Harry Potter

Eponymous with the character himself, the book titles span through the adventures encountered by Harry in the seven years he attends the school of Magic called Hogwarts. Harry is brought up in his aunt and uncle’s house and is oblivious completely to his abilities until one day, he is informed by Hagrid that he is a wizard and his parents were a wizard and a witch too and were killed by another wizard called Lord Voldemort. He later goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he meets two of his best friends – Ron and Hermione. This trio are inseparably together throughout the rest of the books and each plays a crucial role in the other’s growth and development.

Harry also makes a lot of other friends throughout the progression of the book series and is perhaps most influenced by his witty, prolific, and gifted headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore plays a very crucial role in establishing Harry’s virtues and being a guide at times Harry doubts himself and has to grapple between right and wrong. Harry’s adventures in and around the world of magic are primarily what makes a reader cherish the moments they spent reading this adorable book series.

Harry Potter Profile

Who is Harry Potter? A Meditation on the Character

Harry Potter, the protagonist of the Harry Potter book series is a very interesting character in a wide variety of ways.

Firstly, as is later revealed in the book series, Harry and his legacy are both a result of choice rather than a deterministic path that led from one event to another. It is a prophecy that Sybill Trelawney makes to Albus Dumbledore in the Hog’s Head that technically leads to the events and the plot of this book series. She makes a prophecy that claims that the one who vanquishes the Dark Lord Voldemort has been born and her specifications about this child leave two choices – the child of Frank and Alice Longbottom and the child of James and Lily Potter.

However, it is Voldemort’s choice to mark the child of James and Lily, Harry Potter, that leads to Harry’s trajectory from an obscure child in a decent wizarding family to a legacy and the ultimate responsibility of vanquishing the Dark Lord. However, the element of choice doesn’t stop there.

Harry and his Choices

The book series is filled with events and circumstances that clearly force Harry to be a ‘lesser’ person than he is. However, Harry’s choices always gave his identity meaning and ultimately fulfilled the prophecy. The most important and defining trait of Harry’s identity is the element of choice. It becomes even more evident when one analyses the number of times Harry has chosen to break strongly established rules for the sake of an adventure or for saving someone.

When Draco Malfoy tries to destroy Neville’s Remembrall during their first flying class, Harry wastes no time retrieving it despite explicit instructions from Madam Hooch to refrain from flying in her absence. When Hermione is stuck in the ladies’ lavatory with a troll almost trying to bludgeon her to death, Harry and even Ron, choose to go help her than listen to the explicit instructions from the school authority to just go back to their dormitories. When Harry feels that the Sorcerer’s Stone is in danger of getting robbed, he goes to great lengths to save it and ultimately faces Lord Voldemort, with very little fear.

The rest of the series is filled with countless such examples of how Harry is the one who ‘chooses’ to do things despite the norm being not so favorable for these choices. It is this strong core value of Harry of making choices that defines his character more than any other trait.

While Harry is also a brave, accomplished and affectionate soul, he is more a maker of choices with confidence than anything else. Some of these choices are very difficult to make, and there are times when Harry feels very half-hearted to go forward with these choices. However, he doesn’t linger beyond need around whether or not he made the right choice. Whenever his choices are unfavorable or harmful, he is usually the first to admit his fallibility and he owns up to what he did than deny his culpability. Instances of these can be found when he admits his fault when he and Ron fly to Hogwarts in the bewitched Ford Anglia and when he accidentally hurts Draco Malfoy using the Sectumsempra spell.

Harry is one of the strongest wizards in this world of magic precisely because he makes all the right choices that eventually lead to the death of Lord Voldemort – A dark wizard whom even the likes of Albus Dumbledore couldn’t directly defeat. While Dumbledore plays a crucial role in building Harry up to this moment, it is still Harry’s actions and choices to comply or oppose Dumbledore accordingly that make it possible to complete the mission of defeating Voldemort. Harry is not the perfect soldier, he is a leader, individually making responsible choices that will eventually end the battle. Of course, he takes advice and assistance from several of his friends and teachers, but in the end, he walks his path alone and very bravely so.

Harry Potter – The Chosen One

The trope of being the chosen one is very old and frequent in literature. It has plagued almost all mythologies and has continued to thrive in a multitude of stories that all depend on a singular character, usually a male, to rid the universe of its evils. However, Harry Potter despite being the chosen one, does not do his job alone and is not portrayed as a mighty or infallible character at all. Instead, Harry is shown as a multitude of blunders waiting to happen because of his reckless and adventurous streak. However kindhearted and humble Harry is, it is unfair to deny how much his actions put the people in his surroundings in mortal danger.

Furthermore, the requirements of his mission make it almost impossible to stop this reckless streak and just lead a quiet life. It is this fallibility and humanized depiction of ‘The Chosen One’ that makes Harry a more relatable and far more interesting character. Harry is the chosen one, not because he is blessed with extraordinary abilities or is ordained by some godly being. Harry is the chosen one because he will choose to lead everyone else involved in the mission into victory. Despite being an incomparable metric, it seems like a lot of other characters in the Harry Potter book series do way more than Harry does to stop Voldemort. However, it is Harry’s leadership and the preciseness of his actions that finally combines everyone’s efforts into the ultimate triumph of victory. This leads to an interesting question – Why is Harry the leader? Who chose him? The answer to this is what follows.

Harry Potter – The Timeline

Lord Voldemort, The Foe

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.

Sybill Trelawney

The above prophecy does justice to every event that occurred in the Harry Potter book series. To answer who chose Harry to lead everyone in the battle against Voldemort is quite easy as is claimed by the prophecy. “The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal” implies that after Voldemort heard about this prophecy, he could have just not reacted to it and Harry’s parents would probably have lived and Harry would grow up a very normal wizard kid. However, Voldemort panicked when he realized there was someone out there with “power the Dark Lord knows not,” and ended up giving that power to Harry when he killed Lily Potter. This power is in fact the power of protection due to Lily’s love for Harry.

Eventually, the only person who really chose Harry to lead the fight against Voldemort was Voldemort himself. As he vanished immediately after his killing curse on Harry backfired, more people began to see Harry as ‘The Chosen One’ because with all those strong wizards trying their best to withstand Voldemort’s extremely strong being, here comes a child whose mere presence was enough to scare Voldemort away. The fear that Voldemort created among the good wizards and witches fighting against him was immense, but so was the triumph that came from Voldemort’s disappearance due to a mere child. This strengthened the magnitude of faith all these people placed on Harry Potter, which in turn helped Harry whenever he needed it from them. Harry was special, more because people believed he was, starting with Voldemort himself.

Voldemort and Harry

Both these characters are very strongly similar. Between the two children that fit Sybill Trelawney’s description – Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, Voldemort feared Harry, the child that was Half-Blooded, like himself instead of Neville, who was Pure-Blooded. Both Voldemort and Harry were orphaned at a very early age, in similar circumstances. Voldemort, who was then known as Tom Riddle was brought up in an orphanage where he rarely experienced love.

However, he discovered his ability to exert his will over people and therefore grew up with a thirst for more power. Harry was brought up by his aunt and uncle who withheld all affection from him and his cousin Dudley bullied him mercilessly. However, unlike Voldemort, Harry learned how to deal with pain without retaliation, and instead of exerting his will over others, Harry learned what it feels like to have someone else’s will exerted on him. This resulted in Harry growing up more with a thirst to love than seeking power. This is the most significant difference between the two characters at their early stages.

As is illustrated by Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry does not seek power. He just doesn’t want it getting in the hands that abuse it, which is why he fights. Furthermore, Voldemort doesn’t understand love, he ridicules it. Despite having an entire army of Death Eaters by his side, he doesn’t love any of them and treats them as only a means to his cause. This ultimately costs him a lot, as, tired of his ill-treatment, Narcissa Malfoy lies about Harry being dead in the Forbidden Forest. This is what costs Voldemort his life in the end, his inability to value love. Despite being a gifted Legilimens, he still can’t sense the reactions of people that are fueled by love, he simply thinks of this as a paltry negligible feeling.

Another reason for the similarities between Harry and Voldemort is that there resides a part of Voldemort’s very soul in Harry’s body. The only Horcrux that Voldemort created unintentionally, this strange entity lodged in Harry’s body gives him special powers like his ability to talk to snakes and eventually, a direct portal that can access Voldemort’s thoughts and emotions. This connection between Harry and Voldemort is very interesting and gives rise to some very strange consequences.

Harry first becomes aware of this connection unconsciously when he dreams of a real-life event in Little Hangleton where Voldemort kills the cook at the Riddle House, Frank Bryce. Later, this connection is of great help when Harry has a vision of Arthur Weasley being attacked by the snake, Nagini. It continues to become a part of Harry enough to help him and give him clues about Voldemort’s plans, whereabouts, and some thought processes.

However, the connection between Harry and Voldemort doesn’t end there. There are so many other magical mechanisms that secretly tie the fate of these two together in ways that only become evident when something strange occurs. A case in point is the phenomenon of the Priori Incantatem. Both Harry’s and Voldemort’s wands’ cores are coincidentally made from the feathers of the same phoenix, Fawkes. Therefore, there exists a magical phenomenon called the Priori Incantatem which forbids either wand from hurting its ‘brother’ wand. So, for a major part of the book series, Voldemort is simply unable to so much as get a scratch on Harry.

