Student
Neville Longbottom
A Gryffindor student who loses things, including other people’s patience, and who is braver than the joke about him.
Neville is introduced as the boy who forgets and is forgotten. He is raised by a formidable grandmother. His magic arrives late and loudly. The first book already lets him stand up to his friends, which is the authors’ tell: the round character is not the comic relief.
He is a Gryffindor for a reason the sorting hat bothers to notice. Remembering that on a reread changes the early scenes without changing the text.
Later in the story
His parents’ fate, and what he does in the last battle, are later courage. The early fact is the boy who tries again.