Shipping may seem silly in comparison to all that goes on in the Harry Potter series. With the supreme conflict of Good vs. Evil and the monumental themes of trust and strength and integrity, something as small as rooting for certain relationships may seem to lack importance. Really though, especially if you consider Dumbledore’s point of view, the relationships are what truly matter. Love, he claims, is a great magic all its own. Love is what allows Harry, and indeed many other characters, to really express their strength and integrity and trust and to keep on fighting the good fight.
Love, it seems, is what it’s all about. Love allowed Harry’s parents to sacrifice themselves for him, imbuing him with a mark of protection against Voldemort. Love of his parents is what keeps Harry strong in the face of evil. Love is what binds him to Ron and Hermione. Love is what has allowed Dumbledore to make the sacrifices he has–both for Harry and for the world at large. Love is what binds Neville to the cause, and not, I feel, the desire to, as Harry claims, ‘have friends.’
Sure Neville and Luna miss the friends they made in the D.A., but there is a stronger tie that pulls Neville into fighting alongside The Order–his parents and the love he has for them. It isn’t hard to see that Neville would give his life fighting against Voldemort, fighting for his parents, fighting, even, for the chance to get just one more gum wrapper from his mother.
It’s love. That’s what matters.
