Neville is by far one of the characters that made the most
drastic changes throughout the history of the series. He grows so much since
the first time we meet him that it’s hard to even recognize him as being the
same person.
In
the first book when we meet Neville, he’s just an awkward kid with low
self-confidence. We see him get picked on constantly and mess up a lot as far
as magic skills go. He seems to struggle in all aspects of his life.
I
think the major reason that Neville changes is mainly due to his friendship
with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They gave him the encouragement to stand up for
himself and to be more confident. We can see him starting to do this in the
first few books when he stands up to Malfoy, and even his friends, but we
definitely see him become more courageous later in the series.
When
Neville joins Dumbledore’s Army is when the biggest shift in his personality
occurs. We get to see him make an effort to learn and succeed at something. He
then follows up by joining in on battles without hesitation. In the final
battle is where we see how much he has really grown though. While he was once
shy and reserved, all those things seem to diminish in the face of evil. He
kills Nagini, the final Horcrux that would allow Voldemort to be killed, and he
stands his ground and sticks with his guns when Voldemort invites him to join
his army. It’s hard to imagine the boy we meet in the beginning doing anything
even close to all of that.
Even
though it wasn’t Neville that killed Voldemort, without him Voldemort wouldn’t
have been killed.
What
I love the most though is that in the epilogue we learn that Neville is now the
herbology professor. It’s very heartwarming to see that even though he didn’t
really excel at any other subject, there was still one thing he was a natural
at and could pursue as a career. I was glad to see that he finally seemed
content with all things in his life. His story and personal growth is a very inspiring.
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