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.
Neville Longbottom: Odd man out is a very appropriate way to describe him. He doesn’t quite fit in with the main pairings (Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny), but he also can’t really be left out. Without divulging too much, it’s also possible to say this story hinges on him as much as it does Harry. So, what about Neville??
I don’t know. I don’t really know how I see him or where I see him ending up when the series concludes, but I do know this: he is incontrovertibly tied to Hermione. For instance:
- The first time we meet Hermione, she is paired with and helping Neville as he looks for his toad.
- The first time Hermione casts a hex it is on Neville and it’s a full body bind to boot–in essence giving her control of his whole body.
- Hermione helps him every chance she gets in class.
- He obviously has a crush on her–having asked her to the Yule Ball.
Yes, I see Ron with Hermione, but I can’t deny that the idea of Hermione pairing up with Neville is intriguing.
Of course, one can’t deny that Neville also clicks with Ginny. They actually attend the Yule Ball together and when Umbridge’s goon squad apprehends the gang in OotP, Neville gets himself caught trying to protect Ginny–even though he wasn’t in on the disturbance.