Leadership and a little bit of Neville Longbottom too
By Zander Adair

Leadership. It’s ten letters, and three syllables. A pretty hefty word if you ask me, comes with lots of responsibility. I think what I’m doing here Professor is stalling and I guess I should stop that ‘cause that’s not really what leaders do. So what I’m really trying to say here is that leaders don’t just sit around and talk about stuff or in this case write about stuff. They DO stuff. Leaders are people who put things into action, get the crowd going, take charge, and ACT on things. If leaders just sat around then everyone else would just sit around too and then nothing would get done. So yeah, maybe doing stuff is a bit dangerous because it means you can screw up. But I think that comes with it too. Being a leader is all about doing stuff and making some mistakes along the way, but learning from them… And most importantly, owning up to them.

So I guess what I’m really trying to say (this time for real, I swear) is that I know I messed up big time last year. And I know I’ll probably mess up some more in the rest of my life (because really it’s inevitable I’m kind of accident prone, it’s not my fault). But I’d rather mess up and own up to my mistakes, learn how to fix them, and avoid them in the future, than just sit around and do a whole lot of nothing. Because I think the people who do nothing are worse than the ones that trip up every now and then. Because even though you had us write down a bunch of leadership qualities, there isn’t any cut and dry formula. The reasons written on my list were different than the ones I had put down on Puck’s. So even though you asked me to talk about the qualities that make a good leader, I don’t think I can, Professor. Because it’s different in everyone.

But I think there’s one thing that ties them all together. Being a leader is all about growth (and I don’t mean in height because we’ve all gotta stop eventually but I plan to be six feet and seven inches one day). It’s about gaining all sorts of different qualities and I don’t think it’ll happen all at once either. It’s about DOING stuff and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. It’s about finding your limits (like knowing when to get a Professor involved before giant spiders emerge to kill you). It’s about avoiding the mistakes before they happen after learning from the past ones.

And now that I’ve sort of just rambled on (I swear this is even harder than my Runes OWL was and we all know how that went) I’m going to find a way to connect this part of my essay with the part where you asked us to write about an influential leader in wizarding history. In case that wasn’t clear enough, that was my way of connecting. I’m running out of ideas, Professor. Cut me some slack, please. I’m running on three hours of sleep and seven cups of hot cocoa (not my fault, the elves just kept offering). So all this growth stuff, kinda reminded me of someone I had read about before. And I guess I owe that part to you too, Professor. Geez, did you plan this stuff in advance because you’ve really got this down!? Bet this was all apart of the plan actually. You definitely knew that I’d need to talk about Neville again some time so you planted that book in my head way back. AND I bet you knew I was going to screw up last term too. AND I bet you knew that I’d have to write this essay (well of course you knew because you assigned it but you know what I mean). So uh, if you know about the scores that I’ll get on my NEWTs next year, do you mind dropping me the hint a term early? I know that’s not how it typically functions… But I think we’d both save some time if you just started giving this stuff to me in advance. It’d really help you and I both.

Uh. Anyways. Where was I? Oh yeah. Seven cups of— Neville Longbottom. Right. That’s where I was. So anyways, this guy is really influential (but you’ve got to keep going to find out why because I have a great introduction to do first), but it took a whole lotta growth. Which like I’ve said before, is the key part of being a leader. So Neville started out as the awkward kid who practically begged the sorting hat to be placed in Hufflepuff (I know what you’re thinking, WHY?!), but the hat insisted on Gryffindor. I have to interject here (yes I am interjecting in my own essay, I’m not good at this stuff, Professor this is why I shouldn’t be asked to write) and say that people kept telling me that I wasn’t really a Gryffindor my entire life (entire Hogwarts life I should say because I didn’t even know I was a wizard before). Sometimes everyone would beat me down about it so much that I started to believe it myself. I think this happened to Neville too. Anyone would be honored to be placed in Gryffindor, but I think the people Neville grew up with kind of enforced it into his head that he was undeserving and that he was such a screw up, y’know?

Anyways because of this he sort of got a late start. The first real time I think he showed leadership was when he stood up for himself against his friends. And yes they did knock him out and get by him anyways, but I think the real leadership was when he decided to take action. He did something and he learned from it. He learned that it’s hard to say no to your friends, but you’ve got to stand up for what you think is right. Therefore, he grew. And he got a few points for what he did (making him the reason why the beat out Slytherin for the house cup) and I think that boosted his confidence a little bit. The confidence thing is also another part of growth. Growth in how he sees himself. I think I’ve experienced this kind of thing too. It’s like positive reinforcement. Like when I got a badge in the mail (I thought it was a prank at first but after that part y’know).

We’re going to flash forward a couple of years (pretend like we’ve got a time turner or something because I haven’t got all day to write you “Neville, A History”). So Neville’s fifth year is when things started getting really bad when that Headmaster (what’s-his-face) got kicked out and the horrible pink woman took charge. Anyways that Harry Potter bloke started up this army and Neville was literally one of the first to sign up. I wasn’t there myself (‘cause that’d be a little unrealistic), but I bet loads of people said things like ’this sucks’ or ‘I wish we could get what’s-his-face’ back to be our Headmaster again. But Neville didn’t just stand around. He decided to take action and he was one of the first to jump on the opportunity. He saw the opportunity for growth and accepted it. Quite literally signed himself right up for the growth and took it with an iron fist. Or uh, something like that. I’m working on the analogy thing…

Then he did a bunch of stuff in the department of mysteries later that year, but I can’t really go into detail with all that stuff ‘cause quite frankly it’s really long and also I don’t remember it all that well considering the seventh cup of cocoa just hit and all I can think of is getting an eighth. But anyways the important thing here is that he took what he learned and put it into action. Meaning he didn’t just say he was going to fight, but he actually DID it. He was a great example and he actually did stuff and helped and got involved. I think that’s what being a leader is all about. Sure it was a little dangerous and not very thought out, but I think he learned from it and that’s what counts.

And remember all that stuff I talked about earlier with Neville standing up to his friends? Well that one moment kind of shaped things for him. Because after that one important time, Neville began standing up for himself countless times afterwards. He even stood up against the Carrows people and refused to practice the Cruciatus Curse even though it was a part of the lesson plan. He got in tons of trouble for that, but it didn’t stop him because he took action against something he didn’t think was right. He took action proving that he had grown from that first year Neville who wouldn’t have stood up for himself. Anyways, his seventh year was the one that really made him influential because before then he was just a leader among peers… But soon enough he became a leader among all of Hogwarts and later the entire wizarding population. With Harry gone, someone had to step up to the plate and that was Neville.

He was basically given the opportunity to be a leader and he took it. Sort of how I was given the opportunity to be Prefect, and now I’ve got to use it. And then there was loads of stuff that happened in the Battle of Hogwarts that just solidified him as a leader, but I think I’ve wrote enough for now. Because a leader is about doing, not about sitting and thinking or writing. So I’ve got to quit writing eventually, Professor. I’ve got to quit writing and thinking so that I can start doing. Which conveniently brings me back to where I began. Being a leader means making tough calls, it means standing up for yourself against your friends, it means doing what is right, and it means putting thoughts to action. But it also means that you’re going to make mistakes and that’s okay. Because being a leader means recognizing the mistakes and moving forward. Growing through the mishaps and preventing the future ones. My actions may have caused a ripple of tidal waves, but the waves are no match for me, Professor.

‘Cause I’ve grown.