Waiting for Neville

[Barry Arrowsmith]

What's the collective noun for suppositions? 
A fancy? A hunch? A whim? Or how about an inkling?
An inkling of suppositions ... that has a certain ring to 
it, don't you think? 
There certainly ought to be one, particularly when, as 
is the case here, a bunch of them get linked together, 
each dependent on the one before, in an attempt to 
cobble together a half-assed surmise regarding 
potentially important happenings in book 7.

The future is a realm I don't venture into very often, 
it's the past of the Potterverse that has mostly held 
my attention - old Sally, Tom in the Chamber, Godric's 
Hollow, the 24 hours, SS I and all that fine stuff. Much 
more interesting - and anyway, it'll be the past that 
determines the how and what of events to come, IMO. 
And the inkling of suppositions here supports that 
opinion to a certain extent.

It's a fair bet that Harry can't beat Voldy in a High-
Noon-in-Hogsmead-High-St.-type showdown, not as 
things stand now, anyway. If Sevvy can brush him off 
as if he were an irritating insect, what chance against 
Voldy? Pretty damn poor, I'd guess. So, is it a case of a 
dead-cert away-team win, Harry doing a Black Knight 
from Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Insisting on 
carrying on no matter how many bits get lopped off, until
there's nothing left but a pair of  furious green eyes 
trying to stare Voldy into submission? Voldy'd laugh his 
socks off. Probably have 'em mounted as novelty cuff-links
 - "They match my favourite curse, you know." So once 
more Harry is gonna need help. If it runs to form 
something/somebody will pop up at the last minute to 
save Harry's bacon. 

Protection, Fawkes, wands, DD, there's usually a helping 
hand available for Harry. Makes one wonder just how 
magical that boy is. Remove the power(s) embedded in his 
noggin at GH and just how much would he be left with? But
that's a question for another day. 
Thing is, who or what will save him this time?
Neville, that's who.
Good on yer, Nev.

Right. Time to start linking to construct the inkling.
What's Neville for? - in plot terms, that is.
We all now what he was to start with - a good egg, a duffer 
who just can't get it right, evincing smiles of sympathy all 
round. Needs a bit of protection from nasty Slyths, bumbles
from one minor cock-up to another, but he does try. And 
gradually - so gradually you hardly notice, his effort and 
stubborness start to pay off. Round about the time of GoF it 
was. Who really expected Nev to get a partner for the Ball 
with so little fuss? Very odd. The lad's an archetypical wallflower. 
Then he does well in the Ministry dust-up. Duffer no more. 
Yup, time to take notice of Neville. If he carries on like this 
he'll end up half-way competent. So what's his role from now on?

There's that revelation at the back end of OoP, the prophecy,
two possibilities, Harry and Neville, but Nev is immediately 
discounted by DD. OK. Fine. But only because Voldy, by trying 
to nail Harry made Harry his putative nemesis. And if he'd gone
for Neville instead, would the result have been the same, only 
with a change in the juvenile lead? 
Quite possibly.

Because the protections that Harry had were laid on him too.
 Just what these protections entail and how they work is still 
none too clear (I wonder why? *cough* *cough*). One, the Lily 
sacrifice activated number, isn't up and running in Nev's case, 
or so we may reasonably assume, but you can bet your boots 
the other one(?) is. And since he's not yet had the pleasure of 
a meeting with Voldy, we'll be interested to see what happens 
when they do meet at the cross-roads one dark and dirty night.

Then there's his wand.
For most of the books he's made do with an old one, not a 
custom-fitted job. That's no longer so, so he should get even 
better at the magical stuff.  
Splendid.
But the half is not yet told.
If the tarot connection to the Founders relics is valid, then 
Ravenclaw left a wand lying around somewhere. And if Neri is 
right and it was sitting in plain sight in Ollivander's window... 
and Ollivander has gone walkabout now that Voldy's back in town 
(why? Does he have something/know something that Voldy wants?)
... and about the last thing he does before vanishing into the 
woodwork is fitting up Neville with a replacement wand.... well, 
the thoughts begin to bubble.

A competent Neville, with magical protection and with a 
Founder's relic in his hot little fist. Now that would be very useful 
when Harry finds himself in a sticky situation, don't you think?

Yes, I am aware that Jo has on occasion down-played Neville 
for the starring role as the boy who would be king. 
Doesn't mean he can't be a contender for Oscar for best-supporting,
though.

Kneasy