Secondly, the ritual of bringing Voldemort back into a human body used by Peter Pettigrew makes a serious mistake at the cost of protecting Harry till the end from Voldemort. This ritual uses the ‘blood of the enemy’, for which Peter Pettigrew cuts Harry’s hand with a dagger and uses this blood to bring back Voldemort. Later, when Harry accounts the story of what actually happened in the graveyard, Albus Dumbledore smirks a little when he realizes that Voldemort has Harry’s blood running through his veins.

The old magic that uses love to offer protection to a loved one is responsible for Harry surviving Voldemort’s attack when he was a baby. So, when Voldemort used Harry’s blood to come back to life, he has the same blood that protects Harry. Later, in the Forbidden Forest, when Voldemort tries to kill Harry again, instead of killing Harry, the killing curse only kills the part of Harry that is not protected by love, the shard of Voldemort’s soul. This Horcrux is destroyed, by Voldemort himself, as unbeknownst to him as its creation. The blood in Voldemort’s body keeps Harry alive as Voldemort acts as a blood-relative of Harry. Furthermore, since Harry sacrificed himself as an act of love for everybody else he cared about, not a single person is killed in the battle that ensues after Voldemort and the Death Eaters return to Hogwarts with Harry’s supposed dead body.

A Little More About Harry

Several characters from other books have similar trajectories as Harry. For instance, Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings faces similar choices as he is initially just satisfied with living in the Shire and being used to the daily routine that had grown on him. However, when the ring needs to be carried all the way to the Mountain of Doom, Frodo gladly volunteers and almost sacrifices his life for this cause. Similarly, Harry too is quite accustomed to his life as an eleven-year-old boy in his aunt and uncle’s place, although not as content as Frodo in the Shire. But when he is eventually required to stand up against Voldemort he does so without hesitation. Even the legend of King Arthur is closely tied to the Harry Potter character arc. However, instead of being preordained by a heavenly body, Harry is shown as choosing to do the things that are expected of him despite endless obstacles.

Harry and Magic – The First Three Years

Harry first shows signs of magic in the books when he is taken with Dudley and his friend Piers Polkiss to the zoo. There, Harry surprised by his own abilities, is able to converse with a Boa Constrictor. Then, Dudley bullies him in front of the cage that contains the Boa Constrictor. Angered, Harry unknowingly makes the glass frame of the cage disappear and helps the snake escape. Later, when Hagrid arrives with Harry’s Hogwarts letter and finally informs him about him being a wizard, it occurs to Harry that there have been several instances in the past where he has shown signs of magic. Some instances include him growing back his hair almost immediately after getting a haircut, him being able to escape Dudley and his friends by suddenly jumping to the roof of the school, and so on.

Interestingly enough, a similar theme emerges in the rest of the book as well. While Harry is already aware that he can do magic, he is confronted with a lot of new magical ideas that make it a very interesting adventure for both him and the reader to experience. In his first year, there exist several interesting magical nuances that take Harry by surprise. Starting with the wall at Diagon Alley and Platform Nine and Three Quarters that one has to enter by running into, Harry is bombarded with magical elements beyond his imagination. The castle of Hogwarts, the three-headed dog Fluffy, the Mirror of Erised, the Invisibility Cloak, the phenomenon of flying on broomsticks, and the Sorcerer’s Stone are only some of the interesting magical elements that Harry sees in his first year at Hogwarts.

In the second year, through Harry, the readers are introduced to the Floo Network, a magical form of travel, and Harry’s ability to talk the language of snakes, and Harry is termed a ‘Parseltongue’ because of this ability. Furthermore, Harry encounters a magical diary that can create a virtual reality that shows memories from one’s past. This is one of the advanced magical elements that feature in Harry’s second year. Others include the niceties of a House-Elf called Dobby and the Chamber of Secrets which is concealed under the castle and the entrance to which can only be opened by someone who is a Parseltongue. Furthermore, Harry encounters several magical creatures like the Basilisk, and Fawkes, the Phoenix.

The most interesting magical discovery in Harry’s third year is probably the Time-Turner. Given to Hermione so that she could attend multiple classes taking place at the same time, it features in the end when Harry and Hermione have to save Sirius and Buckbeak from imminent death. They go back in time and encounter several strange temporal phenomena common to time travel stories. Other interesting magical elements include Dementors which are strange beings that suck out the joy out of anyone they surround and are also capable of sucking souls out of people. Furthermore, Harry is also introduced to the Patronus Charm, the counter to the Dementors.

Harry and Magic, The Last Four Years

A significant distinction can be made in the world surrounding Harry in the book series between the first three years and the last four years. Firstly, till Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, there is very little to no mention of magical communities outside Great Britain. Secondly, the volume of the books written after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is significantly larger than the first three. Therefore, there are a wide variety of magical elements that are introduced after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

In the fourth year, Harry witnesses the Quidditch World Cup, a spectacle that is especially exciting for him because he plays Quidditch himself. He goes there by a ‘Portkey’, another magical form of travel. Magical communities from all across the world appear to witness the World Cup. Soon after, Harry witnesses Death Eaters, the Dark Mark, and several other interesting magical elements. Once the Goblet of Fire and the Triwizard Tournament are introduced, readers are bombarded with a plethora of magical creatures and elements including dragons and merpeople.

