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July 31st also marks the birthday of the late Richard Griffiths, who starred as Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films. He gave an excellent performance throughout the series, bringing to life the iconic line:
He also gave fantastic performances in Hugo, Pirates of the caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Bleak House, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Vicar of Dibley along with many other titles, and a Tony Award-winning performance in The History Boys.
Daniel Radcliffe gave a moving tribute to Griffiths upon hearing of his death in 2013:
“Richard was by my side during two of the most important moments of my career. In August 2000, before official production had even begun on Potter, we filmed a shot outside the Dursleys’, which was my first ever shot as Harry. I was nervous and he made me feel at ease.
Seven years later, we embarked on Equus together. It was my first time doing a play but, terrified as I was, his encouragement, tutelage and humour made it a joy. In fact, any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence. I am proud to say I knew him.”
Amidst the excitement of the Cursed Child release and J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter’s birthdays, it’s important to spend a moment remembering those we have lost.
Please join The Leaky Cauldron in wishing him happy birthday, and keep him in your thoughts when you’re celebrating this special day!
Not only are we celebrating the release of the eighth story, Harry Potter and theCursed Child, but today also marks two very special birthdays in the muggle and wizarding worlds: It’s J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter’s birthdays, of course!
Waterstones Piccadilly in London also joined in the huge celebrations, showing off Hagrid’s motorbike and sidecar in store, courtesy of Warner Bros, and some amazing wizard shops:
At midnight, the attention turned to the reason we were all celebrating across the world. J.K. Rowling has taken her stories not only across continents, but across a huge variety of medium. Reaching people by page, by screen, through the internet and on stage, she wasn’t exaggerating when she said:
“Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”
It was only fitting, therefore, that she got a birthday cake that matched the beauty of her story – an amazing recreation of King’s Cross, where the journey to Hogwarts for Harry begins, also suggested by Set Designer Christine Jones to have an important part to play in Cursed Child:
‘Few buildings are vast enough to hold the sound of time… there was a superb fitness in the fact that the one which held it better than all others should be a railroad station.’
Few are gifted with such incredible power of expression as J.K. Rowling, so to celebrate her 51st birthday, and Harry’s 36th birthday, IB Times collected 36 quotes from her stories. Entertainment also joined in, collecting photos of Harry Potter stars in their first and final performances.
TIME also explained why 2016 is their biggest birthday yet – thanks to Cursed Child, the power of Harry’s story lives on:
“For some, the date is a pleasant and nostalgic reminder of Harry’s first birthday in the series, when Hagrid brought Harry a cake on the same night he told the boy wizard that he was capable of magic.
For others, though, July 31 is not just a nod back to the beginning of the series but a way to continue celebrating Harry as if he, and his birthday, were real.
‘The Boy Who Lived’ is the first chapter of the Potter series, wherein readers meet Harry as a newborn shortly after surviving a killing curse. Harry survived this, and other battles, despite the odds stacked against him. It seems that this July 31, he’ll simply start doing it again, reminding Potter fans and critics alike why he’ll forever be The Boy Who Lived.”
J.K. Rowling was also named one of 2016’s “Outstanding Women of Scotland” just before her birthday. The Bookseller explains:
“Created in partnership with Glasgow Women’s Library, the “Outstanding Women of Scotland” community aims to recognise and celebrate remarkable Scottish women from all walks of life who have made an outstanding contribution to Scottish society.”
Motto collected 10 inspirational quotes from J.K. Rowling to remind us all how much wisdom she has to offer – on happiness, failure, courage, depression and many other areas of life where we may struggle, she’s always been there to guide us:
Harry Potter’s story continues with Cursed Child, however J.K. Rowling has said that his story has come to a close:
“He goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think we’re done. This is the next generation, you know,” said Rowling, who later appeared on stage during a standing ovation at the end of the show. “So, I’m thrilled to see it realized so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now.”
Harry is 36 today: head Auror under Kingsley Shakelbolt, husband to Ginny Weasley and father of James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna, Harry is a true hero of the wizarding world.
