There is a LOT happening in the new Harry Potter TV series trailer. Quidditch! The Sorting Hat! The Mirror of Erised! A rather revolting troll!

But one of our favourite moments lasts only a few seconds.

Neville Longbottom is there when Harry, Ron and Hermione discover Fluffy.

If you only know the movies, that might not seem particularly important. However, book readers (and listeners) have been pointing excitedly at their screens ever since the trailer dropped. In one recent fan discussion, Neville’s appearance with the trio ranked among the most celebrated book details spotted in the trailer.

So why does one extra eleven-year-old facing one enormous three-headed dog matter so much?

Neville was there in the book

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry and Ron plan a midnight duel with Draco Malfoy. Hermione follows them in an attempt to stop them.

Then there’s Neville.

Poor Neville has forgotten the Gryffindor password and can’t get back into the common room. He ends up joining their nighttime expedition. After the students realise Draco has tricked them, they flee from Filch and eventually stumble through a locked door.

Waiting on the other side is Fluffy.

All four children meet the three-headed dog.

The 2001 movie simplifies the sequence. It removes the midnight duel storyline and Neville doesn’t join Harry, Ron and Hermione when they discover Fluffy.

The new series has put him back.

Even the official Harry Potter trailer breakdown makes a point of describing the encounter as the golden trio “plus Neville, as per the book.”

Could this mean we’re getting the midnight duel?

If Neville is there when Fluffy is discovered, will the TV series restore the events that put him there?

We don’t know yet. However, fans are already speculating that Neville’s appearance could mean the missing midnight-duel storyline will finally reach our screens.

And this is exactly why we’re excited about the TV format.

A film has to gallop through a book in roughly two-and-a-half hours. A television series has room to wander down a few more Hogwarts corridors.

Neville could benefit enormously from that extra time.

More Neville, please!

The movies certainly don’t ignore Neville. Matthew Lewis gave us a character we adored.

But book-Neville has more room to grow.

Even in Philosopher’s Stone, we see flashes of the courage hiding beneath all those lost passwords and misplaced toads. Neville stands up to Draco. He gets caught up in more of Harry’s adventures. Most importantly, he eventually tries to stop Harry, Ron and Hermione from sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower.

Dumbledore rewards him for having the courage to stand up to his friends. That moment helps Gryffindor win the House Cup and establishes something important about Neville very early: this nervous little boy is much braver than he thinks.

Later books give the TV series even richer material to explore. We could see more of Neville’s difficult relationship with his grandmother, his growing talent for Herbology and the heartbreaking story of his parents. Then comes Dumbledore’s Army, Neville’s extraordinary transformation during Harry’s final year and, of course, his connection to the prophecy that could have made his life very different.

Interestingly, the new trailer already gives us another little Neville moment the films never showed: Neville being naturally good at Herbology.

Perhaps that’s why four frightened children standing in front of a gigantic dog has made us so happy.

It’s not really about Fluffy.

It’s about the possibility that this time, Neville gets to be there for more of his own story.

And we’re very much here for that.