Harry Potter

"To Harry Potter- The Boy Who Lived."

- Wizarding world toasting Harry Potter after Lord Voldemorts downfall

Harry James Potter, born July 31, 1980, is one of the most famous wizards in modern times. He is also one of the most famous students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is the only known survivor of the Killing Curse, with which Lord Voldemort attempted to murder him 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 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. Furthermore, he became the youngest Seeker in over a century and eventually captain of his house's Quidditch team, winning two Quidditch Cups as part of the team. . In his fourth year, Harry won the Triwizard Tournament, though the competition ended in tragedy with the death 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. During this battle, he dueled Voldemort a final time and defeated him, once and for all. After the war, Harry became an Auror and married his best friend Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, with whom he had three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. He has felt the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse several times. Harry is also notable for being the only known person to have united all three Deathly Hallows.

Family Lineage
"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Head Girl at Hogwarts in their day!"

- Rubeus Hagrid talking about Harry's parents

The Potters are an old, very 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, making him distantly related to various other wizards and witches, including Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black, and Nymphadora Tonks, though the degree of consanguinity is not known.

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

Early Life
"Maybe he thought he could persuade em'... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en 10 years ago. You was just a year old."

- Rubeus Hagrid on Harry's parent's deaths

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 Potter,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 his powers and physical form (he would've died completely had it not been for the Horcruxes). Harry is the only person known to have survived the Killing Curse. The failed curse left a lightning bolt-shape scar on his forehead. 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 to take him to his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. But Hagrid was intercepted by Sirius Black, who pleaded for Hagrid to give the baby to him. Hagrid refused, saying that he was told by Dumbledore to get Harry to Privet Drive as quickly as possible. Sirius, though reluctant, gave up and gave Hagrid his flying motorcycle to take Harry to Privet Drive. 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 that he was a wizard). 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 Dursleys' home. First, Harry's neighbour, Arabella Figg, was a Squib working undercover for the Order of the Phoenix to keep tabs on Harry's well-being (however, to maintain favour with the Dursleys, she was forced to mistreat him whenever they sent him to her). And second, Albus 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 seventeen years old, or whenever he no longer called Privet Drive his home.

Muggle Primary School
Harry attended normal Muggle school along with Dudley. He did not have any friends, since all 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 the school kitchen roof.

If Harry had not gone to Hogwarts he would have attended Stonewall, a Muggle school.

Harry's Discovery of Being a Wizard
"Yer a wizard, Harry, and a thumpin' good one."

- Rubeus Hagrid upon meeting Harry for the first time

Harry had no birthday celebrations until the day he turned eleven, 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 Dudley's second bedroom, which soon appeared on letters as the "smallest bedroom."

Vernon Dursley 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, 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. 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's 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 2 wands, sharing the same phoenix origin, have a unique connection which prevents them from successfully dueling against each other.

First Year


Harry Potter was further guided by destiny when he met his lifelong best 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 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 Inflamarae 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 toward the ground. On his way, he 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


Harry's 2nd year started out bad, and gradually got worse. Harry hadn't been in contact with any of his friends, had heard no news from the wizarding world, and his family were being awful towards him, as usual. Harry learned that the reason his friends had not been in contact was because a house-elf called Dobby had been stopping the arrival of letters to Harry. When Harry questioned Dobby as to why, Dobby told him that Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts. Harry refused, saying the wizarding world was where he belonged, and Dobby set out to cause him trouble. During a business meeting between Vernon and a potential client, Dobby used his powers to ruin the party, and then shortly afterward disappeared, framing Harry for the chaos. Despite Dobby's efforts, Harry was rescued by Ron and his brothers, Fred and George Weasley. Harry had packed his bags and loaded the Weasleys' flying car. Harry and the brothers arrived at the Burrow in the early hours of the morning, hoping not to be noticed. However, they were and Mrs. Weasley was furious.

Dobby's first attempt at stopping Harry from returning had failed, so he continued trying. When Harry and the Weasleys arrived at King's Cross Station, Dobby sealed the entrance early and stopped Harry and Ron from passing through to get on the Hogwarts Express. However, this didn't stop Harry from returning to Hogwarts, he and Ron used the Weasleys' car to follow the train to Hogwarts. They arrived later than they had hoped, but all in one piece; until Ron drove the flying car into the Whomping Willow and broke his wand.

However, Harry's year at Hogwarts wasn't going to get any better. During a dueling class led by Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry revealed himself to his fellow students and members of staff to be a Parselmouth, an uncommon skill that is normally associated with dark wizards. This bought on a great deal of trouble for Harry, once the Chamber of Secrets had been re-opened and it was the "Heir of Slytherin" who was deemed responsible. Once the chamber had been unveiled, there were various attacks on Muggle-born pupils, including Harry's best friend Hermione Granger. These attacks were believed to have been carried out by the heir, who many believed to be Harry. While writing in a diary he had found, Harry learned that the Chamber had been opened 50 years ago and believed that the monster attacking the students was a large spider owned by Hagrid.

However, Hermione had a different theory. She believed that the monster responsible for these attacks was a Basilisk, and conducted research into her theory. The night Hermione was attacked, she and Penelope Clearwater had been using a mirror to look around corners for any attacking predator. Hermione had done enough research to figure that the Basilisk had been moving around the school using the pipe system and scribbled her theory down on a scrap piece of paper torn out of a book. She was attacked the same night and her body was taken to the Hospital wing. A few days later, Harry and Ron discovered the scrap of paper in her hand. Harry and Ron wondered how a great big Basilisk would go around the school undetected and then they saw the word "pipes."

Harry (and later Ron) would soon learn that the person responsible for opening the Chamber was in fact Ginny Weasley, under the control of a memory of Lord Voldemort by writing into his diary, forcing her to torment and vandalise the school. They also learned that she was being kept down in the chamber and were told that her "skeleton would lie in the Chamber forever". Determined to rescue Ginny and hopefully catch the heir and destroy the Basilisk, Harry, accompanied by Ron and Lockhart, was able to locate and open the Chamber using his parseltongue abilities. Once they got down into the Chamber, it wasn't long before the coward of a man Gilderoy attempted to erase Harry and Ron's memories using Ron's broken wand; however, his spell backfired and he erased his own memory. The Chamber roof caved in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.

Separated from Ron and a now deluded Lockhart, Harry ventured on alone. Harry soon found Ginny's unconscious body lying in the Chamber. As he hoped she wasn't dead, he was met by Tom Riddle, a memory stored in the diary. Revealing his history and true nature, Riddle set his beast upon him. Harry managed to defeat the beast with the help of Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, and the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry then pierced the diary of Tom Riddle with the basilisk fang which he had pulled from his shoulder, causing it to bleed ink-like blood. Harry was unaware that he had just destroyed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Once the chaos was over, Fawkes flew Harry, Ginny, Ron and Lockhart to safety. Harry spoke with Dumbledore on the events that took place, and explained to him that Ginny was not to blame and Lockhart was a fraud. Afterwards, Harry was able to trick Lucius Malfoy into freeing his mistreated house-elf, Dobby, who had been attempting to protect Harry all year, by giving him one of his socks.

After interpretting Dobby's strange actions in Dumbledore's office, Harry realises it was ultimately Lucius Malfoy's fault for the Chamber opening. Before term started, he implanted Tom Riddle's diary into Ginny's cauldron in a hope of indirectly opening the Chamber of Secrets. At this time, he did not know the diary was oen of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. Malfoy was subsequently sacked as a school governor.

Third Year
"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 thirteen 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
"You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you."

- Dumbledore to Harry at the end of the year

In 1994, Harry along with the Weasley family (minus Mrs Weasley) and Hermione attended the 422nd Quidditch World Cup where they met Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch Sr. along with Crouch's house elf Winky and saw up close the Irish Quidditch team along with the Bulgarian Quidditch team. They saw Viktor Krum who would later date Hermione Granger. They also met Amos and Cedric Diggory before the match where there was tension relating to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch match of the previous year. They also saw Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and his mum, Oliver Wood, Ernie Macmillan, Cho Chang, as well as the Malfoy Family.

After the Quidditch match (which the Irish team wins, but Viktor Krum caught the snitch, just like the Weasley twins predicted.), a chaotic race to the surrounding woods ensues when a group of black- cloaked, hooded figures show up suspending the muggle (who owns the land/ pitch the Quidditch campers are on) and his family in the air, causing pandemonium with the Ministry of Magic members in attendance. The fact that a "skull with a snake" figure is in the air adds to the ruckus, and Harry learns later that it is the Dark Mark, the symbol of none other than You -Know-Who himself, and that the mark used to be used only when Voldemort had killed someone. Ron suspects that Lucius Malfoy had something to do with the Dark Mark which was conjured in the forest near the stadium that night. However, upon hearing a voice, Harry tells the ministry about it and upon a thorough search of the surrounding area, Bartemius Crouch finds his house-elf, Winky with a wand (which also happens to be Harry's) and fires her. Hermione sees this as very unfair, and decides to fight for the rights of house elves (which later shows up in the form of S.P.E.W., (The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare).

At the start of term feast, Professor Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, a recently-revived inter-school competition in which the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute will also participate. New rules state that only students seventeen and older can compete, causing a lot of fussing, but the students support each other in hopes of getting picked to participate in this tournament. Fred and George take aging potions and try charms to make themselves older, but alas, they don't work due to the age-line that Professor Dumbledore himself drew. Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and Cedric Diggory, were all chose to represent their schools in this tournament. 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, including Ron. Ron was jealous of the attention Harry was getting and 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. At the start of term feast, Dumbledore also introduces, Alastor Moody, an ex-auror, as the newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. This news is greeted with a mixture of responses, as Moody is known as both a great auror, and also a little crazy, earning him the nickname, Mad-Eye Moody.

The champions faced three dangerous challenges on their way to the Triwizard Cup.

In the first task, each champion needed to get past a dragon to collect a golden egg. Harry receives help from the newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody. Harry, realizing that every champion but Cedric knows about the dragons, passes along some information to him. Four different dragons were chosen for each of the champions to face. Fleur ended up with the Common Welsh Green, Cedric with the Swedish Short-Snout, Viktor Krum with the Chinese Fireball and Harry faced the Hungarian Horntail. Harry and Viktor Krum tied for first at the end of the task. After seeing how dangerous the task was, Ron makes up with Harry, telling him "I reckon someone is trying to kill you."

Between the second and third tasks, there is a ball, the Yule Ball. The students are taught to dance, and the champions are to start the ball off with a dance with their partners. Ron is dismayed to discover that Viktor Krum has asked Hermione, who Ron has just discovered that she is a girl, and she looks pretty, nigh unrecognizably so. Ron calls her out for "consorting with the enemy" and he and Hermione spend the next few weeks fighting over it. Harry asked his long-time crush Cho Chang to attend the Yule Ball with him, but was disappointed to learn that she had already accepted the invitation of Cedric Diggory. Harry and Ron ended up attending with Parvati and Padma Patil, respectively. They both ended up neglecting their dates, as Harry watched Cho with Cedric and Ron was overcome with jealousy for Viktor Krum, who danced with Hermione.

Harry has to open the egg he won from the dragon, but every time he does, it screeches. His rescue from that particular problem comes when Cedric pays him back with the information that he will figure it out if he "takes a bath" with the egg. The second task was going into the Black Lake to rescue "the thing they would miss most" from the Merpeople. Harry's new problem is that he has no idea of how to survive under water for an hour. He gets his answer in the form of gillyweed from Dobby. For this task, Harry has to save his best friend Ron. When Harry reaches Ron, he is shocked to find Hermione, Cho, and Fleur Delacour's little sister there as well. After Cedric and Viktor rescue Cho and Hermione, respectively, he hangs around, and, concerned for Gabrielle ("An hour long you'll have to look..."), he saves her as well as Ron, landing him outside the hour alloted, but earning him points for "moral fibre". After the second task was finished, Harry and Cedric were tied for first.

The third and final task was going into a maze filled with obstacles to find the Triwizard Cup. During this final event, Hogwarts champions 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 in which Pettigrew used his blood to restore Voldemort's body. At the same time, Death Eaters arrived at the cemetery, further compounding the danger 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 Cedric's body and 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 willingly 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 which was ordered by Cornelius Fudge. As a result, the Ministry of Magic began to dispute Harry and Albus Dumbledore's insistence that Voldemort had returned.

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. He also became the target of sensationalism on the part of yellow journalist Rita Skeeter who published defaming articles about Harry. The first being about him supposedly crying himself to sleep over his parents along with the fact that Hermione was his girlfriend. The next stated that Hermione was cheating on both him and Viktor Krum. Finally that he was disturbed and dangerous. 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.

Fifth Year


Witnessing Cedric Diggory's murder was very difficult for Harry. It was not helpful that he was forced back to 4 Privet Drive on school 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 disappointed 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. This suggets that Harry's desire in becoming Prefect was to emulate his father who was Head Boy in his day with his mother as Head Girl respectively, not to inflate a sense of his own importance.

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.

After Harry and his friends had been lured into the Department of Mysteries, Harry took them through various rooms in search for his godfather Sirius Black, with no result of finding him. The group became doubtful until they came across a room filled with crystal balls, later to be known as prophecies. One of the prophecies had Harry's name on it and he picked it up, much to the displeasure of Hermione Granger. Picking up the prophecy almost instantly triggered an ambush of Death Eaters to arrive and attack. Chaos ensued and all but Harry and Neville were incapable of fighting. Then the Order of the Phoenix reinforcement team arrived to help aid in the battle, and because of this Sirius Black was pushed by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, through a mysterious stone archway to his death.

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. As a result of the battle both Harry and Dumbledore's plea that Voldemort had returned was believed and serious action began to happen, the sacking of Dolores Umbridge for example. However, this wouldn't last long, as the Ministry soon after were slipping.

Sixth Year
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, Harry inherited his godfather Sirius Black's estate, including Grimmauld Place and the Black's melancholic and half-crazed house elf, Kreacher. Harry was also made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, which 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, whose 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 was 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 learn 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 7 fragments called Horcruxes. 5 pieces were placed into common objects and 2 into living objects. 2 Horcruxes were previously destroyed (Tom Riddle's diary and Marvolo Gaunt's ring). Dumbledore located a horcrux, a locket, hidden inside a seaside cave, which was occupied by inferi.