On such an exciting weekend, we hope you’ll join us in wishing Harry a very, very Happy Birthday. pic.twitter.com/RlOp1OkkAV
He reminds us to keep faith, to fight for goodness no matter the odds, to value friendship, love and loyalty, and to learn from the people you admire and respect.
At GeekyCon this weekend, stories like Harry’s have been bringing people together to celebrate their love for good things, to get excited about a book, to sing The Weapon We Have Is Love together and then cry about how powerful love is, because as Potter fans, we’ve learnt to value love above all else.
At Leavesden Studios, at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, at bookstores, book clubs, museums, running clubs, charities and online forums – it’s stories like Harry’s that rock the world, materialise in beautiful ways and change lives for the better, teaching us to come together in a world that may seem dark, to bring goodness to the people that mean most to us, and to be the best parts of ourselves we can be.
We hope you’ve all enjoyed celebrating Cursed Child, and hope that you all have the energy to throw your own Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling birthday parties after most likely staying up reading all night.
Please join us in saying a very happy birthday to both J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter, and share with us how you’ve been celebrating!
His determination to help his friends is seen throughout the series: from trying to prevent trouble in The Philosopher’s Stone, to drastically improving his magic in Dumbledore’s Army in Order of the Phoenix, and finally standing up to Voldemort and destroying Nagini, the last horcrux, in Deathly Hallows.
A true Gryffindor, Neville has the courage of ten lions, and was even complimented by Voldemort once!
‘You show spirit, and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom.’
To which Neville (most valiantly) replied:
‘I’ll join you when hell freezes over,’ said Neville. ‘Dumbledore’s Army!’
Pottermore recounts Neville’s journey from a round-faced boy who’d lost his toad, to one of Hogwarts’ most humble heroes. They end with a beautiful tribute to Neville’s story:
“How did the nervous lad with the love of plants grow up to face the Dark Lord? Simple – he never gave up.
Neville didn’t seek sympathy or wallow in despair. Instead he took his pain and channeled it into his training. Spurred by news of the Death Eaters’ escape, he strove to avenge his parents and prevent more innocents from suffering their dreadful fate. The Sorting Hat was right – deep down, Neville Longbottom had the heart of a lion.
Neville’s story is an inspiration to us all. It doesn’t matter how many cauldrons you’ve melted; with hard work and courage, you can still be a hero.”
Please join The Leaky Cauldron in wishing Neville Longbottom, Professor of Herbology, a very happy 36th birthday!
Today marks Dan Radcliffe’s 27th Birthday, falling just over a week before Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling’s birthdays.
Dan is busy with two performances in off-broadway show Privacy today (Bonnie Wright visited him this week!), so some fans may be getting to see him on his special day over in New York.
If not, join us in reminiscing over 15 years of seeing Dan grow from being The Boy Who Lived to being in films such as The Woman in Black, Swiss Army Man, Horns and featuring in Broadway’s Equus.
Thankfully, he’s got a busy schedule ahead of him, promising no deficit of Dan in the future! He’ll be featuring in Jungleand Imperium, and Now You See Me 2 is still in cinemas.
Take a look at InStyle‘s gallery celebrating Dan’s birthday, showing his transformation over the course of his acting career here.
Today we’d like to wish a very happy (belated) birthday to Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), who turned 27 yesterday! Matt–one of the most recent Potter stars to join the Hufflepuff ranks–stars in the new film Me Before You, based on the novel by Jojo Moyes, currently in theaters.
We’d also like to honor our favorite house-elf, Dobby! This “free elf” paved the way for house-elves everywhere with his paid position at Hogwarts and progressive view of house-elf freedom. Though initially somewhat misguided in his attempts to help Harry and his friends, Dobby proved to be a loyal friend and an integral part in the escape from Malfoy Manor in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
My little buddy turns seven tomorrow. He's kind of smitten with the ocean lately, especially the big guys, the scary guys, and the whales. I love discovering new beauties in the creative process. Coloring is something I'm both awed and fascinated by, so I decided this would be a great opportunity to experiment with how I color my sketches. I sketched in buttery soft oil pencils, and layered colored pencils on top. No paint this time.
After that, I scanned my colored sketches on to the computer and played with laying in textures with Photoshop.
Now I get to take my sketches
and turn them into the party -
cupcake toppers,
fishy "paper dolls,"
sharks on a stick, perhaps.
More to come...
Whale-y wonderful books:
Whale Song - Tony Johnston, illustrated by Ed Young The Storm Whale - Benji Davies The Blue Whale - Jenni Desmond Big Blue Whale - Nicola Davies, illustrated by Nick Maland
0 Comments on Deep Blue Birthday as of 2/1/2016 10:40:00 AM
One of the main reasons Leaky exists today, and is the site that it is today, is because of our fearless leader, Melissa Anelli. Shortly after joining the Leaky staff in 2001(easily the longest working Leaky staff member to date), Leaky was getting over 500,000 hits a day within a year. By the end of 2008, Leaky was receiving over 1 million hits a day.
Because of all of her wonderful achievements (did we mention Harry, A History…or her current endeavors with Broadway and BroadwayCon? Or the fact that she’s met J.K. Rowling more than once and managed to get her on our podcast?) and contributions to Leaky over the years, it would be a crime against humanity to not honor Melissa on her birthday!
Please join us in wishing our very own Melissa Anelli a very happy birthday! We hope you had a truly magical day!
Today we celebrate the 43rd birthday of the second oldest Weasley sibling, and dragon expert, Charlie Weasley!
Though not much is known about Charlie, he does make a few gentle and kind appearances in Harry’s life. The first Harry will always remember, when Charlie helped Hagrid out of a pinch Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, by taking in baby dragon, Norbert (later renamed Norberta). The second, when Charlie brought over the dragons used in the Tri-Wizard Tournament Harry’s fourth year, and commented that the Horntail in particular, was a nasty piece of work. He thought Harry’s conquer over the Hungarian Horntail was “incredible.”
A talented Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, it was well believed that Charlie Weasley would have made a great pro Quidditch player for the national English team. However, Charlie’s love for dragons took him to Romania, and with those dragons he stayed and dedicated his life to them. He is unmarried, much preferring dragons over people, but returned to the Burrow to be the best man in his brother, Bill’s, wedding in 1997.
A true Gryffindor and true to his family, Charlie also joined in and fought valiantly in the Battle of Hogwarts during the Second Wizarding War. Afterwards, he continued his work with dragons!
Please join us in wishing this wonderful Weasley brother a very happy birthday!
Today marks the 87th birthday of Rubeus Hagrid – everybody’s favourite half-giant!
Hagrid has had an eventful past. He was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year for his suspected involvement in the opening of The Chamber of Secrets, but Dumbledore’s trust in him thankfully made up for this injustice, being allowed to presume as Gamekeeper. His time is Azkaban in 1993 as a result of the Chamber being opened once again was – thankfully – short-lived.
Hagrid is known also for his role (for a small time) as Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, as a result of his interest in all manner of magical beings (Buckbeak the Hippogriff, Norbet(a) the Norwegian Ridgeback, Fluffy the three-headed dog and Aragog, the giant spider, to name a few of his friends), a Gryffindor and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Hagrid delivered Harry’s letter to Hogwarts (after a spot of trouble with the Dursleys), and has been a close friend of his ever since. Albus Dumbledore himself said he ‘would trust Hagrid with [his] life’.
We hope Hagrid is enjoying a glass of warm celebratory Butterbeer by the fire with his friends. Join us here at Leaky in wishing him a very happy 87th birthday!
Today marks William Arthur “Bill” Weasley’s 45th birthday. Bill is the eldest of Molly and Arthur Weasley’s children, husband to Fleur Delacour, and father to Victoire, Dominique, and Louis Weasley.
