LONGBOTTOM, Neville

   Character's Legal Name: Neville Alfred Longbottom

   Age: 50. July 30, 1980.

   Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

   Blood Type:  Pureblood

   Species: Human.

   Face claim: Kyle Chandler
   

You know how some people peak in school and their looks rapidly decrease the second they exit their youth?

Yeah, not the case with Neville Longbottom.

His last year of Hogwarts forced a lot of growth out of Neville especially. He starved and suffered alongside the rest of the school. He was stretched mentally, emotionally, physically and never wanted to find himself in such a compromising position. He had often been the barrier between harm and his friends and he did not want his strength to fail him. He worked out, he stayed fit, baby fat fell away and his shoulders broadened, muscle collecting.

Hannah helped, quite a bit. Doting but never fussy, her influence tamed Neville's mop of hair and reigned in his misguided attempts to blend into muggle culture by taking up the job of his shopper. His wife's standards kept him well-groomed and tidy.

He's, of course, getting older. Grey hairs have begun to pepper his hair, the inescapable dad bod has begun to set in, and he's not nearly as spry as he used to be. Hannah keeps him on track with their clean-eating diet (or cutting out gluten or whatever new thing she thinks they should both try) and her affinity for taking walks. He stays presentable because he truly does have pride in the man he's become and he knows people look to people like him. He'd hate to disappoint.
   

Now grown with a wife and children, Neville has learned and finally embraced the true meaning of courage - of standing up for what is right, for finding the place where integrity and compassion meet, for setting ego aside and thinking of a greater sense of being. In a lot of ways, he is still that bumbling eleven year old. His memory fails him often and his jokes are pitiful at best. He'd rather suffer a headache than break out a cauldron and he finds himself jittery in the company of many people.

But he knows where he stands and he'll speak his mind. He believes in family as a chosen entity and would do anything to defend his. His closest friends are also his greatest inspirations and he believes that's the way to do it. He is honest (it often pains him when someone asks him a question with a difficult truth) and unendingly kind. The older he's gotten the more he desires to know, and the more he's come to terms with how little he does know.

Neville often tells Hannah that he was fated for mediocrity but was too late, as always, and born under stars that were meant for some better than him. Hannah doesn't believe it, of course, but Neville truly does mean that he was not meant for any sort of greatness... and yet this is one of his greatest prides. Because all that he has done and seen and witnessed and lost was because of him, not because of traits that made it easy.
   

   Early Years: Neville Longbottom was the Boy Not Chosen. Unknown by many, Neville could have easily taken the place of Harry Potter in the grand scheme of the rise and fall of Lord Voldemort, but he wasn't chosen. Unfortunately, what he shared with Harry Potter in birthdays and prophecies, he also shared in loss. Before the little boy could form any true memories with his parents, their minds were destroyed by a more-than-obliging pair of Lestranges, leaving Neville in the hands of his formidable grandmother and his kind-hearted but aloof grandfather.

It wasn't easy. Augusta was convinced that Neville lacked all that his parents had, could see nothing of her darling boy in her grandson. She was strict, tough, and he was not a boy that rose to meet expectations well. He felt trapped and alone, felt like a failure, but at least he had his grandfather.

He was six when his grandfather became sick. It didn't really register, but one day he stumbled into his grandfather's room to see the man soundlessly reaching out. Neville remained frozen in fear on the edge of the room, as his grandfather took his last breath. Neville stared for close to ten minutes before he managed to approach, slowly, uncertainly.

That was when Augusta came in. She let out a gasp, yanked Neville from the room, and handled it alone.

They never spoke of it.

It was rather lonely. His grandmum didn't expect him to actually shape up to be a wizard, so he went to a local school, where he struggled to make friends. He wasn't a great student, too full of doubt to really perform well, and he didn't have anything of the confidence it took to approach others and make friends.

And then there was the magic.

It was subtle, enough so that he was convinced it wasn't there. A puddle of milk in the cafeteria evaporating just as he realized his desk mate was about to step in it, a leash lengthening when a pup found themselves just outside of reach of a morsel of forgotten food.

At home, he spent most of his time in the garden. No one seemed to notice the way the vines and flowers seemed to stretch towards him. Around holidays, the extended family arrived and Neville suffered at the exuberant hands of his Uncle Algie, who claimed he saw something in Neville but only seemed to ruin the boy's confidence as he failed to rise to any of the dire circumstances Algie put him in, furthering his grandmother's perception that her grandson had nothing in him.

Every Christmas, he visited his mum and dad. He had been given some variation of the truth, they were sick and couldn't come home, but he was nine years old when his uncle explained it to him properly. He nearly got sick visiting them that year, realizing that the state they were in had been purposeful, had been someone's intention. Maybe he didn't want to be a wizard. Not if thi was what it could do.

