#JULY HOUSE POINTS

#THANK YOU FOR A GREAT 9 MONTHS!

/u/bubblegumgills:

I am kind of annoyed that he ended up number one, but I can’t really fault his role in the series. He has an uncanny ability to just know shit throughout the series but it’s really his backstory that elevates him from just a ridiculously knowledgeable guy to Albus motherfucking Dumbledore. I think it’s just that I wish some of the growth has occurred in the series - because to me, there is an implicit idea at work, that once you reach a venerable age, you stop changing, you stop growing. I would hate that to be my fate.

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/u/Khajiit-ify:

When you first meet Albus Dumbledore, you can’t help but imagine a frail old man who will bore you to tears. He reminds you of your grandfather that you patiently listen to the same story he has told you ten thousand times because that’s just what you do, you know? The Dumbledore we met as we journeyed through the story was much more than that, though, and because of that he has become a classic character that everyone will always remember. I can’t imagine anyone besides Voldemort himself hating Dumbledore, and if that isn’t the hallmark of a great character, I don’t know what is.

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/u/theduqoffrat:

It’s weird, you don’t really see Dumbledore’s evil genius while simply reading; yet when you analyze everything you see how cool the dude is. During the first couple of books it is obvious that this guy plays favorites. That favorite being himself. He doesn’t give two shits about Harry (at least not in the later books), he gives two shits about being the most powerful wizard in the world and killing Voldemort. However, in order to do this he has to go through Harry Potter. Thus, being so attached to the idea of Harry being the savior, Dumbledore can’t help but to have a soft spot for our main character. Dumbledore has it all, the smarts, the power, the cunning ability to get what he wants. He puts the story in motion because he cared too much about Voldemort and then went and saved an infant. Dumbledore isn’t all saint-like and great like everyone wants you to believe though, remember how him and Grindlewald became friends? Yeah, muggle hating. He also played a role in killing his own sister. (sic)

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#INTRODUCTION

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It’s been nearly a year since I applied to HPR2, and what a year it’s been. Pages of modmail arguments about how we were going to argue. Intense debates about characters that only appear in one chapter or not at all. Objectively wrong cuts that everyone agreed with and objectively correct ones that everyone hated. The best thing I’ve ever done in my life and the worst. But now, it all must come to an end.

It’s an honor to be closing it out, it truly is. But what really puts the cherry on top of it all is that I get to do it by way of lauding my favorite character of all time. Not just in the HPverse, ever. I’ve dropped hints here and there across HPR2 about my fanatical devotion to the man, but never really gone into why. And the why of it is simple: Harry Potter is not a story about an orphaned wizard boy learning magic. It is a story about a man waging a thirty-year war against the most powerful threat mankind has ever seen.

What you are about to read is a long, tinfoil-laden, conspiracy fan theory about how Dumbledore manipulated damn near every event in Harry’s life. You may picture me in front of a wall full of newspaper clippings with various colors of yarn connecting them. You may be concerned that I’m prepared to hurt myself or others. You may hate me for reducing the finale of HPR2 to little more than an Alex Jones rant. I don’t care. You want a respectable scholarly literary analysis? Read the incredible job /u/bisonburgers did last year. You still with me? Hang onto your hats and let’s fucking do this.

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#THE EARLY YEARS

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A century prior to the narration start, we get a story that in and of itself is deserving of a top 10 finish in Rankdown. Why the supporting characters didn’t make it there is a question best directed to any of the other rankers.

We don’t know much about Percival Dumbledore. We know that he had three kids in three years with his wife Kendra. We can probably assume that he loved them, or at least Ariana, because when she’s attacked and permanently disabled by three Muggle boys, he goes nuclear. We know that despite having an excuse that probably would’ve earned him clemency, he chooses instead to remain silent on his motive and spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. He does this for his daughter, as to tell the truth would result in her being committed to a facility. He chooses prison for himself rather than force it on his daughter.

And poor Albus has to not only deal with life without a father, but also with the stigma of being the son of the (probable) Muggle-killer. He can’t tell everyone that his father’s a great man. He can’t deny that he attacked innocent Muggles. He just has to sit there and refuse to defend himself as the sins of the father are visited upon the son.

Well, until he starts kicking some ass at school, at least. Even if we discount Doge’s hero-worship of the man, it’s clear that young Albus is one of the greatest minds of his generation. He outstrips his professors almost immediately, instead corresponding directly to the top researchers and academics of the time. Now, we don’t know if he’s succeeding despite his home life, or because of the fact he can escape it by way of his studies. And frankly, it doesn’t matter. The important part is that the Dumbledore household was relatively stable for seven years - the exact seven years in which Albus proved himself to be one of the greatest people to ever step foot in Hogwarts Academy.

Albus is ready to continue this meteoric rise until ohmigod his mom died who could’ve seen that coming. Percival’s sacrifice to keep Ariana ‘free’ backfires for the first time. Aberforth is prepared to assume Kendra’s responsibilities, to drop out of school and care for Ariana. But no. Albus sacrifices his potential to do what he thinks is right, for the eldest child to take over the household.

If the story ended here, it would be a tragic but gripping tale. A boy frees himself of the shadow of his family’s drama to establish himself as a prodigy. But before he can realize greatness, the drama comes back on him, and he does what he has to in order to serve those he loves.

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#GRINDELWALD

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Percival’s sacrifice backfires again: Albus is in prison. He’s confined to his hometown, confined to his family. He can’t see the world, he can’t achieve his dreams. He can’t do anything but look after his disabled sister and hope that sometime, somehow, something will make it better.

And then it does.

Gellert Grindelwald conveniently arrives in Godric’s Hallow, fresh off an expulsion from Durmstrang. The two hit it off, and by ‘hit it off’ I mean that Grindelwald manipulates the fuck out of the poor kid.

Albus has a peer for the very first time in his life. He finally has someone in his life roughly equivalent in age, accomplishment, ability, and ambition. They talk, and they hit it off “like a cauldron to the fire.” But where Albus simply has youthful arrogance, Grindelwald has nothing but malice. There’s a perfect storm brewing inside young Albus’s mind, and he sees it. And he manipulates it:

You know how your dad’s rotting away in jail so your sister’s life can be marginally less shitty? How your mom died for that, too? Remember how you didn’t even get to travel the world because Aberforth needed to go to school? That’s the Greater Good Albus, and it’s so important, isn’t it? You see, we need to act with the Greater Good in mind - all of us - and the world will be such a good place.

And you know you’re so smart, right? You’re the smartest wizard that ever stepped foot in Hogwarts. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. You’ve got the chance to do something great, something really great. You’ve got the responsibility to, even. You can’t let all that talent go to waste.

And you know who really has a rough time of it? Muggles. Think about it - even a normal wizard is as far beyond a Muggle, as you are above a normal wizard. To you, those poor Muggles are just like Ariana. They’re lost and confused. They need help, and you need to help them.

A few months of this manipulation, and soon enough we have:

Gellert ---

Your point about Wizard dominance being FOR THE MUGGLES’ OWN GOOD --- this, I think, is the crucial point. Yes, we have been given power and yes, that power gives us the right to rule, but it also gives us responsibilities over the ruled. We must stress this point, it will be the foundation stone upon which we build. Where we are opposed, as we surely will be, this must be the basis of all our counterarguments. We seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD. And from this it follows that where we meet resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary and no more. (This was your mistake at Durmstrang! But I do not complain, because if you had not been expelled, we would never have met.)

--- Albus

The kind and caring soul of Albus is lost. Until, that is, Aberforth helps him out in the way only a brother can - fighting him. Unfortunately, this isn’t the normal kind of hug-it-out brotherly quarrel. Grindelwald jumps in, then Ariana tries to help, and ohmigod the sister dies who could’ve seen that coming.

Tending to his sister at Godric’s Hallow, Albus’s mind was imprisoned, but his spirit was free. After Ariana’s death and the subsequent departure of his literal partner in crime, the dynamic inverts. Albus’s mind is free to realize his true potential, to discover the uses of dragon’s blood and to perfect the Philosopher’s Stone. But, his soul is trapped.

He was the least likely of the three to have fired the fatal curse, being that he’s the only one that wouldn’t have been trying to seriously injure one of the other two. No matter, he’s convinced it was him, or at least to the point where he’s afraid to know. He lets Grindelwald build power because he just can’t handle the guilt, the prospect of atoning for what he’s done.

And then, decades later, he atones. He faces his demons and defeats Grindelwald. But he spends the rest of his life carrying that weight, eschewing power when it’s offered to him because he knows that he just can’t be trusted.

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#THE PROPHECY

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His life from 1945 to the early 70s is relatively static. He owns the most powerful wand in existence, but he’s afraid of his own power. He leads a presumptively calm life of eating candy and molding young minds, including a precocious little scamp that dabbles in familicide during the summers.

And then that scamp grows up.

The most powerful Dark Wizard of all time starts to build a following, and Dumbledore will not make the same mistake twice. He forms The Order of the Phoenix and does everything he can to undermine Voldemort and keep Hogwarts safe. But this is, of course, war. People die carrying out his orders, and likely die on them as well.

Dumbledore sees for the first time exactly what “the greater good” actually means. There’s this guy out there that wants to take over the world and become immortal, and he’s more capable of doing so than anyone else that’s ever tried. Lives need to be sacrificed to prevent this. Brave soldiers have to protect others. And he’s prepared to embrace that fully.

Remember when I talked about crazy conspiracy theories? 2000 words in, I’m ready to start.

The war seems to not be going completely perfectly for Dumbledore, until one fateful night where the iconic words are spoken:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

This is it. The break he’s been waiting for, the information he needs to take down Voldemort once and for all. So let’s break this down here:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches

The one with the power. A single individual with this ability. You got one shot Al, fuck this up and Voldy wins forever.

born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies

As we hear later, there are exactly two couples that have accomplished the ol’ triple-defy and are expecting in late July: The Potters and The Longbottoms.

and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal

Voldemort’s whole schtick is blood purity, that’s how he quantifies the worth of people. So if we’re going by his definition of “his equal,” the smart money’s on the filthy half-breed. But that’s not enough, Voldemort’s gotta “mark” the kid, too. So he’s got to do something to make the baby equal to him. Problem is at that age, babies aren’t really all that distinct. You can really only define one by their parents. And well, there’s one main difference between Voldemort’s parents and the Potters. Conjecture, sure, but it seems like the most plausible scenario is that Voldemort’s gonna kill the Potters, orphaning baby Harry just like him.

but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not

Okay, so what does Tom Riddle, the brightest mind of his generation, not know? Well, that’s a pretty easy answer: Love. Dumbledore’s done a fair bit of research into Voldemort’s life. He knows he was conceived lovelessly and then orphaned shortly after birth. He knows about Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop. He knows the dude’s always been a loveless sociopath. He knows that somehow, love is going to be the way that Baby Potter will defeat Voldemort.

and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives

At first blush, this seems to mean simply “one’s got to kill the other”, and until the story unfolds a few years down the line, that’s really the only way that could be interpreted. More on this later.

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#SEVERUS SNAPE’S SURRENDER

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So Dumbledore now knows that Harry Potter’s the only hope of defeating Voldemort, and that love is somehow going to be relevant. There’s not all that much to go on at this point, until he gets massive help in the form of a greasy sack of shit, perpetual Nice Guy^TM Severus Snape.

Snape had, unbeknownst to him, overheard a part of that prophecy and dutifully reported it to his master. But now Snape’s ready to completely turn on Voldemort because oh no, he wants to kill his waifu who could’ve seen that coming.

This is where Dumbledore really starts the manipulation. He listens as Snape tells him everything he knows, including the all-important:

“If she means so much to you,” said Dumbledore, “surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?”

“I have – I have asked him – ”

He gets Snape to sign a blank check of allegiance. He owns him. But what of that “power the Dark Lord knows not?” How can love be used to take Voldemort down? Well, all the pieces are on the board, and Dumbledore is wise enough to see the answer:

Lily Evans will be asked to step aside to allow her son to die. Lily Evans, being a loving parent, will refuse. Voldemort will slaughter her, thereby protecting Harry with power that he knows not. It’s terrible, yes. But it’s what’s written in the skies. The prophecy foretold it, now it’s just on Dumbledore to facilitate its unfolding.

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#THE FIDELIUS CHARM

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So how then, does Albus intend on making sure that Lily doesn’t try to run away with Harry, that she will instead deliberately sacrifice her life for him? Simple, make sure she’s found by Voldemort in a place she can’t escape from, in a scenario where she’s already in hiding. For good measure, make sure they don’t have the most powerful Invisibility Cloak in history. And well, there’s one pretty big unaddressed issue:

“He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements,” said Professor McGonagall darkly. “Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who.”

We learn this in Prisoner of Azkaban, but once the whole story’s been told it seems obvious that Dumbledore got this information from Snape. Well, unless you’ll allow me to present what I believe to be one of the most underrated lines of the series:

...I am a sufficiently accomplished Legilimens myself to know when I am being lied to…

Think about the context of this for a moment. He’s talking about outsmarting a feeble-minded house-elf, but he phrases it in a much broader sense. More importantly, he says this a year after a Death Eater successfully impersonates one of his closest friends for nine months. We’ll get to Crouch!Moody later, but isn’t it possible, or perhaps even likely, that Dumbledore can tell when an average wizard is lying to him? Namely, when a weak-willed coattail-rider named Peter Pettigrew promises that he’s totally on the side of the Order of the Phoenix and definitely not working for Voldemort?

Dumbledore knows that Pettigrew’s the traitor, or at least strongly suspects it. We’ll get to Wormtail v. Padfoot in a moment, but for now let’s just finish up the Fidelius Charm.

“But I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated - to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother’s blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.”

“She doesn’t love me,” said Harry at once. “She doesn’t give a damn -”

“But she took you,” Dumbledore cut across him. “She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you.”

“Sealed the charm I placed upon you.” Wait, what? We saw the entire scene of Dumbledore putting Harry in the care of the Dursleys. That was the beginning of the whole series, the iconic chapter that set off the obsession of so many preteen lives. He left him on the stoop in the middle of the night alongside a letter. There was no wand-waving, no mystery incantation. The only way that Dumbledore could possibly claim credit for placing a charm on Harry is if he masterminded the whole damn thing. Otherwise it was just a series of fortunate and unfortunate coincidences.

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#SIRIUS BLACK, PT. I

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While we’re on the subject of Dumbledore’s ‘confession’ at the end of Order of the Phoenix, let’s look at the paragraphs just before the ones I just quoted.

“Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned

and intended. Well - not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle’s doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.”

He paused. Harry said nothing.

“You might ask - and with good reason - why it had to be so. Why could some wizarding family not have taken you in? Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been honored and delighted to raise you as a son.

“My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps

anyone but I realized. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters - and many of them are almost as terrible as he - were still at large, angry, desperate and violent. And I had to make my decision, too, with regard to the years ahead. Did I believe that Voldemort was gone for ever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty or fifty years before he returned, but I was sure he would do so, and I was sure, too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you.

Let’s go back to those 24 hours after the night of October 31, 1981. James and Lily Potter are dead. Harry is alive, and there is, by all accounts, a legal document entitling Sirius Black to custody over him. But Dumbledore doesn’t want this to happen. Perhaps for the reason he just stated, perhaps to truly have Harry “marked as his equal’ by also growing up in an unloving environment, or most likely a combination of both.

So what does Dumbledore do? He lets Sirius Black take the rap for everything. Just bear with me here.

We know the following things about Dumbledore’s actions that day:

• He arranges for Harry to just be taken and placed into the Dursleys’ care, with zero regard for the legal ramifications at play.
• He chooses not to personally transport Baby Chosen One, but instead directs a person with limited magical skills to do so, who only ‘coincidentally’ receives a decent mode of transportation on the way.
• He is completely unsurprised to see Harry’s scar. What’s more is that he doesn’t even seem to be interested in learning more about this, the result of a completely unprecedented magical occurrence.
• He is told that Hagrid and Baby Harry just spent the last several hours on a motorcycle given to them by the guy that apparently betrayed the Potters and he doesn’t even bat an eye.

Rowling is able to hide this bizarre behavior right in plain sight. We have no idea what’s going on the first time we read it, and by the time we learn the whole story, we’ve read that section so many times that it’s just mundane. But when one truly peruses it while knowing the events up through Deathly Hallows, it’s clear that Dumbledore’s playing a different game here. Allow me to instead present an alternate theory:

Dumbledore knows that Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters. Thanks to Snape, he knows the exact night when it’s going to go down. He knows that once it does, Sirius Black will realize what happened. He knows that Sirius will recognize that his duty belongs to Harry, but will take the flimsiest excuse necessary to exact revenge instead. He’s not clairvoyant, he can’t possibly know exactly what’ll go down between the two of them, but it’s pretty clear that Sirius is the kind of guy that wouldn’t just stop at Peter, he’ll die fighting every last Death Eater he can get his hands on.

So Dumbledore arrives at Godric’s Hallow moments after The Event, or was perhaps in the area, concealed, the whole damn time. One way or the other, he sees Baby Harry, figures out what that scar’s all about, and then gets the fuck out of there lest anyone figure out that he set the whole thing up.

He goes back to Hogwarts or the Order’s HQ or something, and directs Hagrid to go pick up Harry with strict orders to deliver him to the Dursleys. Meanwhile, he makes sure Sirius learns the news and gets ready to enact his vendetta. This gets Sirius out of the picture while simultaneously telegraphing to everyone that he doesn’t care all that much about Harry. He’s not like, super important or anything. He’s just an orphan of war that needs to be given to his closest living relatives.

And yes, when the dust is settled, Sirius Black is arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew et al. And Dumbledore himself “gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters’ Secret-Keeper.” But he had no choice. To admit anything else would be to implicate himself in the Potter’s murder.

We know there was no trial for Sirius, despite the fact that surely Dumbledore would have wanted to know the full story behind his betrayal. We just know that Dumbledore said the word and Crouch ordered his life sentence.

Sirius Black must remain in Azkaban, an innocent man imprisoned for the greater good, just like Percival Dumbledore before him. But Albus must have certainly researched what his father’s plight was like. He must have known that the knowledge of one’s innocence is the best defense against the mental torture the Dementors bring. And he must have known that one day, the time would be right to set Padfoot free.

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#TEN DARK AND DIFFICULT YEARS

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As the Ministry rebuilds itself and disassembles the Death Eaters, Dumbledore can breathe for the first time in over a decade. Some more lives are claimed, some guilty parties walk free, but the worst is over. Voldemort will return someday, but not today.

Dumbledore places Arabella Figg in charge of status reports on Harry, but for the most part the boy’s on the backburner. He’s got other things to take care of.

Dumbledore spends his time researching everything he can about the history of Lord Voldemort. His past, his present, his future. He’s operating off the Horcrux theory, trying to gather information about what they could be and why. But mostly, he waits. He waits for Voldemort to rise again so Harry can fulfill his destiny.

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#PHILOSOPHER’S STONE: THE SETUP

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Now, let me make one thing clear. Dumbledore isn’t a sociopath or an asshole. I’m not trying to claim that at all. We all see his personality throughout the books, we see how he genuinely cares about people and his eccentric sense of humor. But that’s simply beyond the scope of this analysis. For my purposes, I am only concerned about his actions - the hyper-rationalized decisions of a man at war.