Described by Harry as “cool,” Bill is a known for being brave and having a penchant for adventure. After graduating from Hogwarts, Bill went to Egypt to work as a curse-breaker for Gringotts; however, after a few years, he returned to England to join the Order of the Phoenix since the threat of Lord Voldemort’s return was imminent. It was during his time with the Order that he met his future wife, Fleur.
During the battle of the Astronomy Tower, Bill was gravely injured by werewolf Fenrir Greyback whilst trying to fend off the attacking Death Eaters. While he was spared Greyback’s fate, he did acquire distinctive scars on his face from Greyback’s claws, and he developed wolf-like tendencies, such as a liking for rare meat.
A year after they met, Bill and Fleur married, but some very unwelcome wedding crashers came in the form of Death Eaters after the fall of the Ministry of Magic. Shortly afterwards, they moved to Shell Cottage, which served as a safe haven for Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Dobby, Mr. Ollivander, and Griphook after their great escape from Malfoy Manor.
Bill fought in the Battle of Hogwarts with the rest of his family, and survived. He went on to have three children with Fleur.
May he have a peaceful birthday with his family, and perhaps some rare steaks.
Their celebrations included a party at GeekyCon in August, and a month-long Indiegogo campaign (HPA10), through which they raised total of $106,545, well-surpassing their initial goal of $77,777.
NerdCon: Stories provided the venue for HPA’s birthday party, which featured important special guests such as Leaky’s own Melissa Anelli, (President of the Board), Paul DeGeorge (Co-Founder and Board member) and Hank Green and Maureen Johnson (long-term supporters of HPA), along with many more!
The event itself was full-Potter style (though the HPA itself now encompasses all manner of fandom). Harry and the Potters were the Wrock band for the night, and Hank Green played Accio Deathly Hallows, along with his other Harry Potter songs.
‘ On October 10th, 2005, the Harry Potter Alliance held its first-ever event in Somerville, Massachusetts. Now, ten years later – and with the support of many people in the NerdCon: Stories community – the HPA has grown to a global organization with accomplishments under its belt such as sending five cargo planes of disaster relief supplies to Haiti, donating over 250,000 books around the world, and getting Warner Bros. to make all Harry Potter chocolate ethically sourced.
Come celebrate ten years of the HPA using fandom to make the world a better place and learn how to get involved for the next ten. Recommended attire: dress robes and/or party hats.’
‘Over the years, the Harry Potter Alliance amassed a strong base of supporters and many volunteers. For a long time, that was entirely how the organization was run – by volunteers taking time away from their evenings and weekends, away from day jobs and school, to help make a little non-profit make a difference. I was one of those volunteers for several years. And the HPA highlighted a couple of hundreds of them during the party. Some, like Claudia Morales and Jack Bird, are now paid employees. Morales, on talking about her reaction to becoming a staff member of the organization she had come to love: “It was like getting my Hogwarts letter.”’
‘Their success is a testament to the power of fandom to change the world for the better. The HPA is the true illustration of what powerful communities united around the passion for a common love of story can do in the world. And it was abundantly clear as several hundred people gathered in the Minneapolis Convention Center, to celebrate the organization that had brought them together.’
The Harry Potter Alliance is a non-profit organisation with the slogan ‘The Weapon We Have is Love’, and its website states:
‘The Harry Potter Alliance turns fans into heroes. We’re changing the world by making activism accessible through the power of story. Since 2005, we’ve engaged millions of fans through our work for equality, human rights, and literacy.’
You can read more on the event and see more photos here.
Join Leaky in wishing the Harry Potter Alliance a very happy 10th birthday, and a huge congratulations on their success so far!
Today we celebrate Professor Minerva McGonagall’s 62nd birthday. Professor McGonagall now serves as the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She succeeded the position from her good friend, Albus Dumbledore, after the position was held briefly by fellow colleague, Severus Snape. Previous to obtaining this elite position, Professor McGonagall taught Transfigurations and was the head of Gryffindor House.
After tragic incidents in her early life, and the loss of her dear husband, like many other characters (Harry included), Minerva found her home at Hogwarts. She deeply cared for her students and their well being. Ever loyal to her Quidditch team, she was known–on the rare occasion–to buy Gryffindor Quidditch players broomsticks.
