Blog 2 : Harry Potter, obviously

When faced with the challenge of pick a few characters who have changed and developed the most during throughout the series it’s quite obvious…all of them have! But seriously, this is a challenge because all of the prominent characters have grown and become better wizards and people. Even the minor characters, for lack of a better word, have grown – Luna and Neville, especially.


One of the most important characters is obviously Harry Potter. I mean, it’s HIS story we’re reading. That being said, we have definitely watched him develop throughout the series. In the first book we meet little Harry Potter, a scrawny eleven-year old who has a pretty rough life. But there are these odd things that keep happening around him. Then the audience finds that he is a wizard, and not just any wizard, one of the most famous wizards of all time! And he’s eleven! So we follow Harry to Hogwarts where he finds friends and ultimately ends up fighting his nemesis, Lord Voldemort. In between those events though, Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised. He gazes into the Mirror and sees his parents for the first time. The thing he most desires in the world is to be with his parents again, to be part of a loving family. Not fame or fortune, like Ron desires. He just wants to be loved, unconditionally. What a desire that most of us take for granted. Flash forward to the third year at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione are fighting against time (literally) to save Sirius Black, whom they have just met and just learned is not actually a mass-murderer. Harry is trying to save his godfather from dementors when someone casts a Patronus charm to save them. At first, Harry thinks it is his father who cast the charm, but later realizes it was he who did it. When Harry tells Dumbledore that he thought at first that it was his father who cast the Patronus to save Sirius, Dumbledore assures him that the dead cannot come back to life. He discusses the topic with Harry, “You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him” (Prisoner of Azkaban 427). So at this point, Harry comes to the realization that despite the incredible feats that magic can achieve, it cannot bring back the dead. In the seventh book, Harry, Ron and Hermione have left Hogwarts and are on a quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. The trio are together and despite challenges (unnamed so as to prevent spoilers!) remain together until the end. Finally, Harry has found his family and is satisfied knowing that his parents would be crazy proud of his accomplishments and the person who he as become. Harry’s story ends with the best happily ever after.. ever – a family for himself, for him to love unconditionally. Harry starts out as this sad, incomplete child, lacking any friends or true family, but ends the series as a complete person, with plenty of love that he is both giving off and receiving. Yay - Happily Ever After!