So let’s start right at the very next deliberate contact Harry gets with the wizarding world: The Letters from No One. Everyone, or at least I, always assumed that there was some kind of charm that allowed the letters to keep detailing Harry’s exact location. But this seems like a good time to consider another all-important line, again given to us in the Confession at the end of OOTP:

I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined

Discounting the small amount of creepy that is to say to a kid that probably just discovered masturbation a few years prior, it’s clear that Dumbledore has been watching to a degree significantly beyond what we’ve ever assumed. And we get our first hint to that right off the bat, with Dumbledore fucking around with the Dursleys by flooding them with letters describing Harry’s exact location at all times. After all, remember how impressed Arthur was when Harry’s letter was delivered to him at the Burrow in Chamber of Secrets?

Moving right along, Hagrid somehow finds him on a rock in the middle of the ocean, expositions the fuck out of the story, and gets little Harry all set to go to Hogwarts and become a thumpin’ good wizard. Oh, besides the part where he forgets to tell Harry how to get on the train.

Now, we know that Hagrid isn’t exactly the bluest pixie in the cage. I suppose it’s possible that he just forgot about the platform entrance. Oh, and that Dumbledore figured that the people that went into the middle of the ocean to prevent Harry from going to Hogwarts wouldn’t dream of just refusing to take him to the train station.

Or maybe, just maybe, Harry was meant to be found by Molly Weasley. This is a woman who was loudly complaining about how a major hub of Muggle transportation was “packed with Muggles,” being sure to use the one word Harry knows is wizarding-exclusive. The younger sister of two of Dumbledore’s soldiers, the matriarch of a family that signed up for The Order with no hesitation. Wouldn’t it have been convenient if Harry immediately formed a close bond with them rather than, say, the Patels?

Let’s consider Hermione, while we’re at it. Muggle-born, so we know her magical abilities were already given more scrutiny than a standard Hogwarts student. And we know that anyone that spent more than four seconds looking into Hermione’s study habits would immediately recognize that she’s going to be the top of her class. It should come as some surprise that this studious, hard-working, caring, ambitious girl is sorted into Gryffindor. Unless, of course, we consider the possibility that the Sorting Hat follows orders.

We know that the Sorting Hat “feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels [that there is danger].” Following that, we know that it’s loyal enough to Dumbledore to believe him when he says that Voldemort’s back. We know that it can converse with whoever wears it, and that it can summon at least the Sword of Gryffindor for anyone that should truly need it. We know that the only other thing that’s a constant presence in the Headmaster’s office are the portraits, which are “...honor-bound to give service to the present Headmaster of Hogwarts!” Is it then, inconceivable that the Sorting Hat placed Hermione in Gryffindor just because Dumbledore said to?

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#PHILOSOPHER’S STONE: THE PLOT

--

When we first read through Philosopher's Stone, we did it as children, or adults knowing full well we were reading a children’s book. As such, the plot gets read with a little less scrutiny. But it was written by an adult - an adult that was putting out Part 1 of her 7-part master plan. She knew what she was doing. If one were to analyze the plot of the first book knowing the whole story at play, while assuming that the adults aren’t colossal idiots and remembering that 11-year-old kids kind of are, one reads a much different story.

Professor Quirinus Quirrell returns from a sabbatical and asks Dumbledore to switch to teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, a subject that carries with it a one-year expiration date. Odd, sure, but why not? Shortly after, Dumbledore moves the precious Philosopher’s Stone that had been occupying Vault 713 for who knows how long. He chooses to hide it at the tail end of a series of obstacles so simple a pack of 11-year-olds can pass them inside of an hour. Why? Why does he not just put it in a shack somewhere and then place the shack under a Fidelius Charm? Simple - he wants someone to go after it.

If Dumbledore didn’t initially know that Quirrell was involved, he certainly did when Snape started to become suspicious of his actions. If Dumbledore didn’t initially know that Voldemort was involved, he certainly figured it out soon - Firenze figured it out easily enough and we know Dumbledore’s always had a good relationship with the centaurs.

And throughout the book, we see several events that may not have been directly influenced by Dumbledore, but just don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense:

• Ron shows up in the hospital wing with an infected magical bite, and claims it was a dog. Madam Pomfrey doesn’t even believe him, but somehow there’s no investigation as to how a child managed to receive such an injury.
• A troll is released into the dungeons of Hogwarts, while nearly everyone in the building is several floors above it. Instead of the most powerful wizard in history simply going down to the dungeons and neutralizing it, he instead orders all of the students back to the dormitories, a quarter of whom need to go into the dungeons to accomplish that.
• Quirrell tries to curse Harry off his broom, and nothing comes of it. Dumbledore doesn’t confront him, he doesn’t get arrested. Snape referees the next match, which wouldn’t really help anything at all.
• Harry just so happens to get Albus Dumbledore’s Chocolate Frog card in the beginning of the year to hear the name ‘Nicholas Flamel’ once, he hears it again when Hagrid oh-so-conveniently lets it slip, and then again just in time for him to learn what the Philosopher’s Stone is.
• A group of wizards on broomsticks manage to get through all the protective enchantments surrounding Hogwarts and smuggle an illegal dragon out of it, completely undetected.

Now, I’m not going to assert that Dumbledore was behind all of this. But he was certainly helping some of it. Perhaps he told Madam Pomfrey not to press further, or asked Snape to referee so some stupid kids would think he was doing something. One way or the other, he was trying to establish a pattern in Harry’s life. He was trying to get Harry used to the idea of being ready for an adventure, for adversity, for combat. He was trying to build a soldier.

And then we have the ultimate adventure, at least within the scope of the first book. The Trio figure out the whole plan thanks to another ill-timed slip of Hagrid’s tongue, and oh no Dumbledore isn’t available who could’ve seen that coming. They jump headlong into the gauntlet, encountering challenges they oh-so-conveniently learned how to defeat before. Oh, and also the one that was already completed for them.

Ron is incapacitated by the chess game. Hermione, after solving the fire puzzle, finds that only one person can continue. But didn’t Quirrell just drink from that smallest bottle? Since there’s more, then that must mean that the puzzle resets itself. So why couldn’t Hermione just wait for that to happen and follow right behind? Why is there even a ‘retreat’ option, anyway? Anyway, Harry ventures alone into the room alone, to find that it’s already occupied by Quirrelmort. Oh, and Dumbledore hiding invisibly in the corner, ready to step in when Harry got in trouble.

Harry encountered the Mirror of Erised three times prior. In each of them, Dumbledore was in the room, invisible. Why then, could he not be there the fourth time? Yes, we’re told that he was traveling to London, that’s the whole reason the Trio ran in there in the first place. But consider this - why the hell was he flying to London? The alleged owl that summoned him said it was “urgent” so he decides to hop on a broomstick instead of instantly Apparating?

He apparently meets up with Hermione when she’s trying to contact him:

“Well, I got back all right,” said Hermione. “I brought Ron round — that took a while — and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall — he already knew — he just said, ‘Harry’s gone after him, hasn’t he?’ and hurtled off to the third floor.”

But didn’t Dumbledore just claim that her owl must have crossed him in midair? He knows she never sent one. How on Earth could he possibly have known Harry went after Voldemort if he wasn’t supposed to know anything that was going on? And really: Did that encounter ever happen?

We read later in Prisoner of Azkaban that Confundus Charms can be used to implant false memories or ideas. We do see the charm being used later, but for simple things like making Cormac McLaggen go for the wrong goal in Quidditch tryouts. Why does J.K. Rowling leave such a huge Chekov’s Gun on the board? Simple: She doesn’t.

One way or the other, false memories or no, it’s clear that Dumbledore’s lying about something, that he knew much more about the whole saga than he let on. It’s clear that Harry’s first year at Hogwarts has been, in part or in whole, engineered to give him a taste of what his life is destined to be like.

--

#CHAMBER OF SECRETS

--

The new year begins slowly at first. Harry gets visited by a house-elf, then blamed for his use of magic in front of the Dursleys. He’s then broken out of the Dursley’s home by the Weasleys and their flying car, and finally hijacks said car and flies it to Hogwarts. You know, the sort of hijinks any kid could get up to. Dumbledore’s obviously watching, as evidenced by the fact that he knows Harry’s at the Burrow, and how he knew Dobby performed that hover charm when it comes up again in Order of the Phoenix.

So the story truly begins when the Chamber is opened and Ms. Norris becomes the basilisk’s first victim. Now, Dumbledore knows that Voldemort was behind it fifty years ago. He knows that he’s the last living heir of Slytherin. And yes, he knows that the entrance is in the girls’ bathroom and there’s a bigass snake inside.

Dumbledore spent years poring over every last piece of Voldemort’s past, are we really to assume he never asked Moaning Myrtle what happened? We know that “just because a wizard doesn’t use Dark Magic doesn’t mean he can’t,” and we learn in Deathly Hallows that literally anyone can open that entrance so long as they hiss at it for a while. He knows Harry can speak to snakes thanks to his Scarcrux, and he damn near begs Harry to tell him that he can hear the damn basilisk slithering about:

“You don’t think it was me, Professor?” Harry repeated hopefully as Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk.

“No, Harry, I don’t,” said Dumbledore, though his face was somber again. “But I still want to talk to you.”

Harry waited nervously while Dumbledore considered him, the tips of his long fingers together.

“I must ask you, Harry, whether there is anything you’d like to tell me,” he said gently. “Anything at all.”

The basilisk claims a few more victims, and I’ll leave it to you to decide if the thoroughly unlikely result of no one dying is coincidence or not. Eventually, Dumbledore is ousted from the school, or at least that’s what we think:

“However,” said Dumbledore, speaking very slowly and clearly so that none of them could miss a word, “you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”

For a second, Harry was almost sure Dumbledore’s eyes flickered toward the corner where he and Ron were hidden.

And then he just walks away. Do you really think he just left? At minimum, the school that is his life’s work is being terrorized by an unknown threat; at maximum, he’s got a whole big elaborate scheme to pull off. We know Neville and the like can hang around inside Hogwarts undetected indefinitely, why couldn’t Dumbledore?

We see evidence of someone looking out for the kids in the very next chapter, where Hagrid’s loveable nature almost leads to the gory death of Ron and Harry. The Ford Anglia, who was pissed off enough at them to run away last time they met, cared enough to, what, follow them through the forest and come running in at the last minute to save them? Or, was Dumbledore following them the whole time and could think of exactly one way to save them without blowing his cover?

And speaking of deus ex machina... oh boy. It all comes down to Harry to save the day again, and RIGHT THE FUCK OUT OF NOWHERE DUMBLEDORE’S LOYAL PHOENIX COMES BY TO PROVIDE HARRY WITH EXACTLY WHAT HE NEEDS TO BEAT THE BASILISK. What? How? Why? Is there any possible explanation to this shit other than “Dumbledore set this whole fucking thing up?”

No. No there is not.

-- #CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS...

Thoughts from Other Rankers

Khajiit-ify:

We all know about my feelings of Lupin in DH. Ignoring that, the Lupin I grew to love was the man in PoA, where he was compassionate, loyal, brave. He was a man of the people, who saw the potential in everyone, and who managed to keep a level head even when things were dark and dreary. That, plus, I mean, he’s a werewolf. Werewolves are always awesome.

-- theduqoffrat:

He was the uncle Harry never had. The biggest alive adult protector of Harry, aside from Sirius, simply because of love. Lupin was loyal to the Potters and to the good fight. He was the first really cool dude that we saw. He was the first really good DADA teacher that we saw. He was the first of the marauders that we really knew.

Preface

Words cannot express my enthusiasm at being able to rank Remus Lupin as the number two character in the entire series. Especially after u/khajiit-ify’s cut back in the teens, I thought he never stood a chance of making it this far. That’s not to say I doubt his claim to this spot, no sir! He every bit deserves this ranking, and it is because his knack for being overlooked elevates him to this level. In-universe and from the fanbase’s point of view, Remus’ rightful attention is neglected, which is a testament to the very person he built himself to be. This man has earned some recognition after everything he’s been through, and I’ll happily be the one to give it to him.

#Learning to Lycanth

As we know, Remus was afflicted with lycanthropy as a child after an attack by Fenrir Greyback. Obviously, this changes the course of his life forever, as it would for anyone plagued by such an illness, especially since there was no Wolfsbane Potion to counteract the side-effects at this point. Thus, his formative years were challenging, as he had to stay withdrawn from deeper connections with people lest they discover his foreboding secret that would only ruin his life further if exposed. Suffering from lycanthropy is difficult enough when dealing with it for only a portion of the month, but to become a pariah for it would decimate any chance he had at a happy, successful life. He learns even at his young age that the world is not forgiving of people’s differences. Even for things well beyond their control, people are persecuted based entirely on descriptors that are not indicative of who they are as people.

Adjusting was difficult for young Remus, and his family had to consider whether he would even be able to be properly trained in magic. Were it not for the philanthropic, progressive acceptance by Albus Dumbledore, Lupin never would have had a shot at pursuing an education. Great exceptions had to be made for Remus to attend Hogwarts, among which included structural changes to the schoolgrounds themselves to forge a passageway to a safe zone for him to transform, as well as procedural in that he had to miss classes monthly. Lupin recounts his transformations at this age to be terrible, resorting to biting and scratching himself since he had no other outlet.

“But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black… Peter Pettigrew… and, of course, your father, Harry — James Potter.”

• Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 18

#Comfort in Companionship

Having successfully infiltrated the world of normal wizard living, Remus finally made friends, allowing him to take his affliction in stride for the first time. It did come at the cost of lying to them, however, though since these were no ordinary boys, they were fairly quick to discover the truth behind his monthly disappearances. As a further demonstration of the exceptional quality of friends Remus managed to find, they not only accepted the young werewolf for who he was, but managed extraordinary feats to ease his suffering.

There are seven registered animagi in the twentieth century (shout out to my main girl, Minerva for that distinguished honor). We know of four others that are unregistered. Of those four, three of them succeeded in transfiguring themselves by the age of 15. Fifteen! People give a lot of credit to Harry for casting a corporeal patronus at age 13, but this is in an entirely separate league. To go to these lengths for their friend is something Lupin would never forget and felt he could never repay. This is the time in which Lupin learns what makes his beleaguered life worth living: to do one’s part in helping others, that there are people that will do anything for you and you should be willing to do anything for them, and that the people you love are worth every bit of struggle.

#Successes Squandered

Lupin led a very successful academic career, having become a prefect in his fifth year (despite losing out to James for Head Boy) and contributing to the creation of the Marauder’s Map after mastering the layout of the grounds of Hogwarts unlike anyone else before them. Despite being the more reserved one of the bunch, tasked with reining them in when they got out of control, Remus was never happier than his final years at school, pulling pranks in ways unparalleled until the Weasley twins would arrive years later.

Knowing a steady job would be difficult to obtain given his condition no matter how controlled he had become, as he would need time off monthly, Lupin joined the Order of the Phoenix along with his friends upon graduating, doing what he could to stop the pillage against those of mixed and non-magical blood.

Many people perished during the first war. Many lost loved ones. Few had lost as much as Remus did on the night of Voldemort’s demise. As he saw it, three of his best friends had just been killed by the actions of the fourth. These were the only people that allowed him to be himself to the fullest extent. They not only allowed him to thrive, but enabled him to in ways he never thought possible. Gone. All of them in one night. His reason for continuing on with his bleak promise of a life. Even his time as an Order member would be drawing to a close now that the war was over. He had almost nothing left, and his physical appearance down the line shows how the years have not been kind to him.

He needn’t confront these demons head on until Sirius’ escape from Azkaban, which was just as threatening to the remainder of the life he had made for himself as the night he lost everyone he loved.

#The Only Thing to Fear

You see, Remus Lupin’s biggest driving force is fear. Fear of persecution, fear of losing control of his wolf side, fear of failure, and fear of disappointing his loved ones most of all. You may believe this to be incorrect, as he’s a Gryffindor, known for courage. This fear, however, is exactly what makes him the perfect specimen of a Gryffidor. We see many kinds of courage from various Gryffindors, largely in the form of taking on Death Eaters to stand up for their beliefs. It’s an admirable quality to have, though that is what I would call incidental courage. Remus carries a pervasive courage that keeps him moving in spite of everything horrible that’s happened to him & he has to deal with daily. The type of bravery Lupin carries is necessary just to be who he is. He recognizes his fears and persists in the face of them. That being said, he sometimes comes up short on the incidental bravery, at least when it comes to decisions that may impact others’ view of him in a negative sense, such as confronting his fear after Sirius’ escape:

“I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust, of course… he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others’ safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month’s adventure. And I haven’t changed […] All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn’t do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I’d betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I’d led others along with me… and Dumbledore’s trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it…”

• Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 18

In the same vein that he believes his friends and loved ones make life worth living, he also takes this to mean that he should not disappoint those he loves. His biggest mistakes stem from betraying one person’s perception of him in favor of another’s. Confusing which path is the brave one is his vital flaw, though he only completely succumbs to this in the aforementioned situation.

We are all well aware of Lupin’s other major moment of acting out of fear: his near-abandonment of Tonks and his unborn child. Few can outmatch the love I have for Remus as a character (u/Moostronus miiiight come close.), though I’ll willingly admit his consideration of this tactic is pure cowardice masquerading as an act of courage. There is a MAJOR difference between leaving your family to fight in a battle for their lives and abandoning your family under the false pretense of protecting them. Worse, he uses the war as an excuse, even invoking James’ name to sway Harry into believing the lie he convinced himself into believing. This moment is the lowest of the low for Lupin, and goes against everything he worked so hard to stand for throughout his life.

“Don’t you understand what I’ve done to my wife and my unborn child? I should never have married her, I’ve made her an outcast! […] You don’t know how most of the Wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me! Don’t you see what I’ve done? […] Even her own family is disgusted by our marriage, what parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf? And the child – the child –” Lupin actually seized handfuls of his own hair; he looked quite deranged. “My kind don’t usually breed! It will be like me, I am convinced of it – how can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!”

“Remus!” whispered Hermione, tears in her eyes. “Don’t say that – how could any child be ashamed of you?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Hermione,” said Harry. “I’d be pretty ashamed of him.” Harry did not know where his rage was coming from, but it had propelled him to his feet too. Lupin looked as though Harry had hit him. “If the new regime thinks Muggle-borns are bad,” Harry said, “what will they do to a half-werewolf whose father’s in the Order? My father died trying to protect my mother and me, and you reckon he’d tell you to abandon your kid to go on an adventure with us?”

“How – how dare you?” said Lupin. “This is not about a desire for – for danger or personal glory – how dare you suggest such a –”

“I think you’re feeling a bit of a daredevil,” Harry said, “You fancy stepping into Sirius’s shoes –” “Harry, no!” Hermione begged him, but he continued to glare into Lupin’s livid face. “I’d never have believed this,” Harry said. “The man who taught me to fight dementors – a coward.”

Lupin drew his wand so fast that Harry had barely reached for his own; there was a loud bang and he felt himself flying backward as if punched; as he slammed into the kitchen wall and slid to the floor, he glimpsed the tail of Lupin’s cloak disappearing around the door.

• Deathly Hallows, Chapter 11

I wanted to quote this whole interaction, but that might have been going overboard. I hear a lot of people hate this moment of the series, but I find it to be absolutely pivotal in both Harry and Remus’ development. It’s uncomfortable. It’s heartbreaking. We’re seeing a character we love, who had always seemed reasonable and kindhearted, choose to turn his back on his family, one he never thought he could have. We see Harry completely invert their dynamic. He becomes the rational adult, showing Lupin where he’s going wrong. “The student becomes the teacher.” It was this moment that first made me feel Harry was capable of actually leading the charge against Voldemort and wouldn’t just bumble his way to defeating him out of sheer dumb luck.