She greatly assisted Harry Potter in the battle of Hogwarts, and fought for her school and her home. Minerva has shown great strength, great courage, fabulous teaching skills, and hidden under sharp wit, motherly love for her students.
Please join us in wishing Minerva McGonagall a very happy birthday!
Today we celebrate Garrick Ollivander’s birthday. Though his exact birth year is uncertain, it seems that he is (or would be) roughly 96 years of age today.
Mr. Ollivander is best known as the proprietor of Ollivander’s Wand Shop in Diagon Alley. He descends from a long line of wand-makers, and is widely regarded as the best at his craft. Witches and Wizards flock to his shop from all over the globe to procure wands.
It is no surprise that sage Ollivander was sorted into Ravenclaw house during his time at Hogwarts. Known for his intelligence and remarkable memory, he can recall the details of every wand he has ever sold. He spends his time consumed by wandlore, and to that end he is also known for being rather quirky.
Ollivander’s extensive knowledge of wands and wandlore was coveted by Lord Voldemort, who ordered his kidnapping and subsequent confinement at Malfoy Manor during the Second Wizarding War. There, he was forced to make a wand for Peter Pettigrew, and was interrogated and questioned by Lord Voldemort about the twin cores of Harry’s wand and his own. He was also forced to provide his knowledge about the Elder Wand.
Luna Lovegood was a prisoner at Malfoy Manor at the same time, and she and Ollivander became friends during their imprisonment. After Dobby helped the prisoners escape to Bill and Fleur Weasley’s home, Shell cottage, Ollivander told Luna that she was an “inexpressible comfort” to him during their ordeal. Perhaps Ollivander found in Luna a kindred spirit, as she is also known for her quirkiness. After the war, Ollivander created a new wand for Luna as a token of friendship.
Since we do not know what became of Mr. Ollivander much past the end of the Second Wizarding War, and since magical folk can live remarkably long lives, let us imagine that he is still puttering around his dusty, beloved shop, passing his days with the work he adores.
Eddie wants to get a really special birthday present for her mum so she turns to her friends to help her out. Whilst they’re generous and kind, what they offer her doesn’t initially appear to be of any use. Dejected, she almost gives up, but then a bit of good luck and Eddie’s can-do attitude save the day.
Detailed street and shop scenes, mostly in soothing earthy tones, all wonderfully reproduced on sumptuously thick paper provide lots to drool over. From the cakes in the bakery to the curiosities in the antique shop, Alemagna’s illustrations provide hours of happy browsing.
The neon pink of Eddie’s coat brings a splash of freshness and modernity to otherwise somewhat (charmingly) nostalgia-imbued scenes, and Eddie herself exudes spunk and verve, from her unkempt hair, to her approach to finding a way to make things work.
A quirky, winsome tale exploring how we find out who we are and what we’re good at, The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty will encourage its readers to be brave, bold and unleash their imagination.
You can get a really good idea of what this lovely book is like by watching this charming book trailer:
And if you’d like to see Beatrice at work, here’s a time lapse video of her drawing characters from this book:
Won over by the simple charm of Eddie and her marvellous fluffy squishy itty bitty we had a whole day re-living the book. First we made little handbags out of sheets of foam, pipecleaners and ribbon; Everywhere Eddie goes she has a little red handbag. For our handbags I prepared holes for sewing with a simple hole punch.
We made lots of our own FSIBs (Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitties), using two different techniques: one is based on a fork, and the other loo rolls. Both are easy for kids to make themselves, with perhaps just a little help depending on the age of the kids.
Our largest FSIB was turned into a piece of headgear mirroring the gift Eddie’s mum finally receives. I do love book inspired hats, and this is no exception!
Our FSIBs played Hide and Seek whilst we made sticky toffee buns; Eddie’s baker friend gives her a warm sticky bun when he’s unable to help with her original request.
