Neville Longbottom Character Analysis

Harry's friend and fellow fifth year student in Gryffindor. Neville has been raised by his gran, as Voldemort's followers tortured his parents to insanity and they now live in St. Mungo's hospital. Though Neville's parents were accomplished wizards and well-known among the resistance to Voldemort, Neville's low self-esteem means that he's a poor wizard. His best subject is Herbology and Professor Sprout encourages him in it. Despite Neville's poor reputation, this year he begins to show that, if given proper instruction and support, he is capable of succeeding. Though he continues to do poorly in most subjects, especially Potions (Professor Snape loves torturing Neville by insulting his intelligence and capabilities), Harry notices that Neville makes great improvements after a few months of Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons with him and Dumbledore's Army. Harry also notes that during their practical O.W.L. Potions test, where Snape isn't around to make Neville nervous, Neville performs fairly well. Neville accompanies Harry to the Department of Mysteries, where he performs bravely and helps Harry thwart the Death Eaters. Neville does, however, accidentally break the prophecy that he and Harry are trying to protect. Later, Harry learns that the prophecy that led Voldemort to try to kill Harry could have alternatively referred to Neville, if Voldemort had chosen to interpret it in that way. With this, Rowling positions Neville as someone who has been consistently underestimated and overlooked for essentially no good reason. In this way, he's a foil for Harry, who faces great danger but also has support and expectations that Neville has never had.