In a sense, this scene elevates both Harry and Lupin into adulthood for me. It shows how Harry has matured and is not taking his trusted advisor’s word for granted. We don’t see it happen on the page, but this moment causes Lupin to overcome his biggest fear of disappointing the ones he loves most and having his lycanthropy negatively impact those people. We see it more from Tonks’ perspective in Half-Blood Prince that Lupin is not willing to accept her love out of fear of what that may lead to. She negates his dismissal after Fleur’s example of accepting Bill after he is attacked by Greyback. His fears increase exponentially with the news of their impending child, cursing himself for allowing his guard down enough to let his affliction affect other people. More than anything, he doesn’t want to be the monster he’s always been assumed to be. Lupin needed to be told off in such a forceful way for him to be able to see that true courage would come from facing the fact that he may have infected someone else and doing everything in his power to ensure those people affected will have as good of a life as possible despite that potential outcome. By going back to them, Lupin becomes a fully actualized adult, capable of fully accepting love for the first time, unencumbered by the need to close himself off partially out of fear.

Final Thoughts

Lupin’s characterization takes place primarily in the background, which is fitting for him in his desire to live as normal a life as possible. Of course, OF COURSE, he gets killed shortly after finding his true happiness. He can't be allowed to have nice things, naturally. He is, to me, the epitome of a secondary character, providing ample plot significance, likability, relatability, and thematic importance, in addition to adding something unique through his representation. I’m over the Moony to see him make it to the end like this (Feel free to kill me for that pun. I deserve it.)

To my fellow rankers, thank you for all the hard work you’ve put in over these months. I can’t believe we’re at the end already. It seems like only yesterday that Crookshanks was UNMERCIFULLY ROBBED OF HIS SPOT IN THE TOP 100. (#NEVERforget #CrookshanksWasRobbed #HelenaWasRobbed #GeorgeWasRobbed #HarryWasRobbed)

u/oomps62, u/k9centipede, u/HermionesTeaspoon, thank you for all you’ve done for all of us (rankers and readers). You’ve helped make this a wonderful experience.

And finally, u/Moostronus: Thank you for picking me. Harry Potter and listing things in ranked order are my two biggest pastimes, and you’ve given me the opportunity to combine them into something amazing (at least I think so). Thank you for putting up with each of us rankers having our moments of shittiness, and I look forward to complaining about next year’s rankers’ decisions with you.

#First, thoughts from my fellow rankers:

Khajiit-ify: Hermione checks off every box of a good character. Her strengths are obvious, her flaws are well known, and her personality shines every time she shows up on the page. She is one of the most relatable characters in the series, and that’s not a fault with her character - in fact, it is one of her greatest strengths. JKR did an amazing job writing her character.

Marx0r:

I love Hermione if for no other reason than her nearly sociopathic devotion to results. She abducts, imprisons, and blackmails a reporter that was harassing her friends. She permanently scars a teenager for betraying her. She will do anything she needs to do in order to accomplish what she believes is right. There’s a classic argument about whether Hermione should’ve been in Ravenclaw, but fuck that. She’s the best example of true Slytherin traits that we see.

pizzabangle:

I can’t imagine the Harry Potter series without Hermione. As the most rational member of the trio, her personality balances out Harry’s passionate embrace of tinfoil-like theories and Ron’s teaspoon-sized emotional range. She also plays a huge role in moving the plot forward by asking critical questions and planning for things that JK clearly doesn’t want to spend time having Harry do. We see her grow from a pushy know-it-all to a motivated, fierce young woman. I love that we get to see Hermione a bit broken as well as triumphant. Her sense of justice is an aspect of her character I find particularly interesting. From S.P.E.W. to Skeeter-napping, Hermione’s strong moral convictions drive her actions.

theduqoffrat:

Look at what Larixon said. That. I’m rereading the series over again and I fall in love with Hermione more and more each time I read it. Think of the smart, bad ass kid you went to high school or college with. That’s Hermione. There is nothing she can’t do. She’s loyal. She’s brave. She’s loving. Hell, she’s best friends with her biggest bullies because she can see past the surface level of Harry and Ron and see into their brain. How they really tick.

#...and now on to the cut.

Hermione Granger. Mudblood. Greatest witch of her generation. Bossy know-it-all. Devoted friend and underdog supporter. Ruthless and cunning. Incredibly bright and talented. Narrow-minded. Feminist icon.

Whichever way you split her, there are so many layers to Hermione it’s impossible not to feel that this, though not my preferred spot (she’ll always be number one to me), is a good spot for her to end up in. She is, to me, the best female character in the series (even outranking Umbridge) because of how deeply layered and complex she is. Hermione isn’t just a sidekick, she’s not just there to be the brains of the Trio -- Hermione is the heroine of her own story and outside of the immediate narrative, she leads a life separate from that of Ron and Harry. If Ron is the consummate sidekick, with all the issues that entails (and I would urge everyone to read through /u/ETIwillsaveusall’s cut because it is a genuine thing of beauty), Hermione refuses to be boxed into that experience. She carves out something different from the others and blazes a trail of her very own.

’Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one,’ she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

From the first meeting on the train to Hogwarts, Hermione is established as almost a caricature of the nerdy, bossy girl (with Rowling herself admitting that she is supposed to be an exaggeration of herself): she barges into the compartment, dragging poor Neville in tow, and then asks about his toad. She proceeds to immediately tell Ron and Harry just how much she’s already read about Hogwarts, setting the tone for all of those early book experiences of Hermione’s character: she is fierce and bossy and she is armed with knowledge. She immediately seems to know more about Harry than he does himself and she wastes no time in imparting this knowledge. Later on, she also imparts her first tidbit of knowledge from what would become her favourite book, whispering that the ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky above. She sets the scene well and asserts herself, even if the immediate reaction is very much one of cringe (there is such a thing as being too eager). But really, who is Hermione?

#Hermione: A History

Derived from the Greek messenger god Hermes (the god of science, trade and eloquence), Hermione’s name itself is one of power and history. She is first immortalised in ancient literature, in the play Andromache, where she comes across as a vengeful woman, but one who is determined to achieve her purpose. In a lot of ways, she paves the way for the Hermiones to come, from Shakespeare’s character in The Winter’s Tale (a woman who dies of a broken heart at being accused of unfaithfulness by her husband - and Rowling’s inspiration for Ms Granger) to D.H. Lawrence’s Hermione in Women in Love (where she is a young woman who wants to know everything and control it - words that could well apply to Hermione later on).

It’s important to realise that naming is a huge part of the Harry Potter universe and lore. In the late, great Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, a name is a very powerful thing indeed. By naming something, you give it life (and with it meaning). Ursula K. le Guin’s Earthsea novels follow this same pattern: in The Tombs of Atuan, the wizard Ged rescues the priestess Tenar, who is now a Nameless One, devoted to her god. Later on, she renames herself as Tehanu, carving her own space in the world, much as Hermione does. Names have power and they have meaning and in Hermione’s case, it’s clear that Rowling is borrowing from a long, illustrious line of Hermiones in naming her character and chief among them is the god Hermes. Hermione becomes the embodiment of the messenger god, particularly in those early books, when she rattles off information as needed.

At the end of the first book, the Trio work together, to their strengths, to defeat the challenges before the Stone: Harry’s flying skills and ability to hone in on a small thing, Ron’s strategising (a theme that pops up later on in the books) and Hermione’s logical, cool thinking. Before this, however, we do see her flounder and flail, with the Devil’s Snare, when she does lose her head and actually forgets that she can do magic. It’s a chink in her armour, it humanises her (she is, after all, only eleven).

’Me!’ said Hermione. Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!’

Oh, Hermione. How she puts herself down, how she immediately reaches out to Harry, to encourage him, to give him strength in the battle ahead. In such a short time, she’s changed from being the student who thought the worst possible thing was expulsion. I was always intrigued by that, until I realised that for her, death would be more bearable - her quest for knowledge echoing that of D.H. Lawrence’s character.

#Intransigence and character flaws

The aspect of Hermione’s character that I really want to touch upon ties in with her ‘god of science’ persona: she is inflexible in her thinking. If I were to create a Dungeons and Dragons character sheet, this would be Hermione’s character flaw: she is incredibly rigid in her approaches to magic (and everything that pertains to it) and even in some of her interactions with other characters, most notably Luna. She shows an exceptional lack of tact in dealing with Lavender in Prisoner of Azkaban after the death of her pet rabbit, arguing that logically Trelawney couldn’t have predicted the death; she immediately reaches for the logical, cold explanation rather than the emotional one, the first of many such instances. In a lot of ways, I think there is a reason that she and Ron work so well together: as in the Trio he is heart, so he brings that emotional component to the relationship. This isn’t to say that Hermione cannot love - she does, and fiercely - but when it comes to problem-solving, her immediate response is to fix, rather than to understand or empathise. Even in later books, despite growing in other areas of her character, Hermione still struggles to empathise at times - she is brutal in her takedown of Luna’s beliefs, because she herself doesn’t believe in them. It explains why she has such a crush on Percy in that first book: she thrives under guidance and strict rules, places where she understands how things stand; contrast that to the scenes in Half-Blood Prince, when Harry (using young!Snape’s notes) starts to do better than her in Potions. She’s angry and she’s put off and she looks ‘manic’, because all of a sudden, the rules don’t make sense.

Even her relationship with Ron falls into this pattern, particularly from Goblet of Fire onwards. She is scathing in her criticism of him, his ‘realisation’ that she is a girl and her immediate dismissal of him as having the emotional range of a teaspoon. Because Hermione has figured out that she would like Ron to ask her, but he doesn’t, so instead of waiting and hoping, she takes charge: when Krum asks her out, she accepts and even spends time on her personal appearance. Interestingly, Hermione doesn’t particularly care for traditionally feminine pursuits, but she doesn’t really put others down for it anyway; her one vain ‘fault’ if you can call it that, is that she uses magic to fix her teeth to slightly better than what they were like before, but in the final book she admits that it was too much hassle to maintain for too long.

I find Hermione and Ron’s relationship in that fraught sixth year to be at its most interesting. It really showcases the lengths to which she’d go for petty revenge: conjuring canaries and setting them on Ron, going to Slughorn’s Christmas party to McLaggen (and regretting it after ending up together under the mistletoe), ignoring Ron with a pointed stubbornness that is such a hallmark of her character - but she won’t completely destroy Ron’s confidence about the Quidditch Keeper tryouts. There are lows that Hermione will never stoop to, but there is something to be said about the fact that it’s because Ron’s her friend that she has this relationship with him. Whenever someone threatens her friends, Hermione retaliates and she retaliates hard. Remember, she lied to McGonagall in her first year, to protect Harry and Ron. In her fifth year, she placed such a powerful hex on the DA parchment that she cursed Marietta Edgecombe with scarring acne.

When she figures out Rita Skeeter’s secret, Hermione doesn’t just blackmail. She actually kidnaps and imprisons a journalist in a jar for a year, because when Hermione is scorned, when her friends and those she cares about are attacked, she will fight back viciously and without remorse. She could have appealed to authority, she could have turned Rita in for being an unregistered Animagus, but Hermione saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. She made a decision and stuck by it. In Order of the Phoenix, when she, Harry and Luna meet with Rita for the interview, I find her unflappability to be admirable. Rita holds no sway over her now and Hermione has all the cards. Yes, her methods were questionable at best, but to her, the end justified the means.

This same thing happens to Umbridge. Hermione respects rules and authority, yes, but they need to respect her back. She is devoted to McGonagall and Dumbledore, but she sees right through Umbridge’s power-hungry exterior. She doesn’t have the recklessness that Harry does, to challenge that authority in class, so instead she does it in an underhanded way. Later on, when she leads Umbridge to the Forbidden Forest and the centaurs, I did wonder what her intentions were. To use Grawp to frighten Umbridge? To find the centaurs and delay Umbridge? What exactly was she banking on? I never subscribed to the idea that she sent Umbridge in the Forest to be raped, but I do think she wanted to frighten her (and things got out of hand when she underestimated Umbridge’s racist tendencies). But she took a gamble and she lead a teacher (a figure of authority!) into a situation she couldn’t 100% control.

There is something within Hermione, a core of her, that will break before it bends.

#Hermione Granger and the greater narrative

One of the things that Hermione does so well, that sets her apart from other characters, is that she has a distinct storyline that diverges from the Trio. She is, in essence, the heroine of her own story here. There are early signs of this, as far back as Philosopher’s Stone, with Hermione pre-Trio, friendless and trying to fit in. She fails (and she fails hard), but there are moments where she exists outside of the major story, in a way that Ron never does. This is particularly visible during Prisoner of Azkaban, where we learn that Hermione spent much of her time helping Hagrid prepare for his Ministry hearing. When she and Ron have a spat, Hermione’s life doesn’t seem to end; I would contrast this with the time in Goblet of Fire, when Ron and Harry aren’t on speaking terms: Harry finds that all of a sudden, his homework actually gets done on time, but he doesn’t have that same easy friendship that he has with Ron. That unbreakable core of Hermione’s, that stubbornness? That applies to her friendships as well.

Remember that Hermione is given a Time Turner. This thirteen year old girl is trusted with a highly complex piece of magic and it’s amazing how she rises to the challenge. Yes, she eventually accepts that there are limits even to her own learning, that she cannot reasonably attend every class ever and she adjusts to a more suitable timetable. This is a huge step for her own personal growth; you must remember that knowledge and learning are key pillars of Hermione’s perception of herself and the world around her. To accept that even she has a limit, that despite magic that can allow her to be in two places at once, she physically cannot cope, is a huge thing for her and her character. Hermione does have a limit and truthfully, she never seems to really regret not using the Time Turner for the remainder of her studies at Hogwarts. That on top of this she finds the time to help Hagrid speaks volumes about the kind of person Hermione really is.

In Goblet of Fire, when she creates and runs S.P.E.W (more on that later), she lives a life outside of her interactions with Harry and Ron, she researches elvish welfare and she tries to improve the lot of elves, despite Ron’s assertions that they’re happier in slavery, despite the fact that even the elves find her methods over the top and unnecessarily aggressive. She dates Krum (and suffers deeply for it, including in what is one of Molly’s worst character moments) and she’s not ashamed of it; indeed, she never seems to slut shame other female characters for dating, she provides Ginny with advice and support and I always got the feeling that Hermione resented being judged that way, going through what she went through, just because Krum happened to take a fancy to her.

Look behind the main narrative and Hermione is always there, performing the emotional labour necessary to keep everything going: she has the answers that Ron and Harry need, she saves a student’s life with her quick thinking (Penelope Clearwater in Chamber of Secrets), she researches Horcuxes and she prepares her Bag of Holding with the things they may need in their great camping adventure. She figures out the protective spells to cast around them, she sorts out food, she gets them to swap around the Horcrux locket. Hermione does all this and more without acclaim, without asking for thanks, she pushes for nothing more than justice and fairness and she enables Harry to Hero himself into history. While the Trio is always stronger than the sum of its parts (greatly exemplified by those moments when Ron leaves in Deathly Hallows and Hermione and Harry seem to spin their wheels a little bit), Hermione brings the smarts and the hard work and planning, she makes sure that things are always thought through logically. Without Hermione, how much would Ron and Harry have achieved? It should also be said that they both keep her grounded (Ron moreso), they ensure that she is challenged and she rises to that challenge admirably.

Hermione is not the heroine of the story, but she is the heroine of her own story. She shows young women that they don’t need to wait around for someone else to notice them and make things happen. In a sense, she is very much like Ginny here: she leads a life outside the Trio and her relationship with Ron only truly blossoms when he starts seeing her as an equal, when he tones down the mocking, joking persona and actually realises that not only is she a girl, she is a very competent one at that. But Hermione doesn’t wait around for Ron to notice that; she continues her relentless pursuit of knowledge, she continues her hard work in trying to bring about a fairer society and she shows all young readers that you don’t need to be a hero and save the world to have a positive impact on people.

I think she does suffer, at times, from not being appreciated enough. In that, she echoes the experience of millions of young women who toil ceaselessly to smoothe things over, to be nice, to have the right answer, to support and nurture those around her (especially those boys and men around her), often at the cost of her own happiness. How many times does Hermione break down and cry? What hidden well of loneliness is there within her, for all those times that Harry wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t try harder (the Tasks in Goblet of Fire, the Horcrux hunt in Deathly Hallows), for all those times that Ron reacts emotionally and they argue? How much did Hermione suffer in Prisoner of Azkaban from her friendship with Ron breaking down because of Scabbers and Crookshanks? That entire mini-arc is their relationship, played out as the animosity between a cat and a rat: Hermione is right (and she is proven right at the end of the book), but beforehand she needs to suffer her friend’s cold shoulder (not to mention her ever-mounting schoolwork). She still finds time to help Hagrid prepare his defence of Buckbeak and it speaks volumes about her character that, when Ron is dragged into the Shack and Sirius reveals himself, Hermione stands with her friends, all animosity forgotten.

Hermione does tend to cry, quite a bit: when she overhears Ron in Philosopher’s Stone, telling everyone how she doesn’t have any friends, when she’s turned into a cat in Chamber of Secrets, during all her spats with Ron in the third book. She cries herself to sleep in Deathly Hallows after Ron leaves and I’ve always found her to be at her most vulnerable during these times. When Hermione is hurt, she can lash out, in cruel and terrible ways, but I think that stems, in part, from the intensity of her feelings. She can have quite a thin skin at times, but what she really wishes she had was understanding. On the one hand, these two boys can’t quite understand her at times and one the other, she can’t understand why they don’t get her, why they don’t just listen. I identify with that a lot, because I have been Hermione.

Knowing you are right and convincing others that you are, are two different things.

#Hermione Granger and the fight for justice

Voldemort chose Harry as his opposite, the only one who could bring him down, and that says a lot about Voldemort’s character. But in terms of ideals and vision, it is Hermione who stands in stark contrast.

Blood purity is Rowling’s shorthand for class and race in the wizarding world. We don’t see Lee Jordan or Angelina or Parvati receive any racial abuse. Instead, we see Muggleborns (chief among them Hermione) be derided for something they have zero control over: their heritage. From that first ‘Mudblood’ in Chamber of Secrets to the last page of the book, we see Hermione weathering abuse, we see how she becomes a lightning rod for everything from scathing press editorials to Voldemort’s worst legislation. She comes to Hogwarts determined to do well, determined to embrace this side of her (probably much to the bemusement of her parents); at the age of thirteen, she pushes herself to her absolute breaking point in order to grasp, with both hands, this opportunity that has been given to her. Why is expulsion so terrifying for her? Why did her Dementor turn into the personification of a terrible grade from a beloved teacher? Because knowledge is Hermione’s weapon and she works ceaselessly, tirelessly, to improve on what she knows.

/u/Marx0r mentioned Hermione willing to do whatever it takes in order to achieve her goals. She is ambitious, wildly so, more so than Harry. Hermione thrives through her hard work and she is determined to prove any doubter, any nay-sayer wrong. But where others (like Voldemort) would achieve their goals with one foot on a house elf’s neck, Hermione strives for equality and justice. She strives to bring others up with her. She embodies feminist traits of wanting a better life for everyone, not just the privileged few. She stands by Harry, even when everyone thinks he’s crazy, or a liar. She never once doubts Harry’s word (unlike Ron) and she stands by him, breaking the rules in ever-increasing orders of magnitude. In Chamber of Secrets not only does she lie to authority (Lockhart and Madam Pince) to get a book out of the restricted section, but she actually raids Snape’s personal stocks to brew the Polyjuice Potion. When Dumbledore’s Army is set up, it is Hermione not Harry who spreads the word, who creates the parchment, the coins, who sets up the meetings. Yes, Harry imparts the knowledge, but Hermione goes against the word of authority and scorns Umbridge’s rules without any guilt. In Deathly Hallows, she gives up school to go hunting Horcruxes: sure, the chances of her being allowed back at Hogwarts were minimal, but this is something she has worked towards for six years; without a second thought, she gives that up, knowing she may never be able to return again.

