Through the magic of the pensieve, Albus Dumbledore showed Harry the complete Lost Prophecy on the night Sirius Black died...
"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 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..."
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p. 841
This was the "ah ha" moment for many of us readers. It is true! Harry Potter is indeed the chosen one. I mean, the prophecy does say so.
But just one turn of a page and all of our worlds, along with Harry's, suddenly turn upside down. Thanks a lot, Dumbledore...
"The odd thing is, Harry...that it may not have been you at all. Sybill's prophecy could have been applied to two boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other..."
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p. 842
Do you remember who the other was?
Neville Longbottom.
So, basically the last person we all thought it would be. To put it into simplest terms, if Voldemort were to simply decide Neville was more of a threat than Harry, Harry could have avoided all this and live a somewhat normal life.
Woah.
If you give it a lot of thought, there are some pretty uncanny similarities between the two Gryffindor boys. Let's get into that.
Well for starters, the most obvious similarity is that they were both born as the seventh month dies. Freaky. Both Harry and Neville were equally at risk from the Dark Lord. Voldemort could have chosen Neville, and everything would have instantly changed.
Both Harry and Neville felt as if they did not belong in the Gryffindor house. They both struggled with self-doubt, not feeling as if they fit in. Both boys were convinced the Sorting Hat made a mistake.
However, the readers discover that both Harry and Neville have an immense amount of bravery. Sure, Neville does not experience nearly as many near-death experiences throughout the series as Harry, but Neville does show bravery in other ways. A perfect example of this is when Remus lets Neville attack the boggart, which allows Neville to feel a sense of bravery for one of the first times in his life during Harry Potter in the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Let us not forget that both boys experienced a tragic loss. Lily and James were murdered by Voldemort, and Alice and Frank Longbottom were tortured to a state of insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange.
These are just a few of the countless similarities between the two of them.
With these similarities between Harry and Neville, it is natural for the readers to ask some questions.
Could Neville Longbottom be the chosen one?
Well, yes. To simply put it, Neville could be the real chosen one. There was never a name mentioned in the prophecy, and the prophecy was named by the Ministry. And as for the Ministry, well, they are known to be incorrect a lot of the time. As mentioned above, there are many things that actually make sense for Neville to be the chosen one. We all know J.K. Rowling is a genius who loves to mess with the minds of her readers. So that very well could be what she is trying to do here.
But there is also the possibility that she has a logical reasoning behind all of this. Dumbledore makes a point to mention that it could have been Neville. For what reason? Who knows. J.K. Rowling likes to confuse us.
