Movies - Neville Longbottom

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Neville Longbottom (born 30 July 1980) is a fictional character in the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

Neville is a plump, rather bumbling, Gryffindor student in Harry's class, and has a notoriously bad memory. He shares a dormitory at Hogwarts with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.

Neville's best subject is Herbology, and his worst is Potions - showing great fear for the intimidating Potions instructor Professor Severus Snape. Neville owns a pet toad named Trevor, which was a gift from his great uncle Algie upon his acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Neville could have been the one that Voldemort chose as his equal, but Voldemort chose Harry Potter instead.

Neville is played by Matthew Lewis in the Harry Potter films.

Neville's family

The Longbottoms are one of the last few old pure-blooded families left. Neville's parents are Frank and Alice Longbottom. They were both Aurors and prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix during the time of Lord Voldemort's original reign. They were driven mad by a group of Death Eaters, notably Barty Crouch Jr. and Bellatrix Lestrange, who tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse. They are now in a closed ward of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Neville's paternal grandmother Augusta has raised him from a young age. Augusta is a strict disciplinarian and a perfectionist who seems remarkably blind to her grandson's feelings. When Augusta realises that Neville never told his friends what happened to his parents, she assumes he is ashamed of them; and when his mother gives him a sweet wrapper as a present, she orders him to throw it away - but Neville folds it neatly and puts it in his pocket. She appears to want Neville to follow in his father's footsteps, regardless of his desires or suitability. When Neville tells Professor McGonagall that his grandmother feels Charms is the "soft option" over Transfiguration, McGonagall informs him that "It's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she's got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have." Neville is distantly related to the Black family. Callidora Black, a granddaughter of Phineas Nigellus, married a Harfang Longbottom. (It is also probable that Neville is distantly related to the Potters, Prewetts, Crouchs, Weasleys and maybe even the other Death Eater families, as all the old pureblood families are interrelated).

The loss of his parents to madness has affected Neville greatly. It could be that much of Neville's uncertainty stems from events concerning his parents' madness. While Harry Potter learned of the fate of Neville's parents in the course of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Neville was unaware of this. During the course of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley saw Neville visiting his parents at St. Mungo's. These three have kept Neville's secret, and Neville has only spoken of that meeting on one occasion.

Neville also has an Uncle Algie, who is mentioned many times, and who gives Neville his toad Trevor, which always seems to be getting away from Neville. Algie's rather idiosyncratic motivational techniques, such as throwing Neville off the Blackpool pier to see if he would float, and dropping him out of a window to see if he would bounce, very likely contributed to the boy's fragile emotional state. Algie has not appeared as of book 6.

Personality and development

Neville's lack of self-confidence has affected his abilities as a wizard-in-training; despite being pure-blooded, Neville shows an ineptitude with magic that often gets him into trouble. But he also shows great strength and potential, being able to whiz the Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick, around the classroom, yet he lacks focus. His use of his father's wand may also be a factor, since magic wands in the Harry Potter series must "choose the wizard" - not the other way around. Nonetheless, he has stood up both to his friends (notably in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, where his bravery earned Gryffindor the House Cup), and later, his enemies (see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for details).

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