The other side of this, of course, is that in her pursuit of justice, she can come across as quite tone deaf. When she sets up S.P.E.W. she does so out of a place of love and genuine concern. But she decides (unilaterally) that she should be the voice of the oppressed house elves, that she has the right to know better than them. Knitting clothes to leave around for them to ‘stumble’ upon is not cute and it’s not right. It erases any choices that house elves might have in their own determination and for someone who values agency so much, it’s clear that Hermione doesn’t really get it. This is an important lesson: even the best of intentions can come across as completely wrong; the way to help those below you is to listen before deciding how to act in their best interests.

I like that when Hermione fails, she can be blind to her own failures. That, again, is a valuable lesson: when someone tells you that an approach is wrong, it is worth re-evaluating that. Now, Hermione is vindicated, in a sense, when she says that maybe Sirius should have treated Kreacher better (it should be noted that Kreacher behaves deplorably towards her, but she remains undeterred here). The underlying principles of her beliefs, ones of compassion and empathy, are sometimes in stark contrast to her actual approaches. Ron is right that house elves shouldn’t be patronised towards, but so is Hermione that they are being oppressed. The ideal approach here would be one of dialogue, rather than one witch deciding that she knows what’s best. It reminds me, in a way, of Dumbledore’s youthful ideals of the ‘greater good’. After all, Hermione comes from a place of righteous anger: house elves are being mistreated and essentially seen as slave labour and that is not really something that the wizarding world ought to tolerate. But what would a Hermione who chooses a violent path look like? It reminds me of Galadriel’s speech in The Fellowship of the Ring:

And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!

What would a terrible queen Hermione have looked like? What power could she have yielded? I find that so fascinating and something I wish we had seen even a glimpse of. Hermione is good and she is pure of heart, but did she ever falter in that belief? Did she ever think, in her deepest thoughts, that maybe she could just be a benevolent dictator? That she might, for once, actually know better? What a story that would have turned out to be…

Overall, Hermione means a lot to me and many others like me. She is passionate and hard-working, she is intelligent and compassionate, she is everything I want to aspire to be. She is a role model and a feminist icon, one that works at all ages: from a bossy young girl to a competent young woman who lives through torture and a year on the run, Hermione Granger encompasses the traits of all the Hogwarts house: the bravery and daring of Gryffindor, the ambition of Slytherin, the wit and knowledge of Ravenclaw and the unfaltering loyalty and compassion of Hufflepuff. Hermione is a catalyst for change, a driver of the underdog and a passionate supporter of those who do not have a voice in society.

The best thing anyone could ever say about me is that I am like Hermione. I think that is the standard we should all strive for.

--

A final few comments on this rankdown. It’s been an amazing experience and I cannot thank /u/Moostronus, /u/k9centipede, /u/oomps62 and /u/hermionesteaspoon enough for the opportunity they’ve given me. To all my fellow rankers: thank you, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Some of you might be wrong (:P) but I would never hesitate to call you my friends. Thanks again <3

#Other Rankers Thoughts:

/u/Marx0r: It seems to be a fact of nature that no matter how obvious the villain of a story is, there will always be a section of fandom that, ironically or otherwise, will defend and laud them to the end. There’s /r/empiredidnothingwrong and /r/dreadfort, tumblrites that praise the Columbine killers, and slash fiction where Tom Riddle receives favors that no murderer deserves. But the line that no one will cross is the only line there should be: Dolores Jane Umbridge. A character so vile, so irredeemably awful, that we laugh at her abduction and gang rape. In over a decade of activity in the HP fandom, I have seen literally no one do anything short of despise her. To write a character that evokes such a universal emotion while still remaining believable is nothing short of genius.

/u/bubblegumgills: I think it speaks volumes about her character that even now, aged nearly 30, with a lot of experience under my belt, I am reduced to a seething mass of rage whenever I read through OotP again. Umbridge’s sections are throwbacks to every single petty, vindictive, power-hungry individual I’ve ever dealt with in my life. From a maths teacher who thought I was too stupid to ever grasp the subject (joke’s on him, I built my entire career on maths, numbers and analysis) to functionaries in various government buildings, it’s amazing how many Umbridge-lite people there are in real life. I’ll echo what /u/Marx0r said: after over 15 years of being in the fandom, I have never seen anyone remotely try to redeem Umbridge. To me, she is the real villain of the series, because she already exists in real life.

/u/pizzabangle: How fantastic is Umbridge? She is quite possibly the most perfect villain for the Harry Potter saga. The driving force of her despicable nature is that she is overwhelmed by her own fear. In the HP universe, we know that the Good Guys ™ value love and its ability to unite people (incl non-humans) above all else. Dolores embodies the opposite of this philosophy in every way. She is terrified of those different from herself, half-breeds and questioning minds alike. In her position as DADA professor, she actively impedes her students from learning any magic because she is afraid of how they will use their powers. Similarly, she attempts to keep other teachers from doing their jobs and muggle-borns from using magic at all. Her fear, isolation, and aggression run completely counter to Dumbledore’s message of acceptance, love, and camaraderie. Basically, she shits on everything decent in the world and it’s terrific.

/u/seanmik620: Dolores Umbridge is possibly the most fantastic character I’ve ever come across, sheerly out of how much we are made to hate every single thing about her. Yes, she is supernaturally evil in the sense that she is actively trying to ruin the protagonist’s life with her less-than-legal magical powers, but at the same time she represents the type of evil that you and I are going to face in our own lives, which makes her much more detestable than Voldemort in a relatable way. She abuses her power and enjoys diminishing those around her, letting no moral obligation deride her from her goal, no matter how she has to justify it to herself. I don’t know of a character that causes readers more frustration and anger. The only reason I don’t have her at number 1 is her lack of transformation compared to the remaining characters, though she is an exemplary model of how to make an impactful static character.

/u/theduqoffrat: Quite honestly a better villain than Voldemort. You are made to hate her. There are no redeeming qualities about her except that she likes cats. But do you know who else liked cats? Martha Stewart and shes a felon. That’s right. Instead of baking pies, Umbridge forces students to cut themselves. She doesn’t have the complexity of Voldemort though, she just has the downright evil, putrid, character traits that make me hate her more than anyone else.

#PREFACE

I just want to say that I absolutely love Umbridge as a character. I made no attempts at hiding my disdain of Voldemort as an evil super villain, and to be honest, a large part of why I dislike Voldemort as a villain is because of how bloody amazing Umbridge is as one. When she was (unfairly) ranked at #199 in the original Rankdown here, I was mortified. I hadn’t actually known the Rankdown existed when it happened, otherwise you can bet I would have been in that comment section ranting up a storm. I’ll be honest, a large part of this Rankdown was me waiting for the moment to profess my undying love for Umbridge as a villain. For the longest time, I thought I might need to use my Moony in order to make sure she made it further this game. I’m so, so happy it never had to came to that - but not only that, but that my fellow rankers managed to agree with me that she is worthy of being in the top 5 characters in this Rankdown. Without further ado, I will dig into what makes her worthy of that top 5 spot.

#FIRST IMPRESSIONS

In the complete silence that greeted these words, the witch to the right of Fudge leaned forward so that Harry saw her for the first time.

He thought she looked just like a large, pale toad. She was rather squat and with a broad, flabby face, as little neck as Uncle Vernon, and a very wide, slack mouth. Her eyes were large, round, and slightly bulging. Even the little black velvet bow perched on top of her short curly hair put him in mind of a large fly she was about to catch on a long sticky tongue.

"The Chair recognizes Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister," said Fudge.

The witch spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice that took Harry aback; he had been expecting a croak.

"I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor Dumbledore," she said with a simper that left her big, round eyes as cold as ever. "So silly of me. But it sound for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry of Magic had ordered an attack on this boy!"

We first meet soon-to-be-”Professor” Umbridge at the tribunal scheduled after the dementor attack in Order of the Phoenix. Immediately we get a fluent imagery: I’m sure every single one of us had a distinct image in their mind about what Dolores Umbridge looked like, and really the images we got in the US copies of the book really did give it justice. The mental imagine already makes you hate her, and this is even before the over obnoxious amounts of pink come into play.

Tack on her high, girlish voice, and you have a clear image of her in her head. And she is utterly obnoxious and awful just by her very appearance. Like, that’s only the first step. We don’t even see the true evil that lies behind that toad-like face.

Even better, we immediately start to get an idea of her personality traits. “A teensy bit…” Oh man would that not be irritating? It’s so horribly condescending, and she’s doing it to Dumbledore of all people. Dumbledore! I mean, I know he wasn’t exactly the most welcome or loved person in the Ministry at that moment, but considering how she acts throughout the year and then in the future when she finds out that Voldemort is back, she doesn’t ever stop being a condescending person who finds herself superior to everyone else.

… alright, maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, but really, it’s that easy to see it already just by those few short lines of first description of her. She’s got clear personality from the get-go: ugly as sin, power hungry, and a certain knack of acting superior to everyone else. If only we knew when we first started reading OOtP that this was only the beginning…

#POWER

Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the House Quidditch teams will take place on the--"

He broke off, looking inquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge said, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.

Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat back down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of the staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair, and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as a Harry had ever seen it. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome."

He voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish again, Harry felt a powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ("Hem, hem") and continued: "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"

Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy; on the contrary, they all looked rather taken aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"

Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.

"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan," Parvati whispered to Lavender, and both of them lapsed into silent giggles.

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ("Hem, hem"), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the Wizarding community must be passed down through the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."

Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back. Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawklike, and Harry distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little "Hem, hem" and went on with her speech.

"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation..."

Dolores Umbridge is a woman of power. She feasts herself on the power, she draws power into every essence of her being and manipulates that power to get what she wants. Even with her initial speech at Hogwarts, we quickly figure out that Umbridge does not care who you are or what title you may hold; if she sees an opportunity to sink her teeth in and increase her own power, she will absolutely do it. She would know, of course, that Dumbledore would do everything in his own power to remain headmaster at Hogwarts. She also knew perfectly well that as the representative of the Ministry in political control, she had the ability to wield her power over him - after all, the Ministry is the one who lines his pockets at the end of the day and keeps him at Hogwarts.

This is maybe one of the first times that we begin to understand that Umbridge is not just some Ministry nutjob but rather a cold, calculated person who is incredibly intelligent. It’s almost amazing, really, the amount of manipulation she does to everyone in the series in order to get her way; from the smallest person in the world to even Dumbledore she was crafty at manipulating anyone she had to to get her way. Which, of course, is why there is no big surprise when she convinces Fudge to give her the title of “High Inquisitor” and allow her, essentially, to turn Hogwarts into a miniature country with her as the sole ruler - and, dare I say it, dictator.

She knows how to manipulate people easily into following her. She knows just who to tempt to her side (just look at the Inquisitorial Squad) and how to cater to their sense of egos to get things she wants done. She knew how to poke at Harry’s buttons in order to make his life a living hell, she knew how to further smear his and Dumbledore’s names across the wall to ensure that nobody saw them as the two golden boys. Even the “simple” tasks of watching the teachers and how they taught was enough to get people under their skin. She knew how to make Hagrid more flippant during his lesson to ensure to knock “points” of her imaginary scale. She knew how to make Snape seethe in rage, she knew how to crack every person…

Except for one. And that, ladies and gentleman, is what comes next.

#THE STANDOFF

Professor McGonagall marched into the room without giving the slightest indication that she knew Professor Umbridge was there.

“That will do,” she said and silence fell immediately. “Mr. Finnigan, kindly come here and hand back the homework —Miss Brown, please take this box of mice —don’t be silly, girl, they won’t hurt you —and hand one to each student —”

“Hem, hem,” said Professor Umbridge, employing the same silly little cough she had used to interrupt Dumbledore on the first night of term. Professor McGonagall ignored her. Seamus handed back Harry’s essay; Harry took it without looking at him and saw, to his relief, that he had managed an A.

“Right then, everyone, listen closely —Dean Thomas, if you do that to the mouse again I shall put you in detention —most of you have now successfully vanished your snails and even those who were left with a certain amount of shell have the gist of the spell. Today we shall be —”

“Hem, hem,” said Professor Umbridge.

“Yes?” said Professor McGonagall, turning round, her eyebrows so close together they seemed to form one long, severe line. “I was just wondering, Professor, whether you received my note telling you of the date and time of your inspec —”

“Obviously I received it, or I would have asked you what you are doing in my classroom,” said Professor McGonagall, turning her back firmly on Professor Umbridge. Many of the students exchanged looks of glee. “As I was saying, today we shall be practicing the altogether more difficult vanishment of mice. Now, the Vanishing Spell —”

“Hem, hem.”

“I wonder,” said Professor McGonagall in cold fury, turning on Professor Umbridge, “how you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I am talking.”

Professor Umbridge looked as though she had just been slapped in the face. She did not speak, but straightened the parchment on her clipboard and began scribbling furiously. Looking supremely unconcerned, Professor McGonagall addressed the class once more.

Who else could I be talking about except for the lovely, badass woman named McGonagall? This wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg for her and Umbridge to butt heads, even…

“Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva,” simpered Professor Umbridge, who had just coughed her loudest yet. “I was just concerned that you might not have Harry’s most recent Defense Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I’m quite sure I slipped in a note . . .”

“What, this thing?” said Professor McGonagall in a tone of revulsion, as she pulled a sheet of pink parchment from between the leaves of Harry’s folder. She glanced down it, her eyebrows slightly raised, then placed it back into the folder without comment. “Yes, as I was saying, Potter, Professor Lupin thought you showed a pronounced aptitude for the subject, and obviously for an Auror —”

“Did you not understand my note, Minerva?” asked Professor Umbridge in honeyed tones, quite forgetting to cough.

“Of course I understood it,” said Professor McGonagall, her teeth clenched so tightly that the words came out a little muffled.

“Well, then, I am confused. . . . I’m afraid I don’t quite understand how you can give Mr. Potter false hope that —”

“False hope?” repeated Professor McGonagall, still refusing to look round at Professor Umbridge. “He has achieved high marks in all his Defense Against the Dark Arts tests —”

“I’m terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Harry has been achieving very poor results in his classes with me —”

“I should have made my meaning plainer,” said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look Umbridge directly in the eyes. “He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher.”

Professor Umbridge’s smile vanished as suddenly as a lightbulb blowing. She sat back in her chair, turned a sheet on her clipboard, and began scribbling very fast indeed, her bulging eyes rolling from side to side. Professor McGonagall turned back to Harry, her thin nostrils flared, her eyes burning. “Any questions, Potter?”

“Yes,”said Harry. “What sort of character and aptitude tests do the Ministry do on you, if you get enough N.E.W.T.s?”

“Well, you’ll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth,” said Professor McGonagall, “perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further three years, not to mention very high skills in practical defense. It will mean a lot more study even after you’ve left school, so unless you’re prepared to —”

“I think you’ll also find,” said Umbridge, her voice very cold now, “that the Ministry looks into the records of those applying to be Aurors. Their criminal records.”

“—unless you’re prepared to take even more exams after Hogwarts, you should really look at another —”

“—which means that this boy has as much chance of becoming an Auror as Dumbledore has of ever returning to this school.”

“A very good chance, then,” said Professor McGonagall.

“Potter has a criminal record,” said Umbridge loudly.

“Potter has been cleared of all charges,”s aid Professor McGonagall, even more loudly.

Professor Umbridge stood up. She was so short that this did not make a great deal of difference, but her fussy, simpering demeanor had given place to a hard fury that made her broad, flabby face look oddly sinister. “Potter has no chance whatsoever of becoming an Auror!”

Professor McGonagall got to her feet too, and in her case this was a much more impressive move. She towered over Professor Umbridge. “Potter,” she said in ringing tones, “I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly I will make sure you achieve the required results!”

“The Minister of Magic will never employ Harry Potter!” said Umbridge, her voice rising furiously.

“There may well be a new Minister of Magic by the time Potter is ready to join!” shouted Professor McGonagall.

“Aha!”shrieked Professor Umbridge, pointing a stubby finger at McGonagall. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Of course! That’s what you want, isn’t it, Minerva McGonagall? You want Cornelius Fudge replaced by Albus Dumbledore! You think you’ll be where I am, don’t you, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and headmistress to boot!”

“You are raving,” said Professor McGonagall, superbly disdainful. “Potter, that concludes our career consultation.”

Harry swung his bag over his shoulder and hurried out of the room, not daring to look at Umbridge. He could hear her and Professor McGonagall continuing to shout at each other all the way back along the corridor. Professor Umbridge was still breathing as though she had just run a race when she strode into their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that afternoon.

These interactions with McGonagall are really fantastic ways to really get into Umbridge’s head. For starters, it was clear that McGonagall did not respect Umbridge’s position of power and even more so, was willing to pretend that Umbridge didn’t even exist. This, of course, is one of the biggest offenses to Umbridge. She thrives being the center of attention, she thrives on everyone knowing that she holds all the power. So when someone, in this case McGonagall, treats her like under the level of respect and awe that she demands of her “followers”, Umbridge crumbles. If Umbridge was a mother, she would be the queen of /r/raisedbynarcissists, simply because it’s so utterly apparent that she demands utter respect and admiration at every turn.

As well, we come back to her determination to hold power. She is very prideful in her position in the Ministry and feels threatened when she thinks that McGonagall only hates her because of jealousy. This nagging feeling is the same thing that makes her lash out at Dumbledore and assume that he wants to be the Minister of Magic (when he wants nothing of the sort). The fact that McGonagall gets under her skin also tells us one more thing: Dolores Umbridge is insecure.

I really want to strike that point home because it explains a lot of her character, why she acts the way she does. A lot of people think of insecurity as just closing yourself off and not accepting when people appreciate you (see: Lupin). However, Umbridge has a separate side of insecurity: she expresses her insecurity by making sure that others are brought down under her heel. If everyone follows her whim, what does she have to worry about?

That’s why, in the end, McGonagall bothers her so much. Her position holds no power over McGonagall, and so she is effectively worthless in the eyes of McGonagall. Which, of course, McGonagall is right to think that way because Umbridge is such a deplorable human, but at the end of the day Umbridge is showing off her own insecurity here.

This insecurity later comes into play again against a certain hooved foe, which I will now address now as it is a large part of her intrigue as a character.

#THE CENTAUR DEBACLE

This is getting fairly long at this point, but for reference I am pointing to Chapter 33 in OotP now, in the scene where Umbridge confronts the centaurs of the Forbidden Forest. No direct quotes to save space, sorry!

As we knew not long after Trelawney was “sacked” by Umbridge, Umbridge was heavily racist against the centaurs. Considering them “half-breeds” of “near-human intelligence” it is no wonder that when confronted with the possibility of facing them, she quakes under the pressure. This is the first time in the series that Umbridge looks genuinely fearful. She is terrified to be around them, and that fear fuels her racism.

We see again a time where Umbridge tries to exert her power and control and it falls flat. The centaurs are (rightfully) angered by her actions and words, and so they wouldn’t even care if she was the Queen of England. She tries (and fails) to fight them off after her initial warnings fall flat, but of course, we know that leads into a stay in the hospital.

I wish I could say her racism is the worst thing about her, but at the end of the day it’s still not the most evil thing about her. Even with her racism transcending just “half-human” species but also those who were Muggleborn, she still manages to find horrifically cruel and terrifying ways to continue to make you hate her guts.

#THE DARKEST SIDE

The thing that really makes Umbridge truly the best villain in the series, though, is not her racism. While many people (understandably) consider racism to be one of the worst things in this waking world, there are so many horrible and awful things that Umbridge does that make her so undeniably evil that it is amazing that she was able to hold a political office.

Let’s look at this, shall we?

• Willingly tortured Harry by permanently scarring him with “I must not tell lies”. Like, she literally bought (or made?) a quill that literally uses your own freaking blood to cut words from your skin onto paper. Like it’s so legitimately fucked up it really makes me glad JKR has never told us how to make a horcrux because clearly if that is something that can happen, I really don’t want to know what horrors people need to inflict in order to make horcruxes.

• Using veritaserum on students without their knowledge. Like, seriously, she freaking DRUGS the students in order to get them to talk to her. She does this without them knowing. Like, holy crap, that’s legitimately sick. Can you imagine your private secrets spilling out because your teacher drugged you? Just… God, no, the entire thought of it creeps me out.

• When out of veritaserum, decides she wants to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry to interrogate him. You know, one of the Unforgivable Curses? The one that literally drove Neville’s parents into madness to where they are in a mental ward at St. Mungo’s for the rest of their life? Seriously. Fucked. Up.

• She was the one to send the dementors after Harry before the school year. This crazy, batshit woman, decided to order the Dementors to attack a Muggle village just to try and get to Harry. Like, what if Harry hadn’t known the Patronus charm? Not only would Dudley be deader than a doornail, but so would Harry. All to justify silencing Harry and keeping herself and Fudge in control of the ministry.

• Imprisoned dozens of muggleborns for “stealing magic” and seemed genuinely joyful at doing so.

• … all of this while being friendly to known Death Eaters and not actually being one herself.

Amazingly, after all of this, Umbridge was never actually “shown” to be on the side of Voldemort. While it was clear (especially in Deathly Hallows) that she didn’t seem to care that Voldemort was controlling everything, I think it’s yet another perfect spot to show her real personality: she wants power, no matter who can give that power, and she will do what she can to get it. I mean, let’s be real here, she’s INCREDIBLY smart to align herself that way. In the end (with the books) she manages to scrape by perfectly happily just by doing just that. She was happy (her patronus showed that!) and perfectly in control of her own mind. That’s not to say her mind wasn’t totally fucked up, but there’s no denying that she knew perfectly well what she was doing all the time and in was in full control of her own thoughts and actions.

I think it’s pretty telling that Voldemort and his Death Eaters never felt the need to use the Imperius Curse on her, out of all the Ministry officials. They knew perfectly well that she could be manipulated into doing exactly what they wanted, because they knew she had no standards for morality. It begs the question (still!) why before the Death Eaters had seized full control of the Ministry why she was still allowed to work there.

It’s another one of those small things that just shows how strong her power over people can be. She convinced them (in some way, off scenes) to not completely throw her to the wolves. That shows an amazing intelligence and craftiness. It’s scary, really, and it’s one of those things that really makes you put life into perspective.

#IT’S JUST POLITICS

In many ways, Umbridge shows the readers how corrupt governments can truly be. With Fudge, Scrimgeour, and even Thicknese, you get the sense that government can be a bunch of fumbling idiots sometimes but they (generally) still have a good of heart. Umbridge, however, shows us the nasty reality of government that can impact even how we perceive our governments outside of the series.

The political climate is (of course) fairly delicate now at the time of me writing this. There is a lot of turmoil in all parts in the world surrounding corruption in the governments of major first world countries, and many of the same things can fall back and be related to Umbridge.

At the end of the day, Umbridge shows that politics is a lot more than just being elected and doing what is good for the people. She shows the unfortunate reality that sometimes the people we elect will elect people to work for them that are truly, genuinely, horrible people and they can influence how that elected official acts and portrays themselves.

I won’t delve too much further into this topic, but I wanted to bring it up as it is an important thing to reflect on to understand her character a bit more before I finish up this write-up.

#AT THE END OF THE DAY…

A lot about Umbridge seems simple at the surface. She may be fairly streamlined as a character, but what makes her a top 5 character is how she makes you feel. I know there are going to be people that disagree with that. However, one of the strongest points of literary merit that I feel many people overlook is how a character can impact the emotional state of the readers. Umbridge, no doubt, continually manages to make the reader feel seething rage. So while she is fairly easy to explain, a lot of what makes her such an excellent character is the whole package for her. Many people hate Umbridge more than Voldemort. You never truly feel any sympathy for Umbridge, which is one of the things that just makes her so dang great. You feel perfectly justified at hating her with every turn, and every time the trio (or any other character) does something in the series to stand up to her you can’t help but root for them.

I know this is getting super long. SO, thank you so much if you have stuck through to the end of this so far. I just want to say some final words before I leave you all to the masses again.

I wanted to thank everyone who has participated in this Rankdown, both my fellow rankers and the people who have commented along and watched as we spent the last 9 months slaving over this. This was a ton of fun, and made me think more critically of the series as a whole and the characters within it. It was a pleasure doing this with you all and I can’t wait to spectate the next Rankdown should it come.

First, a word from**/u/Khajiit-ify**, the only ranker who submitted extra thoughts on this one:

Ron is such a deeply complex individual. He’s another very relatable character in the series; him being the youngest of the boys but overshadowed by his successful elder brothers and only young sister. He deflects his feelings with humor, he is always trying to fit in and show his strengths and failing. But he overcomes that, and becomes his own man. He is one of the few characters that really overcomes his flaws throughout the series, and works to improve himself on them, but shows that it isn’t a process that happens overnight.

I spent a lot of time talking about themes and literary devices over the course of HPRD2, and while I enjoy, more than most things, digging deep into characters in that analytical way, those aren’t really the reasons why I love these books or Ron, specifically. So for this final write-up, I’ve decided to do something a bit different and turn more inward and focus on what Ron means to me. This write-up is far more personal in nature than anything that I have ever written on Harry Potter before. I hope you don’t mind.

Ron was my first favorite character. It’s difficult to remember why exactly seven-year-old ETI loved him, though I can guess it had something to do with his sense of humor and stalwart friendship. However, nothing lasts forever and at some imperceptible point in PoA, Hermione ascended to number one where she would reign unchallenged, until Luna managed to displace her with a single vague theory about aurors, dark magic, and gum disease. After that, things got messy and “favorite” began to depend on current book, current mood, and day of the week. Hermione and Luna were always in the mix, but so were Harry and Hagrid, and occasionally Dumbledore, too. Ron had become boring, though. There just wasn’t much there to hold my interest. I never hated Ron, never thought him useless, or a detriment to the series or other characters. He just never inspired me like the others could.

At some point in the last two years though, that began to change so subtly that I didn’t really even notice it, until I needed to fill out my bets for the penultimate month of Rankdown 1. As I debated the pros and cons of betting on Ron, it just sort of hit me: how devastated I would be if Ron didn’t make the top 8, how important it was to me that he be recognized as the truly fantastic character he is. These emotions caught me by surprise and after about thirty minutes of Ron-centric reflection, I arrived at the unshakable truth: after fifteen years I had come full circle. Ron Weasley was my favorite Harry Potter character.

Aside from Ron-the-first-time-around, I’ve always been clear on why I loved certain characters. They all have something that I see in myself, or that I find inspiring, that I want to replicate. I loved Luna because she was unafraid to be herself, even in the face of vicious bullying (something I had experience with). I loved Dumbledore because he was so compassionate and understanding, always willing to give someone another chance. I loved Hagrid because he always searched for beauty and goodness in the ugliest and most dangerous creatures. I loved Hermione because she was smart and she was a girl and she made being those things cool, but most of all because she was so unapologetic about her passions. I loved Harry because he was always so sure of himself and rarely doubted his instincts.

In the past, I wished I had Hermione’s courage to fight for what I believed in, even in the face a fervent opposition, even from the people I loved. I wished I had Harry’s courage to always pull through and find a way, to never lose faith in myself. And now, at this point in my life, I wish I had Ron’s courage to look my darkest thoughts in the face and run them through with a sword.

The Critic

My mom calls it “The Critic,” the monster in your head that obsesses over your every flaw, every mistake. It grabs hold of old evolutionary, necessary tools for survival like anxiety and fear and pumps power into them until they flood every thought and wash out any positive emotion. The Critic whispers lies and accepts them as truths without reflection. “If someone else said those things to you, you wouldn’t stand for it,” my mom tells me as I sob into the phone five minutes after a panic attack, alone in a dorm room that feels like a cell, an ocean away from home. “You have to personify it. Turn it into a third person, so you can see it as something separate from yourself. Give it a separate name.” A pause. “How about Herb? Or Bob?” Fleetingly, an image of an open locket, two red eyes glaring out, passes through my mind. “You can’t let Herb have power over you.” Easier said than done, mom.

Even though she’s a huge Snape fan, Harry and my mom would get along, I think.

"Come here." he said and he led the way, brushed snow from the rock's surface, and held out his hand for the Horcrux. When Ron offered the sword, however, Harry shook his head [...] "No you should do it." As certainly as he had known that the doe was benign, he knew that Ron had to be the one to wield the sword. Dumbledore had at least taught Harry something about certain kinds of magic, of the incalculable power of certain acts.

Harry loves his instincts, trusts them above all else. Harry and Hermione just have a confidence in their skills and strengths, a sense of righteousness that Ron lacks. Harry’s instincts tell him that Ron has to be the one to destroy the locket. Harry doesn’t bother to explain it to himself, but he’s putting several things together quickly: how Horcruxes affect people, and the familiar patterns of Ron’s destructive feelings of inadequacy and how they’ve haunted their friendship over the years. Harry knows the power the locket holds, the way it intensifies your darkest thoughts and snuffs out the light inside. Ron has to be the one to destroy the locket, otherwise the circle will remain unbroken: Ron will be a loyal friend, something will happen that eats at his little self-worth, turning him bitter; Ron will lash out, Ron will leave; Ron will come back. Harry’s not sure how, but locket will force Ron to confront his darkest thoughts in a visceral way and Harry knows that Ron will triumph. Destroying the locket will give Ron the resolution he needs to move forward.

But Ron also knows the locket and how it functions and he has far less faith in his ability to conquer his darkest fears.

"Because that thing's bad for me!" said Ron, backing away from the locket on the

rock. "I can't handle it! I'm not making excuses, for what I was like, but it affects me worse than it affects you and Hermione, it made me think stuff -- stuff that I was thinking anyway, but it made everything worse. I can't explain it, and then I'd take it off and I'd get my head straight again, and then I'd have to put the effing thing back on -- I can't do it Harry!" He had backed away, the sword dragging at his side, shaking his head.

Confronting the Critic is a terrifying prospect. There’s something comforting about giving in and listening, and not bothering to challenge. Because what if I do try to let go of the thoughts and move forward but then everything the Critic predicted comes to pass? What if the Critic is right? Failing because I didn’t try feels easier than trying and failing. It’s better to push the thoughts away and pretend they don’t exist, even though I know nothing will change until I do.

When you lose all faith in yourself and your own abilities, it’s good to have someone around who will still believe in you, will still encourage and nudge you in the right direction, will love you even when you can’t do that for yourself. For me, that person is my mom; for Ron, it’s Harry.

"You can do it," said Harry, "you can! You've just got the sword, I know it's supposed to be you who uses it. Please just get rid of it, Ron."

The sound of his name seemed to act like a stimulant. Ron swallowed, then still breathing hard through his long nose, moved back toward the rock.

"Tell me when," he croaked.

And so it begins.

Ron faces his fears.

"I have seen your heart, and it is mine."

Right off the bat, the locket tries two things: first, it subtly tells Ron that it “knows” him. It knows all of his darkest thoughts and desires. It knows that he is inadequate and unworthy, all the things he fears. Second, there is no use trying because Ron has already lost. He belongs to his fears.

*"I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you

desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible...."*

Ron has grown a lot over the years, so it’s difficult to gauge exactly how his deepest desires have changed. If you recall, though:

“I’m alone — but I’m different — I look older — and I’m head boy! […] I’m wearing the badge like Bill used to — and I’m holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup — I’m Quidditch captain, too.”

The scene in front of the mirror of Erised happened almost exactly six years prior, and I would venture a guess that these yearnings have grown a bit. Ron probably dreams bigger than just head boy and Quidditch captain, but the crux of his desires remains the same.

Ron has always felt stifled and overshadowed by his brothers (and now Harry and Hermione). And it’s not just because he’s the last child. Ginny came after him, but she was the only girl, which automatically makes her special in a way that Ron never could be, at least in his mind. What he wants more than anything else is to outshine them all, to stand above them all. Ron wants to be special. He wants people to notice him.

(And it’s also important to note that Harry achieves many of the things Ron sees in the mirror: Harry becomes the Quidditch star and captain. Harry’s good deeds help Gryffindor secure the House Cup a bit more than Ron’s contributions--Harry’s 60 points in the first book as opposed to Ron’s 50, for instance--More on this point later.)

Dread is the opposite desire, so it stands to reason that what Ron fears the most would be the reverse of what he sees in the mirror.

Ron fears that he is not good enough, that his family and everyone else are better than him. And this sense of inadequacy has always held incredible power over him, to the point of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. We see it in the fifth book when Ron makes the Quidditch team. He’s no Oliver Wood, but he’s capable enough. Unfortunately, as soon as anyone reminds Ron of his insecurities, they come to fruition, and Ron falls from good to terrible. He misses easy saves, he drops the quaffle, he throws the quaffle so hard at Katie Bell, it smacks her in the face and gives her a nosebleed. He allows his doubts to become his reality, and the raucous Slytherins can’t get enough of it. But then at some point in the match against Ravenclaw, he lets go of his fears and just realizes that he does, in fact, have the ability to make a save. And it happens. He does it. He just needed to believe in himself in order to become the Quidditch hero of his dreams.

That is to say, in Quidditch, as in life, everything Ron dreaded came to pass because he gave his fears power over him. However, he eventually learned to have faith in his abilities, which led him to success. This was a positive and powerful lesson for Ron to learn; yet now, roughly a year and a half later, the locket is trying to flip the script on him.

Hey Ron, it says, remember that time you were successful and everyone loved you? Now remember all those other times you were terrible and everyone including your brothers and friends were disgusted with you and your performance?

Another reason why the Critic is so insidious: it doesn’t just bring out the dark. It twists the light as well, so that the good memories and positive experiences now look like the outliers, now they don’t seem quite as important.

"Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter . . . Least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend . . . Second best, always, eternally overshadowed . . ."

Eleven-year-old Ron: the youngest son of a large, loving, magical family who doesn’t have a lot of money.

Eleven-year-old Harry: An orphan who has only known magic existed and that he was rich and famous for about a month.

Two kids from exact opposite backgrounds and they hit it off immediately on that first train ride to Hogwarts. Both fascinated by the person across from them. Ron is enthralled by Harry’s fame and his money, but he doesn’t know that he, Ron, has everything Harry ever wanted.

With five older brothers, and one younger sister, Ron has spent his entire life sharing everything from his clothes to his parents’ attention.

“I’m the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I’ve got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy’s a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they’re really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it’s no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I’ve got Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand, and Percy’s old rat.”

“For some reason he was looking gloomy,” a clueless Harry observes.

Ron doesn’t have a lot of things that belong to him and only him. He’s had to share everything with his brothers from his clothes to his mother’s attention. And if he ever does do anything of note, it still won’t be his because another brother will already share in that success.

And then Ron, who already feels forgotten in his home, shares with everything Harry “The Boy Who Lived" Potter. Ron shares his room with Harry. Ron shares his brothers with Harry, he shares his father with Harry, and most of all, he shares his mother. (I would throw Ginny in here, too, but Harry and Ron have very different relationships with her.)

It’s more than that though. Ron shares his entire identity with Harry. He shares his love of Quidditch, he shares his favorite team, and when Harry can’t decide on his own what classes he wants to take starting third year, Ron shares that with him as well. And Harry seems to best Ron in all the ways that matter. Harry is the slightly better student and he’s way better at Quidditch. Harry is famous. Harry’s always getting attention, while Ron is shunted to the side.

I think it’s obvious but still important to say: the locket is not stating facts here. Ron is not the least loved in anyone’s eyes, Mrs. Weasley is proud of Ron’s accomplishments. She gushes over his prefect badge and celebrates Ron OWL results, because even if they weren’t as good as Harry’s or Hermione’s they were still pretty great, certainly better than both twins combined. And it’s also pretty clear that Hermione returns Ron’s affections. Hell, she even asked him out first back in sixth year and spent a good few months in a jealous rage during the whole Lavender debacle.

But none of this matters to a Critic that sees what it wants to see. It doesn’t matter how much evidence you have to counter the dark thoughts, they’ll still twist your reality until you’re projecting your doubts onto others. I can see how pathetic I really am. Can you see it, too? Of course you can.

“Ron, stab it now!” Harry bellowed: He could feel the locket quivering in the grip and was scared of what was coming. Ron raised the sword still higher, and as he did so, Riddle's eyes gleamed scarlet.

Out of the locket's two windows, out of the eyes, there bloomed like two grotesque bubbles, the heads of Harry and Hermione, weirdly distorted. Ron yelled in shock and backed away as the figures blossomed out of the locket, first chests, then waists, then legs, until they stood in the locket, side by side like trees with a common root, swaying over Ron and the real Harry, who had snatched his fingers away from the locket as it burned, suddenly, white-hot.

Up to this point, Ron hasn’t been fighting the Horcrux. He just listens to it, raising the sword higher when Harry prompts him, but unable to deliver the finishing blow, to say no to the locket and the lies it spews. Like any good downward spiral, this gives the locket power, allowing the soul fragment inside to grow a physical form, not unlike when adolescent Tom Riddle surfaced from the diary. The Horcrux is feeding off of Ron and his pain.

"Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence.... We laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption--"

"Presumption!" echoed the Riddle-Hermione, who was more beautiful and yet more terrible than the real Hermione: She swayed, cackling, before Ron, who looked horrified, yet transfixed, the sword hanging pointlessly at his side. "Who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you, compared with the Boy Who Lived?"

Ron is nothing if not average. He may be a wizard, born into a large and lively family of perfect students, Quidditch stars, and comic geniuses, but Ron is just an ordinary boy, with an average intelligence, average skills, and average interests. Like seemingly everyone in the wizarding-world, he loves Quidditch. He’s been to some famous games, grows up playing it in the backyard with his siblings, and follows his team religiously. He reads comics (The Adventures of Martin Miggs, The Mad Muggle), collects chocolate frog cards, and plays chess. Ron is not the best in class and he certainly isn’t Wizard-Jesus.

Ron is also much more obviously flawed than his two friends. He’s insensitive: he never thinks about the words leaving his mouth and how they might be a bit cruel, how they could make someone else feel. This is how Hermione ends up in a bathroom face to face with a troll. Ron struggles to be empathetic, to move and connect beyond his narrow world-view. His insensitivity is a piece of this, and so to are his feelings on House Elves and other issues of justice. The great Scabbers-Crookshanks debacle also plays into this. Ron is unable to separate Crookshanks from Hermione, himself from Scabbers. He has trouble putting his friendship above his own needs. Ron is also prone to fits of jealousy, a result of his doubts and poor self-esteem.

But stupidity? Cowardice? No. These things are not Ron, not even next to Harry and Hermione.

Ron may not the best student, but he has an eye for chess, a game full of complex strategies that I have like zero knowledge of. He keeps track of random Canons Quidditch stats and can pull them out whenever the situation calls (unfortunately, it rarely does). He’s good under pressure and rises to the occasion when needed. After leaving Harry and Hermione, he runs into snatchers and takes them out. Single-handedly. He’s also the one to think of taking the cup down to the chamber of secrets, while Harry and Luna chase ghost stories.