Harry also sees Dumbledore’s Pensieve, which plays a very important role in later parts of the series. Towards the end, Harry encounters Voldemort’s return through a ritual that uses the bones of Voldemort’s father, and Harry’s blood. Harry also encounters the phenomenon of the Priori Incantatem, where the spells from the wands of Harry and Voldemort collide and do not attack each other.

In the fifth year, Harry encounters his ability to see visions of real-life events that happen in the presence of Voldemort, which is later revealed to be a result of Harry being a Horcrux of Voldemort. This ability helps him save Arthur Weasley in time but ends up jeopardizing his and his friends’ lives when Voldemort manipulates Harry’s mind into seeing that Sirius’s life is in danger. Other magical elements that Harry encounters include ‘The Veil’ in the Department of Mysteries, which Sirius falls into, several odd objects that are kept in the Department of Mysteries, and the ‘Room of Requirement’ in Hogwarts that Harry and the Dumbledore’s Army uses to practice their defensive spells.

In the sixth and seventh years, Harry encounters a myriad of magical objects that surprise him and the reader alike, one by one. Starting with love potions like Amortentia, and the ‘liquid luck’ potion called Felix Felicis, eventually, Harry comes across the bewitched Gaunt ring that curses Dumbledore’s arm. It is eventually found out to be the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows. Harry also comes across another Deathly Hallow, the Elder Wand, which Voldemort tries very hard to obtain but eventually concedes to Harry as the wand never obeyed Voldemort. Harry also comes across the term ‘Horcruxes’ which are parts of one’s soul concealed in an object to mimic the effects of immortality. Although Tom Riddle’s diary that Harry destroyed was the first Horcrux he came across, he only becomes aware of it in his sixth year due to his lessons with Dumbledore.

Harry Potter from the Movie Adaptations

The character of Harry Potter was played by the British child actor, Daniel Radcliffe. The moment Daniel Radcliffe auditioned for his role as Harry, many people in the crew of the movie felt that Daniel was meant to play the role of Harry. Along with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who played Ron and Hermione respectively, the trio were cast for the major roles in the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which was directed by Christopher Columbus. These three continued to play their characters for the rest of the seven movies that were made after the first one.

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe was born on 23 July 1989 in London, England to Marcia Jeannine Gresham and Alan George Radcliffe. His father, Alan is a literary agent, while his mother Marcia is a casting agent. It is said that after he was cast as Harry Potter in the movie adaptations of the novels, some kids in his school were a little ‘difficult’ with him. However, Radcliffe has claimed that it was all in good fun, rather than acts of jealousy of any sort. Daniel Radcliffe made his acting debut in the BBC One TV Show David Copperfield (2001).

His film debut came with the movie The Tailor of Panama (2001) which had Pierce Brosnan and Jamie Lee Curtis in leading roles. Shortly after, Daniel Radcliffe was chosen to play Harry Potter in the first Harry Potter movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), which was directed by Christopher Columbus. Over the years, Daniel Radcliffe was gone on to act in all the Harry Potter movie adaptations and many other critically acclaimed movies like The Swiss Army Man (2016) and Imperium (2016).

Harry Potter’s Home

Harry Potter has stayed in several different places over the span of 17 years until his coming of age. While some of these places are not necessarily homes as such, Harry would definitely consider these as his homes.

Godric’s Hollow

Godric’s Hollow was Harry’s first home. He was born there on July 31 1980 and stayed there with his parents James and Lily Potter. He is said to have been a very cheerful kid as is evident from Lily’s letter to Sirius thanking him for the toy broomstick that he gifted Harry for his first birthday. Harry stayed in Godric’s Hollow till October 31 1981 which was the day Voldemort forcibly entered their house and killed Harry’s parents.

Sirius was supposed to be the secret keeper protecting the house with a Fidelius Charm, but towards the end, they secretly decided to switch the secret keeper to Peter Pettigrew to make it more difficult for Voldemort to track them down. However, Peter Pettigrew betrayed them all and gave away the address of their house at Godric’s Hollow to Voldemort. Once they were both killed, Voldemort tried to kill Harry too but was unsuccessful instead, the killing curse backfired on him and he vanished. Later, Hagrid came to the house and rescued and took away Harry to Albus Dumbledore who was waiting at Privet Drive.

Godric’s Hollow is quite an influential neighborhood and has seen many great people live in this locality. Ignotus Peverell, one of the Peverell brothers, from the famed ‘Tale of Three Brothers’ which is linked to the inception of the Deathly Hallows, is said to have lived in Godric’s Hollow as his grave is seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Harry and Hermione visit the graveyard at Godric’s Hollow. The Dumbledore family is said to have moved to Godric’s Hollow a short time after Albus Dumbledore’s birth. Furthermore, the famed magic historian, Bathilda Bagshot also lived in Godric’s Hollow.

Privet Drive

Privet Drive is the second house that Harry stayed in. He was brought here by Hagrid and was later left at the doorstep of Vernon Dursley’s house, by Albus Dumbledore with a letter explaining the circumstances. Harry was brought up at the house in Privet Drive by his Uncle Vernon Dursley and Aunt Petunia Dursley. Petunia was the sister of Harry’s mother Lily.

Albus Dumbledore knew about the protection that Harry’s mother’s blood offered to him, which is why he also knew that being brought up in the presence of blood relatives would keep Harry safe. Furthermore, Dumbledore was also aware of the complicated circumstances that Harry would face due to his newfound fame as the vanquisher of the Dark Lord if he were to be brought up in a normal wizarding family.

Harry was not treated very nicely at his uncle and aunt’s place. He was treated very badly and was forced to do a lot of work in the house while his cousin Dudley was pampered and brought up with too many gifts, love and affection. Harry was never shown any love in his house at Privet Drive. Instead, he was made to believe that he is a burden to the household. Furthermore, since Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon despised Harry’s parents, Harry was always led to believe that his parents died in a car accident instead of the actual circumstances that led to their death. Harry never knew he was a wizard either, until one day, Hagrid came to him with a letter from Hogwarts and claimed that Harry was in fact a wizard and a quite famous one at that.

Once Harry went to Hogwarts to complete his education, he only returned to Privet Drive during his vacations, and on many of these occasions, Harry would eventually spend a major part of his vacations elsewhere. Harry continued to return to his Privet Drive home until a few days before he turned 17, after which he would no longer be offered protection for staying at the house of his blood relatives.

Hogwarts

To include Hogwarts among Harry’s homes is probably not accurate, but to not include it would be a great disservice to Harry’s relationship with Hogwarts. Ever since Harry first laid his eyes on the magnificent castle of Hogwarts from the boat he was in on the Great Lake, he was spellbound. Hogwarts was probably more home than any other place ever was to Harry. Harry first learned to fly properly on a broomstick here, and it remained a major part of his life ever since. Harry built most of his strongest friendships here at Hogwarts.

While Harry may have met Ron in the King’s Cross Station first and Hermione in the Hogwarts Express, it is still in Hogwarts that they actually became friends. Harry’s relationship with Hogwarts is quite on par with Tom Riddle’s relationship with Hogwarts in that both of them despised leaving Hogwarts for the vacations. Furthermore, they both held great regard and respect for Hogwarts and were very aware of most parts of Hogwarts – something not many students could boast of.

Harry loved being at Hogwarts. He even stayed back for most of his Christmas vacations instead of going to his Aunt Petunia’s place. Furthermore, he always made it a point to keep an eye out for anyone who seemed to trouble the well-being of the castle. Harry protected Hogwarts with all his might, starting from the Mountain Troll to Lord Voldemort himself. Harry’s Gryffindor dormitory which he shared with Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus, was always a very comfortable abode that Harry cherished even after he left Hogwarts for good.

The Burrow

The Burrow was never technically Harry’s home, to begin with, as it belonged to the Weasleys. However, the Burrow is probably the most that Harry felt at home. Since the first time Harry came to the Burrow before his second year at Hogwarts started, Harry was given a lot of love and felt very happy staying at the Burrow. Right after Dobby, the house-elf trapped Harry at Privet Drive to prevent him from going to Hogwarts, Uncle Vernon made sure that Harry was strictly kept captive in his room.

Harry had no way of coming out of his room until Ron, Fred, and George showed up at his window with the Ford Anglia bewitched to fly. This is how Harry escaped from Privet Drive and went on to stay at the Burrow. At the Burrow, Harry was always welcomed as a member of the family. He was treated with love and care, especially by Molly Weasley who seemed to understand the difficulties that Harry must have gone through.

In later years too, Harry was always very close to the Weasleys. He also ended up dating and later marrying Ginny Weasley. Harry spent a major part of his teenage years in the Burrow.

Twelve Grimmauld Place

Twelve Grimmauld Place belonged to the prestigious wizarding family of the Blacks. One of its final owners was Sirius Black. Harry came to stay there during the vacations before his fifth year when the place was considered the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. However, after Sirius’s death, since Harry was his godson, and since there were no other living relatives that Sirius had, Harry inherited this house. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent a major part of their ‘incognito’ living in Twelve Grimmauld Place before it was compromised when the Death Eater Yaxley apparated Harry, Ron, and Hermione into the house from the Ministry of Magic after they successfully stole the Slytherin locket from Dolores Umbridge.