It almost his birthday and there was no talk of Diagon or robe-fittings. The family came over for Great Aunt Agatha's birthday and Uncle Algie was blushing with wine when he decided to dangle Neville outside the window, claiming his magic just needed a little fright to get going. Memories of being dropped off a pier raced through Neville's mind when he heard his grandmother offer Algie some pie. And suddenly he was falling-

They said he bounced. And he did. But it was the rosebush beneath him that gained sudden buoyancy, acting like a crash pad for stunt men that caused him to go turning head over heels. And then he bounced again and again...

And they went to Diagon the next day.

   Hogwarts Years: The hat was set on Gryffindor. So unlike his daughter after him, Neville begged the hat to be placed into Hufflepuff but lost in the end. He was sorted into Gryffindor and so much of his fate was sealed because of the hat's certainty.

We know this story rather well, don't we? First year, Neville Longbottom the joke of Hogwarts won Gryffindor the House Cup by standing up to the very people he looked up to most. It was the year he stood up for himself for the first time, taking on Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle - he landed in the hospital wing but the pride of defending himself far outweighed the pain of his injuries.

In his second year, he fiercely defended Harry Potter when people tried to pin him as the heir of Slytherin. He often visited Professor Sprout and volunteered to help with the tending of the mandrakes to help heal all those who had been petrified. He visited Hermione Granger often, reading her the passages assigned for work in class, assuming she wouldn't want petrification to interrupt her studies.

In his third year, Neville Longbottom became closer friends with Ginny Weasley. Both were bonded by their sense of insecurities and their desire to be closer to the "Golden Trio." Neville also faced public humiliation of a deeper degree this year when he began keeping a list of passwords that was then found by Sirius Black. His grandmum delivered him a Howler that made him ready to transfer to Beauxbatons. Worse was the feeling that he put his friends at risk. He was horrified to learn that Sirius Black had evaded his punishment but Harry seemed to feel safe.

During Neville's fourth year, he gained a strange new hero in Mad Eye Moody, a man that originally horrified him with his demonstration of the Cruciatus Curse. Moody noted Neville's horror and invited him for a tea, where he spoke in over-arching terms about how horrible the curse is and how it echoed a lack of humanity in those who cast it. Neville couldn't be sure that Moody knew about his parents, but he got the sense he did. He relaxed Neville by encouraging his interest in herbology, and gave him a book that would help ensure Harry's success in the second task. Neville also gained confidence in asking out Ginny Weasley to the Yule Ball. Despite himself, he had a good time.

Neville's excitement for Harry turned to ash when he saw Cedric's lifeless body. He immediately trusted Harry's assertion that Voldemort was back, and felt sick to his stomach remembering that this was the person who has inspired the harm done to his parents.  

He was one of the first to sign up for Dumbledore's Army and was a constant defender of his friend Harry, even to former friends such as Seamus Finnegan (the pair would make up once Seamus came to his senses about Harry). Dumbledore's Army saw a transformation in Neville. Often paired with Hermione or Luna, he thrived with one-on-one help and the added spite of knowing the Lestranges now walked free. Harry, Ron, and Hermione now knew his secret, having run into him over the holidays visiting his parents, and they were all good for not saying anything of it. Neville always secretly wondered if Harry alone could understand why he now so fervently trained. They both had parents to avenge.

He faced his worst nightmare later that year.

He was with them when they broke into the Department of Mysteries. He stood by Harry's side as all of their other friends fell. And he learned the meaning of true courage as Bellatrix Lestrange hit him with the Cruciatus Curse and he still encouraged Harry to defy her.

His grandmother did not say anything about it directly. When she was alerted of the situation, she went to the school to meet with him. And as they finally parted, he was far too intent on finishing off the school year to come home with her, she gave him a hug - a rare moment for her - and told him he looked like his father.

His sixth year continued to see him take strides towards acceptance. Now taking courses that he knew he had skills in, with Potions and Transfiguration only distant nightmares, he pushed himself to really learn, reminding himself that every skill could potentially be a life saving one. He found himself becoming closer friends with Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley, often popping in on their study sessions to quietly study on his own. He once again answered the call of Harry Potter and was injured at the battle of the Astronomy Tower.

He strangely wasn't surprised when Harry, Ron, and Hermione did not arrive back at school their seventh year. Disappointed, of course, but not at all surprised, and a little proud to know that they were surely off doing something important. What did surprise him was when, after he told the Death Eaters attempting to ransack the train for Harry Potter to keep moving, Ginny and Luna (tending to his injuries) asked him when they would be starting up DA again.

That was how he became the leader of Dumbledore's Army, and potentially the most influential student in school that year.

At first, it was open rebellion. Vandalizing the walls with their names, openly arguing with the volatile Carrows, jinxing the suits of armor to yell "traitor" when Snape went by, breaking each other out of detention. The punishments were harsh but it always seemed worth it - and then Michael Corner was tortured so brutally that Neville could no longer in good conscience keep up the revolt. They withdrew, taking on quieter forms of rebellion, and worked to protect each other.

It was during this time Neville became more than a classmate to Hannah Abbott. One of the few to understand the loss of parents, Hannah too had thoughts of vengeance as she trained. Neville found this new ferocity in a girl usually so mild and warm interesting, and she reminded him of the other women he admired, though she had a special sort of simplicity that he rather enjoyed.

Luna was captured over Christmas holidays and his Gran started noting she was being followed. At Neville's behest, she fled to Argentina with other family. Ginny remained with the Weasleys after the Easter holiday and Neville was left alone. It became very clear that the Carrows knew he was the leader of their resistant group of rugrats and Hannah and Seamus were two of the chorus to convince him he was not going to be safe. After a very strange "coincidence" in which an unattended goblet of his ate through the table once knocked over, Neville knew he was not long for the world if he remained part of the usual school population.

He took up residence in the Room of Requirement and found an odd ally in Aberforth Dumbledore. Here he waited and plotted and hoped.

To this day, the memory of Ron, Hermione, and Harry arriving is enough to produce a Patronus. He knew the battle ahead would be horrible, but he knew it would all be okay with them there.

And it was horrible. Of course. He lost too many friends, watched too many of those he had inspired a rebellious spirit in fall, and he still struggles with what he had to do that day. But that day was the last day he doubted his place in Gryffindor, as Godric Gryffindor's sword appeared to him and he destroyed Voldemort's final horocrux.

As he limped from the castle, covered in blood, to reunite with his friends, he remembered thinking "now that is over... what do we do now?"

   After Hogwarts: He did not go back to school. Most employers agreed that the students that had fought in the battle more than earned their NEWTs. Neville did what had always worked for him and followed Harry Potter's lead and became an Auror. They were responsible for rounding up the last of the fleeing Death Eaters and Neville rode out his crusade for justice alongside friends.

Soon, that number dwindled and Neville realized he wasn't an Auror. He took up Professor Sprout's old position and there merged paths once again with Hannah Abbott, then the matron of the hospital wing. The two bonded again and spent a few nights away from the castle at the Leaky Cauldron. It didn't take long for them to start dating, and even less time for them to realize they were serious. Hannah was getting tired of the castle, upset by the memories, and they decided to take over the Leaky Cauldron for a time. They moved in and Neville left teaching to help Hannah follow this new dream.

Neither liked it much.

They didn't have the business attitude to make them money and they had too much worry to let their guests enjoy their stays unbothered by their hosts. And besides, they both desperately wanted a garden.

They found a cottage, and they never left it. They married in the garden, they brought their baby boy home, they planned for their second. Hannah became a mid-wife specializing in holistic magical treatments, and Neville became a specialty Herbologist, working with potioneers who specific and particular tastes. He travelled on occasion, to guest lecture here and there, and has mostly done well enough to stay close to home.

He's suffered losses, however, the older he's gotten. Losing Harry and Ginny was horrible, and he misses them both daily. The day Harry Potter left their world, so did a part of Neville that believed evil could be forever vanquished. When his Gran died, he didn't expect to be upset but it took him awhile to get out of it. He wasn't as attentive to his son as he wanted to be, and Hannah pulled a lot of the heavy lifting to cultivate Frank.

When Alice was born, Neville had no choice but to bury the dead and move on. With new eyes, he looked at his family and felt as though he had truly lucked into a better man's life.

The years have passed more quickly now than they had before. Kids did that. Before he knew it, Frank was in Hogwarts and Alice was out of diapers. Another double take and Frank was graduating and Alice was bossing around other first years. He worried for his children for very different reasons. Frank seemed to have no ambitions and, despite a likeable personality, didn't seem to keep many close ties. Alice, on the other hand, had a frightening level of ambition he had only ever seen in his good friend Hermione, and also lacked a system of friends. Knowing that his friends had been the greatest source of joy in his life, he gently pushed them to explore and open themselves up to people.

It wasn't just relief that made him accept Christian Zabini, however, but a true joy to see that his daughter did have people in her life to support her beyond family. Now more comfortable that Alice was on the right track, he supposed it was time to deal with the mess of bed-head and sarcasm that was his son.
   

   What should we call you: Jackles

   RP Experience: 8 years???

   How you found us: -joke-

   Main Character (we'll PM you on this account): Jack Dyllan