Ron never struggles with courage. He follows Harry to the midnight duel, to fight trolls, to rescue stones (and sacrifice himself, too), to follow spiders (his greatest external fear), to take on deadly snakes. He stands with Harry against alleged murderers (on a broken leg, no less), against teachers who torture students, and against death eaters in the department of freaking mysteries and at Hogwarts. He joins Harry on a seemingly doomed quest, and though he leaves, he tries to come right back. It takes Percy Weasley two years to admit he was wrong and return to his family; it takes Ron a few hours, and then a few weeks (because he couldn’t find them anymore). And then there’s this very scene that I’ve been going on and on about, which is, in my opinion, his most courageous act.

"Your mother confessed," sneered Riddle-Harry, while Riddle-Hermione jeered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange..."

"Who wouldn't prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him," crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she stretched like a snake and entwined herself around Riddle-Harry, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met.

This is the nail in the coffin, the thing that brings Ron back from the brink and whatever other clichés you can think of, the part that snaps Ron out of Voldemort’s grip and into action. (Perhaps it was too horrible for him to contemplate or accept any longer? Voldemort went too far?)

But I want to use this part to talk about Ron’s dynamic with Hermione, something I think some fans tend to under-appreciate.

Ron challenges Hermione in ways that no one else does. Unlike Harry, Ron isn’t afraid of a little friendly conflict. He’s not afraid to push her buttons, to enter into debates with her, something they both enjoy. He keeps her honest and lets her know when she’s crossing the line from smart into obnoxious and condescending. He teases her for being a know-it-all but he’s also the first to stand for her when someone, like say Snape, insults her. And Hermione keeps Ron honest, too. She lets him know when he’s the one being obnoxious, when he needs to reel it in, when he’s being dumb about emotional things. The point is, they push each other and they both come out better for it.

They have a strong relationship outside Harry, one that the books only ever hint at. They have so many conversations Harry’s not around for (usually about Harry). I really wish we could have seen one or two of them, somehow. It’s Ron’s relationship with Hermione that helps him defeat the Horcrux, so it would have been nice to see a little bit more of where that came from within the story, rather than having to fill in the (admittedly obvious) blanks

The sword flashed, plunged: Harry threw himself out of the way, there as a clang of metal and a long, drawn-out scream. Harry whirled around, slipping in the snow, wand held ready to defend himself, but there was nothing to fight. The monstrous versions of himself and Hermione were gone: There was only Ron, standing there with the sword held slackly in his hand, looking down at the shattered remains of the locket on the flat rock. Slowly, Harry walked back to him, hardly knowing what to say or do. Ron was breathing heavily: His eyes were no longer red at all, but their normal blue: they were also wet.

Maybe it’s part of Ron’s averageness, but it’s interesting to me that he’s the only member of the trio who really seems to suffer from the lack of self-esteem, who’s plagued by uncertainties of his own worth. But it’s also what makes Ron the most relatable member. Harry’s main issues are too epic in scale to truly comprehend. And beyond making friends and worrying about academic failure, Hermione doesn’t seem to struggle much at all.

Ron doesn’t have a Voldemort to fight against and he doesn’t really have a Snape who lives to belittle him. Yeah, Malfoy gets a good amount of insults in and Fred and George really know how to make Ron feel bad, but Ron’s obstacles are every-day people’s obstacles. Externally, there’s things like his family’s poverty, which, along with the shame Ron feels about it, makes access to good resources like school supplies difficult, which makes succeeding in school much harder. But like a lot of people, like me, Ron is his own Snape. He hurts himself. He turns his doubts into reality. He lets his Critic in, until the climax of his arc, when he stares all his doubts and fears in the face and, with Harry’s help, triumphs over them. Ron finds the strength to say no to the darkness in his head, to stop thinking himself worthless. Ron starts to believe in himself again and that’s just so damn awesome and inspiring.

Ron, the Deluminator

“After you left,” [Harry] said in a low voice, grateful for the fact that Ron's face was hidden, “she cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn't want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other. With you gone...” He could not finish; it was now that Ron was here again that Harry fully realized how much his absence had cost them.

Harry is a courageous leader, always willing to put himself in danger to help other people. Hermione is the smartest witch of her age, her knowledge knows no bounds and she uses it to help Harry on his quest to defeat Voldemort. Ron is their metaphorical deluminator, the emotional center of the group.

When Ron goes dark he sucks out everyone’s light. When Ron lets his doubts control him, the team falls apart. When Ron is in a bad mood everyone is in a bad mood. When Ron leaves, Harry and Hermione wander aimlessly in the dark with no one to rein them in.

When Ron returns, he brings the light back. He becomes the optimist they need him to be, the one who will push the group forward when Harry is stuck in his own head and Hermione’s out of ideas. After his showdown with the locket, Ron picks up the entire Horcrux hunting operation and places it on his gangly shoulders. Gone is the Ron who moped and refused to pull his own weight, here is the Ron who will never give up and will keep moving forward no matter the obstacle.

Even though there were times when it didn’t seem like it to Ron, Harry and Hermione always needed him. There isn’t anything inherently extraordinary about Ron. He’s not the Chosen One, he’s not a genius, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t special. Ron’s blunt demeanor is necessary. His humor is necessary. His friendship is necessary. The people who love him need him, want him in their lives and that is more important than any skill-set.

Pain, fear, anxiety, depression: JK Rowling captures these struggles beautifully. And she also offers a message of hope and belonging. When I re-read these books over and over again when I was nine, a time in my life when I struggled in school and with friends, and suffered nightmares and stomach aches every night, they brought me great comfort. I felt like I always had a home at Hogwarts, even if it didn’t really exist. Harry, Ron, and Hermione and their adventures were always there for me, to help calm me at three in the morning. They would stay up with me until I found sleep again. They helped me feel a little less lonely. They helped me make it through those tough times.

As an adult, I still return to these books seeking comfort and inspiration. Though my relationship with them is a little more complicated now that I can recognize the glaring flaws. There are sections that make me roll my eyes and cringe, and characters I really wish JKR had handled better. But then there are scenes, like Ron returning, saving Harry, and destroying the locket, that make me tear up, that give me the encouragement I need to keep going.

And she finishes rankdown, as she lived it: posting long after deadline.

Since this is my last write-up, I’d just like to say that I had a really good time and I want to thank everyone who participated in any way for making rankdown such a fun journey.

Specifically, I’d like to give a shout out to my fellow rankers. I loved getting to do this with you all, even if you have some bizarre opinions.

Also the people who ran this shindig: Moose, K9, oomps, hermionesteaspoon. Thanks for putting up with all our antics, and my constant lateness.

And finally, thanks to all the commenters, who made this project worth it to me. I loved reading your thoughts.

##First, thoughts from my fellow rankers:

Khajiit-ify:

Sirius is honestly worthy of the title of one of the best characters in this series. He’s a complex individual with a lot of backstory to his emotional state, and he’s not your conventional character that you would find in a series. He touches your very soul from the moment you learn who he truly is, and shapes the world in a way none of us ever expected. I remember how someone spoiled for me that he died and how utterly heartbroken I was (despite, at the time, having only read through to the end of PoA). It shows how strong his character is from the moment we first meet him, and that great characterization continued throughout the series.

theduqoffrat:

Sirius is my favorite character in the novel. Hands down. I love Sirius. I have never loved anymore more except for my mom. I cried when he died. I read OOTP in 2004, it was the first death that I experienced that I was old enough to understand. I didn’t care that he was fictional. Sirius is the literal version of my step dad. Basically adopted and would do anything for him because he loved him.

##...and now on to the cut.

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black’s heart.

“Going to kill me, Harry?” he whispered.

Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black’s chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black’s left eye and his nose was bleeding.

“You killed my parents,” said Harry, his voice shaking slightly but his wand quite steady.

Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes. “I don’t deny it,” he said very quietly. “But if you knew the whole story.”

If only you knew the whole story. That's Harry's life in a nutshell, isn't it? If only you knew the whole story about that annoying girl with bushy hair. The whole story about Hagrid and Tom. The whole story about the Barty Crouches. About your father. About Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore. Yourself. And yes, Harry, if only you knew the whole story about Sirius Black.

As I tap out my final cut of the oh-so-auspicious HPRD2 on my keyboard, I'm feeling somewhat nostalgic. This stems in large part from the fact that I just reread most of Prisoner of Azkaban (because really, I can’t help it once I’ve started to look through character mentions), which for years was my favorite book, full stop. The rest of this feeling is due to closing my final chapter in this lengthy tome we (rankers and commenters alike) have compiled over the past several months. It’s been fun, frustrating, rewarding, enlightening. Thank you all for taking part and especially to those who worked behind the scenes to pull off this dog and pony show.

Speaking of dogs, how about that Sirius Black?

Sirius is a fabulous character, deserving of his place in this endgame and rank of #6. Layered, flawed, surprising, fierce, and tragic, Sirius bring vibrancy and emotion to the pages on which he appears. Even before the reader meets him in person, his presence is felt deeply.

A casual reference in the first pages of Philosopher's Stone, Sirius first hits it big years later in Harry’s third year at school. Terrible enough to warrant Cornelius Fudge to alert the Muggle Prime Minister of his murderous tendencies, Harry learns of Black’s deeds on the Knight Bus courtesy of Stan Shunpike.

Harry looked into the shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of the sunken face that seemed alive. Harry had never met a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one.

Oh look, an ugly character! Totally evil, thanks for the heads up JK. Apart from looking like a vampire and escaping Azkaban, Sirius’ powers include sowing fear in the hearts of the entire wizarding community in Britain. His breakout colors every day of Harry’s year at Hogwarts. Visits to Hagrid are dangerous. He nearly can’t play Quidditch. Everyone with half a brain leaves the school at Christmas meaning that the few souls left eat together at one table, SEALING ALBUS DUMBLEDORE’S FATE.

When Sirius final makes an in-the-(human)-flesh appearance boy howdy is it worth the wait. Not only are we told that he is an animagus (!) but Remus Lupin is a werewolf (!!) and Peter Pettigrew is alive and has been sleeping with a child for the last several years (.....ew). Game changer upon game changer, plus the bonus of Snape getting knocked unconscious. In this meeting, we learn a lot about Sirius’ personality. He’s full of vengeance, sentimental, guilt-ridden, and loyal. Even in this first scene we can see how closely he resembles Harry himself.

Harry and Sirius share the inclination that the traitor who caused James and Lily’s deaths should himself die. Harry expresses this while talking to Lupin during his patronus lessons, and Sirius is hell-bent on committing the murder that had been blamed on him for so many years. Not at all surprising as he has had twelve years in the soul torture jail to brood on this. An ordeal which, all in all, he weathered quite well, considering what the torment must have been like.

Apart from their desire for revenge (which, it should be noted, they can both reign in somewhat), Sirius and Harry share several other characteristics. They’re magically gifted in their own ways, emotional, brave, over-eager, mistrustful of authority, and quick to put themselves in harm’s way to help others. They both also tend to get angsty when penned up by Dumbledore.

The more we get to know Sirius, the more we come to see him as a fitting father figure for Harry. They love each other, deeply care for the other’s well-being. They share a similar sense of humor. Sirius is a good godfather to Harry. Sure, he is cryptic and not very helpful in his fireplace messages in Goblet of Fire, and yeah, he’s kinda pissy in Order of the Phoenix, but he is always there for Harry. He is available to Harry in a way that no other adult has been since his parents were murdered. From sending the Firebolt to dying on the dias, Sirius Black was always looking out for his godson.

Over the course of his tenure in the books, Sirius frequently introduces the trio to new information. He recounts tales of the Marauders, describes members of the original Order of the Phoenix, sheds light on Karkaroff’s past, Moody’s habits, and Crouch Sr’s crusade. Harry trusts Sirius implicitly. Their bond is built upon mutual respect and began with Sirius admitting to Harry his deepest regret. After admitting to a child that you as good as murdered their parents a relationship can really only go one of two ways. In this case, it went the fuzzy-feelings route.

Looking a bit deeper at the similarities between Sirius and Harry, I think it is fair to say that Sirius is quite a lot like a Harry who never had the chance to grow up. His flaws are Harry’s flaws, but are underscored by the fact that he is a grown man and not a teenage boy. When Harry flies off the handle, we know that he is reacting in a relatively age appropriate way to being put on house arrest/forced to communicate only with people who generally think he has the value of used chewing gum/surviving multiple attempts on his life by a world-renowned evil snakeman. Sirius’ temper and wild inclinations, do not mesh well with his status as an adult. His weaknesses in these areas are 100% logical ramifications to a dozen years on Magic Depression Island, but leave him ill-adapted to life’s challenges. Harry becomes at times the parentified child, reminding Sirius of the danger of given situations while Sirius in turn responds as a teenager lashing out against authority. Sirius’ immaturity in these situations causes Harry to grow in a way he would not have needed to without such struggle.

If we look at Sirius through the framework of him being the Harry who never grew up, his death at the end of the fifth book makes a tremendous amount of thematic sense. Sirius exemplifies many characteristics of adolescent Harry, a Harry who also dies after the conclusion of his fifth year at Hogwarts. In Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, Harry is no longer ruled by his emotions in the same way we saw in the previous year. He is driven, more thoughtful, and (a bit) more cautious. We see him grow in a way that Sirius never fully actualized.

Similarly, the books themselves matured after the Padfoot’s demise. The subject matter grew increasingly more somber and intellectual, in contrast to the somewhat more comfortable, pleasant stories of the early books (*this is not to say that giant death-glare snakes are the stuff of happy tales, but that the darkness in the first few books was interspersed with a bit more levity). Responsibility becomes a more prescient theme as Harry ages, and his ability to meet the challenges he encounters was in no small way impacted by his relationship with his godfather.

The moment of Sirius’ death is sad, beautiful, and perplexing. To me it symbolizes the loss of childhood innocence. Harry’s world is changed in the space of a breath.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather’s wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.

Sirius was gone, childhood was gone, and Harry was left with questions never to be answered. Padfoot’s death was one of which the man would have been proud. He fell while protecting the person most dear to him, laughing brazenly at his opponent, his final mistake clear in its terminal consequences. He underestimated Bellatrix and paid for his childish taunt with his life. Had his existence not been so blighted by tragedy he might have grown into a more measured, rational adult and dueler. Quite selfishly, I am glad that he didn’t. I love Sirius as he was written. His wild, tragic life and generous heart are always an engaging read.

As a footnote, some of you might remember that in our applications to participate in this Rankdown, we were given a list of major characters and asked to explain why they were in fact weak and deserving of an early cut. I chose to write about Sirius, because I've always loved playing the devil's advocate against myself. Here's a bit of that facetious write up:

...for NEARLY ALL of The Prisoner of Azkaban he is at best a scary bedtime story. Everybody basically namedrops him when they feel like making things a little darker or dramatic. Sure, he's on the loose and after the main character (and our hearts) but the dude is only ever seen in his mugshot or a long-ago snapshot in Harry's photo album. So he spends nearly the book of which he is the TITULAR CHARACTER invisibly creeping around the literal margins of the story. Then, in the last chapters he suddenly appears and is SURPRISE not a bad dude. OK, fine. That's interesting. Fun plot twist, then he gets to ride away on a particularly badass magical steed. Yeah, I guess that is sexy as hell.

BUT MOVING ON. Because he cannot be proven innocent of his crimes, this so-called "major" character heads right back to the shadows. He is in hiding for pretty much the entirety of the little time he has left alive in the series. Hiding in caves, hiding in his childhood home, hiding (poorly) as a dog on Platform 9 3/4. He writes a couple of letters and sticks his head in a few fireplaces but RARELY gives any freaking actionable advice. "Look out for Karkaroff"....um, yeah, pretty sure the slimy twitchy guy was already on the watchlist. "I don’t like Snape”...again, slimy creeper who tortures children ALREADY NOTED AS A NOT NICE DUDE. (Quotes not exactly accurate.) Does this guy do anything besides throw vague and pretty useless shade in Goblet of Fire? SPOILER: No. No he doesn't.

Khajiit-ify: I’ve always had a major soft spot for Draco. Draco is one of those characters where you hate him soooooo much for being a little prat but then by the end you are feeling sympathy for him and are wanting to give him a big giant bear hug. His characterization and development through the series is a great change of pace that most stories give for the classic childhood bully.

theduqoffrat:
Another character I really hated throughout the series. However, even though he basically spirals into evil and then kind of comes back, the reader grows as Draco grows. Imagine a story told from his point of view, it would be just as great to be honest. We could see him fight with his insecurities about joining Voldemort and killing Dumbledore and all of that jazz. He is the evil side of Harry Potter. During DH I actually come around and kind of root for him.

Marx0r: I’m worried that this Rankdown will come and go without anyone mentioning that Draco Malfoy is a werewolf so I’m just going to say it now.

Right from the beginning of Philosopher’s Stone, you get the feeling that there is significantly more to certain characters than what we see at face value. This is most evident in the cases of Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, two characters who you could sense had secrets and hidden motivations that had always made them more complex than what they seemed to be on the surface. Yet I had never thought that Draco would be anything more than a straightforward character. Right from the beginning, there is no doubt as to who Draco Malfoy is – son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, spoilt brat, prejudiced and arrogant bully. It is evident right off that the bat that his role in the series is as a foil to Harry – from his preferred house to his dislike of Hagrid and the Weasleys to his disdain for those not born of wizards to his sense of entitlement, he’s the anti-Harry in every way.

The next four books only reinforce his role as Harry’s nemesis. Draco buys his way into the Slytherin team as Harry’s opposite number. He crows in delight as the Chamber of Secrets is opened and muggleborns are attacked. He tries to get Hagrid fired and Buckbeak executed. He forms an unholy alliance with Rita Skeeter to undermine Harry in the public eye. He joins Umbridge’s Inquisitorial squad. Draco doesn’t really change over the course of these books, neither in terms of his personality nor his role in the books. He has very little reason to change, after all. Even after the setback at the end of CoS, Daddy dearest is still rich and powerful, Mommy Sue Narcissa spoils him and enables his dickish-ness, Snape favours him over the Gryffindors and Pansy fawns over him like he’s really Draco-in-leather-pants. There is only one real blot in Draco’s perfect world, a hit to his considerable ego, and hence trying to undermine Harry (and by extension, Ron and Hermione) takes up much of Draco’s attention. It seems that Draco’s role in the story is destined to be that of a B-grade antagonist, a constant source of conflict that can actually be understood and defeated for frequent comeuppance, as opposed to the enigmatic Snape and the mighty Lord Voldemort.

And then the battle of the ministry happens. Lucius Malfoy is arrested. Draco’s almost-perfect world begins to fall apart.

“Draco, Draco, you are not a killer.”

The summer after Lucius’s arrest brings more changes into Draco’s life than everything else in his life put together. Gone is the support of Lucius’s deep pockets and web of connections. Gone is any prestige associated with the Malfoy name, now that Draco’s father has been revealed as a Death Eater. Gone is Lucius himself, the stern father who Draco had always looked up to and seeked to emulate. For the very first time in his life, Draco has to step up and be his own person, and smarting from his father’s loss, there is one thing Draco seeks above all: redemption for his father.

It is no wonder then that Draco takes to his appointed task with determination, even eagerness. The task: Murder Albus Dumbledore. The moral implications don’t even register to Draco’s mind; Dumbledore is an enemy of the Dark Lord, the protector of mudbloods and blood traitors everywhere, and Draco hates him. He shares none of Narcissa trepidation that he’s been assigned an impossible task as a measure of revenge against Lucius. Draco does not blink, he does not flinch, instead wearing the Dark Mark as a symbol of pride. He goes about his new task with a zeal that is almost admirable – versing himself in the unforgivables, learning occlumency under Aunt Bellatrix’s knee, formulating a solid plan that would eventually be successful in getting the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. He turns on his former favourite teacher Severus Snape, who he identifies as having usurped Lucius’s old position. So many things that mattered to the Draco Malfoy of old he now gives up willingly: his place on the Quidditch team, abusing his prefect powers, even tormenting Harry Potter. The last one is especially striking, because it had been what had consumed Draco’s life for five years.

