James Potter I

"Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!"

- James Potter stands between Lord Voldemort and his family

James Potter (March 27, 1960 - October 31, 1981) was the father of Harry Potter. He was a troublemaker during his youth, but a talented wizard and a member of the first Order of the Phoenix, who devoted himself to fighting Lord Voldemort. James and his wife Lily were murdered by Voldemort when Peter Pettigrew betrayed them.

Description
James was a tall, thin boy with untidy black hair and hazel eyes framed by glasses; his son was noted to look very much like him, but with his mother's green eyes. James was a clever and talented wizard, but very mischievous when he was younger. He could be arrogant and boastful, and even bullied other students on occasion, particularly long-time rival Severus Snape. However, he ultimately grew out of this, becoming enough of a responsible student and leader to be Head Boy in his final year, and later a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He died bravely sacrificing himself for his family.

Childhood
James Potter was born into a pure-blood wizarding family of considerable wealth. Both his parents were elderly, even by wizarding standards, and both died under normal circumstances when he was around twenty. Because he was their only child, arriving later in life, James' parents pampered him a great deal.

Hogwarts Years
James began to attend Hogwarts in 1971 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. While there, he befriended Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, and together they called themselves the Marauders.

Though more of a troublemaker than diligent student, James was a very bright student. He had great talent on the Quidditch pitch as a Chaser for his house team, and he knew it. He was something of an obnoxious youth for the majority of his time at school; he liked to show off and was exceptionally self-confident. He habitually ruffled his hair to make it even untidier, to look as though he'd just got off his broomstick.

James had a habit of hexing innocent students for no other reason than because he could, especially Severus Snape, a Slytherin in the same year. James and Snape had a strong rivalry throughout their time at Hogwarts. Remus and Sirius later said that the reason this rivalry began was due to Snape's jealousy over James' talent at Quidditch and his popularity, as well as Snape's interest in the Dark Arts, which James despised. However, James and Sirius insulted Snape from the moment they meet him in their first year on the Hogwarts Express. Snape followed the Marauders around, looking for reasons to get them expelled. James, in turn, used the hexes Snape himself had made up against him.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid."

- Lily Evans to James when he flirts with her

James spent the majority of his academic career chasing after Lily Evans, a red-headed witch his age, also in Gryffindor. Lily was perhaps the only student in the school, aside from Snape, who was completely unimpressed by James, considering him arrogant and obnoxious. He repeatedly made a fool of himself while she was around, trying to show off. Jealousy over Snape's friendship with Lily may have also contributed to their enmity.

Animagus
"Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my ‘furry little problem’ in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit."

- Remus on James' attitude towards his lycanthropy

As second years, James, Sirius and Peter figured out that Remus was a werewolf. Rather than abandoning him (James in particular insisted this monthly hazard didn't mean Remus was truly abnormal), they spent three years learning to become Animagi in order to accompany Remus in his transformations. In his fifth year, James managed to perfect the transformation and become a stag Animagus, which earned him the nickname "Prongs."

In the Marauders' fifth year, Snape saw Madam Pomfrey and Remus going to the Shrieking Shack using a secret passage under the Whomping Willow. Snape was very interested in where Remus went every month, and Sirius told him that the trick to getting past the Whomping Willow was to poke the knot at the bottom. Snape followed Sirius' directions and was nearly at the Shrieking Shack when James pulled him back. At great risk to his own life, James saved Severus from certain death at the claws of a werewolf. Even when Harry was at school, Snape still felt that James only saved him to avoid expulsion.

At the age of sixteen, James' parents allowed Sirius to move in with them so he could escape his own horrible family, and Sirius soon became an unofficial member of their family. By his seventh year, James had lost the less savory aspects of his personality and was even appointed Head Boy despite the fact that he hadn't been a prefect. He also finally managed to impress Lily Evans and began dating her at this time. He stopped hexing bystanders for fun, the exception being Severus, who in turn never lost an opportunity to hex James.

First Wizarding War
After graduation, James married Lily, and Sirius was best man at the wedding. The three of them, along with Remus and Peter, joined the Order of the Phoenix in the fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. During the course of the next three years, James and Lily defied the Dark Lord three times as the conflict continued.

James also used his wealth to support Remus Lupin, who was unemployable due to his status as a Werewolf.

On July 31, 1980, Lily gave birth to their son Harry James Potter, but it wasn't long before Albus Dumbledore found out that they were in danger. Young Harry had become a target of Lord Voldemort because of a prophecy concerning the one who could ultimately defeat the Dark Lord. Voldemort himself would learn of the propecy through his follower and an old enemy of James, Severus Snape. In October 1981, Dumbledore told the Potters that their best chance of remaining safe against Voldemort was the Fidelius Charm. James insisted on using Sirius as their Secret-Keeper, even though Dumbledore offered to fill the position.

Hiding and Death
"It's been fourteen years, and still not a day goes by that I don't miss your dad."

- Sirius Black to Harry Potter.

Sirius, however, had a different plan. He convinced James and Lily to use Peter as their Secret-Keeper, with Sirius as a decoy. They agreed and the charm was cast in secret, but this attempt at a double-bluff ended in tragedy. The only people to know about the switch were James, Lily, Sirius and Peter; even Dumbledore and Lupin were kept in the dark. Less than a week later, Peter betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort.

When the Dark Lord arrived at Godric's Hollow, James told Lily to take Harry and run, and stood to face the darkest wizard in a century on his own in order to give his wife and child time to escape, but leaving his wand in the living room in which he had been entertaining his young son with it. As talented as he was, he was no match for the might of Voldemort, and he was killed.

Post-Mortem
After James and Lily's death, their son was raised by Lily's sister, Petunia Dursley. Despite not remembering his parents, Harry held them in great esteem. This faltered slightly where his father was concerned when he learned that James had been something of a bully in his youth, witnessing a memory of Severus Snape's in which James and Sirius picked on and humiliated Snape simply because they were bored. Snape, who switched sides after Lily's death and became Potions professor at Hogwarts, treated Harry with disdain throughout his academic career, perceiving him to be "arrogant as his father, a determined rule-breaker...attention-seeking and impertinent".

Harry saw a vision of his parents in the Mirror of Erised and as spectral forms during Priori Incantatem with Voldemort in 1995 and through the Resurrection Stone in 1998. He eventually named his oldest child after his father.

Behind the Scenes

 * There has been some confusion about whether James played Seeker or Chaser (the books say Chaser, but the movies say Seeker), but in the second Scholastic interview, J. K. Rowling confirmed he was indeed a Chaser. It is possible he could have played both in different years.
 * The name James is derived from the Hebrew name Jaboc, meaning "grasps by the heel"; the Biblical Jacob was born grasping his brother's heel, symbolically his birthright. Many kings and nobles of England and Scotland have been named James.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows