"You know all prophecy stories follow the same path," Krasner adds, referring to a prophecy that indicated either Neville of Harry would be Voldemort's mortal foe. "Every effort to divert them from their ordained course always goes into bringing them to pass. So I think Voldemort's choice as Harry as his predicted moral enemy, far from making him the Chosen One, will only reconfigure everything: Neville will be the one who ends up dying for the cause and therby fulfilling the prophecy."

"If you're going to have a good character die redemptively, a character who is close to the hero, but not so Ron/Hermione close that his death would devastate readers, who better than Neville, the tortured innocent?"

"Seven years ago, she (JKR) told a Canadian journalist, "Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, nut no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have ti say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that, I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books." Any conceivable guess derived from those words will point down a tragic path. Rowling's key theme is that self-sacrificing love is the ultimate power in the universe. In Christian terms--and the theme could hardly be more Christian--the willing victim, both powerful and good, is Christ himself. In Harry's world, Snape is powerful and Neville is good, but just one teenage boy is both. If atonement, willing atonement that pays for all, is required in Deathly Hallows, Only Harry can pay the price."