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As much as it was never going to happen, even at the time of the series I remember really liking the 'Harry is a decoy chosen one / Neville was the real boy who lived' theories for what it could have let Harry Potter be.
Mostly for Harry's character flaws, though not because they make him a worse protagonist. Quite the opposite. Harry being reckless, careless, and not inclined to be discrete are great protagonist flaws. They balance how Harry even as a child had real character virtues- brave, friendly, above the bigotries of the setting. But those virtues, and child age, don't negate the sort of self-centeredness which, while natural/appropriate for a young boy, detracted from a sort of humility that might have been initially assumed from the 'abused / eager-to-please boy' of his early years.
Neville being the real child of prophesy, but Dumbledore letting Harry be the one drawing attention to himself, would have had a number of interesting elements. It would have required better working Neville into book plots to have a slowly emerging role, and thus required Harry to have a few more close male friends over the series than just Ron, but that could have worked well as a parallel to Harry's awkward-but-building friendship with Cedric in Goblet of Fire (where Harry went from the awkward younger male in the dynamic to the more confident/established alternative to Neville). It would have reframed Dumbledore's indulgences of Harry, since it could be seen as a darker user relationship (encouraging Harry to act out), but then it might also have reframed parts of it positively (Dumbledore not manipulating Harry into destiny).
But what could have really made it stand out was as a character challenge to Harry himself, to have gone through a character arc of having come to believe the lie that he was the special / chosen hero, coming upon the revelation that he wasn't the special / chosen one after all, but overcoming it to still be a hero, except this time with humility. It doesn't mean that Neville has to displace Harry as the protagonist of the series, or the leading role in various plots, but reframing the later series as Harry realizing that he is the decoy- that he is drawing the attention / threats / danger that Neville isn't ready for while Neville has to overcome his past trauma and grow to face his own destiny- opens up a lot of juicy character drama.
Like, letting Harry be arrogant / have wounded pride. Hasn't he been the hero so far? Isn't he better than the wimpy, loserly Neville? Isn't he richer than his best friend, who is minor wizard nobility / established family? Isn't he the prodigy who speaks snake-tongue, manifests patroneus, and has a super-cool uncle/patron who got him the best broomstick to win at quidditch with? Isn't he the one who gets young girls crushing on him after dashingly saving them? Why can't he be the chosen hero on top of all that? It's Not Fair!
But also- if he's not the actual Boy Who Lived, what will he be if that title is taken away from him? He'll be an orphan with no name and no clue, a middling quidditch player. Worse, who will be left if, when, he's revealed to be a fraud? Will anyone believe him, will the girl he liked / the girls who liked him because of that reputation, and then got to know him, still like 'him' if the popular legend stops being so popular? Harry started the series as a friendless, family-less, isolated child, and what wouldn't he do to not go back to that?
And yet...
And yet, Harry growing to overcome that, and how, could be equally interesting. Take Neville. Neville's start in the series has many (deliberate) parallels to Harry, but he's clearly traumatized in a way Harry was not. (And, vice versa, is not in ways Harry was by his abusive family.) Neville is not yet a man, is not confident, and not ready. He quivers under Snape, and were worse to find him... well, in Goblet of Fire Harry comes off as worse in many ways to Cedric, the older boy who has what Harry wants (the girl, the confidence, the respect of peers). The 'gift' of being thrown into the tournament was no gift, but Harry survived and burnished the legend. Could Neville have survived, let alone thrived, as Harry did?
But Neville could also be framed as a person who looks up to Harry. Like a good Gryffindor, Harry, even as a child, is brave where Neville is not. Harry is popular where Neville is not. Harry acts when Neville when freeze. But most of all, Harry is kind despite all of that, or maybe because of all that, because Harry has been the boy shoved into a closet and worse. Harry is a jock, true, but he acts out of concern, and dislikes cruel bullies, and at least tries to do the right thing despite his jealousies (Cedric) or his dislikes (Malfoy) even if Harry isn't constrained by rules. Harry is happy to help others. Harry is not just the sort of person Neville probably wants to be more like, but also the sort of person who- personal dynamics otherwise- could help Neville grow into someone who can stand up not just for himself, but for others as the hero.
