New witches and wizards will be taking the Hogwarst Express at 11am. Famous offspring Albus Potter, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy all start at the famous school in 2017.
None of them wan to follow in the early stumbling footsteps of Ron and Neville. However hard they tried, their spells never seemed to go right. Especially with golden boy Harry Potter flashing the latest tech and show-off Hermione always one step ahead of everyone else.
Fans know, of course, that they both came good in the end.
Their natural heroism counted for a lot but there is also a much more practical and logical (or magical) reason for why they both turned into impressive wizards.
Reddit user LiamFleak has the brilliant answer.
He explains: “In Harry Potter, the poor wizardry of Ron and Neville can be traced back to their choice of wand. In the seventh book, it’s established that you need to win a wand’s allegiance for it to function as intended.”
This is clearly demonstrated throughout Harry’s battles with Voldemort, which also emphasis the crucial factor of wand ownership. Looking back, Ron and Neville’s years of anguish are suddenly easily explained.
The theory adds: “Ron uses his brother’s old wand until the second book, where it breaks and he’s essentially wandless for a year. Aside from a couple of fluke cases, we don’t see Ron perform any magic which works as intended until the third book (where his parents get him a brand new wand).
“His poor results are put down to a lack of aptitude and effort, (or tree attack) but in the later books he’s easily Harry’s equal (outside Defence Against The Dark Arts).”
The difference is even more dramatic with Neville.
“The same is true of Neville. He’s renowned for being awful at magic throughout the series, and he’s another character who uses a wand which didn’t choose him (in this case, his father’s). That wand gets broken in the fight at the Ministry, and once he has his new wand, he becomes the best student in the year at herbology and leads a revolution.
“He’s even so good he ends up as a professor. The turning point could be seen to be during the DA (Dumbledore’s Army scenes), but bear in mind that he’s just as bad at magic as ever, all through that fight.”