The cave was difficult to enter and to get to the island containing the goblet with the locket inside there was a small boat, only made to fit one. Harry and Dumbledore traveled together in this boat to the small island. Once they arrived Dumbledore found that he could not remove the locket from the goblet without drinking its contents. Dumbledore forced Harry to make him drink from it, no matter how much he tried to persuade him not to. Once the contents had been drunk, Harry took the locket. He went to the edge of the island and tried to get some water from the lake to give to Dumbledore, in doing so he set off the Inferi. Dumbledore had been weakened by drinking from the goblet, however he managed to hold back the inferi and protect Harry from certain fate.

They returned to Hogwarts to discover that it had been invaded by Death Eaters. There was another battle, this time inside of Hogwarts castle. Harry's friends, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Ginny battled alongside members of the Order of the Phoenix on the floor below Harry and Dumbledore, with some help from the remainder of Harry's vial of Felix Felicis. Dumbledore had stopped Harry from fighting and froze him against a wall, hidden underneath his invisibility cloak, so all he could do was watch. Harry witnessed the death of Albus Dumbledore at the hands of Severus Snape. Dumbledore's body then plummeted from the tallest tower at Hogwarts. With Dumbledore dead, Harry was free of the spell that petrified him. He immediately set off after Snape, seeking revenge. As the Death Eaters made their way out of Hogwarts Castle and on to the grounds, trying to reach the border where they'd be able to Apparate again, Harry pursued and faced off against Snape. Harry tried many times to defeat Snape, even attempting weakly the Cruciatus Curse and Snape's own handcrafted spells, all with no effect. In the process, Snape identified himself to Harry as the Half-Blood Prince and escaped Hogwarts with Draco Malfoy and the other Death Eaters. Harry returned to the castle to find Dumbledore's crippled and lifeless body.



Harry took the locket from Dumbledore's robes and was beside himself when he learned it was just a plain bit of jewellery, a decoy; there was a note inside the locket that revealed the real Horcrux was taken by someone called R.A.B.. It appeared to him that Dumbledore had died in vain and that they had achieved nothing that night. Following the death of Albus Dumbledore, his funeral was carried out. Harry was disgusted to see that Dolores Umbridge and Rita Skeeter had the nerve to attend his funeral but he didn't want to make a scene at Dumbledore's funeral and bit his tongue.

Knowing that he would have to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes and fearing for her safety, Harry took Ginny aside to end their romance. Ginny told him that she did not care about the danger of being his girlfriend, but Harry still thought it was best if the two stop seeing each other. He then spoke to Ron and Hermione, who committed to forgoing their final year at Hogwarts in order to accompany him, despite his protests.

Hunting the Horcruxes
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all remained committed to their goal to locate and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. To protect their families, Hermione altered her parents' memories so they forgot they had a daughter, and with some help from Fred, George, and their father, Ron transfigured the family ghoul to resemble him with spattergroit.

Battle over Little Whinging


Harry stayed at 4 Privet Drive for a time, but the Order of the Phoenix needed to evacuate him to the Burrow before he turned 17. They sent the Dursleys into hiding first; Harry was surprised by Dudley's gratitude and goodbye. Half of Harry's escorts took Polyjuice Potion to take on Harry's appearance in order to be diversions if they were attacked, despite Harry's protests. Upon leaving, the group was attacked by over thirty Death Eaters. Harry rode with Hagrid on his godfather Sirius's old motorbike, and they were attacked by multiple Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. Harry's owl Hedwig was hit by a stray Killing Curse Voldemort sent his way. The chaos ended when Harry and Hagrid passed the protective enchantments placed over the house of Nymphadora Tonks' parents; Harry had broken several bones and was bleeding heavily.

Taken inside by the Tonks's, Harry's bones were mended and his wounds were healed. After finding Hagrid safe and sound, the pair took a Portkey to the Burrow, where he found a worried Molly and Ginny Weasley. Harry was relieved to see that Hermione and Ron were fine, but was shocked when Remus Lupin arrived with George Weasley, who had lost an ear. Everyone else arrived safely but Alastor Moody, who had been killed, and Mundungus Fletcher, who had Disapparated as soon as the fight started.

Time at the Burrow
Once settled in at the Burrow, Harry, Ron and Hermione all helped preparing the wedding ceremony of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The day before the wedding, the group celebrated Harry's birthday. Harry received a watch from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, a traditional coming-of-age gift, and Ginny gave him a kiss to remember her by.

At the party that night, Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrived to release the contents of Albus Dumbledore's will. Harry was left the first Snitch he had ever caught in a Quidditch match and the Sword of Gryffindor; Scrimgeour withheld this second gift, claiming that it was a historical magical item and was not exclusively Harry's property. Noting that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only students mentioned by name in the will, he asked the trio why this was; the three were unable to give him an answer.

On August 1, Harry attended Bill and Fleur's wedding disguised as a distant Weasley cousin. He used the hairs of a Red haired muggle boy to turn into Barny Weasley. The reception was interrupted when the Patronus of Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived and announced the fall of the Ministry of Magic and the death of Scrimgeour. Chaos erupted and guests started to flee, while Harry and Hermione drew their wands and grabbed Ron before Disapparating to Tottenham Court Road. There, Hermione revealed that she had planned ahead, packing supplies in her bag, which had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. Ron changed, and Harry put on his Invisibility cloak, and the three then entered a nearby café to hang low for a while. Whilst at the café, Ron and Hermione discussed the events of the wedding and Voldemort's coup. They unwittingly broke the Taboo curse that had been placed on Voldemort's name, alerting Death Eaters Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle to their location. After a brief skirmish, the trio defeated the Death Eaters, whose memories Hermione wiped at Harry's suggestion. Harry, Ron, and Hermione then found refuge at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Infiltrating the Ministry and Obtaining a Horcrux
"You're going to leave here with us. Go home, grab your children, and get out, get out of the country if you've got to. Disguise yourselves and run. You've seen how it is, you won't get anything like a fair hearing here."

- Harry while freeing Muggle-borns from the Muggle-Born Registration Commission

After weeks of no leads regarding the Horcruxes, Harry discovered that Kreacher had once had Salazar Slytherin's Locket, but it had been stolen by Mundungus Fletcher. When the trio questioned him about it, he revealed that it was now in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. For the following month, the trio would take turns under the Invisibility Cloak to watch the Ministry entrance. Formulating their plans, they managed to infiltrate the Ministry.

Finding Umbridge trying Muggle-borns for "stealing" magic, Hermione managed to trick Umbridge into revealing the locket, and she lied about how she obtained it. Furious, Harry stunned both her and Yaxley. He and Hermione freed the Muggle-borns who were being held by the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and Hermione conjured a copy of the locket while they took the real thing. They met up with Ron again and escaped, though Yaxley grabbed Hermione’s robes while they were Disapparating. She evaded him with a Revulsion Jinx, but the location of 12 Grimmauld Place was revealed to him, and the trio was forced to abandon it as a hide-out.

Ron's Departure and Godric's Hollow
After securing the locket, the three friends took turns wearing it, to ensure it wasn't lost. The locket had a negative influence on all of them, straining relations and causing them to all act moodily and inclined to get into petty arguments. After learning that the Sword of Gryffindor in Snape's office was a copy of the real sword, and that they would have to trace the location of the real sword, the locket's negative energy pushed Ron over the edge. He and Harry got into a horrible row, in which Ron accused Harry of not knowing what he was doing and not being very concerned when they learned that Ginny had been punished for attempting to steal Gryffindor’s Sword for them, along with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Ron then abandoned his friends. "Hermione, I don’t know what we’d do without you."

- Harry to Hermione

Ron’s departure left both Harry and Hermione upset. They soon decided to head to Godric's Hollow, as Harry wanted to visit his parents’ graves and Hermione believed that Dumbledore might have entrusted the Sword of Gryffindor to Bathilda Bagshot, a magical historian who lived there and who had been friendly with the Potters and the Dumbledores. They arrived on Christmas Eve, visiting the memorial dedicated to his family, and placing flowers on his parents’ graves.

The two then met Bathilda, who motioned for them to follow her into her home. Believing Bathilda wanted to give him the Sword, Harry accompanied her upstairs alone when she indicates that Hermione should stay downstairs. Once there, she questioned him in what he didn’t realise was Parseltongue, revealing herself to in fact be Nagini, Voldemort’s snake familiar. Voldemort had killed Bathilda and animated her corpse to hide Nagini, who bit and coiled herself around Harry. Hermione raced upstairs and repelled the snake, while Harry’s scar burned, alerting him to Voldemort’s approach. The pair managed to escape; in the scuffle, Harry's wand was broken by Hermione's Blasting Curse.

Ron's Return and the Discovery of the Deathly Hallows
After escaping Voldemort, Harry and Hermione camped out in the Forest of Dean, where Hermione healed Nagini’s bite with Dittany. While standing guard outside the tent, Harry was lead by a silver doe Patronus to a frozen lake in which someone had placed the Sword of Gryffindor.

While trying to acquire the sword, the locket tried to strangle him, and he was rescued by Ron, who had returned through the use of his Deluminator. After a brief skirmish with the locket's energy, Ron destroyed the Horcrux with the sword. As Ron had saved his life, Harry forgave him for leaving. Hermione, who had been inside the tent during the destruction of the Horcrux, was angry with Ron for a longer period.

At Hermione's request, the three friends travelled to Luna Lovegood’s home to question Xenophilius Lovegood about a triangular symbol left by Dumbledore for them to decipher in the book he bequeathed to Hermione. After learning of the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron and Hermione escaped the Death Eaters Xenophilius summoned in an attempt to persuade them to return his abducted daughter to him.

Capture and the Battle of Malfoy Manor
After listening to a broadcast of Potterwatch in the spring of 1998, Harry determined that Voldemort was seeking the Elder Wand, and accidentally broke the Taboo on Voldemort's name. Captured by a gang of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback, the trio was taken to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, England.

When Bellatrix Lestrange learned that Harry had been caught, she sought to summon Voldemort, until she noticed one of the Snatchers had the Sword of Gryffindor, since the sword was supposed to be in her vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank; from her drastic change in tone of voice, Harry determined that another Horcrux was hidden there, as well. Bellatrix isolated Hermione for interrogation and torture with the Cruciatus Curse, but Hermione lied, claiming that the Sword was just a copy. Harry convinced Griphook, a goblin prisoner, to support this story.

"Help us! We’re in the cellar of Malfoy Manor, help us!"

- Harry screaming for help in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor

In panic as one friend screamed in pain upstairs and the other sobbed at hearing her, Harry called out for help – a cry heard by Aberforth Dumbledore through a fragment of a two-way mirror in the cell. He sent Dobby the house-elf to rescue the prisoners. Harry had him take Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, and Dean Thomas to Shell Cottage, while he and Ron went to rescue Hermione. On the way, they had to fight Peter Pettigrew, whose silver hand strangled him to death when he hesitated to hurt Harry, who reminded him that he had once saved his life. A skirmish ensued upstairs, during which Harry took Draco Malfoy’s wand from him, and he and Ron saved Hermione and Griphook with Dobby’s assistance.

Escape and Dobby's death
As they escaped Malfoy Manor by apparition, Bellatrix Lestrange threw a silver knife to where they were disapparating. Harry was initially happy as he realised he had managed to apparate to shell cottage, but was distraught as he saw the knife protruding from Dobby's chest. Harry decided that he would not build the grave of Dobby with magic, deciding to use a shovel, as this seemed the only way to repay Dobby's bravery. During the funeral, Luna gave a short eulogy to Dobby and Harry managed to say his final goodbye to Dobby.

Breaking into Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Following the death of Dobby, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed at Shell Cottage for some time. During their stay, the trio formed a plan to break into the Lestrange Vault to obtain the Horcrux within, with the help of Griphook. Because Griphook would only help in exchange for Godric Gryffindor's Sword, while they needed it for the Horcruxes, Harry worded his request so that the handover would not take place immediately, though he felt guilty for the deception.

The trio entered Gringotts with Hermione disguised as Bellatrix by way of Polyjuice Potion, Ron transfigured to look like a foreign wizard, and Harry and Griphook under the Invisibility Cloak. Harry had to use the Confundus Charm and Imperius Curse to facilitate their entrance into the vault, where they found the Cup. Griphook, however, believed that they would betray him, and thus grabbed the Sword and ran away, screaming that there were thieves in Gringotts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione managed to escape on the back of a dragon.

Returning to Hogwarts
A vision from Voldemort helped Harry realise that Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, the third Horcrux, remained at Hogwarts. The trio set out on their final mission to return to the school and obtain the diadem. Harry, Ron and Hermione took hiding in Aberforth Dumbledore's pub, and then entered Hogwarts through a secret entrance. Neville Longbottom led them into the Room of Requirement, where they were greeted by the reconstituted Dumbledore's Army, beaten, bruised, and ready to fight the Death Eaters controlling the school. Harry tried to tell them that he, Ron, and Hermione were only back to find something, but Neville contacted other allies with a call to arms, and Ron and Hermione persuaded Harry to allow the others to help.

Harry and Luna went to Ravenclaw Tower to look at a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw to see her diadem, and were ambushed by Alecto Carrow, who Luna stunned. Minerva McGonagall found Harry and Luna, and when Amycus Carrow entered and spat in her face after she implied he was a coward, Harry used the Cruciatus Curse on him in fury. Harry then told McGonagall about his mission that Dumbledore had left him, and she offered to hold back Voldemort and his army whilst he searched. All students of age, suits of armour, and anything else able to fight was called upon by McGonagall, the D.A., and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight. The Battle of Hogwarts began as Voldemort and his army approached.

Room of Requirement and Shrieking Shack
Harry, in the meantime, found Hermione and Ron, who had gone into the Chamber of Secrets, where Hermione destroyed Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup with basilisk fangs which were one of the few weapons that were able to destroy horcruxes. The trio quickly headed for the Room of Requirement, where the diadem was hidden. However, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle ambushed them. After a skirmish, the entire room was destroyed by the cursed fire Crabbe unleashed but could not control. Harry managed to fly himself and Malfoy out, while Ron and Hermione grabbed Goyle, but Crabbe perished in the flames that also destroyed the diadem.

Lord Voldemort, upon arrival at Hogwarts, demanded that the school turn over Harry, and the Battle of Hogwarts began. Harry, Ron, and Hermione continued their pursuit of Nagini, another Horcrux, and on the way, witnessed the death of Fred Weasley. They went to the Shrieking Shack, where they witnessed Voldemort order Nagini to kill Severus Snape, as he believed that 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.

Sacrifice
"Voldemort had raised his wand. His head was still tilted to one side, like a curious child, wondering what would happen if he proceeded. Harry looked back into the red eyes, and wanted it to happen now, quickly, while he could still stand, before he lost control, before he betrayed fear... He saw the mouth move and a flash of green light, and everything was gone."

- Harry sacrifices himself

During a one-hour ceasefire, Harry viewed the memories, which showed him that he had inadvertently been turned into a Horcrux himself and that Voldemort had to kill him in order to be rendered mortal himself. Heavy of heart, Harry courageously slipped off on his own to carry out this dreadful task. He ventured to the Death Eater camp in the Forbidden Forest, where he managed to get the Golden Snitch Dumbledore had left him to open, revealing the Resurrection Stone within. Harry used it to speak to the spirits of his parents, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who offered him comfort before he met Voldemort. Harry offered no resistance as Voldemort struck him with the Killing Curse.

However, the "death" he met was not permanent: the blood Voldemort had taken from Harry to restore his physical form in 1995 created a deep bond between them, and Harry's willingness to die triggered protections on the people of Hogwarts similar to the protections he received from his mother's sacrifice. Harry entered a state of limbo, where he met the spirit of Albus Dumbledore. After reconciling with his mentor, Harry made the choice to return to the physical world rather than go on to the afterlife with Dumbledore.

Harry woke up, but feigned death. He was assisted in this by Narcissa Malfoy, who had secretly turned against Voldemort in order to protect her son. Voldemort triumphantly advanced on Hogwarts, proclaiming Harry dead and demanding surrender, but the fighters were defiant. Neville Longbottom courageously stood up to Voldemort and slew Nagini, the final Horcrux, with Godric Gryffindor's Sword, and the battle resumed.

Final Duel
Harry managed to slip under his Invisibility Cloak as he tried to get to Voldemort. Unbeknownst to Voldemort, the Elder Wand, which he stole from Dumbledore's grave, had not been taken from Dumbledore by Snape, but by Draco Malfoy. Thus, when Harry disarmed Malfoy in Malfoy Manor weeks earlier, he became the true master of the Elder Wand. When Harry and Voldemort faced off for the last time, Harry tried to tell him this and to make him feel some remorse, which Voldemort rejected. He cast the Killing Curse, and Harry cast Expelliarmus. The Elder Wand refused to attack its master, and rebounded, killing Voldemort once and for all.

Immediately, Harry was surrounded by overjoyed fellow fighters; Hermione and Ron reached him first, and then Ginny and his other friends. Victory celebrations began, but Harry soon grew weary, and Luna created a distraction so that he could slip away with Ron and Hermione. They visited Albus Dumbledore’s portrait, and Harry decided to prevent the Deathly Hallows from ever being reunited again 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.

Later Life
"The scar hadn't pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

- Harry's later life

After the end of the Second Wizarding War, Harry became an Auror at the Ministry of Magic; new Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt permitted those who had fought in the final battle to become Aurors without getting their N.E.W.T.s. In 2007, Harry became head of the Auror Office. He helped to reform and revolutionize the Ministry along with Ron Weasley, who also became an Auror, and Hermione Granger, who worked high up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. At some point, all three of them were featured on Chocolate Frog Cards for their accomplishments.

By 2017, Harry had married Ginny Weasley and had three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. In September of that year, Harry and Ginny took their three children to King's Cross Station to see James and Albus off to Hogwarts. There, they met Ron and Hermione, and their two children, Harry's niece Rose and nephew Hugo. When Albus expressed a fear that he might be sorted into Slytherin house, Harry admitted to his son that he had nearly been sorted there himself, assured him that his parents would be proud of him regardless of where he was sorted, and reminded him that the Sorting Hat would take his preferences into consideration.

Harry also ensured that Severus Snape's portrait was hung in the Headmasters office at Hogwarts. He was also on "Christmas Card" terms with his cousin 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, almond-shaped 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's 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 particularly strong emotions, but this stopped 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
"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

Throughout the books, Harry displays tremendous bravery and strength of character. 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, particularly 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. Dumbledore once made parallels between Harry's traits and qualities that Salazar Slytherin looked for in his own hand-picked students.

"Listen to me, Harry. You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift, Parseltongue -- resourcefulness -- determination -- a certain disregard for the rules [...]"

- Dumbledore to Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets

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

Defence Against the Dark Arts Master: Harry is "particularly talented" in Defence Against the Dark Arts. He mastered all manners of jinxes and spells, such as the Stunning Spell, Impediment Jinx and Reductor Curse. He was able to hold his own against all manners of Dark Wizards and creatures, achieving an Outstanding Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL, something that not even Hermione achieved.

Corporeal Patronus Another instance of Harry's skill in Defence magic is that 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.

Master Duellist: 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 called Bogrod during the 1998 Break-In of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. 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. He however has never used the Killing Curse for obvious reasons

Flying Skill: Harry seems to have inherited some of his father's talent. He showed immediate command of a broomstick, which made him a naturally good Seeker in Quidditch, the youngest Seeker in a century. Harry's flying skills also aided him when he had to capture Winged Keys to get pass Professor Flitwick's challenge in the Philosopher's Stone Chambers. 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.

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, 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. "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

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: After the end of the Second Wizarding War, new Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt allowed anyone who had participated in the Battle of Hogwarts to become an Auror, if he or she chose. Harry thus became an Auror at the young age of seventeen, presumably one of the youngest and one of the few to have been accepted without taking and passing N.E.W.T.s. Harry became head of the Auror Office in 2007, indicating that he must have been a very talented and successful Auror.

Skilled Potioneer: His Potions ability is apparently better than it appears, as he is able to achieve an Exceeds Expectations grade on his OWL exam; and improves greatly during his sixth year when he came into possession of an old potions textbook in which a talented former student (Severus Snape) had revised many potion-making techniques.

Wandless Magic: In 1995, when the Dementors attacked in Little Whinging, Dudley had knocked Harry's Wand when he punched Harry moments before. In desperation, Harry calls out "Lumos!" Despite the fact that his wand is not in his hand, the wand tip lights up. Few other wizards have exhibited his power, though Dumbledore and Voldemort were among them. Perhaps Harry was able to do so, though not yet a qualified wizard, because there was still a small part of Voldemort within him at this point in the series.

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.