This is a relationship dynamic that could be worked with, especially for how it might play to Harry's arrogance / insecurities. Does Harry just think it's his due at first? That Neville is a fanboy for the Boy Who Lived? After Harry realizes the truth, does Harry feel jealous or insecure, wondering if Neville knows? When Harry realizes the influence that he has over Neville- and that his positive influence is itself what may lead to Neville assuming the mantle of Chosen Hero- what does that mean to him, and to them? If Harry knows he has Neville's trust, and knows he could reveal the truth or hide the secret that gives him his status, what would he do? Especially when both hiding and revealing the truth could be simultaneously selfless and selfish: is Harry hiding it because he wants to protect his status, or because it protects Neville? Would he consider revealing it because Neville Needs to Know, or because he's tired of being the increasing target of the Dark Lord's attention in a war he didn't ask for?
That would be a good character story not only in itself, but also help reframe Harry's place with his friends, which addresses Harry's insecurity. Part of Harry's growth can come from realizing that people like him for him, not just his legend. Ron's signature trait is loyalty, and certainly isn't sticking with Harry to nose up for perks or money. Hermoine as a mudblood never knew the legend, just that he was the boy she met on the train who saved her from a troll in the bathroom. Even the animosities were natural. Draco who might have been fake friends with the Boy Who Lived would be as petty a bully to a commoner-potter, or a Neville-he-didn't-know-better-about. Snape's deal was with Potter, the parents, not The Boy Who Lived.
But just as important for the character arc and series culmination, Harry can learn / actualize that people also like him for his relationships with others. Yes, he saved Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets, which is grounds enough to transition a hero-crush to a personal-hero crush, but he's friendly and capable of being friends with looney Luna, her friend that others avoid. Yes, he finds magically-attractive Fleur attractive, but her regard is won by him risking himself for her sister in the tournament, not his place in it as a legend. When Harry comes to fixate on his legend, his friendships can wane- the sort of distancing where his insecurities When Harry can overcome that by having a true friendship with Neville, then it can inspire others- including Neville- into the Dubledore Army or whatnot that nominally exists to support Harry, but secretly supports Neville, with whom Harry is in alignment.
I imagine such a series finale would go into its endgame with Neville integrated into the core three, all knowing the truth but keeping the lie so that Harry can play the part of decoy protagonist and draw away the Dark Lord's attention so that Neville can do his Chosen One deed. Harry's earlier flaws- his brash, reckless nature- are allowed to be assets complimenting his virtues, even as Harry's greatest virtue from the character arc- his growth of true humility, as opposed to the abused boy syndrome he had at the start- is what lets Neville take the Dark Lord by surprise.
Truly a power the Dark Lord knows not.
At which point the story can wrap up with its happily ever after where the series-long secret is revealed, but ends with Neville publicly crediting / elevating Harry as the indispensable hero in defeating the dark lord, in a parallel to how over the books Harry helped elevate Neville into the chosen hero he needed to be. Harry might lose the mythic hero backstory he no longer cares so much about, but gains a new (genuine) heroic legend to replace it, and more importantly keeps the personal relationships he was once afraid of losing. War scars the survivors, but the optimism is there, as not just Harry, but people he's influenced like Neville are in turn giving hope / building up the next generation more than Harry himself ever could have alone.
Cue the series end, with Harry Potter ending it as the hero of his own story, just not in the way he intended it to be, but having developed other character virtues that bring him to the company of fictional greats like Frodo.
Yeah. See his dad when he was Harry's age, and how he and his gang of friends bullied Snape. That's perfectly understandable! Kids that age do pick on outsiders and are little monsters, this is why school and society have to socialise and civilise them. James and his gang are not bad or wicked or evil, but they are jerks and they do need to learn the consequences of their actions.
Harry without the experiences of being the unwanted orphan, especially with the mythos of being The Boy Who Lived, could have been like that. He could have palled up with Draco at the start. He could have bullied Neville. But the crucial difference is that he had those early experiences and chose to be kind when he had the choice to make.
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