But none of that matters now. Draco Malfoy is going to murder Albus Dumbledore, and he is going to do it with his head held high.

(Draco points his wand at an unarmed Dumbledore straight in the heart… and does nothing.)

“You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts ... so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it... ”

For every great character, there comes a holy shit moment, a moment that takes you by surprise, a moment that affects you deeply and emotionally, that changes or solidifies your perception of that character forever. For Draco, that moment comes towards the end of HBP. Until that moment, we had seen Draco change substantially from his pre-HBP days of dickish bully, we had seen Draco struggle under the weight of his mysterious and likely evil task, we had seen Draco waste away slowly but surely – always tense, dark shadows under his eyes, a greyish tinge under his skin, always looking vaguely ill. But Draco had still lacked that one moment that would humanize him, that would validate his struggles, that would forever change the readers’ perception of him from B-grade antagonist to something more.

The bathroom scene is so jarring, so poignant, so evocative, so rich in imagery that you would never view Draco the same way ever again. I can’t do it… I can’t… It won’t work… and unless I do it soon… he says he’ll kill me… Draco crying, sobbing, shuddering. Draco Malfoy showing depth of relatable emotion that he’s never shown before. It is a validation of Draco’s internal struggles, his slow, haunting realization that service under Lord Voldemort isn’t nearly as glorious as he had once imagined. No one can help me. Could you ever have imagined, before this moment, that Draco Malfoy would seek comfort and understanding in Moaning Myrtle of all people? The irritating ghost who Harry and friends snigger at behind her back? How truly alone Draco must have been, how utterly desperate, to drop his frigid, arrogant mask and turn to Myrtle for companionship. It is the moment where Draco well and truly finishes his transformation from an antagonist for the protagonists to beat again and again and again, to a super interesting character in his own right.

The confident young man of the Hogwarts express erodes away as the magnitude of the task and the weight of the stakes dawns on him. Repeated failures drive him to desperate tactics – the cursed necklace almost kills Katie Bell, the poisoned mead almost does the same to Ron. Both were lucky escapes. Did the almost-deaths of his school-mates affect Draco’s conscience, or was any guilt overshadowed by his own dawning desperation? Dumbledore says Draco’s attempts to kill him were ‘feeble’ (a charge Draco vehemently denies), and he wonders whether Draco was even trying very hard to kill him in the first place. Did Draco go through his murder attempts with the knowledge (the hope?) that they would most likely not work? Does this even make a difference?

(Draco’s wand arm starts to tremble.)

“I haven’t got any options! I’ve got to do it! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family!”

"He told me to do it or he’ll kill me. I’ve got no choice."

Choice. One of the major themes of the Harry Potter books. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are. But Draco Malfoy hasn’t had a real choice in a long time.

Family. The Malfoy family, for all the evil they indulge in, all have one common redeeming quality – they all love each other fiercely. It isn’t for nothing that Voldemort chose this method of punishment to punish Lucius for his failures. All three Malfoy lives hang in the balance based on the success of Draco’s mission, and Draco is acutely aware of this. Draco is an awful person, but he is an awful person in an unimaginably horrible situation. It is rather ironic, because it is very much his parents’ fault that he turned out to be horrid in the first place. Make no mistake about this – for all of Lucius and Narcissa’s love for their son, they are awful parents. They are very much the reason for Draco turning out to be the way he did – spoiled, entitled, bigoted bully. It is an open question – how much better a person would Draco have turned out to be had he been raised by better parents? And yet these are the parents Draco has, and these are the parents Draco loves, and now it is up to him and him alone to save their lives.

But even in the light of his young age, let us not forgive Draco completely by labelling him as entirely product of his environment. Everyone is a product of their environment, but there comes a time when you have to take full responsibility for your choices, and sixteen is old enough to gain some perspective. I find it interesting to compare Draco’s situation to that of Sirius and Regulus. The Malfoys aren’t too dissimilar to the Blacks – both rich, pureblood families that must have tried to instil racist values in the kids they raised. And yet Sirius manages to break himself away from the influence his parents’ toxic worldview and run away from home. There is almost always a way, however difficult it might be. Instead, Draco roughly traverses the path of Regulus, the conformist. They have quite a bit in common, Regulus and Draco. If Sirius is to be believed, they were both kids way in over their heads. But once the turnaround came, Regulus had the conviction to sacrifice his life to bring down the Dark Lord. Even if Draco had the conviction to ever do so (which is very questionable), doing so will bring down the Dark Lord’s fury on his family.

This was never a game Draco could win – it wasn’t designed to be. Draco would come out of here either to see himself a murderer, or watch his family die. And so Draco must kill. He must overcome any moral qualms, quash any uncertainty, draw his nerve and commit the heinous act that would save him. That would doom him forever. For himself. For family. There is no other choice.

(Draco’s wand arm shakes worse than ever.)

“No, Draco,” said Dumbledore quietly. “It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now.”

The Dumbledore-Draco conversation at the lightning struck tower is easily some of Rowling’s most evocative writing. Albus Dumbledore looks into the eyes of his would-be murderer, and offers him not harsh words or rebukes, but mercy. Draco Malfoy has a weak and teetering Albus Dumbledore at wandpoint, two words away from killing him, and yet it is clear who holds the real power amongst the two of them. Up until now, despite his struggles with what he would need to do, Draco had never seen Albus Dumbledore and his side as anything but an enemy. And then the enemy reveals that he had been working to save Draco’s life all along, a stark contrast to his own side wants to see him dead for his father’s failures. Draco is blindsided. Dumbledore not only offers to protect Draco, but promises to extend that protection to his family as well. This is why Albus Dumbledore’s mercy is important – he is a man who does not fear death, who could have nixed Draco’s plan at any time and forfeit the latter’s life in the process, who is now offering Draco a golden offer – one that is both security and redemption. It is everything Draco Malfoy wants, and yet the offer comes when Draco is so close to fulfilling his mission, his fledgling conscience the only thing between him and victory. Between him and murder. Draco Malfoy stands at the edge of the precipice, both as a person and a character. One choice could possibly doom his family’s lives, and the other would tarnish his soul forever. This is the ultimate deconstruction of Draco Malfoy’s psyche, the crumbling of the pillars of the worldview he had held since birth. His mind muddled, his wand-arm shaking badly, he has to make a decision that would ultimately define who Draco Malfoy is.

(The wand arm shakes and shakes and shakes… and then it drops.)

Fandom opinion has been quite divided on Draco’s actions and whether he achieved any measure of redemption. Some are of the opinion that Draco deserves to be thrown in prison for the rest of his life for his crimes in HBP. Others are more forgiving, pointing out Draco’s age and immaturity, stressing that he was a stupid teenage bully in way over his head. In relation to this, there are two main schools of thoughts that attempt to explain the eventual drop of Draco’s wand by emphasizing different aspects of his characterization: Draco Malfoy, the coward; and Draco Malfoy, the victim.

Draco Malfoy, the coward is based on the observation that Draco does not lack the intent to kill, merely lacks the nerve to do so personally. This theory emphasizes Draco’s previous reckless attempts to kill Dumbledore indirectly, and that he almost murdered Katie Bell and Ron Weasley in the process. He is fully focused on killing Dumbledore, and he does care for who else he hurts in the process. He is responsible for holding Madam Rosmerta under the Imperius curse for one whole year, regardless of whether he cast the curse personally or not (this part is ambiguous in the books). He almost uses the Cruciatus curse on Harry in the bathroom! The theory points out that Draco’s deteriorating mental state was almost entirely because of his fear for his life and that of his family, not due to any guilt for his actions. That Draco leads Death Eaters into a school containing eleven year old children is yet another indictment against him. Draco does not show any signs of regard for human life until he has to face Dumbledore personally – in fact, he takes a certain degree of pride in all that he has achieved. Another aspect of this theory is that Draco’s actions at all times are at least partially influenced by his desire for glory – it is a dream he never lets go of, even at the very end. In his own words at the lightning struck tower: But I haven’t told [Snape] what I’ve been doing in the Room of Requirement, he’s going to wake up tomorrow and it’ll all be over and he won’t be the Dark Lord’s favorite any more, he’ll be nothing compared to me, nothing! Draco’s actions are utterly reprehensible, and his motivations to do so hardly better. This theory rejects the idea that Draco was redeemed in any way, and doubts his capability for redemption in the future. Why would a person as despicable as this not pull the trigger when given the chance? Because he’s a coward, that’s why.

Draco Malfoy, the victim takes a more sympathetic view of Draco and his actions. It emphasizes the fact that Draco is still a sixteen year old, one who is merely a pawn in Voldemort’s scheme to punish Lucius for his failures. Slow torture for Draco’s parents, while they watch him fail and pay the price. It stresses just how horrifying and inescapable Draco’s circumstances are, and that he’s fighting first and foremost for his family’s lives. He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family! Draco was an idiot teenage boy, full of self-righteous indignation arising from him father’s arrest, but as soon as he realized – actually realized – that he was being asked to commit murder, he balked. This is why his necklace scheme and poisoned mead scheme were so far-fetched – it was a desperation move that Draco knew would fail anyway. We get further indications of Draco’s feelings of guilt – when Dumbledore questions him on the wisdom of bringing Fenrir Greyback to the school, Draco cannot even bring himself to look at him. Yes, Draco makes use of an imperiused Madam Rosmerta; yes, he brings Death Eaters into the castle; yes, he almost brings about Ron’s and Katie’s death… but the only reason he does any of that is because Draco Malfoy has no choice. That is what makes Draco a victim – if Draco had any choice at all by the time he gains some perspective, he would never commit murder, nor would he imperius anyone, nor would lead a werewolf to his school; all he would wish to do is whisk away his family to safety. The fact that Draco Malfoy cannot bring himself to murder an old man whom he views as enemy, even under such huge duress, is indicative of the kind of person he is, and the lowering of the wand earns him at least some measure of redemption.

Whichever side of the argument you take in HBP, Deathly Hallows would do little to modify your opinions. If Draco was dying inside in HBP, DH only brings more suffering for our erstwhile antagonist. Draco is forced to watch Voldemort kill his old school teachers, forced to punish his fellow Death Eaters using the cruciatus curse. Dumbledore’s words appear to have had at least some effect on Draco, as he hesitates to identify the trio in Malfoy Manor. As his family’s standing with Voldemort worsens further and they stand once again on the brink of destruction, Draco is forced to attempt to capture Harry in the Room of Requirement, but only ends up trying to prevent Crabbe from using dangerous curses. Draco is still in a state of struggle – all he wants to do is survive, but he still unwilling to be the cause of anyone's death. All the while, the spectre of doom looms over his family.

The fandom is polarized on where they stand on Draco as a character, as both the Draco, the coward and Draco, the victim schools of thought have significant following. I can personally see where both sides are coming from – I tend to see Draco as a despicable person who nonetheless is put through such a horrifying trial that I cannot help but sympathize with him. I would certainly like to think he’s capable of redeeming himself, but I don’t think he achieved any significant measure of redemption within the books. The very brief glimpse we get of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter epilogue (much lauded by critics such as our very own u/moostronus) shows a man who has acknowledged past mistakes (at least to some extent) and has attempted to let go of his past rivalries. It would not be enough to change anyone’s view of Draco Malfoy, but I’m glad to know that Draco Malfoy has moved on from the war, raised a family and perhaps gained some measure of happiness for himself.

There are a couple more points I have to make about Draco, but I have no idea how to incorporate them into the write-up:

• Draco’s dynamic with Harry, which takes up all of his page time before HBP, doesn’t really interest me much at all, which is why I haven’t focused on it much in this write-up. Plus, u/elbowsss’ wrote quite a bit about it quite a bit last time, so you can read about it here . Take most of u/OwlPostAgain’s post and just… reverse most of her conclusions, and you’ll get something similar to my opinions on their dynamic.

• Draco’s dynamic with Lucius is one thing that interested me even pre-HBP. Lucius is definitely not the kind of parent who plays sports with his son or reads him bedtime stories or comfort him with false platitudes. He makes it clear that he has very high expectations for Draco, and Draco would do well to meet them, or else. And yet Lucius loves his son, and can’t help but overindulge him in everything. Lucius is at once Draco’s safety net, his validation of his place in the world and his role model who he seeks to emulate in pretty much everything. It is fitting that the turning point in Draco’s life is his father’s arrest, and that’s when his great test begins. But Draco cannot be like Lucius – he does not the necessary ruthlessness or amorality. There is a brilliant contrast between the two of them at Malfoy Manor – Lucius, pathetically eager to get back in Voldemort’s good graces, utterly uncaring that he’s about to condemn three teenagers to their deaths; Draco, hesitant, reluctant, struggling with a moral compass that his father never possessed.

• A lot of this write-up has centred on the scene at the lightning struck tower, and if you’re sick of it by now… well, tough luck. This is an absolute masterpiece of a chapter – Dumbledore, calm and rock solid in the face of imminent death; Draco, exuding a jumbled, raw mess of confusing emotion, engaged in a constant battle with his conscience; Harry, the helpless spectator watching the show unfold in horror. It is almost impossible to pick a favourite moment among all of this, but if I had to pick one, it would be the moment comes early on in their conversation in which Dumbledore praises Draco’s ingenuity in finding a way to bring the Death Eaters into the castle. Bizarrely enough, Draco seems to draw confidence and comfort from Dumbledore’s praise. It says so much about Dumbledore that is able to look his would-be killer in the eye and comfort him, and it says so much about the situation Draco is in that he has to turn to the man he’s about to murder for validation.

• Albus Dumbledore’s radical mercy towards Draco Malfoy has drawn some criticism within the fandom, enough that I feel the need to address it. (This usually, but not always, ties in to the idea that Draco Malfoy was never worthy of redemption.) Dumbledore did endanger the lives of his students by protecting Draco. It is only through sheer luck that Katie and Ron didn’t die through Draco’s wayward schemes. Shouldn’t Dumbledore’s priority be to protect his students who are truly innocent? Furthermore, critics point out Albus Dumbledore’s pragmatism in his dealings with Harry and Snape, the two individuals who gave their all in the war against Voldemort. Why would Dumbledore not extend that pragmatism to the situation with Draco and protect the students under his care?

• To address the previous point, well… it wouldn’t be the first time Dumbledore showed an unconventional sense of safety and punishment: he let at least one werewolf stay in the castle, even before wolfsbane, and he did not punish Sirius for almost killing Snape via said werewolf. Perhaps Dumbledore sees Draco as truly innocent, a student to be protected like all his other students. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe. It has to be mentioned that apprehending Draco would lead to his certain death – a certainty – as opposed to the mere risk otherwise. I do think those who criticize Dumbledore for this simplify the situation greatly and speak with the benefit of hindsight. For one, Dumbledore had hoped that Snape would find out what Draco was up to, something he obviously failed at. As lucky as Katie and Ron’s escapes were, it was horrendous luck that they were in that situation in the first place. Had Slughorn just sent the mead to Dumbledore like he had meant to, or had Katie and Leanne not fought over the package and slipped the covering, the only one who would have been in ‘danger’ was Dumbledore. Yes, there are risks, but I don’t blame Dumbledore for not being willing to doom a teenager to certain death over them.

• I would be remiss if I ended this write-up without mentioning Draco’s resourcefulness. He had always been cunning right from his early days – tricking Harry into a fake midnight duel, striking up a partnership with Rita Skeeter to undermine Harry’s fame. In HBP, this surprising resourcefulness comes to the forefront. He manages to learn occlumency to keep Snape out, he uses DA galleons for untraceable communication, he steals Slughorn’s polyjuice potion and employs Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts. But most importantly, neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore had ever expected Draco to have a prayer of succeeding. Sure, this comes with the huge caveat that Dumbledore had always been aware, but he had never expected Draco to eventually succeed in managing to bring Death Eaters to the castle. It is fitting that Draco Malfoy is the Flaw in the Plan, the temporary master of the elder wand, indirectly responsible for Voldemort’s eventual defeat. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort overlook and dismiss Draco to their peril.

• Draco’s characterization isn’t the most compelling on a book-by-book basis, but when he is finally given his own story in HBP, he is absolutely glorious. Draco shows more complexity, more emotion, more internal conflict, more character development in this one book than most main characters do in seven, all wrapped up in a spectacular story arc. It almost singlehandedly earns him a place in the top 10. I have him at 8 or 9 in my personal rankings; here, I ranked him 5.

Which side of the argument do you lean towards: Draco Malfoy, the coward, or Draco Malfoy, the victim? Sound off below.

Here’s what other rankers had to say:

/u/Khajiit-ify: I am so happy to see Kreacher made it to the top 10. Let’s be real here, everyone HATED Kreacher when he was introduced. He was the anti-Dobby moreso even than Winky. But seeing his turnaround in loyalty when Harry treated him well was one of the best character defining moments in the series. You could understand Kreacher’s motives and feelings better than any other House Elf in the series, and his triumphant assistance in the Hogwarts Battle will always stick in my mind.

/u/Marx0r: The HP series tries too damn hard to shoehorn in plotlines about non-human oppression that serve as all-too-obvious allegories for social justice. Dobby, Winky, and Griphook all kind of float in and out of the plot whenever we need a fresh dose of Human Guilt. Through all this, Kreacher’s tale is the only one that’s done right. Sirius and him exist in a positive-feedback loop of hatred resulting in betrayal and murder. But when Harry finally takes the time to treat Kreacher like a living being, we see just how much humanity a non-human can have.

P.S. - Before any of you give any credence to Duq’s opinion of him, you should know that he voted for McGonagall at #1.

/u/pizzabangle: I’m stoked that Kreacher made it this far. He’s a shining example of what a minor character can be, how they can impact the main characters and change the reader’s perspective on a story. Kreacher has an impactful presence on every scene he’s in. His wretched existence in Grimmauld Place and fraught relationship with Sirius opens our eyes to different aspects of the wizarding world and Sirius’ character. When his allegiance shifts, we get to know him as an ally to the trio and we see the trio learn to accept the change in his behavior. The moment where Harry imagines him at home “busying himself over the steak-and-kidney pie that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would never eat” gets me every time. I can’t help but feel for the poor guy, and the thought really shows how Harry has changed in the time spent hiding out at his godfather’s old house.

/u/theduqoffrat: I hate Kreacher. I really do. I should have cut him sooner and I’m mad that I cut Luna instead of him. I’ll regret it until the day I die. He is loyal to the Blacks. Big deal. He’s a house elf. That is his job and duty. Then he saw the soft side and Harry and really accepted him as his new master. That is all Kreacher was doing. It wasn’t some big revelation. It was what Kreacher’s DNA told him he had to do.

This write-up was a collaborative effort between /u/seanmik620 and myself. After taking on Dobby and Winky separately, we joined forces and analyzed the best house-elf together.

Kreacher somehow has one of the best transformations in the series. Considering JKR’s penchant for classifying the uggos as only bad guys (at least 90% of the time), it’s nice to see that one of the ugliest of them all, inside and out, has such a change of heart during his relatively short tenure in the books. What little exposure we get to Kreacher manages to sell a powerful feeling about him: he’s vile and loathsome in every imaginable way. He would be pitiable if not for his nasty nature. He’s more openly committed to the Pure Blood cause than many Death Eaters are, and yet it’s as if he doesn’t even understand what those beliefs actually mean.