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

Marauder's Map: One of Harry's most treasured possessions. In his third year, Fred and George Weasley gave it to Harry while he was trying to sneak into Hogsmeade. It was confiscated by Remus Lupin, but later returned. Harry kept it with him for a long period of time, keeping it in the Mokeskin wallet from Hagrid. Harry kept it in his possession until it was stolen from his desk by his son, James.

Deathly Hallows: For a brief time, Harry was master of all three Deathly Hallows: the Cloak of Invisibility, the Resurrection Stone, and the Elder Wand (though he was not in physical possession of the Elder Wand until after losing the Resurrection Stone). These three artifacts are 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.

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 from Sirius, 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.

Firebolt broom: During Harry's third year at Hogwarts, the Nimbus 2000 broom he'd been riding since his first year was destroyed by the Whomping Willow, and Sirius Black replaced it by giving Harry the finest broom available as an anonymous gift. The broom was one of Harry's most prized possessions for years. It was lost during the Battle over Little Whinging. It is not known if Harry ever replaced it.

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 realise 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 Fabian Prewett for his seventeenth birthday. It has a dent in it, but Harry kept the watch, even into his thirties. The watch does not have arms; rather, it has stars.

Mokeskin pouch: A birthday present from Hagrid. Harry kept it with him throughout the Deathly Hallows, and kept in it his treasures that were of no use to his search; the Snitch, the broken mirror, his broken wand, his mother's letter and the fake Horcrux.

Harry also received a photo album, from Hagrid, which had photos of his parents and other family members.

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

Buckbeak/Witherwings: The hippogriff Sirius acquired from Rubeus Hagrid.

The Black Family Residence: "As you can see, Harry, Kreacher is showing a certain reluctance to pass into your ownership."

- Albus Dumbledore

Located at 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.

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 Occlumency lessons, via a Pensieve.

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 Voldemort's wand during Priori Incantatem; stored memories within the Pensieve; and again as spectral forms when he "called" during the Battle of Hogwarts, by using Resurrection Stone. He eventually named two of his children after James and Lily.

Petunia Dursley


After Lily and James Potter's murders by Lord Voldemort, 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 hated this about Harry too, 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 he 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 gave 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 and Dudley's children would all play together 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, they 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 (Fred and George) 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 realised his misjudgement and apologized, and Ron was taken as what Harry would "sorely miss" in the Second Task of the competition. 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 abandoned 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 brothers would eventually become brothers-in-law when Harry married Ginny.

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

- Harry talking to Ron Weasley about his relationship with Hermione Granger in 1997

Hermione Granger became best friends with Harry and Ron after they saved her from a troll in 1991. Her quick mind was at times the only thing that saved the three friends from failure in many endeavours, both life-threatening and every-day. Hermione often chastised Harry when he didn't obey rules or 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, and through Harry's marriage to Ginny, she became his sister-in-law,  as well as the godmother of Harry and Ginny’s oldest child with Ron as Godfather.

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 helped Hagrid get rid of his vicious baby dragon, Norbert (later renamed Norberta) and also attended the burial of Hagrid's dead friend, Aragog, an Acromantula. 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 Harry was pretending to be dead during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998. Both Harry and Hagrid were orphans; Hagrid had a sort of fatherly caring for Harry that could be compared of an uncle's.

Draco Malfoy


Draco Malfoy became Harry's rival almost from the moment they met at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions in 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 and Hermione saved his life twice: against Crabbe's Fiendfyre and 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.

Albus Dumbledore


Albus Dumbledore was a mentor to Harry (akin to a grandfather figure). Dumbledore 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 for as long as possible. 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. Afterwards, Harry persevered on the task Dumbledore had given him — that of destroying the Horcruxes — even after learning that there was much Dumbledore had not told him about his history with the Deathly Hallows and Gellert Grindelwald, though he 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 realise 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
"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Harry. You're not a bad person. You're a very good person who bad things have happened to, you understand? Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."

- Sirius Black to Harry Potter while in 12 Grimmauld Place

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. "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

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.

Remus Lupin
"You're the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had."

- Harry trying to convince Remus not to resign.

In the beginning, Harry had a student/teacher relationship with Remus which later developed into a friendship.

Harry met Remus Lupin, for the first time since he was an infant in 1993 when Remus saved him from Dementors on the Hogwarts Express. Remus was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts during Harry's third year and soon became his favourite professor as well as a mentor of sorts. It is suggested that Remus' classes were how Harry discovered his talent for Defence Against the Dark Arts. When Harry continued to be badly affected by Dementors, Remus agreed to give Harry private lessons to teach him the Patronus Charm. It was during these lessons that Harry discovered that Remus was an old friend of his parents. Although Remus attempted to maintain a teacher-student relationship with Harry, he did act more as a friend or uncle at times, sharing butterbeer after a private lesson, assisting him in avoiding trouble with Professor Snape and returning the Marauders' Map to him once he was no longer a professor. Harry developed a fondness for Remus and was extremely upset to hear of his resignation after Severus Snape exposed him as a werewolf and even attempted to try and talk him into staying on at Hogwarts.

The two met again in the summer of 1995 when members of the Advance guard of the Order arrived to pick up Harry from Privet Drive. Although initially wary of intuders, Harry relaxed on learning of Remus' presence in the group, indicating that he still trusted his father's old friend despite a year of no contact. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Remus protected Harry and Neville Longbottom from an attack by Lucius Malfoy and saved Harry's life by preventing him from running into the Veil of Death in his attempt to save his godfather, Sirius Black.

"But you are normal. You've just got a - a problem-."

- Harry Potter to Remus Lupin regarding the latter's lycanthropy

Remus' undercover assignment with the werewolves prevented him from maintaining contact with Harry in the wake of his godfather's death, something he expressed regret over. On the few occasions that they saw each other during Harry's sixth year, Harry was worried by Remus' increasingly haggard and gaunt appearance. He displayed a protective streak towards Remus, expressing anger over his forced resignation from Hogwarts and the general perception of werewolves.

In 1997, Harry was thrilled to hear of Remus' marriage to Nymphadora Tonks and was puzzled by Lupin's increasingly worried appearance. He was outraged by Remus temporarily leaving his wife for fear of their future child becoming a werewolf. While Harry maintained his stance on their argument, he deeply regretted the harsh words he said to Remus in his anger. When Remus's son Teddy Lupin was born, Harry was relieved that Remus had clearly forgiven his harsh words and was overwhelmed but delighted to be made Teddy's godfather.

Of all the people who died during the Battle of Hogwarts, Remus' death, along with those of his wife, Nymphadora Tonks and Fred Weasley, were the ones that hit Harry the hardest. Remus was one of the spirits that came out of the Resurrection Stone to speak to Harry as he walked to what he believed was his death, indicating the almost familial bond between Remus and Harry.

In Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Harry wrote in the werewolf section that they "aren't all bad", showing that Remus being a werewolf doesn't bother him at all.

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.

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. She became even further embarassed after Harry saved her from the Chamber of Secrets after she was posessed in his second year. Hermione helped Ginny 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. In his first potions class with Slughorn, he smells "Something flowery he had smelled at the Burrow." in the love potion in the room. This later turns out to be Ginny's hair. After witnessing her kiss with 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 find Voldemort'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. When Voldemort came back to the castle with Harry's body her heart was broken. 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 3 children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna.

The Weasleys


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 to the Order members informing 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 wouldn't 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 4 years. Harry gave his triwizard winnings to the Weasley twins to start up the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The twins made Harry buy their joke shop's products for free showing that they are grateful to Harry for giving them his 1000-galleon prize money. Fred's death was one of the deaths that hit Harry the hardest. 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.

Luna Lovegood
"I've been able to see them ever since my first year here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."

- Luna talking to Harry about the Thestrals

Harry met Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw student a year below him at Hogwarts, in 1995 on the Hogwarts Express. Although Harry found the younger witch rather strange, he was grateful when she told him that she believed his claim that Lord Voldemort had returned, unlike many other students. Harry and Luna became friendlier through Dumbledore's Army, and at the end of the year, Luna comforted Harry over the loss of his godfather, telling him about her late mother. The following year, Harry defended Luna and Neville Longbottom when Romilda Vane implied they were not worth spending time with, reflecting on how he now considered them close friends. He and Luna went to Slughorn's Christmas party together. After the Battle of Hogwarts, Luna noticed that Harry wanted to get away from the victory party, and created a distraction so that he could go speak to Ron and Hermione. The two remained friends into adulthood, and Harry gave his daughter the middle name “Luna” in honour of his friend.

Nymphadora Tonks
"Wotcher, Harry!"

- Tonks greets Harry

Harry and Nymphadora Tonks first met in 1995 when the advance guard came to transport Harry to Grimmauld Place. He befriended her immediately. Their friendship grew for several years, Tonks was disappointed that Harry couldn't attend her wedding. Eight months later Tonks thought Harry should be godfather to her son Teddy Lupin. When she arrived to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts, he asked why she was there. Tonks fought her aunt Bellatrix and was killed. When Harry found out that she was dead he felt like he had lost his parents again. After Harry defeated Voldemort, he was sad that Nymphadora had died with Fred, Colin Creevey, Remus, and 50 others, and felt like he had a physical wound. For the next 19 years, Harry helped Nymphadora's mother to raise Teddy Lupin. When Harry saw his two sons off to the Hogwarts Express, James came running back to his parents and said that he had found Teddy snogging Victoire Weasley.

The Ministry of Magic
Harry had a mixed relationship with the Ministry. In 1992, Harry had his first run-in with the Ministry after Dobby had smashed a pudding in his Aunt and Uncle’s house. Although the incident was not Harry’s fault, the Ministry believed that Harry had used magic illegally while underage and was given an official warning.

A year later, Harry lost his temper and blew up his "Aunt" Marge. Harry believed he would be expelled from Hogwarts because of his previous warning on underage magic. Harry went on the run and boarded the Knight Bus, but ran into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Fudge understood that young wizards cannot control their tempers and decided to let Harry off. Furthermore, Fudge treated Harry like a friend, although he did not sign Harry’s letter permitting to allow him to visit Hogsmeade. In addition, Fudge treated Harry like a child by not telling him the truth about Sirius Black.

However, in 1995, the relationship between Fudge and Harry was not so rosy. Harry had witnessed Voldemort’s return to power and he told Dumbledore and Fudge. Dumbledore believed Harry, but Fudge did not. Fudge branded Dumbledore and Harry as liars/nutters. In the summer of 1995, Harry performed a Patronus charm in front of Dudley to save them from Dementors. This resulted in Harry being charged with using underage magic in front of a muggle. Fudge took part in Harry’s prosecution but Harry was cleared because of Dumbledore’s defence. Fudge took his revenge by employing his secretary Dolores Umbridge as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. Umbridge sadistically tortured Harry when he repeatedly contradicted the Ministry’s opinion that Voldemort had not returned. In 1996, after Dumbledore’s Army was discovered, Fudge came to Hogwarts to expel Harry but Dumbledore said that he was responsible for the society. This saved Harry from expulsion but Dumbledore was forced to go on the run. Later that year, the Battle of the Department of Mysteries was fought, revealing the return of Voldemort. Fudge was forced to acknowledge that Dumbledore and Harry had been telling the truth and resigned as Minister of Magic.

Harry did not get on with Fudge’s replacement Rufus Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour had wanted Harry to be a mascot for the Ministry in order to restore confidence. Harry refused due to the way the Ministry had treated him the previous year. Harry was furious to hear that Umbridge was still working for the Ministry and that Scrimgeour was arresting innocent people like Stan Shunpike. Harry showed Scrimgeour the scars that Umbridge gave him to show that he did not like his methods. In 1997, Voldemort and his Death Eaters took over the Ministry. They tortured Scrimgeour for Harry’s whereabouts, but Scrimgeour refused to tell them. As a result they killed him. Although Harry did not like Scrimgeour, he was grateful that his last actions were to protect Harry.

After Lord Voldemort’s takeover of the Ministry, Harry’s relationship with the Ministry was worse than ever before. They named Harry Potter as Undesirable Number 1 and wanted to arrest him for questioning on the death of Albus Dumbledore. Harry’s main aim was to destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes in order to defeat him. This finally resulted in the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort’s death and the downfall of his regime.

In 1998, after the Ministry was decorrupted, the new Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt employed Harry as an Auror. Harry had always got on well with Shacklebolt, an Auror himself. Harry is now working for the Ministry despite his previous relationships with it.

Minerva McGonagall
Harry also had a good relationship with Professor McGonagall. Although 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. An occurrence of his closeness to her was shown 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 the Cruciatus Curse 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. Professor McGonagall was like the grandmother that Harry never had.

Dobby
"You shall not harm Harry Potter!"

- Dobby protects Harry from Lucius Malfoy

Dobby and Harry had a very strong relationship. When Harry first meets Dobby he is a bit confused. Near the end of the 1992-1993 school year, Harry freed Dobby from the slavery of the Malfoy family. Lucius became angry and intended to attack Harry but Dobby protected him by using a defensive spell. In the next school years, Dobby was appointed to work at the kitchen of Hogwarts Castle in order of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. In 1995, Dobby told Harry about the Room of Requirement and how to get inside. It is a secret room inside Hogwarts castle and cannot be seen even on the Marauder's Map. Harry and his friends used the room in Dumbledore's Army's meetings and practices. In 1996, Dobby had a wrestle fight on another House-Elf, Kreacher after Kreacher insulted Harry. In 1998, when Harry, Ron, Hermione, including Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Mr. Ollivander and goblin Griphook are captured and taken hostage at the Malfoy Manor, Dobby apparated there to rescue them. As they attempted to disapparate to Shell Cottage, Bellatrix Lestrange threw her silver dagger mortally wounding Dobby in the chest. Arriving at Shell Cottage, the house of the newly-wed Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, Harry discovered Dobby's wound and cries out for help as Dobby died in Harry's arms. Harry is devastated by the death of Dobby. He digs a grave without using magic and holds a small funeral for him in the garden of Shell Cottage. Dobby's epitaph reads "Here lies Dobby, A Free Elf".

Dolores Umbridge
"As I told you once before Mr. Potter, naughty children deserve to be punished."