Twelve Grimmauld Place is a very house and Harry had a great time there when they were all assigned to clean up the place to make it fit for being the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Furthermore, when Harry inherited the house, he also ‘inherited’ the House-Elf Kreacher who eventually warmed up to Harry despite his initial hatred for Harry and his friends.

Harry Potter’s Friends

If there’s one thing that Harry Potter has in abundance, it is his friends. Harry’s friends play a crucial role in his development as a character in the books. After his eleventh birthday, on which Hagrid visits him to inform him of his wizarding heritage, Harry is blessed with an abundance of friends. Until this point, Harry is not known to have any friends as most of his classmates are either too keen to bully him or are afraid that Dudley, his cousin, would end up bullying them too.

The first friend that Harry makes is probably Hagrid but is quickly followed by Ron whom Harry meets at the station on the day the first years board the Hogwarts express. Harry is later acquainted with Draco Malfoy, whose friendship Harry refuses when Draco tries to condescend to Harry about his friendship with Ron. Harry also befriends Hermione eventually after he and Ron try to help her from getting attacked by a mountain troll. From that point on, Harry makes several friends over the years.

Ron Weasley

Ron Weasley is probably Harry’s best friend ever. The two are almost always inseparable and have had a very deep connection with each other since the first time they meet at the King’s Cross Station. Despite not being as evident, Ron has a major influence on Harry’s life, as Harry trusts Ron’s family as his own and is very close to the Weasleys. Ron and Harry have similar interests and like other children, are attracted to similar things like chocolates and interesting collectibles as is evident from their long conversations in the train compartment after Harry buys the entire lot from the trolley of the Trolley Witch.

Even in later life, as the two become teenagers, they are both similar in many ways. As two Gryffindor students who share a common room, their attitudes towards classes, other students, and other things, are almost always similar. They both hate Draco Malfoy and the other Slytherins, they perform on average levels in their classes and exams, and they are both fascinated by the sport of Quidditch.

Furthermore, Harry and Ron do have great respect and affection for each other. There are several instances where Ron defends and even protects Harry, and other instances where Harry does the same to Ron. Some notable instances include Ron supporting Harry when everybody else claims that Harry is probably lying about Voldemort’s return and Harry easily forgiving Ron when he returns after he abandoned Hermione and Harry during their search for Horcruxes.

Hermione Granger

Hermione Granger is one of Harry’s closest friends. Along with Ron and Harry, Hermione is a part of the iconic trio that are the major protagonists of the Harry Potter book series. Despite Harry being a very important character in the book series, it is certainly the presence of this trio that makes most events in these books occur.

Hermione is one of the cleverest witches of her time, and her presence of mind saves her, Ron, and Harry almost every single time they are facing a dangerous situation. Starting with using the Alohomora spell to open the lock that guards the three-headed dog Fluffy, to the point where she decides to use the Dragon to escape from Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault at Gringotts after successfully stealing a Horcrux, Hermione’s mind is one of the most important elements of the Harry Potter book series.

Harry has a very close friendship with Hermione and they are always there for each other. Even when the rest of Hogwarts, including Ron, suspected Harry of putting his name in the Goblet of Fire, Hermione stood by Harry’s side and continued to care for him and still be friends with him. When Hermione was admitted to the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts after being petrified, Harry and Ron visited her almost every day.

Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid is the gamekeeper and the keeper of keys at Hogwarts. Despite the significant age difference, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are very close to Hagrid and spent a lot of time in his hut. Hagrid was very caring and nurturing of Harry and always made sure that Harry was safe and sound.

It was Hagrid who got one-year-old Harry safely out of the wreckage in Godric’s Hollow after Voldemort’s attack on Harry’s parents. It was also Hagrid who finally delivered the letter from Hogwarts to Harry, took Harry to Diagon Alley, and to Gringotts to shop for his school supplies and many other things. Hagrid continued to be by Harry’s side whenever Harry needed him. Hagrid also accompanied Harry out of Knockturn Alley the one time he was accidentally lost there. Hagrid was the one to take Harry out of his Privet Drive house once he turned seventeen. Furthermore, it was Hagrid who carried Harry’s ‘apparent’ corpse out of the Forbidden Forest to Hogwarts, before Harry leaped to his feet and continued to fight against Voldemort.

Harry too was very kind to Hagrid and liked him a lot. In the first year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione helped Hagrid safely send his pet dragon Norbert with Ron’s brother Charlie. In the second year, Harry went to Hagrid’s hut along with Ron to enquire about the Chamber of Secrets, only to be eventually led to the jungle to meet Hagrid’s huge spider friend, Aragog. In their third year, Harry, Hermione, and Ron tried very hard to help Hagrid with the trial against Buckbeak. Harry and Hermione eventually saved Buckbeak along with Sirius.

Dobby

Dobby is a very interesting friend of Harry’s. Dobby is a house-elf who was constantly treated very badly by his masters, the Malfoys. Firstly, a major part of their initial meetings was just Dobby seriously harming Harry with the excuse of saving him from the grave dangers that awaited him at Hogwarts. However, they eventually warmed up with each other, especially after Harry freed Dobby from the Malfoys and Dobby has pledged his allegiance to Harry ever since.

Dobby makes several appearances in later parts of the book series. Dobby is seen working in the Hogwarts kitchen where Dumbledore agrees to pay him for his labor, something that is scandalous to the other house-elves. He also tails Malfoy along with the other house-elf Kreacher, at Harry’s request. He later helps Kreacher catch Mundungus Fletcher. Finally, he is sent by Abeforth Dumbledore to help Harry and his other friends escape Malfoy Manor. Dobby does a great job saving every single one of them with no harm but eventually gets killed when a knife thrown by Bellatrix Lestrange, hits him on the chest.

Luna Lovegood

Luna Lovegood is also a close friend of Harry. Harry gravitates towards Luna more because of how similar some of their life circumstances are. Like Harry, Luna too lost her mother at an early age. Furthermore, both Harry and Luna can see the thestrals that draw the carriages because they both witnessed the death of someone in front of them. Harry and Luna go together as friends to Slughorn’s party. Luna and Harry also have some very interesting conversations and it is Luna’s father who tells the trio about the Deathly Hallows.

Fred and George Weasley

Harry is also quite close to the Weasley twins, Fred and George Weasley. They are the funniest in the lot and are active in the process of coming up with witty ideas and interesting pranks. Harry is heavily influenced by the twins and also becomes a rulebreaker in Hogwarts whenever the need is high. He borrows the Marauder’s Map from the twins and uses it to enter Hogsmeade. Harry also funds their shop, the Weasley Wizard Wheezes with the money he won from the Triwizard Tournament.

Ginny Weasley

Ginny Weasley isn’t necessarily Harry’s friend, as, by the time they grow close to each other, there are dating each other and eventually end up getting married to each other. Ginny Weasley has a significant influence on Harry, as is seen from his fierce need to protect the people he loves. Ginny is a very fierce and talented witch and her Bat Bogey Hexes are so good, that they get her an invitation to the Slug Club. Ginny’s relationship with Harry is explored more clearly in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Neville Longbottom

Neville Longbottom was one of the two children that fit the description of the child that Sybill Trelawney prophesized would vanquish Voldemort. Harry, eventually got marked by Voldemort as ‘The Chosen One’. However, when Harry realized what had happened to the ‘other kid’, and what his parents went through, Harry developed a soft corner filled with empathy and affection for Neville. Furthermore, Neville had always been a true friend to Harry and respected Harry a lot. While the two were never really very close as friends, they both had great respect and admiration for each other and towards the end of the saga, they both came together to protect their kin and avenge what was done to their parents.

Harry Potter’s Teachers

Harry Potter’s teachers at Hogwarts played a major role in shaping his identity and helping him hone his skills and channeling it wisely. Here are some of the most important teachers that Harry had at Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore

Albus Dumbledore is perhaps the most influential person in Harry’s life. The amount of knowledge, experience, and wisdom that Harry has gained from his headmaster is irreplaceable. Dumbledore, being one of the most intelligent and responsible wizards of his time, also played an important role and took an initiative in Harry’s upbringing. Furthermore, Dumbledore prepared Harry, guided him, and molded him accurately to face his destiny when the time came. Facing Voldemort at such an early age with very little magical experience is a feat in itself. But it was possible mainly because of how well Dumbledore trained Harry over the years.

Slowly, but with great confidence, Dumbledore let Harry take care of situations in Hogwarts on his own which trained him to be brave and stand up for the right things. So, eventually, when the time came, even in Dumbledore’s absence, Harry could manage to work things out on his own and eventually defeat Voldemort.

Dumbledore and Harry had a very strong bond. Harry respected Dumbledore a lot and always valued his advice despite sometimes not paying heed to it. Similarly, Dumbledore was always very friendly and kind to Harry and made it a point to humor him even in situations that felt not so indulgent. Dumbledore was very keen to protect Harry from almost any peril. Instances like the time Dumbledore used a spell to carefully bring down Harry safely during the Quidditch match when he fell due to a dementor attack and when Dumbledore protected Harry from Voldemort and dueled him at the Ministry are instances that are illustrative of Dumbledore’s protective nature towards Harry.

