Think about Neville

[Barry Arrowsmith]

When you think about it,  prophecies are funny things. The odds  are 
that some sort of self-fulfillment will occur rather than the 
ineluctable progression of events outside the control of those 
concerned. Every researcher knows of the risks of bias, of 
"Experimenters Expectation" where no matter how rigorous the protocol 
the results all too often reflect what one expected or hoped to find. 
The surest way of avoiding this is with "double blind" testing, though 
even that has demonstrated odd results on rare occasions.

The Prophecy Bank in the Dept. of Mysteries is more than just a filing 
system IMO. Englobing a prophecy, sticking it in a rack, telling the 
one who reported it to keep his mouth shut and then sitting back to 
await events may go some way to improving the chances of events 
progressing without expectations of the public, the participants or the 
observers/evaluators getting in the way. Of course when you've got some 
Delphic old bat talking in riddles, determining whether or no the 
*supposed* outcome has been fulfilled is a trifle dodgy. If you're none 
  too certain what the old fool was on about in the first place, how can 
you be certain that the prophecy under consideration was intended to 
foretell whatever has transpired? It may in fact have been about 
something totally unconnected. It can all get very hairy and the more 
obscure the prophecy the greater the chances that misinterpretations, 
jumpings to conclusions or wish-fulfillment may intervene.

Somebody in the Ministry shows a healthy scepticism for Sybil's 
mutterings - there's that question mark in front of Harry's name. Not 
so DD, he's convinced he knows what it's all about. No, wait. I'll 
rephrase that - he convinces Harry that he knows what it's all about, 
which is not quite the same thing. He does after all have his little 
plan and for it to work Harry has to cooperate. Convincing him that 
it's all a foregone conclusion would help enormously.

The problem is, there's too much of what seems like self-fulfillment 
going on for my tastes, most of it from Voldy. He knows part of 
Trelawny's mystic mutterings, enough to affect his actions - and others 
may too. It struck me a few days ago - one of the FAQs - why did the 
DEs drop in on the Longbottoms for tea and torture? Usually the 
response is that Frank was an Auror and may have heard things, they may 
have been at GH on the fateful night, all that sort of speculation. But 
there's a canon fact that may be significant - Neville was the other 
alternative. It can hardly be coincidence that the only  family the DEs 
question is the one that Voldy would be visiting after he'd dealt with 
the Potters. You don't really think that he'd take the risk of leaving 
one of the only two possible contenders for top spot gurgling happily 
in his cot, do you? Not Voldy; he'd nail both of 'em to make sure. And 
the DEs must have known. Note that the Longbottoms were attacked "when 
everybody thought they were safe" - had they just come out of hiding, 
perhaps? Did the DEs leave it so long because they couldn't find them 
until they did?

All that emotive guff from DD about Voldy choosing Harry because he 
identified with his Muggle origins is a load of tripe. He chose Harry 
because thanks to a traitor he could find him, something he couldn't do 
with Neville.

Another FAQ - why didn't Bella's Bunch kill the Longbottoms? Perhaps 
they didn't dare. Perhaps they believed that Voldy had to kill them to 
fulfill the terms of the (to them incomplete) Prophecy. There could 
even be another prophecy involved; Alice's obsession with Droobles 
(which can form orb-like bubbles) may be a desperate and confused 
attempt to communicate this.

One of the conditions of that Prophecy ".. and the Dark Lord will mark 
him as his equal..." has always  bothered me a bit, 'cos Harry isn't 
his equal. No way. Young Potter has invariably escaped Voldy's evil 
clutches by the skin of his teeth and the help of protective spells 
(twice), wands and DD. None were the product of his own magical 
abilities or volition. Even throwing off the possession attempt at the 
Ministry wasn't a matter of his own choice, it happened because of some 
innate attribute possibly emotional in origin and therefore not magical 
at all.

There's no  time-scale on that Prophecy either. No indication when 
these things, including the marking, are supposed to happen. And I keep 
reminding myself - Neville hasn't met Voldy yet. What will happen 
if/when he does? Now there's food for thought. Is Neville still a 
possible Voldy's!Bane? Could he take over if Harry cops it in the neck? 
Is he in fact the one *intended* to sort  out Voldy?

Looked at objectively Neville seems a much more sympathetic character 
anyway - honest, upright, honorable - and he doesn't whine. Harry seems 
flashy and flawed in comparison.

I can hear the protestations already "The  series is about Harry 
Potter, not Neville Longbottom; t'ain't "Neville Longbottom and the 
Half Blood Prince" is it? Stands to reason." So what? Harry's the one 
having all the adventure and angst  throughout the series but that's no 
guarantee that he'll be the one to knock off the villain; Harry could 
be dead by then.

Ah! The possibilities!

Kneasy