Harry had an antagonistic relationship with Umbridge. He hated Umbridge from the moment he laid eyes on her. In the summer of 1995, Umbridge sent two Dementors after Harry and his cousin Dudley. This was an attempt to silence him from contradicting the Ministry’s official opinion that Lord Voldemort had not returned from the dead. Harry was forced to use a patronus to defend himself and Dudley from the Dementors. This resulted in Harry being summoned by the Ministry on the charge of using underage magic and if convicted, he would have been expelled from Hogwarts. Umbridge took part in Harry’s prosecution and spoke in favour of his conviction, but Harry was cleared due to Dumbledore’s defence. However, Harry was soon confronted with Umbridge as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry was outraged at Umbridge acting as if the children were safe from dark wizards and angrilly spoke out in class about Voldemort’s return. This meant that Umbridge would punish Harry sadistically by forcing him to write lines with his own blood. This magically scarred Harry. Umbrige also punished Harry by banning him from playing Quidditch after he attacked Malfoy. In addition, Umbridge prevented Harry from contacting his godfather Sirius Black, with the Ministry’s belief that Sirius is an escaped convict. Umbridge even monitored all incoming and outgoing mail and Harry’s owl Hedwig was injured on Umbridge’s orders. She made it difficult for Harrry, Ron and Hermione to visit Hagrid. When Harry went public about his experiences with Voldemort during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, in an interview with Rita Skeeter for The Quibbler, Umbridge banned him from Hogsmeade trips. In an attempt to stand up against Umbridge’s regime, Harry formed Dumbledore's Army. However, they were betrayed and Harry was nearly expelled from Hogwarts. He was saved by Dumbledore saying that Harry only formed the orgainisation on his orders. This resulted in Dumbledore going on the run from the Ministry. Umbridge became Headmistress of Hogwarts and was intent on taking over the entire school. After Professor McGonagall was injured trying to protect Hagrid from being arrested on Umbridge’s orders, Harry was caught trying to use Umbridge’s fire to check on Sirius. Umbridge nearly used the Cruciatus Curse in order to get Harry to talk. Hermione intervened and together with Harry, they tricked Umbrige into going into the Forest to show her Dumbledore’s weapon. This resulted in Umbridge being attacked by the Centaurs because she had attacked them first due to her hatred of half-breeds. Umbridge begged Harry to help her by telling the Centaurs she “meant no harm” but Harry said “I’m sorry Professor, but I must not tell lies”.

After the Ministry had finally acknowledged Voldemort’s return to power, Umbridge was removed from Hogwarts. However, Harry was furious to learn later that year that Umbridge was still working for the Ministry of Magic. The following year, Voldemort took over the Ministry. Umbridge, whether knowingly or not, showed her sympathy for the goals of Voldemort and the Death Eaters by taking part in the hunt for Harry Potter, branding him as ‘Undesirable Number 1’. In addition, Umbridge was Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. This involved sadistically sentencing innocent Muggle borns to Azkaban on the false charge of stealing magic. Harry learned that Umbridge had one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes in her possession. Along with Ron and Hermione, Harry broke into the Ministry, where he saw Umbridge ruthlessly interrogating a poor Muggle born. Enraged, Harry Stunned Umbridge and retrieved the locket Horcrux.

Lord Voldemort


Lord Voldemort is Harry's mortal enemy. Harry lost his parents to Voldemort as an infant and they battled each other 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, in vain, to make Voldemort feel some remorse for his evil deeds, then defeated him.

Lord Voldemort and Harry are also related by blood, however distant, due to both of them being descended from the Peverells (Lord Voldemort through the Gaunts and Harry through the Potters.) This made both of them distant cousins.

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.

James is derived from the same Hebrew name as Jacob, meaning “holds the heel” (in the Genesis narrative, Jacob was born grasping Esau′s heel and later bought his birthright). The name came into English language from the French variation of the Late Latin name Iacomus, a dialect variant of Iacobus, from the New Testament Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iakōbos), from Hebrew word יעקב (Yaʻaqov). James is Harry's middle name, James was the name of his father and is also the name of his first son.

Potter is a very common surname of English origin. It traditionally refers to the occupation of making pottery. Beatrix Potter was a well-known English children's author. Potter's Field is the name for a burial ground for the unknown or unclaimed dead, particularly soldiers and orphans; the Potter family had many members that fit that description. The Potter Box is a model for making ethical decisions developed at Harvard University. J.K. Rowling has also commented that she has liked the name since childhood.

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.
 * Daniel Radcliffe and Harry were both born in July- Harry on the 31st and Daniel on the 23rd.
 * 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 opposed to Harry's black hair, and also 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.
 * In the first book, Harry mentions that his eleventh 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's birthday of July 31 is also the birthday of Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling.
 * When Harry and his friends lose 150 House points in 1991, Harry loses favour with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. While understandable, it seems rather odd that Fred and George Weasley both turned on him.
 * 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.
 * In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film), Harry is seen practicing Lumos Maxima under the covers in his bedroom, but Harry does not get a letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office even though he is underage. In the book he is simply using a flashlight while writing his homework for History of Magic.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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-centre 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 centre of his head. But it is never explicitly mentioned where the scar is located. On all book covers (illustrations), the scar on Harry's forehead is located in the centre, which raises questions as to why J. K. Rowling requested it to be aligned-right on the films.
 * In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film, at the beginning he says that he will go back to the train station meaning that he might have liked the girl he met.
 * 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."
 * The only person Harry ever considered killing by use of curse was Sirius Black and possibly Bellatrix Lestrange, ironically to avenge Sirius. It is, however unclear if Harry knew how to cast the Avada Kedavra curse since Harry was not taught the unforgivable curses until his fourth year. Even during the Battle of Hogwarts, during which Harry defeats Lord Voldemort, Harry does not do so by use of any curse intended to do harm to his opponent, but rather he used his "trademark," Expelliarmus. Harry finished Voldemort by reflecting a curse Harry would never use on another, even his mortal enemy. This suggests the love, which is "the power the dark lord knows not..." makes it difficult for Harry to kill. Even during the Battle over Little Whinging, Harry illustrated his unwillingness to kill Death Eaters. However in the example with Voldemort, Harry knew Voldemort's death curse would backfire, so rather than fire a death shot which would make him look somewhat bad, he instead decided to fire a disarming shot to gain possession of the wand. Then with the Death Eaters as they were masked at the time, he couldn't know who was a willing follower and who was a controlled drone.
 * Harry usually has the last line in every Harry Potter movie. Though it could be debatable on whether he has the last line of the second movie since the closed captions say that Dean said, "Yes!", so he may have had the last line.
 * "I'm not going home...not really..." (PS/SS)
 * "It's not Hogwarts without you, Hagrid." (CS)
 * "Mischief managed. Nox." (POA)
 * "Yeah. Every week." (GOF)
 * "Something worth fighting for." (OOTP)
 * "I never realized how beautiful this place was." (HBP)
 * Harry was Wizard of the Month on J. K. Rowling's website for the month of October 2007.
 * Harry is the inspiration for the Wizard Rock band, Harry and the Potters.

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)
 * Wizard of the Month
 * Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

Notes and references
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