Today is July 30th, and we all know what that means! Happy Birthday, Neville Longbottom!! Everyone’s favorite herbology professor turns 34 today. Without Neville, many of us would not be fans of Matt Lewis, and what a shame that would be!
If Rita Skeeter is to be believed (via new Pottermore content) Neville is apparently an alcoholic and still teaching at the school. But when does Rita ever report the truth? So we say Neville is find and happy!
J.K. Rowling speaks very kindly of the lovely Neville:
I love Neville. I love Neville so much. Always loved Neville. And I always had big plans for Neville, you know? And he really was The Boy It Could’ve Been, because as you know, as I made clear, he was born hours before Harry, he was born on the 30th of July, Voldemort singled him out as the other possibility. But the great thing about Neville’s story for me, the over-arching story about Neville, is that he proves himself to be a boy who could’ve done it too. Yeah, Harry had the scar and arguably, Harry had an edge more talent because Harry– he has an extraordinary instinct for the right thing to do. He’s just got the right instinct, and that’s what would make him, in due course, a phenomenal Auror. But Neville was, I think, amazing in the final battle, and proved himself a hundred times over worthy of being a Gryffindor, his parents’ son, despite the very difficult childhood he had in the hands of his very pushy grandmother, and I know, she loves him and he loves her, but she’s not an easy person to be raised by. So yeah, so that for me, was the big thing about Neville. x
