville must live "under the eye" of his Gran to some
extent even at Hogwarts.  It still must have been wonderful to be
freed of the fate of squibdom (or near-squibdom at least) by the
arrival of the first Hogwarts letter.  Imagine if he'd had to stay at
home with her!  Apparently the issue was still in doubt, even after
the bouncing episode: "And you should have seen their faces when I got
in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. 
Great-Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."  And after
all, Harry is not entirely free of the Dursleys, either; he still has
to go back every summer.


Debbie:
> So this is a very long-winded way of saying that for Neville to be
> Nearly the One would be equivalent to being a failure in Gran's eyes,
> and perhaps in Neville's eyes as well.  And perhaps why I think that
> to be a success, Neville either needs to be the One, or he must chart
> a completely different course.

Annemehr:
Perhaps it would be a failure in Gran's eyes, but I don't see it for
Neville.  Neville is not the type to resent someone for having more
glory or prominence than he has.  Nobody who has any idea what's going
on will want to be Harry, anyway, but the ones who care will want to
help.  Neville will want to do what he can.

Debbie:
> Perhaps I am channeling Elkins, but I don't think it would be very
> satisfying at all for Neville to avenge what happened to his parents
> by killing Bellatrix, which many have suggested.  If he did that, he
> would become the person Gran wants him to be, which seems to be
> someone very different from the person Neville is and wants to be.  I
> think Harry would be much more likely to want revenge on Bellatrix now
> that she's killed Sirius.

Annemehr:
I'm with you here; I never believed Neville will end up killing her. 
As far as I'm concerned, he proved himself beautifully when he defied
Bellatrix's cruciatus curse, the curse he couldn't bear to see a
spider suffer, to urge Harry not to give up the prophecy.  Even if he
bests her in some future fight, I don't see him killing her, nor do I
think overcoming her by force is his purpose as a character.

<snip memory charm discussion; make mental note to play with it later>

Debbie:
> I guess what I'm saying is that Neville's narrative function would be
> sad indeed if he was merely Harry's echo or his shadow.   Neville
> demonstrated that he was *not* Harry's shadow when he stood up to the
> Trio in PS/SS.  
<snip>
> If Voldemort is to be vanquished
> through a means other than a great wand duel, then I think there's at
> least a possibility that Neville could accomplish it.  If Neville is
> not the One, though (and I will reiterate that the odds against it are
> very high), instead of being Nearly the One, would it not be better
> for him to be recognized for something very different?

Annemehr:
Well, I'm not sure I made the spirit of my theory very clear then.  I
never meant for Neville to be, as a person, merely the shadow or copy
or hanger-on of another person.  I do not think he will do the same
thing that Harry has to do only in a lesser or weaker version. 
Looking back at my next to last paragraph of that post, I see I may
have given that impression.

What I was really thinking of was something like this:

Debbie wrote:
> I have a vision in which Neville, in an act that manifests his core
> virtues -- humility, steadfastness, moral courage, to name a few --
> provides an essential ingredient without which Harry could not
> vanquish the Dark Lord, or perhaps without which Harry could not
> survive.  Neville's perspective is unique, and often ignored. 
> Dumbledore's recognition of Neville act of courage in PS/SS, which
> provided the final points Gryffindor needed for the Quidditch cup, is
> perhaps a foreshadowing of an such an ending.

Annemehr:
That's it!  You found the words I couldn't.  Neville will be crucial
to vanquishing Voldemort.  Harry will take the brunt of it, but
Neville will be unique among his allies.  And they will both do it by
their core virtues.

I think of the prophecy not as merely a bit of news that came out of
the mouth of a seer, but as a direct manifestation of the powerful
magic that will occur in LV's defeat.  Since that powerful magic will
be mainly Harry's, but aided in a crucial way by Neville's, Neville's
birth and the prophecy reflect that.  If Harry was "born to shoulder a
certain burden"  (JKR on The Diane Rehm Show, Dec. 1999), Neville was
born to aid him in a certain way.  Both boys were called forth into
existence, and heralded by a seer, but one is even more hidden than
the other.

  That's my theory -- I'm subscribing to this one until Jo tells me
otherwise.  There is no shame for Neville in this role; in fact, it
elevates him above all Harry's other allies in a way.  It also gives
we "Harry's The One" devotees a handy place to store our nagging "why
mention Neville" questions until Jo tells us for sure. ;)

> Debbie
> who really enjoyed reading Annemehr's post on Sin/Redemption & Snape /
> Christianity in HP, too

Thank you!  Took me half of Saturday, that one. :)

------------------------------------------------------

In a reply to Debbie, Karen wrote:
> But would Grannie Longbottom know about the prophesy? It certainly
> doesn't seem to be common knowlege, otherwise it would surely have
> been told to Harry as part the legend of 'The Boy Who Lived'. 

It certainly seems that very few actually know it exists, let alone
what is says (can you imagine Molly Weasley after finding that out?),
but it's very likely that Lily, James, Frank, and Alice knew.  From
there, it's no great stretch to think that Gran Longbottom does, too,
even if Dumbledore does not subscribe to any of our theories that
Neville is still a part of it.

Annemehr
who searched Quick Quotes Quill for "shoulder" for that JKR quote, and
was dismayed to find that it helpfully returned all the entries for
"should" as well -- about eighty of them!