I used a bread dough mix, adding milk instead of water. After the initial proving, M rolled out the dough and smeared it with a mixture of butter, sugar and chopped up pieces of fudge. These melted to create a toffee-like sauce for the buns. Our basic recipe was inspired by these more detailed experiments into sticky bun making, found on the Guardian website.
A few stamps, buttons and four leaf clovers (reflecting other items Eddie receives during her mission to get her Mum a wonderful birthday present) completed our play. It was a very good day!
Whilst making our marvellous fluffy squishy itty bitties and munching on sticky toffee buns we listened to:
A Little Bitty Tear by Burl Ives. A rather sad song, but Ives is a master.
With A Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles
Other activities which might work well alongside reading this book include:
Reading some Pippi Longstocking stories. Opposite the title page of The Marvellous Fluffy Squishy Itty Bitty there’s a quote from Pippi Longstocking: “Children need a little order in their lives. Especially when they can order it themselves!“. This seems to me like a glorious opportunity to introduce your kids to one of the most amazing characters in all of children’s literature.
Starting a stamp collection. They’re a fabulous way into geography and history as well as each being perfect miniature pieces of art. The American Philatic Society has some tips to get you going. Alternatively, use pretty stamps as paintings in dollhouses, or as illustrations in mini home-made books.
Eddie has to do some washing at some point in the story and turns to her local fountain so why not use this as an excuse to find out where your nearest public fountain is and visit it. Or be inspired to create your own with sprinklers and a paddling pool by looking at these amazing fountains around the world.
If you liked this post you might like these other posts by me:
In true pink and kitten covered fashion, it is our duty today to wish Dolores Umbridge a happy birthday. Her party is probably designed and organized by herself, for she will have order. Though none of us are particularly keen on Dolores, especially after J.K. Rowling told us more of her on Pottermore, we wouldn’t like to be impolite. We respectfully wish Dolores Umbridge a happy birthday. Unless you want to become an “Undesirable” we suggest you wish her a happy day too!
Alice Sheldon was born 100 years ago today, which means that in a certain sense, James Tiptree, Jr. is 100, because Sheldon wrote under that name. Yet James Tiptree, Jr. wasn't really born until 1968, when the first Tiptree story, "Birth of a Salesman", appeared in the March issue of Analog.
Nonetheless, we can and should celebrate Sheldon's centenary. She's primarily remembered for Tiptree, of course, but as Julie Phillips so deftly showed in her biography, Sheldon's life was far more than just that byline.
I've written about Tiptree a lot over the years, though nothing recently, as other work has taken me in other directions. In honor of Alice Sheldon's birthday, here are some of the things I've written in the past—
I reviewed the selected Tiptree stories, Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, for SF Site in 2005. (It's a joint review with the first Tiptree Awards volume. I wish I'd just reviewed the Tiptree collection alone. That's the only part of the review worth reading now.)
A very early post at this blog looked at "The Screwfly Solution", which was published under the other pseudonym, Raccoona Sheldon. (11+ years after writing that post, I still think the story's ending is ruined by its final sentence.)
Today marks the 39th birthday of previous Gryffindor Head Boy, Percy Weasley.
After the Second Wizarding War, Percy became Head of the Department of Magical Transportation, married a woman named Audrey and had two daughters – Molly and Lucy.
Percy was spotted at the final of the 2014 Quidditch World Cup by Rita Skeeter, who noticed (via a Daily Prophet article on Pottermore) that he had “aged considerably since the Battle of Hogwarts” and was “greying and balding“.
Please join us in wishing Percy a very happy birthday!
Today marks the 80th birthday of Jim Dale – narrator of the U.S. Harry Potter audiobooks, video games and interactive ‘extras’ in the DVDs.
Dale also appears in the Carry On films, Pete’s Dragon and has won various awards, including a Tony Award (for Barnum on Broadway), two Grammy Awards for narrating (in 2008 and 2001) and ten Audie Awards. He was honoured with an MBE in 2003 for promoting English literature for children.
Join us here at The Leaky Cauldron in wishing Jim a very happy 80th birthday!
