Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing Neville Longbottom, a magical artefact known as a ‘remembrall’ and chapter
9 of the Philosopher’s Stone - The Midnight Duel. More specifically- we’re going to
be diving in to what exactly a remembrall is, as well as Neville’s relationship with
his own remembrall.
For those unaware, a Remembrall is a large magical marble-sized glass ball that contains
smoke. The function of a ‘remembrall’ is in the name- as it serves as an indicator
of whether or not you have forgotten something. It fills with red smoke when the owner has
forgotten something, otherwise it’s clear. It also turns clear if the thing that was
forgotten is remembered. They are somewhat readily available for purchase in the wizarding
world, and they make the perfect gift for your absent minded friends. Now, who do we
know that’s calamitous and forgetful? Why- young Neville Longbottom of course. Neville
actually received one as a gift from his gran at the beginning of the 1991-1992 school year.
Neville’s Remembrall, as it happens, is actually the reason that Harry got the position
of Seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team. During their first flying lesson in Madam
Hooch’s class, Neville injures himself and leaves his remembrall behind. Malfoy spots
it immediately:
Draco Malfoy: "Look! It’s that stupid thing Longbottom’s gran sent him."
Harry Potter: "Give that here, Malfoy." Draco Malfoy: "I think I’ll leave it somewhere
for Longbottom to find — how about — up a tree?"
Harry Potter: "Give it here!" Draco Malfoy: "Come and get it, Potter!"
After Draco took the remembrall, he threw it high up in to the air, thinking that it
would land on the ground somewhere nearby and smash in to a thousand pieces. But boy
was he wrong, as Harry Potter took this opportunity to flex his flying skills and save the remembrall
from being broken. McGonagall, who saw the whole scenario transpire, was immediately
convinced that Harry would make an excellent Seeker for the Gryffindor quidditch team.
In chapter 9 of the Philosopher’s Stone Neville explains the remembrall:
"'It’s a Remembrall!’ he explained. ‘Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if
there’s something you’ve forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and
if it turns red – oh…’ His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed
scarlet, ‘… you’ve forgotten something…’ "
Now that you know what a remembrall is, the next important question is: what did Neville
forget? It’s never actually revealed, in the book
or the film (which coincidentally suggest different things), what Neville forgot, but
we do have enough information to make some theories.
In the book, I think that it’s most likely that Neville forgot the password to the Gryffindor
tower. Later on in the same chapter that the remembrall is mentioned, Harry, Ron and Hermione
find Neville outside the tower. When he bumps in to them, he explains that he had forgotten
the password:
"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new
password to get in to bed."
The Remembrall was likely trying to remind him about the new password, but Neville forgot.
However, the film has a different answer to this question. If we go by the events of the
film, the most obvious answer is that Neville forgot to put on his robe. We can make this
assumption because, in the scenes that contain the remembrall, he is the only student not
wearing a robe.
Did you guys ever wonder what it was that Neville forgot?
And that’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content please like the video and subscribe
to the channel.
Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY