Harry Potter

"Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

- Sorting Hat to Harry Potter

Harry James Potter, born July 31, 1980, one of the most famous students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in modern times, is the only known survivor of the Killing Curse, which Lord Voldemort attempted to murder him with when he was an infant. This event led to Voldemort's first defeat and the end of the First Wizarding War, as well as to the orphaned Harry being taken in by his Muggle maternal relatives.

At the age of eleven, Harry began attending Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor house. While at school, Harry became best friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as well as the youngest Seeker in over a century and eventually captain of his house's Quidditch team, winning two Quidditch Cups. In his fourth year, Harry won the Triwizard Tournament, though the competition ended in tragedy with the murder of Cedric Diggory and the return of Voldemort. The following school year, Harry led Dumbledore's Army and fought in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, during which he lost his godfather. Harry played a significant role in many other battles of the Second Wizarding War, and hunted down and destroyed Voldemort's various Horcruxes with Hermione and Ron before the Battle of Hogwarts, when he dueled Voldemort a final time and defeated him, once and for all. After the war, Harry became an Auror and married Ginny Weasley, with whom he had three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Harry is also notable for being the only known person to have united all three Deathly Hallows.

Family Lineage
The Potters are an old, wealthy pure-blood family, though Harry himself is a half-blood, as his mother was a Muggle-born witch. The Potters descend from the Peverell family, an ancient wizarding line, through Ignotus Peverell, who passed an Invisibility Cloak on to his descendants. The Gaunts, descendants of Salazar Slytherin, also descend from the Peverells, through Ignotus's brother Cadmus, who passed on the Resurrection Stone in the family heirloom of a signet ring. Thus, Harry and Tom Marvolo Riddle are very distant relatives.

Harry is also distantly related, on his father's side, to the Blacks, Malfoys, Weasleys, the Longbottoms, and almost all other pure-blood families, though the degree of consanguinity is not known.

Harry's maternal relatives are the Muggle Evans and Dursley families.

Early Life
Harry James Potter was born on July 31, 1980, to James and Lily Potter, members of the Order of the Phoenix during the height of the First Wizarding War. From birth, he lived in hiding with his parents after Lord Voldemort marked them for death. They lived in the town of Godric's Hollow in a home put under the Fidelius Charm to keep them hidden. As part of the charm, they had planned to make their Secret-Keeper Sirius Black, but using the advice of Sirius, they changed this designation to Peter Pettigrew, as they thought he would be less suspicious. In a terrible turn of fate, it happened that Pettigrew was a spy for Voldemort. He betrayed James and Lily Potter, staged his own death, and framed Sirius Black for everything.

On the evening of October 31st, 1981, Voldemort arrived at Godric's Hollow and murdered Harry's parents; he started with James, who tried to duel him (though he did not have his wand). Then he advanced on to Lily, who died protecting Harry. It was her sacrifice that prevented the Avada Kedavra curse from working. Her love for Harry became a barrier protecting her son; when Voldemort attempted the curse on the child, it backfired, and instead of killing Harry, Voldemort lost all of his power and his physical form (he would have died completely had it not been for the horcruxes). Harry Potter is the only person known to have survived the Killing Curse. The failed curse left a scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt. The scar would be a bane and a blessing to Harry in the years to come, as it opened a telepathic link between Lord Voldemort and himself.

He became famous even at the age of one for defeating Lord Voldemort. The house at Godric's Hollow was destroyed in the fight, and Rubeus Hagrid rescued Harry. Hagrid was given specific orders by Albus Dumbledore to take him to his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Dumbledore left a letter explaining everything to the Dursleys, but they never relayed it to Harry. Instead, Harry would spend the next decade of his life in their strict and miserable home.

Life on Privet Drive
Living with the Dursleys Harry thought was the worst thing in the world. As they were a Muggle family, they had no understanding of magic and even though his Aunt and Uncle knew about his lineage, they wanted nothing to do with it. The Dursleys considered themselves a "proper" family and hated anything out of the ordinary. They lied to Harry about his parents, claiming they had perished in a car wreck and that James was an unemployed drunkard. They resented Harry for his magical talents, which were sporadic, but evident. They discouraged any sort of imagination. In fact, they insisted upon "stamping that rubbish out," and screamed at or punished Harry whenever something "unusual" occurred. In his youth, Harry could make strange things happen without understanding why (as no one had bothered to inform him). For instance, after Petunia had sheared off all his messy hair in fury that it would not lay flat, it had grown back to its untouched state by the next morning. Harry was punished, even though he hadn't done anything on purpose. Another time, Dedalus Diggle bowed to him in a shop, and Petunia ferociously interrogated Harry as to how the man knew him.

The Dursleys spoiled and pampered their son Dudley and paid little to no attention to Harry. Everything he owned were ill-fitting hand-me-downs from Dudley, which were far too large for Harry. He was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs while his cousin got two bedrooms to himself. They ordered Harry around like a slave. In time, Dudley became a terrible bully of Harry.

There were two benefits to Harry's virtual imprisonment at the Dursley's home. First, Harry's neighbor, Arabella Figg, was a Squib working undercover for the Order of the Phoenix to keep tabs on Harry's wellbeing (however, to maintain favor with the Dursleys, she was forced to mistreat him whenever they sent him to her). And second, Dumbledore put a spell on the Dursley home to keep the inhabitants concealed from Voldemort and the forces of Darkness. However, this spell would be broken when Harry turned 17 years old, or whenever he no longer called Privet Drive his home.

Muggle Primary School
Harry attended normal Muggle school along with Dudley. He didn't have many friends, since a lot of students were afraid of Dudley's gang. It is told that he was good at sports, even though no one picked him for their team (however, this was more because no one wanted to admit to Dudley that they liked him than because he wasn't any good). Harry once accidentally changed the colour of his teacher's wig to blue, and somehow found himself onto school kitchen roof.

If Harry hadn't gone to Hogwarts he would have attended Stonewall,a muggle school.

You're a Wizard, Harry
Harry had no birthday celebrations until the day he turned 11, which is the same day that he discovered the exceptional reality about his identity. The week of Harry's birthday, hundreds of letters began arriving at the Dursley's home, addressed to him from a place called Hogwarts. When the Dursleys saw the first letter was addressed as "cupboard under the stairs," they panicked at the thought of Harry's ill treatment being observed and transferred him to the "smallest bedroom."

Vernon tried to destroy the letters in a futile attempt to keep Harry from his destiny. As the letters kept coming in increasingly larger quantities, the Dursleys saw no alternative but to flee from them. The owls carrying the letters followed them wherever they went. In a final desperate move, the Dursleys relocated themselves to a shack on a rocky island in the middle of a body of water.

At this time, Rubeus Hagrid appeared in person to find out the reason Harry had not received his letter. He was infuriated by the Dursleys and explained to Harry, in spite of Vernon's obstinate protests, that he was a wizard, how his parents died, and how he was to be sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This would be the first birthday celebration for Harry. Rubeus Hagrid gave him a small, homemade birthday cake and an owl, which Harry would name Hedwig. Hagrid took Harry to Diagon Alley where he first learned about his fame in the Wizarding Community. He learned his parents had left him a small fortune in a vault at Gringotts.

Phoenix-feather Wand
Harry Potter's magic wand is eleven inches long and made of holly. Its core is made of Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes' tail feather. It was crafted by Ollivander, who also crafted a twin wand from yew and the only other feather the phoenix ever gave. This twin wand chose Tom Marvolo Riddle as its wielder. Riddle, under the alias of Lord Voldemort, would later use this wand to attack Harry and his parents. The two wands, sharing the same phoenix origin, have a unique connection which prevents them from successfully dueling against each other.

First Year at Hogwarts
"Yer a wizard, Harry."

- Hagrid and Harry meeting for the first time Harry Potter was further guided by destiny when he met his lifelong friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger while riding the Hogwarts Express. Initially, the Sorting Hat considered putting Harry into Slytherin, but changed its mind at Harry's insistence. All three were Sorted into Gryffindor House on their first evening at school.

Harry discovered at his first broom-flying lesson that he was a natural flyer. He was so good that he was able to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team, becoming the youngest Seeker in more than a century, since First Year students normally were not allowed to have their own brooms. Before Harry's first Quidditch game he received the new Nimbus 2000, top of the line racing broom in his first year. At his first Quidditch match, Harry's broom was being jinxed and he had no control over the broom. Ron and Hermione saw Professor Severus Snape staring at Harry and mumbling an incantation. Hermione went to his row and under his seat she cast Lacarnum Inflamari causing the end of his robes to catch on fire. As soon as Snape quit making eye contact with Harry, he (Harry) gained control of his broom and zoomed after the snitch. When trying to catch it he fell off his broom and caught the snitch in his mouth, ending the match and leaving Gryffindor victorious.

Meanwhile, Lord Voldemort, long presumed dead, was secretly mounting a return. Using the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Quirinus Quirrell, as a host body, he was able to search for the Philosopher's Stone, which he believed would restore him to his body and grant him everlasting life. Voldemort was thwarted by Harry, with great help from Ron and Hermione. Overall, the events of Harry's first year at Hogwarts set the three students in a bond of everlasting friendship which would carry them through every obstacle that came to them from the forces of Darkness.



Second Year at Hogwarts
Harry faced adversity at the school when he and his fellow students learned he could speak Parseltongue. Because of this and the events surrounding the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry was suspected to be the "Heir of Slytherin," who was believed responsible for attacks on Muggle-born pupils at the school. Ron's sister Ginny Weasley was put in danger as Voldemort again used an innocent person as a means to carry out his ambitions. He hypnotized her using an enchanted diary that turns out to be one of Voldemort's horcruxes, forcing her to vandalise the school, as well as terrify the school community by releasing a deadly Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets.

After much research, Harry was able to get into the Chamber of Secrets using Parseltongue, accompanied for a short time by Ron and Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. With the help of Godric Gryffindor's sword and Fawkes, Harry was able to rescue Ginny from the Chamber, slay the Basilisk, and destroy the diary horcrux. In addition, Harry was able to trick Lucius Malfoy into freeing his mistreated house-elf, Dobby.

Third Year at Hogwarts
"I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of school with Black on the loose!"

- Hermione Granger's concern for Harry after Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban

In 1993, Sirius Black – who had been imprisoned twelve years earlier for allegedly betraying James and Lily Potter to Voldemort and killing twelve Muggles – escaped from Azkaban. Everybody was convinced that Harry was his target. Even the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, granted him a reprieve from punishment for inadvertently engorging his Aunt Marge because of the tense climate in the community.

On the train to his third year at Hogwarts, Harry met Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and his father’s old friend, when Lupin defended Harry and his friends from Dementors searching for the fugitive Black. Professor Lupin later took to teaching Harry the Patronus Charm to repel the Dementors. Other changes in Harry’s third year included the class of Divination, in which Professor Trelawney repeatedly predicted Harry’s demise, and students going on outings to Hogsmeade. Harry was not permitted to go, but was able to sneak into the village with the help of Fred and George Weasley, who gave him the Marauder's Map, a magical document showing secret passageways in and out of Hogwarts, as well as every person's location within the castle. Harry used a secret passage and his Invisibility Cloak to sneak to Hogsmeade numerous times over the course of the year.

At Christmas, Harry received a Firebolt racing broom from an anonymous benefactor after his Nimbus 2000 was destroyed by the Whomping Willow during a Quidditch match. Suspecting that Black sent it, Hermione reported it to Professor McGonagall, who confiscated it for testing. This created strain between Harry and Hermione, with whom Ron was already annoyed, since his pet rat Scabbers had gone missing and he blamed Hermione’s new pet cat, Crookshanks. The three friends made up after Hagrid scolded Harry and Ron for their treatment of Hermione, and the boys offered to help Hermione in her defence of Buckbeak, a hippogriff threatened with execution for injuring Draco Malfoy. Due to the machinations of Lucius Malfoy, the trio failed, and witnessed what they believed to be Buckbeak’s execution. Shortly afterwards, Scabbers resurfaced, only to bite Ron and run away – pursued by a black dog that dragged the rat and Ron into a passage under the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione followed, only to discover that the dog was the Animagus form of Sirius Black. It soon came out that Scabbers was in fact Peter Pettigrew – the true betrayer of Harry’s parents who framed Sirius for his crimes and faked his death by hiding in his Animagus form of a rat for years. Sirius and Professor Lupin planned to kill Pettigrew for his treachery, but Harry stopped them, believing that his father would not have wanted his friends to be murderers.

The possibility of clearing Sirius’ name and bringing Pettigrew to justice vanished when the full moon rose, and Professor Lupin – whom Hermione had revealed to be a werewolf – transformed. Sirius took on his dog form to protect Harry, Hermione, and Ron, but Pettigrew escaped in the chaos. While Ron was debilitated with a broken leg, Hermione used her Time-Turner – a time travel device she had been granted to enable her to take extra classes – to allow her and Harry to rescue Sirius from the Dementor's Kiss, as well as Buckbeak from execution. Harry repelled a hoard of Dementors using the Patronus Charm, which took the same form as his father’s Animagus – a stag. Sirius was forced back into hiding, but he was saved, and Harry was delighted to have a godfather.

Fourth Year at Hogwarts
In 1994, Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard Tournament, a recently-revived inter-school competition in which Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute also participated. Harry was mysteriously chosen as a fourth competitor, even though he was underage and never entered his name into the Goblet of Fire during the selection process. Almost everybody did not believe Harry's story, however; Ron, jealous of the attention Harry was getting, stopped speaking to him for a time. Hermione, on the other hand, "accepted his story without question", and assisted Harry in preparing for the Tournament by teaching him useful spells such as Accio.

The champions faced three dangerous challenges on their way to the Triwizard Cup. First was facing dragons. Next was going into the black lake. Last was going in the the maze to find the triwizard cup. Harry's life was threatened many times during this competition and the quality of his social life suffered terribly, due to jealousy and resentment from his peers. Numerous times, he declined help from Ludo Bagman; he felt that accepting help from Bagman would feel like cheating more than asking for help from Ron, Hermione, or Sirius. After witnessing how dangerous the First Task was, Ron realized Harry had not cheated to get into the tournament, and the two friends made up.

Harry asked his long-time crush Cho Chang to attend the Yule Ball with him, and was disappointed to learn that she had already accepted the invitation of Cedric Diggory, whom she would subsequently date. Harry and Ron ended up attending with Parvati and Padma Patil, respectively. They both ended up neglecting their dates, as Harry watched Cho and Ron was overcome with jealousy for Viktor Krum, who escorted Hermione. During the final event, Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory and Harry both showed supreme sportsmanship and cooperation, and agreed to touch the Triwizard Cup simultaneously, planning to tie for first place. They were unaware it was actually a Portkey. They were transported to the graveyard at Little Hangleton, the Riddle family's final resting place, where Lord Voldemort was waiting. On Voldemort's order, his servant Peter Pettigrew (aka Wormtail) murdered Cedric with the Killing Curse.

Harry was bound to Tom Riddle Sr.'s tombstone and forced to witness a ritual, which used his own blood, to restore Lord Voldemort's body. At the same time, Death Eaters from all over the world arrived at the cemetery, further compounding the seriousness of Harry's situation. When Voldemort regained his frail and spindly human form, he immediately engaged Harry in a duel. The nature of their wands' mystical connection caused their magical streams to interlock, which created an effect called Priori Incantatem. Harry was momentarily shielded, which allowed him time to grab the Portkey and escape back to Hogwarts.

Once more, Voldemort had been using a foolish victim to carry out his deceits. It was uncovered that Barty Crouch Jr, who had unwittingly joined forces with Voldemort as a young boy, was during all that school year disguised as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Alastor Moody. In a terrible turn of fate, Crouch's soul was destroyed with a Dementor's Kiss before he could repeat his confession to officials. As a result, the Ministry of Magic began to dispute Harry and Albus Dumbledore's insistence that Voldemort had returned.

Fifth Year at Hogwarts


Witnessing Cedric Diggory's murder was very difficult for Harry. It was not helpful that he was forced back to Privet Drive for the summer holidays. To make things worse than they were already, Dolores Umbridge, under-secretary for the Minister for Magic, ordered Dementors to attack Harry in the Muggle town of Little Whinging. Harry was forced to perform a Patronus Charm to save him and Dudley. Subsequently, Harry was formally accused of performing underage magic and was made to appear at a Wizengamot hearing at the Ministry of Magic. He was threatened with expulsion from Hogwarts, but was exonerated with help from Albus Dumbledore. In retaliation against Dumbledore, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge appointed Umbridge as the new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher so she can spy on the school. She was later appointed High Inquisitor, empowered to arbitrarily change and impose school rules.

Having always been expected to be picked as a Prefect by Albus Dumbledore, he was dissapointed when Ron and  Hermione were chosen and not him. It was later revealed that Ron was chosen instead of Harry because Dumbledore thought that Harry had "enough responsibility to be going on with." Harry's jealousy threatened to affect his friendship with Ron, but he felt better when he discovered that his dad was also not chosen as a prefect at school.

Urged by Hermione, Harry secretly trained students in real defensive magic. The group call themselves Dumbledore's Army, or the D.A.. Cho Chang became a member, and she and Harry kissed under the mistletoe in the Room of Requirement, though their romance suffered because of Cho's grief and confusion over Cedric Diggory's death. Cho also had misplaced jealousy towards Hermione and defended her friend Marietta Edgecombe when the girl betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge, which caused things between her and Harry to just "fall apart".

Lord Voldemort wanted a "secret weapon" against Harry Potter, as he felt threatened by his existence. He had heard of a prophecy hidden in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries having to do with him and Harry. Thus, Voldemort once again manipulated an innocent mind to his desires by implanting a false vision in Harry's mind that Sirius was being tortured at the Ministry. This forced Harry into action as he and D.A. members Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood felt compelled to rush to his rescue.

Lured into the Department of Mysteries, the students met with an ambush of Death Eaters. Order of the Phoenix reinforcements arrived in time, but Sirius Black was pushed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, through a stone archway, to his death.

Lord Voldemort himself appeared, enraged by the failures of his cronies. For the second time, he attempted to fatally curse Harry, but Dumbledore's sudden arrival saved him. Voldemort grabbed Bellatrix and Disapparates, but not before being seen by the Minister and Ministry employees, which vindicated both Harry and Dumbledore.

Sixth Year at Hogwarts


In 1996, following Voldemort's reappearance at the Ministry of Magic, many in the wizarding world now called Harry "The Chosen One." This does nothing for Harry's difficulty in socializing with his peers. Much to his chagrin, in addition Harry inherited his godfather Sirius Black's estate, including Grimmauld Place and the Black's melancholic and half-crazed house elf, Kreacher. And Harry learned that he had been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. This cheered him up slightly for not being made a prefect. In that same year, Severus Snape was promoted to professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. His vacant position as Potions instructor was filled by Horace Slughorn, who awards Harry with Felix Felicis after he successfully brews a Draught of Living Death with the help of The Half-Blood Prince. However, Slughorn's appointment reopened Harry's career options to becoming an Auror (otherwise, Harry's O.W.L. score in Potions under Professor Snape would have been inadequate for N.E.W.T.-level courses). As Harry had not bothered to purchase a Potions textbook, Professor Slughorn lent Harry an old textbook in the supply cabinet. Harry sees it is signed as once belonging to a student identified only as "The Half-Blood Prince". The book contained copious handwritten notes that helped Harry to excel in Potions for once. In fact, his skills won him a prize from Slughorn--a small vial of Felix Felicis. During this year, Harry also became involved with Ginny Weasley, although at first he considered this just to be older brotherly-love. Dumbledore began giving Harry private lessons with the Pensieve, to help him know some about Voldemort's past, in order to defeat him. They took journeys together into various individuals' memories concerning Voldemort. Dumbledore surmised that to ensure immortality, Voldemort splintered his soul into seven fragments called Horcruxes. Five pieces were placed into common objects and two into living objects. Two Horcruxes were previously destroyed (Tom Riddle's diary and Marvolo Gaunt's ring). Dumbledore located a horcrux, a locket, hidden inside a seaside cave, that was occupied by inferi. They made it past the inferi, and got the horcrux out, although Dumbledore is weakened to the brink of death by the effort.

They returned to find Hogwarts invaded by Death Eaters. On that night, Albus Dumbledore was killed by Severus Snape, who identified himself to Harry as the Half-Blood Prince as he escaped Hogwarts with Draco Malfoy. Harry recovers the locket from Dumbledore's body, but is beside himself to learn it is just a plain bit of jewelery; a note inside revealed the real Horcrux was taken by someone called R.A.B.. It appeared to him that Dumbledore had died in vain. Harry breaks up Ginny.

Hunting the Horcruxes
"We're with you, whatever happens."

- Ron Weasley vowing to help Harry in the Horcrux hunt

In 1997, Harry vowed to leave Hogwarts in order to search for and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. He was joined by Ron and Hermione, who left their families to accompany him. They were forced to break numerous wizarding laws to accomplish their goal of destroying Lord Voldemort.

Harry spent time studying his quest, which involved the past deeds and Last Will and Testament of Albus Dumbledore, the identity of Gellert Grindelwald, and the legend of the Deathly Hallows.

The first Horcrux they found was Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which Harry took from around Dolores Umbridge's neck in a feat of great bravery and nerve. The trio was then forced to travel all over Britain to evade capture, as they had assaulted Ministry employees. This locket, full of evil energy, caused strife among the friends and Ron Weasley temporarily left their team.

While in the Forest of Dean, Harry was led to the Sword of Godric Gryffindor by the light of a spectral doe which turned out to be the Patronus of Severus Snape. The sword had the capability to destroy the Horcrux which no other object was able to accomplish. It was during the struggle with the sword and locket that he and Ron were reunited.

The location of the second Horcrux was revealed to Harry through shrewd observation of Bellatrix Lestrange. He deduced the object was hidden in her family's Gringotts vault, although in acquiring Helga Hufflepuff's Cup Harry lost Gryffindor's sword and was unable to destroy it. Ron and Hermione would later eliminate the cup with a Basilisk fang.

A vision of Voldemort helped Harry realise Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, the third Horcrux, remained at Hogwarts. The trio returned to Hogwarts to obtain the diadem, which is secured in the Room of Requirement when the room takes on the form of a vast storage facility. The entire room is destroyed by Fiendfyre, created by Vincent Crabbe in an attempt to kill Harry.

Events culminated in a final battle, as Voldemort demanded Harry and the Hogwarts community fight him. Harry uses the passage between the Whomping Willow and the Shrieking Shack to sneak up on Voldemort. Thus he witnessed the murder of Severus Snape at the hands of Voldemort, as Voldemort believed Snape was preventing him from being the true owner of the Elder Wand. Before he died, Snape gave Harry memories to view in the Pensieve which informed Harry that he must sacrifice himself to be killed by Voldemort. Harry learned he himself constituted a Horcrux that Voldemort wasn't even aware of. Because Voldemort's soul was so unstable, when he tried to kill Harry a part of Voldemort's soul was placed within Harry.

Heavy of heart, he courageously slipped off on his own to carry out this dreadful task. However, the "death" he met was not permanent: The blood Voldemort took from Harry to restore his physical form created a deep bond between them, and Harry's willingness to die triggered strong protections on the people of Hogwarts similar to the protections he received from his mother's sacrifice.

Voldemort, cocky and foolhardy as ever, advanced to Hogwarts grounds to fight students and faculty. In his folly, he underestimated the exceptional wizard Neville Longbottom, who, in a rare act of blind courage, destroyed the giant snake (and the final Horcrux) Nagini with Godric Gryffindor's Sword, which he pulled out of the Sorting Hat in the same way Harry had done it during his second year to defeat the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry prepared himself to finally kill Voldemort. Unbeknownst to Voldemort, the Elder Wand, which he stole from Dumbledore's grave, will not obey the wizard who wields it, but the wizard who owns it; Harry became its rightful owner when he disarmed Draco Malfoy. This is after Malfoy gained ownership of the Wand from Dumbledore when he disarmed him upon Harry and Dumbledore's return to Hogwarts with the locket. The Elder Wand thus refuses to execute the Killing Curse on Harry, rebounding onto Voldemort, who finally is silenced forever.

Harry Potter, in an act of great humility and compassion, prevented the Deathly Hallows from ever being reunited by keeping the Invisibility Cloak, dropping the Resurrection Stone, and returning the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's grave.

In the destruction of Lord Voldemort and the subsequent diminishing of all his powers, Harry Potter lost the ability to speak Parseltongue, much to his relief. In addition, the scar on Harry's forehead no longer held magical powers, nor did it ever cause Harry pain again.

1998-2017
"The scar hadn't pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

- Harry's new life as stated in the epilogue of Deathly Hallows

After Lord Voldemort's defeat, Harry went to work for the Auror's Office at the Ministry of Magic. In 2007, he became head of the Auror Department. By 2017, Harry and Ginny were married and had three children, whom they named James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. At some point, Harry made it on to a Famous Wizard Card.

Since Harry had been left Number 12, Grimmauld Place and a now friendly Kreacher, it is assumed that the Potters live there, though it is probable that the Potters refurbished the house first.

Harry also ensured that Severus Snape's portrait was hung in the Headmasters office at Hogwarts. He was also on "Christmas Card" terms with Dudley and his family, and occasionally visited him, which were occasions dreaded by his own children.

Physical description
"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."

- Rubeus Hagrid to the eleven-year-old Harry Potter.

Harry is a near-spitting image of his father, having jet black, untidy hair, but his brilliant green eyes are identical to those of his mother. Harry's physique as a boy was described as "small and skinny", with a thin face and knobbly knees, due to his poor quality of life in his childhood. In time, he would grow to be "within an inch" of his father's height, and James was often described as tall. Harry wears round-rimmed glasses; his father also wore glasses.

Upon Harry forehead, covered by his unruly black hair, is a scar shaped like a lightning bolt. The scar is a result of the failed Killing Curse cast on him by Lord Voldemort when he was an infant. It burned painfully whenever Voldemort was near Harry or feeling particulary strong emotions, but this ceased after Voldemort's death.

Harry has also a faint scar on the back of his right hand which says "I must not tell lies". This scar was caused while Harry spent detentions with Dolores Umbridge, who forced him to use a quill that carved the words into the back of his hand.

Personality and Traits
"I've been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me... That even though we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have - something worth fighting for."

- Harry to Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in 1996

Harry is, as his sorting into Gryffindor suggests, brave, loyal, and selfless. He willingly went to what he truly believed to be his death at the hands of Lord Voldemort because he believed that this was the only way to defeat the Dark Lord. Harry is also marked by what Hermione Granger once deemed a "saving-people thing" — he will go to great lengths and take great risks in order to help others, particulary his loved ones. Notably, this was taken advantage of by Voldemort in 1996, when he lured Harry to the Department of Mysteries by making him believe that his godfather was in danger. Harry is also very strong-willed, unafraid to stand up for himself and able to resist the Imperius Curse at a young age. The Sorting Hat remarked that Harry was resourceful, determined, and lacked a regard for rules — Slytherin qualities. However, Harry has also been accused of being arrogant, in particular by Severus Snape, and can be hot-tempered and impulsive. This can sometimes make him rude to authority figures such as Professor Snape and Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, and irritable even with his friends. Harry was prone to moodiness at least during his adolescence, though this is likely the result of the great emotional stress and trials he endured during this period. J.K. Rowling has noted that Harry's lack of emotional control is what undermined his ability to learn Occlumency. Despite being clever, Harry also lacked intellectual curiosity, rarely putting forth effort into school work; for example, he relied on the notes of the "Half-Blood Prince" to get ahead in his sixth-year Potions class rather than devoting time to studying.

Harry's greatest strength, though, is his great capacity to love, despite having a miserable childhood of neglect. Harry is fiercely loyal to and protective of his loved ones, and that love was what allowed him to overcome Voldemort.

Magical Abilities & Skills
"False hope? He has achieved high marks in all of his Defence Against the Dark Arts tests!"

- Professor McGonagall arguing with Dolores Umbridge about Harry's career

Skilled in Defence Against the Dark Arts: Harry is "particularly talented" in Defence Against the Dark Arts. For example, he was able to produce a fully formed Patronus in his third year, despite many adults not being able to cast the difficult charm successfully. Harry was taught the charm by Remus Lupin and it is in the form of a stag, his father's Animagus form.

Expert Duelist: Harry was able to hold his own against Death Eaters even at a young age; during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he was the only one of the six D.A. members to be neither injured nor incapacitated. Harry also survived multiple confrontations with Lord Voldemort himself, eventually defeating him.

Unforgivable Curses: Harry was one of the few non-Dark Arts practitioners who resorted to using the Unforgivable Curses during the Second Wizarding War. Despite Severus Snape once saying he had neither the talent nor the nerve, Harry successfully used the Imperius Curse on Travers and a Goblin during the Gringotts Break-In. He attempted the use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix Lestrange in 1996, but failed, and was prevented from completing the incantation against Snape in 1997. Harry tried it once more against Amycus Carrow in 1998, and although the curse was more successful than Harry's past attempts, it did not result in the prolonged, excruciating pain the curse is famous for. Instead, Carrow screamed and was incapacitated.

Flying Skill: Harry showed immediate command of a broomstick, which made him a naturally good Seeker in Quidditch. His flying ability also aided him in the Triwizard Tournament, when he had to steal a golden egg from a Hungarian Horntail, and during the Battle of Hogwarts, during which he managed to escape a Fiendfyre inferno in the Room of Requirement.

"Look at that, you lot...Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention - watch his eyes, that's where you see it - very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

- Bartemius Crouch Jr. on Harry's ability to resist the Imperius Curse

Resistance to the Imperius Curse: Harry was able to partially resist the Imperius Curse when it was first cast upon him by Bartemius Crouch Jr. (disguised as Alastor Moody) during a Defence Against the Dark Arts class in his fourth year. Crouch cursed Harry with it four times in a row, until he could throw it off entirely. At the end of the school year, Lord Voldemort himself cast the Imperius Curse on Harry, which he was able to resist, much to the astonishment of the Death Eaters who were present. Harry's natural aptitude for resisting the Imperius Curse, and ability to resist it when cast by the most powerful Dark wizard in history, demonstrates incredible strength of will and character.

Parselmouth (formerly): Because he carried a piece of Voldemort's soul within himself, Harry was able to speak and understand Parseltongue from 1981 to 1998. After that soul fragment was destroyed, Harry lost this ability, which he was glad for. Insight into Voldemort's mind: Also due to the piece of Voldemort's soul in him, Harry was able to see into Voldemort's mind and through his senses from time to time. He sometimes used this ability to monitor what Voldemort was doing. However, it was a dangerous ability to have as well; Voldemort once used it, along with Legilimency, to plant a false vision in Harry's mind of Sirius Black being tortured, which he used to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries. Although Harry failed to learn Occlumency, he did eventually have some success at blocking his connection to Voldemort by focusing on feelings of love.

Master of the Deathly Hallows: Harry was master of all three of the Deathly Hallows for a time. Harry overpowered and disarmed Draco Malfoy during a skirmish at Malfoy Manor. Because Draco was unknowingly the master of the Elder Wand, which he had taken from previous owner Albus Dumbledore, the wand's allegiance turned to Harry when he disarmed him, despite the wand being in Voldemort's possession at the time. Dumbledore left the Resurrection Stone to Harry in his will, contained in the Golden Snitch that Harry had caught during his very first Quidditch match. The Cloak of Invisibility was rightfully Harry's, as it was passed down to him through the generations of the Potter family from its original owner, Ignotus Peverell, who was Harry's ancestor. The Resurrection Stone was lost in the Forbidden Forest in 1998, while Harry returned the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's tomb that same year. Harry kept the Invisibility Cloak, as it was an heirloom of his family.

Auror Skills : Harry Potter was rather young for an Auror, which spoke for his considerable skill which when combined with the fact that becoming an Auror required proficiency in the practical application of magic and exceptional marks at school, highlighted Harry Potter's magical skill. According to the author, at age 17 Harry becomes an Auror under Kingsley Shacklebolt, and then becomes head of the Auror department in 2007. Note that if Harry did become an Auror in 1997, it must have been within two months of when Voldemort died; therefore, Harry can have had at most two months of school before entering specialized Auror training. Along with his other accomplishments, this may make Harry the first Auror in centuries to have been accepted without taking (and passing) NEWTs.

 Occlumency:  Only once has Harry managed to overcome Snape with the use of Occlumency, in his fifth year. During the lesson, Harry notices that the Dementors become fainter and Snape becomes clearer. The key to good Occlumency, as described by J. K. Rowling, is to be capable of hiding or suppressing one's emotions. Harry had trouble mastering Occlumency because he embraced his emotions. Maturing allowed him to control them. In 1998 he finally learned to control them. His ability to love helped him control his emotions.

His scar burns, but he realizes that he has at last learned to master the pain and can shut out Voldemort’s thoughts with his grief though, of course, Dumbledore would have called it "love".

Possessions
"He's been left a house?"

- Vernon Dursley

Potter Inheritance: When Harry's parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort, they left behind a somewhat large savings account in vault 687 of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. This inheritance became Harry's source of funding for all his Hogwarts textbooks, wizarding clothes, and spending money.

Wand: As is the case with most wizards, Harry's wand is among his most valued magical possessions. Harry's is made of holly, a wood with the powers to repel evil. The wand is in deliberate contrast to the wand of Lord Voldemort, which is Yew. It broke in 1997 during a skirmish with Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot's house, and Harry later used the Elder Wand to repair it.

Cloak of Invisibility: Another valued and useful possession is Harry's Cloak of Invisibility. In his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he received it as an anonymous Christmas gift. He later learned the gift came from Albus Dumbledore, who obtained it in turn from Harry's father, James Potter. It was later revealed to be a family heirloom as well as one of the three Deathly Hallows. From this we also learn that Harry is a direct descendent from Ignotus Peverell, one of the three brothers.

Deathly Hallows: For a brief moment, Harry possessed all three Deathly Hallows: the Cloak of Invisibility, the Resurrection Stone, and the Elder Wand. These three artifacts were the most powerful magical items in all of the wizarding-world and were so ancient that they were only the subject of fairy tales. When Harry lost the Resurrection Stone inside the Forbidden Forest, he decided to leave it there. Harry also interred the Elder Wand in Albus Dumbledore's grave, so the power of the wand would be extinguished after Harry's eventual death. However, the portrait of Dumbledore that hangs in the Headmaster's Office advised Harry to keep the Invisibility Cloak, since it was his father's.

Hedwig: Harry's magical familiar and animal companion, Hedwig, was vitally helpful in delivering messages and packages for Harry, especially while Sirius was in hiding from the Ministry of Magic. Hedwig is killed during the Battle over Little Whinging by a stray Killing Curse.

Godric Gryffindor's Sword: A relic of the founder of Harry's house, the goblin-made sword of Godric Gryffindor was left to Harry by his former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in his will. However, the Ministry of Magic claimed that it was not Dumbledore's to give, and that it truly belonged to Hogwarts. Although the Ministry confiscated a replica of the sword, the true sword found its way into Harry's possession still through the machinations of Severus Snape. Soon after, Ron Weasley used it to destroy Salazar Slytherin's Locket, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Harry lost the sword to Griphook when he, Ron and Hermione Granger stole Helga Hufflepuff's Cup from the Lestrange Vault at Gringotts. However, the sword reappeared in the hands of Neville Longbottom during the Battle of Hogwarts; he used it to kill Nagini, and thus destroyed the last of the Horcruxes. Neville was seen sitting beside the sword after the battle, but it is likely that it was returned to Hogwarts as a relic of the Founders, along with the remains of the other Founders' relics.

Enchanted Knife: This magical knife, with the power to open most mechanical locks and magical seals and which Harry received for Christmas, was destroyed when Harry tried it on a locked door at the Department of Mysteries. The protective enchantments on the door were far stronger than the magic of the knife.

After Sirius Black died, all of his remaining possessions were passed along to Harry. This included:

Buckbeak/Witherwings: The hippogriff Sirius acquired from Hagrid.

The Black Family Residence: "As you can see, Harry," said Dumbledore loudly, over Kreacher's continued croaks of "won't, won't, won't," "Kreacher is showing a certain reluctance to pass into your ownership."

- Albus Dumbledore

Located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, it and all the contents and furnishings of the house, including Kreacher (the family house-elf) became Harry's. Mundungus Fletcher would later try to steal many of Harry's inherited possessions, including Salazar Slytherin's Locket.

Black Family Inheritance: Harry also inherited the remainder of Sirius' wealth in wizard's gold at Gringotts. Since Sirius was disowned at the age of sixteen, it is likely that this wealth was limited to the gold left to him by his uncle Alphard Black. However, that is open to debate because despite the fact that Sirius Black was disinherited by his family, he ended up inheriting the Black Home after their death, which might lead us to believe in the existence of other forms of inheritance from his family other than what his uncle left him.

Communication Mirror: Harry also owns one in a pair of two-way mirrors, given to him by his godfather Sirius Black. The mirror was intended to be a means covert communication, but it was broken. Harry did not realize the mirror could still work, although he kept a shard out of sentimentality. When Harry and several friends are captured at Malfoy Manor, at the time being used as a headquarters for Voldemort, Harry used the shard of mirror to communicate with Aberforth Dumbledore, who had the other mirror. Aberforth sent Dobby to rescue Harry and the other prisoners.

Fabian Prewett's Watch: Molly Weasley gave Harry the watch of her late brother for his seventeenth birthday. It has a dent in it, but Harry kept the watch even to his thirties. The watch does not have arms; rather, it has stars.

Parents


James and Lily Potter died when their son was one year old, thus he barely knew them, but nevertheless regarded them with great reverence and grew angry if anyone spoke ill of them. In 1995, he punched Draco Malfoy for insulting his mother, and he frequently became furious with Professor Snape, who taunted Harry that James was not the great man others made him out to be. Snape was, to Harry's horror, proven right in the spring of 1996, when Harry accidentally witnessed James bullying Snape in one of his memories during Harry's occulemency lessons.

The few times he ever saw his parents were through pictures given to him by Rubeus Hagrid; a vision within the Mirror of Erised; spectral forms which came out of his wand during Priori Incantatem; stored memories within the Pensieve; and more spectral forms as he succumbed to his "death" during the Battle of Hogwarts. He then, eventually, "called" his parents through the Resurrection Stone. He eventually named two of his children after James and Lily.

Lord Voldemort


Lord Voldemort is Harry's mortal enemy. He lost his parents to him as an infant and battled him several times. Harry's destiny was locked with Voldemort's because of a prophecy concerning them; Voldemort also unintentionally embedded a piece of his soul in Harry when he attempted to kill him, as indicated by his famous lightning-bolt scar, giving the two a lifelong connection. This link made Harry a Parselmouth, a trait Voldemort inherited from the Gaunts, and allowed him to see into Voldemort's mind on occasion. Voldemort used this link to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries in 1996 by giving him a vision of his godfather being tortured.

Throughout his hunt for the Horcruxes, Harry would see glimpses of Voldemort's perspective, and his scar would burn when the Dark Lord was angry. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry tried to make Voldemort feel some remorse for his evil deeds, in vain, and defeated him.

Petunia Dursley


After his parents' murders, Harry was taken in by his maternal aunt, Petunia Dursley. Petunia had not been fond of her late sister, jealously and bitterly regarding her as a "freak" for her magical abilities. She extended this dislike to Harry, fearing that he would turn out to be magical as well, and treating him poorly and without any affection while she spoiled his cousin Dudley. Harry thought that his aunt considered him a "waste of space" and did not care for her either, though he was concerned enough for the Dursleys to push them to go into hiding during the height of the Second Wizarding War. Just before departing, Petunia have her nephew an odd, tremulous look, and seemed to want to say something more to him than goodbye, but ultimately just shook her head and left.

Dudley Dursley


Harry and his cousin Dudley did not get along very well for most of their early lives. While Vernon and Petunia treated Harry poorly, they spoiled Dudley to the extreme. Dudley constantly bullied his smaller cousin throughout their childhoods, but did his best not to provoke him after he found out that Harry was a wizard, though the two still got into an occasional argument and trading of insults. When the Order of the Phoenix placed the Dursleys into hiding to keep them safe during the height of the Second Wizarding War, Dudley was the only member of the family to express concern for Harry's safety, asking his parents why Harry wasn't accompanying them and where he would go, if not with them. He also expressed remorse for his prior treatment of Harry, and the two shook hands before the Dursleys left.

The cousins eventually reconciled as adults, remaining on "Christmas card terms" and visiting each other occasionally. At these times, Harry's three children would play with Dudley's children while their fathers would sit together quietly.

Ron Weasley


Ron Weasley became Harry's best friend during their first year at Hogwarts. Ron, along with his mother, brothers, and sister first met Harry at King's Cross Station, when Harry didn't know how to reach the Hogwarts Express. Ron sat across from Harry during the train ride and the two almost immediately bonded. Upon being sorted into Gryffindor together and sharing the same dormitory, the two grew to be even closer, and gained another best friend in Hermione Granger when they saved her from a troll together on Halloween. Due to Ron's background, he was often called on to explain customs and items that were commonplace to wizards to Harry, who was raised by Muggles.

In the summer of 1992, after Dobby had been stopping Harry's letters, Ron and his twin brothers drove their father's enchanted car to rescue Harry from Privet Drive. After spending a few days at Ron's home, The Burrow, Harry and Ron were supposed to return to school on the Hogwarts Express with Ron's other siblings. However, Dobby had blocked the barrier so that Harry and Ron were unable to board the train. Panicking, the pair drove the Flying Car to Hogwarts, however, they landed on the Whomping Willow and lost the car as well as broke Ron's wand. Later on in the year, when Hermione had been petrified, Harry and Ron venture into the Forbidden Forest together, where they met a clan of Acromantulas. Ron also accompanied Harry down to the Chamber of Secrets the same year to rescue his sister Ginny. They had a major fallout in 1994 when Harry was made a Triwizard Champion; Ron initially believed that Harry cheated in order to become one so that he could achieve more attention and glory. However, Ron soon realized his misjudgement and apologized. Harry and Ron had an even more major falling out in 1997, when they and Hermione were hunting Voldemort' s Horcruxes and the negative energy within Salazar Slytherin's Locket made them all moody and prone to fighting.

After a major row with Harry, Ron temporarily abamndoned his friends, though he immediately regretted leaving, and eventually returned to save Harry's life. These events only served to reinforce their bond, and they remained friends for life. Ron's sense of humour and enjoyment of Quidditch often helped Harry relax and have fun even in the darkest times of his life. The two that were like unofficial brothers would eventually become brothers-in-law when Harry married Ginny.

Hermione Granger
"I love her like a sister and I reckon that she feels the same way about me. It’s always been like that."

- Harry explains his friendship with Hermione to Ron

Hermione Granger became best friends with Harry and Ron after the boys saved her from a troll in 1991. Harry admitted in 1997 that he loved Hermione like a sister. Her quick mind was at times the only thing that saved the three friends from failure in many endeavours, both life-threatening and in the every-day. Hermione often chastised Harry when he wouldn't obey rules and when she believed he was wrong, such as when Harry briefly considered pursuing the Deathly Hallows instead of the Horcruxes.

However, she always stuck by him and was fiercely protective of him, from snapping at Lavender Brown when she doubted Harry's claim that Lord Voldemort returned to interceding when Dolores Umbridge was about to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry. Hermione stood by Harry even when Ron doubted him during the Triwizard Tournament, accepting his story "without question", and when Ron temporarily left them in 1997, despite her own romantic feelings for Ron. Hermione also gave Harry advice rather often, such as when he was romantically interested in Cho Chang. Although their friendship was platonic, when the two were briefly alone together during the search for the Horcruxes, Harry and Hermione experienced some "charged moments", and the two "shared something very intense". However, they remained committed to Ginny and Ron, respectively.

Like Harry himself described, Hermione is his closest female friend and akin to a sister. It could be further said she is like an older sister, protective and always trying to keep him in line. Most appropriately, through her marriage to Ron Weasley, she became his sister-in-law through his marriage to Ron's sister as well as the godmother of Harry and Ginny’s oldest child.

Albus Dumbledore


Albus Dumbledore was a mentor to Harry. He arranged for Harry to be rescued from Godric's Hollow after his parents' murder and left him in the care of his aunt Petunia Dursley in order to give him the benefit of the magical protection of his mother's blood. In Harry's fifth year, he admitted to Harry that he hadn't told him of the prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort because he wanted to spare him the pain and responsibility of it. Harry was furious with him for this, but the two continued to be close. By Harry's sixth year, Dumbledore took on the role of providing Harry with additional insights into the origins of Lord Voldemort, largely through the use of the Pensieve. He entrusted Harry with the task of getting a final, crucial memory from Horace Slughorn regarding Voldemort's knowledge of Horcruxes.

Dumbledore's death was devastating to Harry, and he perservered on the task Dumbledore had given him — that of destroying the Horcruxes — despite learning that there was much Dumbledore had not told him about his history with the Deathly Hallows and Gellert Grindelwald, though Harry resented that Dumbledore kept things from him. When Harry was struck by the Killing Curse during the Battle of Hogwarts, his soul went to a place resembling King's Cross Station, where Dumbledore was waiting to speak with him. The fact that Dumbledore himself was there to meet Harry in a place between life and death attests to the bond of fellowship between them. Harry later named his second son Albus, after the Hogwarts Headmaster.

Severus Snape
During his years in school, Harry's relationship with Potions master Severus Snape was nothing short of deepest loathing. When Harry first saw Snape in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, he got the initial feeling that Snape disliked him; only after his first Potions lesson did Harry realize the resentment dug much deeper. Harry soon learned that Snape saw Harry as a younger version of his father — a self-centered boy who enjoyed the attention paid to him, and "so arrogant that criticism simply bounce[d] off him."

When Snape was killed in 1998, Harry felt remorse for why and how Snape had died. His hatred of Snape also began to ebb away after learning of Snape's loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix, as well the inspiration for his decision — the lifelong unrequited love for Harry's mother. By 2017, Harry's dislike of Snape was almost nonexistent: he considered Snape to be one of the bravest men he had ever known, and gave his younger son the middle name "Severus." In time, Harry ensured that a portrait of Snape was hung in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts.

Sirius Black
"It was cruel that you and Sirius had such a short time together. A brutal ending to what should have been a long and happy relationship."

- Albus Dumbledore

Filling in as a father figure/big brother, Sirius Black was Harry's most frequent and trusted confidant as well as his godfather. When Harry's scar hurt in 1994, he acknowledged that he could ask Sirius anything without feeling foolish. During Dolores Umbridge's dictatorial rule over Hogwarts in 1995-1996, Sirius supported Harry's plan to teach other students practical defensive magic, telling Harry that he and James would have done the same thing.

When Sirius was killed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Harry refused to believe he was dead; only after realizing that Sirius would never leave him alone while Harry was screaming for him as if his life depended on it, was he forced to accept that Sirius was indeed gone. For the following months, Harry avoided talking about Sirius if he could; whenever the subject came up, he would busy himself in some way to avoid joining the discussion. When Harry prepared to sacrifice himself to Voldemort in 1998, Sirius was one of the spirits called to him by use of the Resurrection Stone. Sirius assured Harry that dying was "quicker and easier" than falling asleep.

Harry was also very protective of Sirius. Knowing that the Ministry believed him guilty of mass murder, Harry refused to put Sirius in danger if it could be avoided. When Harry was mysteriously entered into the Triwizard Tournament, he tried everything to convince Sirius to remain in hiding instead of returning to England. During Umbridge's year at the school, Harry asked Sirius not to come to Hogsmeade as Padfoot, since he didn't want to risk Sirius getting thrown back into Azkaban; while Sirius obeyed Harry's wishes, he observed that James would have been willing to take the risk.

Rubeus Hagrid
"There's no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid."

- Harry, after Hagrid's return from Azkaban

Rubeus Hagrid was Harry's first friend in the wizarding world. In effect, he rescued Harry twice: once from the wreckage of his destroyed home, as a baby; second, from the Dursleys' to take him back into the wizarding world. Harry constantly defended the half-giant Hagrid against name-calling and mockery, and for that, Harry was dear to Hagrid.

Hagrid was the one who Voldemort forced to carry Harry out of the Forbidden Forest, when he was pretending to be dead at the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998. Both Harry Potter and Rubeus Hagrid where orphans, Hagrid had a sort of fatherly caring for Harry that could be compared of an uncle due to this.

Cho Chang
"Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all…"

- Hermione on Cho Chang after the latter’s kiss with Harry

As a young boy, Harry found Cho Chang very pretty and was attracted to her as a peer in Quidditch. In his fourth year, he wanted to ask her to the Yule Ball, but when he finally plucked up the courage, she told him she had already agreed to go with Cedric Diggory. In his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry and Cho grew closer, eventually sharing a kiss under the mistletoe. However, Cho was still mourning Cedric and was unreasonably jealous of Harry's friendship with Hermione, mistaking their camaraderie for romantic attraction.

Combined with Harry’s inexperience with girls, their relationship became strained. The last straw was Cho's friend Marietta Edgecombe betraying the D.A. to Umbridge; Cho defended Marietta and called the jinx Hermione had placed on the D.A. parchment a "horrible trick", both of which angered Harry. The two stopped speaking to one another, and Cho soon began dating Michael Corner. However, any animosity seems to have vanished by 1998, as Cho was among the former D.A. members who returned to participate in the Battle of Hogwarts. Just before the battle, she offered to show Harry the Ravenclaw common room, looking disappointed when this offer was fiercely denied by Ginny Weasley.

Ginny Weasley
"Ginny, you don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy, she never shuts up normally-"

- Ron on Ginny's change of behaviour in the presence of Harry Potter.

Ginny Weasley and Harry first met at King's Cross Station in 1991, though they did not formally meet until the summer of 1992, at which point it became blatantly clear that Ginny had a huge crush on Harry. Until 1995, she was too shy and nervous around him to even speak to him comfortably; he was a celebrity in her eyes, and to him she was his best friend's little sister. Hermione helped Ginny in a sisterly way by advising her to be more like herself around Harry and perhaps even see other people. Ginny took this advice, and Harry came to see her as she truly was, strong-willed and compassionate. The two became friends in Harry's fifth year.

After his relationship with Cho Chang "fell apart" and Harry spent the summer of 1996 spending time with Ginny as well as Ron and Hermione at the Burrow, Harry's feelings for Ginny began to deepen and change. After witnessing her kiss Dean Thomas, Harry started to feel jealous and to fantasize about kissing her, although he determinedly tried to convince himself that his feelings for her were 'elder-brotherly'. He had dreams about her of a seemingly intimate nature, reflecting once that he was very glad that Ron could not perform Legilimency. Shortly after Ginny and Dean broke up, she and Harry spontaneously kissed at a Gryffindor Quidditch Cup victory party. They began dating, and Harry regarded this time as one of the happiest in his life. However, after the murder of Albus Dumbledore, Harry decided to end things with Ginny, fearing that Lord Voldemort would target her if he learned of their romance and knowing that he would be leaving with Ron and Hermione to hunt down the Dark Lord's Horcruxes. Ginny was upset, but accepted Harry's decision, knowing that it was for 'some stupid, noble reason'. The two soon saw each other again during the summer while Harry stayed at the Burrow. For Harry's seventeenth birthday, Ginny passionately kissed Harry as something for him to remember her by, but they were interrupted by Ron and Hermione. The former told Harry not to "mess her around", as his sister had been "pretty cut up" when Harry ended their relationship. The two were soon separated for months as Harry tracked down Horcruxes with Hermione and Ron, while Ginny returned to Hogwarts, but they still held feelings for one another. Harry occasionally stared at Ginny's dot on the Marauder's Map, and was worried when he heard that she, Neville, and Luna had gotten in trouble for attempting to steal Godric Gryffindor's Sword for him.

When the Battle of Hogwarts began, Harry wanted Ginny to stay out of the fighting, but was forced to ask her to leave the safety of the Room of Requirement when he, Hermione, and Ron searched it for Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. When preparing to sacrifice himself to Voldemort, Ginny was one of the people Harry thought of. Later in battle, after Ginny was nearly killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, Harry ran at Bellatrix, rather than Voldemort, but was beaten to it by Mrs. Weasley.

After Voldemort's defeat, Harry and Ginny resumed their romance. Between 1998 and 2017, they married and had three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna.

Draco Malfoy


Draco Malfoy became Harry's rival almost from the moment they met at Madam Malkin's on Diagon Alley. Draco came from a family that believed strongly in the importance of blood purity, thus he considered himself superior to most people, bullying and insulting Muggle-borns and Gryffindors in particular. He was bitterly jealous of Harry's seemingly effortless heroism. Draco bit off more than he could chew in his ambition to be like his father, Lucius Malfoy, when he became a Death Eater at a young age. Although he let Death Eaters into Hogwarts in 1997, he was unable to kill Albus Dumbledore, as he had been ordered to do by Voldemort, who threatened his parents to ensure his compliance. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry, Ron & Hermione inadvertently saved his life twice: against Crabbe's Fiendfyr & from a masked Death Eater. Because of his family's switching of sides during the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco was not sent to Azkaban for his crimes. By 2017, he was married and had a son. He saw Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron at King's Cross Station when sending their children to Hogwarts, and gave them a curt nod. J.K. Rowling has confirmed that Draco and Harry have made peace, but are still not friends.

Weasley Family
Besides the already mentioned Ron and Ginny Weasley, Harry had a close relationship with the Weasleys, who were more of a family to him than the Dursleys ever were. Molly even mentioned that Harry was like a son to her, and her Boggart - of dead family members, one after another - included Harry. She was always keen to make sure Harry was taken care of, at one point Harry noted that she "fussed over the state of his socks and tried to force him to eat fourth helpings at every meal". Her care for him sometimes caused her to grow overprotective of him, like when she strongly objected the Order members to inform Harry about Voldemort during the summer of 1995. Arthur liked to discuss Muggle things with Harry, and had entrusted Harry with certain information that many felt him too young to understand, such as when the Ministry would not tell Harry that they thought Sirius Black was going to seek him out. Harry had also saved Arthur's life once by seeing him being attacked by Nagini in the Department of Mysteries before Christmas of 1995.

Twins Fred and George helped Harry out numerous times, including saving him from the Dursleys during the summer of 1992 with an enchanted car, giving him the Marauder's Map, and volunteering to be D.A. members. The twins, whom Harry regards as close friends, were also on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with Harry for four years. Harry spent many of his holidays at the Weasley home, the Burrow. It is also mentioned that Harry liked Percy Weasley least of Ron's brothers. He was also friends with Bill, describing him as "cool" upon first meeting him, as well as Charlie, who helped him out somewhat during the Triwizard Tournament. He eventually officially became part of the Weasley family when he married Ginny and had children with her.

Minerva McGonagall
Harry also had a good relationship with Professor McGonagall. While during his first three years it was just a student teacher relationship, after Harry was selected to become a Triwizard Champion, she became warmer towards him, and began to look out for him. Several occurences of his closeness to her was when Umbridge gloated that she was too ill to talk to anyone after being hit by four Stunners, Harry felt a powerful surge of anger. McGonagall also stood up for him to Umbridge, promising to help him become an Auror if it was the last thing she did.

Her depth of her care is revealed in Harry's final year when she says proudly that Harry is in her house, and he reciprocates by using Crucio on Amycus Carrow after he spat in her face. Her care is also shown when Voldemort has Harry's seemingly dead body brought out from the Forest, and she gives a terrible cry nearly equal to that of Ron, Hermione and Ginny. She also shows her devotion to Harry by arming Hogwarts on Harry's request, and then fighting Voldemort head on in the final battle. They share a grandmother-grandson relationship.

Etymology
Harry is the Middle English form of the name Henry, derived from the Germanic name Heinrich, from the words heim, meaning "home", and ric, meaning "power, ruler". It has been a very popular name in the English-speaking world for centuries. Harry can also be a diminutive form of the name Harold, from the Old English name Hereweald, meaning "leader of the army". It has been the name of five kings of Norway, three kings of Denmark, and two kings of England.

Behind the scenes

 * Harry is played in the films by Daniel Radcliffe. By the time Deathly Hallows is released, he will have been playing the role for ten years consecutively.
 * Harry the character has green eyes, but Daniel Radcliffe has blue eyes. This is due to the fact that Daniel Radcliffe cannot stand contact lenses. Radcliffe also has brown hair, as supposed to be black, and has a strong physical body, rather than the slim frame Harry is described as having. However Harry is only described as having an uncommonly 'slim' frame in the earlier instalments, so it is possible that he bulked out a little into a lean frame as he matured.
 * Harry was Wizard of the Month on J. K. Rowling's website for the month of October 2007.
 * In the first book, Harry mentions that his 11th birthday was July 31st, on a Tuesday. That date was on a Wednesday in 1991, the year when he's supposed to be 11.
 * Harry is the inspiration for the Wizard Rock band, Harry and the Potters.
 * When Harry is cleaning out his school trunk in 1997, he finds a "Support Cedric Diggory!" badge in there. Considering the badges were only created by Draco Malfoy to get a rise out of Harry in 1994, it seems out of place that Harry has it, although he may have it by accident, or out of respect for Cedric.
 * When Harry and his friends lose 150 House points in 1991, Harry loses favor with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. While understandable, it seems odd that Fred and George Weasley both turned on him.
 * While Harry repeatedly states Hermione is the best student in his year in all classes, he has beaten her in two of the three Defence Against the Dark Arts exams they had together, with Hermione only beating him in their first year exam. Part of this can be put down to Professor Lupin's way of teaching, as it seemed to help bring out Harry's own talent at the subject. It is probably more accurate to say that Hermione is the best student in every subject but DADA, in which Harry is strongest, hence in Harry's mind she is the best student overall.
 * In The Mirror of Erised, Harry saw his family, a lot of people with untidy black hair, his own noses, mouths and knees. However, he also saw some people with almond-shaped green eyes, which could indicate that he saw his Muggle family as well, even though he did not see the Dursley family. All people were smiling at him, so there is a thought that all of his family, Wizards and Muggles, are proud of him.
 * Throughout the films, Harry's hair grows longer and longer (the longest point was in the Goblet of Fire) until it was cut for the Order of the Phoenix. It has since grown to about the same length as it was for the Prisoner of Azkaban.
 * In the films, Harry's scar is off-center on his forehead; this was apparently done at J.K. Rowling's request: because of the books' artwork, many fans believe the scar is in the center of his head. But it is never explicitly mentioned where the scar is located.
 * Daniel Radcliffe and Harry were both born in July- Harry on the 31st and Daniel on the 23rd.
 * Harry's birthday of July 31 is also the birthday of Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling.
 * In Harry, A History, Rowling discussed how Steve Kloves suspected that something might happen between Harry and Hermione in Deathly Hallows. She replied: "I had always planned that Harry's true soul mate, which I stand by, is Ginny, and that Ron and Hermione have this combative but mutual attraction. They will always bicker, there will always be rough edges there, but they are pulled together, each has something the other needs. [Kloves] felt a certain pull between them at that point. And I think he's right. There are moments when [Harry and Hermione] touch, which are charged moments. One when she touches his hair as he sits on the hilltop reading about Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and [two] the moment when they walk out of the graveyard with their arms around each other. Now the fact is that Hermione shares moments with Harry that Ron will never be able to participate in. He walked out. She shared something very intense with Harry. So I think it could have gone that way."

Appearances

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

Notes and references
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