Another important instance worth mentioning is when Dumbledore mustered all his power to stand up straight and cast a spell on the Inferi that attacked Harry in the cave where Voldemort hid his Horcrux. This is noteworthy because Dumbledore was in his most vulnerable state after drinking the strange liquid that knocked him out of his senses. Yet his deep need to protect Harry never ceased till the moment he died.

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall taught Transfiguration at Hogwarts. She was a crucial figure in Harry’s life and despite being a strict and curt witch, she always cared about Harry and gave him affection at times he needed it. As a teacher, she guided him with his career and despite him not showing too much interest due to his mediocre grades, she encouraged him to follow his passion of becoming an auror by suggesting that he take Potions.

Furthermore, it was she who recruited Harry into the Gryffindor Quidditch team after seeing him easily catch the Remembrall midair. There are other instances where she fiercely protects Harry as well. One of them is when she suddenly appears in the Ravenclaw common room when the Carrows are about to attack Harry in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and then goes on to fight the Carrows herself. When she strictly denies Harry the opportunity to go to Hogsmeade, she further consoles him and justifies the reason for not letting him go to Hogsmeade. She also voices her disapproval for letting Harry compete in the Triwizard Cup just because the Goblet of Fire is a magically powerful object as Barty Crouch claims and a contract with it should be seen through despite the risks involved.

Remus Lupin

Remus Lupin is perhaps Harry’s favorite teacher to ever teach in Hogwarts. From the first day they meet on the train, Lupin is a very protective and kind figure to Harry. When the Dementors accidentally attack Harry on the Hogwarts Express, Professor Lupin is quick enough to cast a Patronus Charm to scare them off of Harry. Even later, Lupin is very kind to Harry and teaches him to cast the Patronus Charm to protect himself from Dementors. This skill helps Harry a lot in his future encounters with the Dementors.

Furthermore, once Lupin leaves Hogwarts after being outed as a werewolf, he still continues to guide Harry and be kind to him. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, despite Harry’s very rude treatment of Lupin, the latter instantly forgives Harry and as is heard on the radio is very much in support of and affectionate to Harry.

Severus Snape

The teacher with whom Harry has the most complicated relationship is certainly Severus Snape. Since the first day that Harry came to Hogwarts, he has always had a hunch about Snape possibly being somewhat evil. Since his first Potions class, neither Harry nor Snape have liked each other and this dynamic has continued till the day Snape died at the hands of Voldemort. However, it is after his death that Snape seemed to influence a newfound meaning in Harry’s life.

It is later found out that Snape was always on the right side and his allegiance to Dumbledore and Harry was strongly influenced by his undying love for Harry’s mother, Lily Potter. However, he also despised Harry strongly because he was the son of James Potter, Snape’s mortal enemy. Snape continued to bully Harry and find ways to get him expelled or show his fallibility and Harry was hellbent on proving to everyone else that Snape is in fact on the Dark side. However, in the end, it seems like Harry made peace with his resentment toward Snape, accepted the great role that Snape played in secretly creating the right path for Harry to eventually defeat Voldemort, and even ended up naming his second son after him.

Horace Slughorn

Horace Slughorn is one of the most interesting teachers that Harry had. Horace Slughorn had at first refused to come to teach at Hogwarts but after Dumbledore took Harry with him to see Horace Slughorn, he eventually changed his mind and agreed to come to teach Potions at Hogwarts. This is because Horace Slughorn was very keen on making acquaintances with famous or potentially powerful students.

Once in Hogwarts, Harry aced all of Slughorn’s classes because of his newly found Potions textbook which belonged to the ‘Half-Blood Prince’. This made Harry even more of a celebrity in Slughorn’s eyes. Slughorn continued to hold Harry in high regard and finally also ended up giving the memory of his conversation with Tom Riddle about Horcruxes that Harry and Dumbledore were so bad after.

FAQs

Commentary on Harry Potter

Harry Potter, both the character and the book series were immense hits among the readers and ended up gaining a lot of fame. Interestingly, the phenomenon of Harry Potter has a very interesting metanarrative in its unraveling. Both in the world of the story and the real world where J. K. Rowling penned this book series, Harry Potter seemed to capture immense fame. The reason for his fame in the real world is mostly attributed to how popular he and the book series became. In the world of magic, within the story world, Harry’s fame was initially attributed to his strange survival from an attack by one of the strongest dark wizards ever. But over time, Harry being considered the chosen one, and his constant need to ensure the safety of his fellow beings and Hogwarts, made him more popular. The following quote from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone best portrays this element of fame.

These lines are spoken by Albus Dumbledore as he revels in how Harry was already very popular in the wizarding world, after Voldemort completely disappeared trying to attack him. However, these lines can also be read as a metareference to how Harry Potter came to be received in the real world. These lines seem very much in tune with the context of the fame that Harry Potter and the series gained over the years since its publication. There were in fact books written about Harry, and most children in the world do know who Harry is.