Harry Potter's scars

Harry Potter has two scars. One is on his forehead and is shaped like a lightning bolt; it is the result of a Killing Curse striking him when he was an infant and played a role in his conflict with, and eventualy defeat of, Lord Voldemort. The other scar is on his left hand, which he received when he was fifteen.

The lightning-bolt scar
"That ain't no ordinary cut on your forehead, Harry. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse, an evil curse."

- Rubeus Hagrid to Harry Potter

A scar on Harry Potter's forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt is the result of failed murder attempt by Lord Voldemort on October 31, 1981, when he struck fifteen-month-old Harry with the Killing Curse. Harry is the only person to survive the curse because his mother's loving sacrifice protected him. Unbeknownst to Voldemort, the incident also inadvertantly made Harry into a Horcrux, as a piece of the Dark Lord's soul embedded itself in Harry.

In the years to come, Harry's scar hurt whenever Voldemort was close, or whenever he was in danger from the Dark Lord or his followers, the Death Eaters, such as when one set off the Dark Mark near him in 1994. When Harry was forced to confront the newly-returned Voldemort in the graveyard in Little Hangleton in 1995, his scar burned terribly.

At this point, it became clear to Albus Dumbledore and to Harry that the scar was part of a link between his mind and that of Voldemort. It would hurt whenever Voldemort was experiencing strong negative emotions, and sometimes Harry was able to see into Voldemort's thoughts. It was through this connection that Harry saw Nagini attack Arthur Weasley in 1995. To try to prevent Voldemort from invading Harry's mind, Dumbledore had him take Occlumency lessons with Severus Snape, thought they were ultimately unsuccessful. In June of 1996, Voldemort used the link to send Harry a false vision of his godfather being tortured in order to lure him to the Department of Mysteries, where he and his friends were attacked and a battle ensued. Voldemort briefly possessed Harry at the end of this battle, but when Harry focused on feelings of grief for his beloved, murdered godfather, Voldemort experienced great pain and pulled out from his mind. Dumbledore theorized that Voldemort would never attempt to enter Harry's mind again.

Although Harry never mastered Occlumency, he did eventually learn to exert moderate control over the connection between himself and Voldemort. While searching for the Horcruxes with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he felt his scar burn many times, on the occasions when Voldemort was angry, and was able to glimpse his thoughts and perceptions at those times. For example, when Harry questioned Mr. Ollivander about the existence of the Elder Wand, he had seen a vision from the past in which Ollivander was telling Voldemort that Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand. He also saw Voldemort ordering Draco Malfoy to torture Thorfinn Rowle through Voldemort's eyes.

After Harry learned that he was a Horcrux, he willingly went to what he believed would be his death. Voldemort's Killing Curse, however, only destroyed the piece of his own soul that was inside of Harry. Harry survived, and went to defeat Voldemort, once and for all. Afterwards, his scar never hurt again.

Scars on Harry's left hand


Dolores Umbridge, a Ministry employee, became Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts in Harry's fifth year. She pushed the Ministry's position that Lord Voldemort had not returned, and that Harry and Dumbledore were liars or nutters for saying otherwise. Harry argued with her about this on numerous occasions, resulting in her assigning him detentions. She made him write lines with a Blood Quill, which used his own blood as ink. As a result, Harry was left with a scar on his left hand reading "I must not tell lies".

Behind the scenes

 * According to J.K. Rowling during a web chat with her, the lightning scar is no longer burns or hurts after Voldemort's defeat.
 * In the films, Harry's scar is off-center on his forehead. This was done at J.K. Rowling's insistance, because many fans believe that the scar is in the middle of his forehead; but the scar's location is never mentioned within in the books' text.
 * The scar on Harry's forehead prompted Draco Malfoy to come up with and use the mocking nickname of "Scarhead" for Harry, which he first used during the Quidditch match of Gryffindor versus Slytherin in 1992, but used multiple times since.
 * In the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the scars on Harry's left hand read "I will not break rules".