In the Harry Potter series, one of Harry's friends is a shy boy named Neville Longbottom. He was raised by his grandmother after his parents, Frank and Alice, were tortured into madness by the villainous Bellatrix Lestrange. Early in the series, he is not very good at magic, but is almost unstoppable starting in the sixth book. Many fans have linked this drastic change in his magical prowess to his admission late in the fifth book, after his wand had been snapped in half, that the wand he had been using was his father's. Since the wand chooses the wizard, and that wand didn't choose him, it wouldn't have worked properly for him, but the new one he got as a replacement would have. While I agree with this theory to an extent, I think that there is more to it than that. Neville's parents were highly respected Aurors, or dark wizard catchers, and were tortured because of this. Neville's grandmother, who loved her son Frank very dearly, was saddened by his madne
Reflections on modern life through the lens of Christianity. There will be different formats for different posts, but my prayer is that each one will be used by God to help someone else have hope.