30th July marks the 35th birthday of Neville Longbottom, a character who shows that we can prove ourselves to have more strength and courage than we could ever know.
At first appearance, Neville was an unexpected Gryffindor, and his first few years at Hogwarts were riddled with mishaps. He made his entrance as a clumsy boy looking for Trevor – his toad – on the Hogwarts Express.
He was almost a hatstall at the Sorting Ceremony (pleading with the Sorting Hat to be in Hufflepuff), he melted Seamus Finnigan’s cauldron in his first Potions class, and broke his wrist at his first flying lesson. His luck never seemed to improve, as he was relentlessly mocked and bullied by Draco Malfoy (who pranked him with the Leg-Locker curse in their second term). Even in his first year, however, Neville showed us his courageous side, as he challenged Malfoy (and then proceeded to single-handedly take on Crabbe and Goyle) at the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match:
‘Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.
“I’m worth twelve of you, Malfoy,” he stammered.
Malfoy, Grabbe and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said, “You tell him, Neville.” ‘
The Chamber of Secrets saw Neville fearing for his life, facing the prospect of a basilisk in Hogwarts. Though pure-blood, he feared that his squib-like tendencies would lead to him being a target. In one of Gilderoy Lockhart’s lessons he is hung up on a chandelier by his ears, and utters what came to be his most famous quote:
‘Why is it always me?’
In his third year, Neville revealed in Remus Lupin’s Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on boggarts that his worst fear was Professor Snape, leading into the great scene in which boggart-Snape emerges wearing Neville’s grandmother’s clothes.
He attended the Yule Ball with Ginny Weasley in his fourth year, after being declined by Hermione Granger.
Neville was a devoted member of Dumbledore’s Army in his fifth year, being one of the first to sign up. After we learned that his tortured parents were being treated in St Mungo’s, and that three of their torturers had escaped Azkaban, Neville improved his skills with the DA at a significant rate. He accompanied the trio to the Ministry of Magic to save Sirius Black, was captured and briefly endured the Cruciatus Curse under Bellatrix Lestrange, attempting convince Harry to hand over the prophecy. It is in The Order of the Phoenix that we learn that as both Neville and Harry were born at the end of July to parents who had escaped Voldemort three times, they were both in line to becoming the child Sybill Trelawney’s prophecy spoke of, but Harry had been ‘marked’ as Voldemort’s equal as a baby:
‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies’
Neville returned to Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows, and re-started Dumbledore’s Army, rebelling against the Death Eaters (specifically the brutal Carrows):
‘Alecto, Amycus’s sister, teaches Muggle Studies, which is compulsory for everyone. We’ve all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drive wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished. I got this one ((indicates to a large gash on his cheek)) for asking her how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got.’
After being physically punished for his efforts, the Ministry targeted Neville’s grandmother as a method of blackmailing him, however, she managed to escape capture. This led to plans to kill Neville after singling him out as ring-leader of the rebels, and then to his subsequent hiding in the Room of Requirement, a newly-turned hiding place connected to the Hog’s Head and Aberforth Dumbledore.
During the Battle of Hogwarts, Neville received orders from Harry to set killing Nagini – Voldemort’s horcrux – to their highest priority, which he later fulfilled due to having pulled Godric Gryffindor’s sword out of the Sorting Hat. Neville’s bravery in directly standing up to Voldemort and his followers not only proved him worthy of the sword, but also proved just how much of a Gryffindor he had become (and always had been!).
Later in life, Neville became an Auror, then Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts. He married Hannah Abbott, and they now live together above The Leaky Cauldron. Like other members of Dumbledore’s Army, he has kept his enchanted D.A. coin as a badge of honour, occasionally showing impressed students.
J.K Rowling has said that Neville ‘finds happiness in his grandmother’s acceptance of him as a gifted wizard and as the new herbology professor at Hogwarts’. You can read more about his later life in Rita Skeeter’s Daily Prophet article on Pottermorehere.
Join us in wishing Neville a very happy 35th birthday!
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