The thing that makes Kreacher so great is that he’s this disgusting blood-purist whose sole motivating factor is love. Love is evident in all of his relationships. Kreacher loves the Black family* with his entire being in the same way that Dobby loves Harry. His love for the Black family extends beyond the grave, and it shows in his dedication to them even years after they all abandoned him (however unintentional it may have been). In his heart he carries the Blacks’ beliefs and parrots their pure-blood talking points around the Order; he carries their hatred: of mudbloods, blood-traitors, and other “scum,” despite the fact that those beliefs are detrimental to his own well-being. He’s like a child who fervently touts his parents’ political beliefs without any understanding of how the world actually works because that’s all he knows.

Kreacher persists with pure-blood dogma to the point of continuously insulting the mudblood, Hermione, to her face or giving Harry a box of maggots as a Christmas present just because he’s on the side of the “blood-traitors”. Why should Kreacher think otherwise? While the Blacks did punish him, it doesn’t appear they were quite as abusive as the Malfoy family was to Dobby. He probably lived a good life as far as house elves go. And he’ll get immortalized on their wall forever after he passes! They clearly love him back. At least he thinks so.

Though he’s introduced to us as the old, unhelpful house-elf who might be a bit nuts, there is much more to Kreacher beneath the surface. In his early appearances, Kreacher is understood by most of the characters not as a sentient being but rather a living, breathing piece of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, another nasty reminder of the people who once lived there. Sirius and other Order members don’t see Kreacher as any more complex or interesting than a painting or a tapestry, though perhaps a bit more irritating and dangerous because he can move around and talk. They refuse to see deeper than the muttered insults. Kreacher impedes progress and makes life difficult. That’s it. Only Hermione and Dumbledore recognize the agency and humanity (for the lack of a better word) that the house-elf possesses. Dumbledore’s warnings and Hermione’s pleas to treat Kreacher as an equal fall on obstinate ears to the detriment of the Order. Kreacher is extremely clever and cunning, and he knows how to make life miserable for the new inhabitants of Number 12.

Kreacher acts ineffective and a tad bit senile, feigning confusion and ignorance, all while exploiting every loophole available. He’s like the anti-house-elf. In the fourth book we meet beings who smile, speak in squeaky voices, bow, cheerfully fulfill almost any request, and are unfailingly polite. Kreacher refuses to cook and he seems to think spring cleaning is synonymous with hoarding. His only interest is holding on to pictures and objects important to people now long gone. And he never fears any potential punishment. When Sirius threatens to free him, Kreacher subtly reminds his master that he has critical information the Order can’t risk anyone else finding out. Kreacher has reversed their dynamic: now the slave has power against the master. He takes the first OUT Sirius offers, and proves observant enough to have noticed how much Harry and Sirius care for each other when he passes the information along to the family members, the Malfoys, who treat him with a modicum of decency. Sirius may have magically granted mastery over Kreacher, but as Dobby also proved three years prior, that means little to a house elf who has little respect or love for you.

Sirius knows the danger that Kreacher could bring to their whole cause, and yet he can’t find it in himself to restrain his contempt, despite Dumbledore’s urging:

“I warned Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as our Headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to us. I do not think Sirius took me very seriously, or that he ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human’s.” Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 37.

It’s no wonder that Kreacher seeks out other family members who might treat him well. Like Dobby and the Malfoys, just because he’s bound to Sirius does not mean that’s where his loyalties lie. At his core, Kreacher is a comfort-seeker, as so many of us are. He receives no fulfillment from Sirius’ commands; he does not feel useful in assisting someone who clearly has no desire for his help. The relationship between the Blacks and Kreacher best exemplifies the symbiotic nature of house-elves with the families they belong to: house-elves may happily serve their families until they feel as though they receive no benefit or respect for their work in return. Then, like Dobby or Kreacher, they might rebel. Kreacher seeks out a way to gain that emotional fulfillment once more from Narcissa and Bellatrix.

Kreacher relishes his chance at revenge. He laughs as he reveals to Dumbledore how he worked around the Order and helped plot Sirius’ death. It’s cruel and disturbing, but at the same time, startlingly sympathetic. No, Sirius did not deserve his untimely end, but his cruelty toward the house-elf is undeniable. “Dehumanization” is a two-way street. It’s not hard to imagine Sirius toasting to Kreacher’s death--he even threatens it at least once (“Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!”). So why should his slave afford him a mournful reaction? After all, Sirius’ death means the potential to serve Bellatrix or Narcissa instead.

Kreacher would do anything for the Blacks (sans Sirius). He even desires to take Regulus’ place when they switch out the locket with the fake one. He also still feels regret for not completing his master’s last wish of destroying the real locket, still attempting to inflict damage on himself for his failure nearing twenty years later. We’re not sure if it’s just the magic binding Kreacher to the Blacks or if it’s out of sheer disappointment in himself for letting down Regulus. Probably a combination of both.

Regardless, this moment allows us a chance to see how love affects Kreacher from another perspective. Seeing Kreacher distraught about not destroying the locket, Harry takes the opportunity to gift him Regulus’ replacement locket.

“It took them nearly half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own that he was too weak at the knees to stand properly.” – Deathly Hallows, Chapter 10

Harry still does not care much for Kreacher at this point, but his actions speak to true compassion for the elf. From this moment on, Kreacher’s interactions with Harry, who he had previously detested, shift. He now serves Harry, just as he did Regulus (okay, maybe not quite as enthusiastically). They come a far way from “Kreacher will do whatever Master wants […] because Kreacher has no choice, but Kreacher is ashamed to have such a master, yes —” to “Master has not finished his soup, would master prefer the savory stew, or else the treacle tart to which Master is so partial?”. One of the most heartbreaking lines in the series comes after the botched apparition back to Grimmauld Place, when Harry thinks about the steak and kidney pie that Kreacher promised them on return. While living in Grimmauld Place with Kreacher at his side, Harry finally has an actual house to call home for the first time in his life, only to have it ripped away from him, not to mention the sudden abandonment Kreacher suffers once again. It would have been easy for Kreacher to slip back into his old ways of barely taking care of himself or the house, and yet the next time we see him, he is leading a charge of house-elves from the Hogwarts kitchens onto a battlefield in the name of his masters who fought bravely against everything Kreacher had stood for just a year prior.

It’s sad to imagine a Kreacher post-Walburga’s death. An elf wandering around a filthy house with no one to take care of. From interactions with house-elves throughout the series, we know that it’s their nature to serve, but all Kreacher has left now are memories and promises. He must have been so lonely with only a portrait and an evil locket that takes advantage of your darkest fears for company. So when Harry finally extends his olive branch, he gifts Kreacher with more than just compassion. He also offers the elderly elf a new “home” and family, a new purpose and way forward. With the gift of the locket, Kreacher receives closure on a failure that has haunted him for 15 years. Harry promises that they will continue Regulus’ work and find a way to destroy the horcrux. Kreacher acts as the sole keeper of Regulus’ secret no longer. Now others are willing to recognize him and carry on his work. It’s no longer something Kreacher has to bear alone.

*Bellatrix, Narcissa, and especially Mistress Walburga and her son, Regulus (Sirius can go [suck a fuck] (http://1.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/73/65/2af704a0d800d34991ec5b706a80b6a0.gif), though).

#The incorrect opinions of Marx and ETI

ETIwillsaveusall:

McGonagall is the one outlier I’m unhappy about being in the top 10. She’s a great character and a wonderful professor who clearly loves her students and works hard to do right by them. And, of course, her sarcastic wit is legendary. But she just lacks that something special that all the other remaining characters seem to have. I ranked her 10th.

Marx0r:

How is she even in the top 10? She’s a lifelong educator with the take-no-shit personality that comes alongside it. That’s about it.

#The correct opinions of Pizza and Khaj

Khajiit-ify:

Do I have to say anything other than this? McGonagall is a badass woman. Like, seriously, I want her to be my teacher just so she can yell at me about me being a buffoon. You can’t help but cheer when she takes Umbridge down a few notches. You can’t help but feel agonizing worry when she gets attacked in Order of the Phoenix. She’s one of those characters that pulls at your heartstrings while still reminding you that she is boss. We need more McGonagalls in this world.

pizzabangle:

Minerva is a neat character. Whenever she makes an appearance, she holds the reader’s attention in the same way she asserts herself in her classroom. She has the quiet power of someone who knows themselves and their strengths. Although we don’t see a lot of change in her character over the series, we do deepen our understanding of her as a person through her encounters with darker and darker subject matter as the books progress. I think it is also interesting to note that there are not a lot of well-written adult female characters in children’s literature and finding one that is not defined by her role as a mother is even more rare.

#My Opinions

Out of the characters left I strongly believe that Minerva McGonagall is number one. There is no doubt in my mind that even out of all 208 characters we started this Rankdown with that she isn’t top 5. I can’t fathom a Harry Potter universe without her. She is the bad-ass teacher. Everyone had a teacher like her in school. The one that you knew that you couldn’t cross but they had a soft side and everyone loved them. Being such a prominent character it is hard to break down every scene she is in, let alone every major scene. McGonagall was literally there from Harry’s first day on Privet Drive until the last time he left Hogwarts as a teenager.

In her first scene at Privet Drive, we quickly learn that McGonagall is a loving, yet stern woman. McGonagall knows that they are leaving Harry with insufferable people. She staked out the Privet Drive the entire day instead of helping in the fight against Voldemort. She doesn’t even know 100% that the Potter’s are dead until Dumbledore tells her. McGonagall dedicated her life to helping children and instead of rushing to kill the Dark Lord, she rushed off to make sure that baby Harry had a place to go. We see her question Dumbledore’s decision, something that we don’t see from other characters often in the series. Our literal first interaction with her is that we know she is loyal and she isn’t afraid to question what she thinks is right.

Skip ahead a few chapters and we meet Minerva against in Hogwarts. She is in charge of the first years and of course, in charge of Harry Potter. Sure, this is a case of (I think can’t of the right word - I want to say deus ex machina but I know that’s not it. Whoever thinks of the right word gets 10 points from McGonagall), but it is only fitting that the first teacher to look out for Harry before Hogwarts is now the one looking after him at Hogwarts. Of course she is in charge of Gryffindor. She is a cat, the mascot is a lion; it only makes sense. We see her as the strict teacher here, but also as the one who loves her students and loves her house. Although she doesn’t pounce of the desk in cat-form when Harry and Ron are late to her class, she is sure to make it known that she is grateful but yet disproving of the trio during the troll incident. If I remember correctly she takes points from Hermione (gasp! Someone other than Snape takes points from Gryffindor) and gives points to Ron and Harry. This again leans to the idea that she is strict but also loving. Rules are rules, McGonagall enforces this, but also knows when brave behavior should be rewarded. Likewise, when she sees Harry’s bravery on the broom during his first flying lesson, she immediately rushes to him and takes him to Wood. While Harry thinks he is about to get a nice beating, really she is just introducing him to someone that will employ beaters to protect him. This may be a case of her playing favorites, but I see it as her allowing Harry to promote himself in extracurriculars. She knows it may be hard for him to make true friends that aren’t just after his fame; plus she sees the way that Draco looks down on him before the sorting. She wants Harry to succeed and be a normal student. She knows that he knows diddly squat about quidditch so she gives him the opportunity to learn a sport that he can excel at. She even brought him a broom!

Or how about her believing in Neville. Remember this quote:

"Take Charms," said Professor McGonagall, "and I shall drop Augusta a line reminding her that just because she failed her Charms O.W.L., the subject is not necessarily worthless."

She cared about Neville. She cared about him learning. She didn’t want any of his family to stand in the way of him being the best wizard he could be. She was incensed that Neville’s grandmother would think about limiting Neville’s magical knowledge. She knew what happened to his parents; she knew how brave the Longbottom’s are; she knew that Neville would do great things and could help fight the good fight.

She gave Hermione a time turner so she could make it to multiple classes and gain as much knowledge as possible. I don’t see Snape doing that for Draco or Flitwick for Cho. She wanted to empower her students and give them the best possible learning experience to make sure that the wizarding world was one that was successful and one that could battle the dark forces.

How about her standing up for her students to other professors; namely Snape and Umbridge. Yeah, that’s a loving, damn good teacher. I had a teacher like that in high school and I think that is why I love McGonagall so much.

Well, I think Potter and his friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the return of You-Know-Who! What say you, Professor Snape?"

Do you think that McGonagall knew that Snape was good? I don’t think so. With every iota of my body, I think that McGonagall thought that Snape was on the side of Voldemort and wanted to make sure that he knew that Potter, his friends, and her would feel her wrath. McGonagall hated bullies and hated anyone that would try and harm her students. It didn’t matter to her how much Dumbledore trusted Snape, she didn’t. It didn’t matter if Snape was part of the Order, McGonagall was weary of him. She was devastated to when Snape killed Dumbledore. I think it was more devastation that someone that Dumbledore trusted could have betrayed him. It goes once again to show her loyalty and hate for evil.

Let’s slink on over and talk about Minvera v. Umbridge.

‘But unfortunately,’ she said, with an attempt at a reciprocal smile that made her look as though she had lockjaw, ‘it is what I think that counts, as they are in my House, Dolores.’

McGonagall wasn’t afraid to throw some sass. She knew what bitch Umbridge was, how Umbridge was nothing more than a pawn of the Ministry, how Umbridge wanted nothing more than to see Hogwarts fail. McGonagall was loyal through and through and loathed this kind of behavior. She wanted Umbridge to know that she could not be scared out of the position of Deputy Headmistress. She wanted Umbridge to know that Albus Dumbledore was the one who was in charge of this school and that herself and Dumbledore were the ones that the students respected. She stood up for Sybil when Umbridge sacked her, she stood up for Hagrid when Umbridge had the Aurors attack him. She was a good friend, a good leader, and one who would not put up with those who tried to demean or diminish hard work.

This leads into my favorite quote of the entire series.

Have a biscuit, Potter.

McGonagall was proud that Harry stood up to Umbridge. She was proud that he did not cower in the face of evil. She was proud that he had the balls to voice what he believed in. She wasn’t going to yell at Harry for talking back to Umbridge. Instead she praised him for not respecting the most disrespectful person in the entire series. The true villain of the novels. The one who hated everything good simply because she could.

The battle scene when Harry and Voldemort die really push McGonagall over the edge for me. She goes from strict, no bullshit, loving professor to a bad ass mother fucker willing to do anything and everything to protect her school, her students, and the wizarding world as a whole. Maybe this was all pent up since she spent the first battle on the corner of Privet Drive or maybe she is just fierce as a feline. She really stuck out her claws and hunkered down and protected Hogwarts. She called the suits of armor to battle, she used Peeves, she allowed her students to fight. She took out the Carrows - with the help of Luna and Harry. When Carrow spit on McGonagall, Harry flung off his cloak and fired a successful unforgivable curse. This goes to show how much Harry really loved McGonagall. Note that Harry couldn’t fire a successful one on Bellatrix after she killed Sirius. She banished Snape from the castle which ultimately lead to his death, she had Neville and Seamus destroy the bridge, she kicked out everyone not willing to fight against Voldemort. These were such huge choices that she made without hesitation. She knew what needed to be done to save the wizarding world.

SHE DUELED WITH VOLDEMORT. HOW COOL IS THAT. She saw Harry’s dead body and she kicked into an overdrive panic. She couldn’t let the savior boy die in vain. She fired spell after spell, dueled as long as she could. When Harry came back and killed Voldemort SHE HUGGED HIM. SHE HUGGED HARRY POTTER. This goes to show how thankful she was, her human side, how much she loved him.

It’s not all a cake walk when it comes to McGonagall though. Remember when Sirius sent Harry a new broom? Yeah she confiscated it. Rightly so, she was looking out for Harry and making sure that a convicted felon and who everyone thought betrayed the Potters wasn’t able to harm Harry. Remember when Neville screwed up and lost the password list? She gave him detention and wrote to his grandmother. This wasn’t because she was cold hearted, it is because she loved her students and would do anything in her power to make sure they are safe. She was also pretty stern when it came to the Yule Ball. She made the students dance but was sure that they didn’t embarrass themselves, the school, or their houses.

Minerva McGonagall is a true hero of the series. She doesn’t make a huge character turn, she doesn’t flip flop on sides, she holds true to her own and that is what makes her so strong. In the eyes of adversary or during the normal day she doesn’t falter. She shows her true colors at all times.

/u/ETIwillsaveusall:

Since returning to the books as an adult, Percy has become a favorite character of mine. So I’m pleased (and tbh extremely surprised) that he made it this far. I like that his character is rife with contradictions, all of which extend from his home environment: his parents celebrate the same ambitions and pompous behavior that Percy’s siblings mock. He is at once the black sheep of the family--the child most obsessed with order and fame in a world of chaos and getting lost in the shadow of more rambunctious children--and his parents pride and joy. He searches for a place to fit in at the Ministry while also striving for recognition for his individual achievements. Percy is young when he makes probably the biggest mistake of his life, choosing to step out of the oppressive shadow of his family’s inadequacy, but in the end he recognizes his follies and returns home. Making mistakes, owning up to them, and trying to do better: what growing up is all about. I’m not actually sure Percy is a top ten character, but I’m also not going to complain about this placement. For this final month, I ranked Percy 9th.

/u/Khajiit-ify: Out of all the Weasley children to make it to the end besides Ron, I am so happy that Percy made it here. His storyline between himself and his determination to further his career in politics while turning a blind eye to the world and even shunning himself from his family is such a deeply impactful storyline that is almost buried within the craziness that is the Harry Potter series. It’s the little nugget of realism that makes you step back and consider that maybe not everything in the Wizarding world is better than that of the Muggle world.

/u/theduqoffrat: I wrote in depth about Percy during the rankdown during one of the other cuts. He is the Tiffany Trump of the Weasley family. I really don’t like him but I don’t hate him. He’s kind of a blah character. He’s the smart one, the leader, the one who makes sure he’s in charge.

This cut brought to you by /u/Marx0r and /u/pizzabangle:

The Harry Potter series is rich in its theme of redemption, or at least the attempts thereof. Wormtail decides not to kill Harry, Snape is manipulated into Dumbledore's service, the Malfoys find it inconvenient to continue to be Death Eaters. Even the main story - Dumbledore finally learning the definition of "The Greater Good” - is one of redemption. But throughout the narration of the series, in the years that we see the characters develop in real time, we are shown one person rise, fall, and truly overcome their faults like no one else does - Percy Ignatius Weatherby Weasley.

From his first introduction in Philosopher’s Stone, it is clear that Percy is a character who loves order and adherence to the way a given thing should be done. Throughout the first several books, Percy plays an expository role in the series. He’s the one who shows the first years the ropes of Hogwarts Castle. He’s there for advice, solicited and otherwise, when the younger students need to pick their classes. When danger is present, he is entrusted with the safety of the students as the teachers handle the security threat. In his capacity as prefect and later Head Boy, he’s there as the mentor and docent for both the incoming students and the readers.

It seems clear that Percy’s desire to fulfill expectations and play by the rules stems from his childhood at the Burrow. A middle child, he grew up in a house overflowing with people and activity. There could hardly have been a quiet moment to think with six siblings, a yard full of chickens, gnomes in the garden, a father obsessed with Muggle experiments, and a powerful, emotional mother. Percy copes with the chaos surrounding him by determining what is the correct way to behave in any situation. His black-and-white method of thinking gives him a comforting framework within which to operate.

Family is clearly of great importance to him. At the end of the first book, he is seen boasting to other prefects about Ron’s performance in McGonagall’s chess game. When Ginny looks sickly in Chamber of Secrets, Percy notices and tries to help. He may have taken Fred and George’s fraternal jibing a bit harshly, given that he feels the need to hide his relationship with Penelope Clearwater from them for a year. Then again, maybe he was just embarrassed to be dating a Ravenclaw.

Either way, Percy’s relationship with Penelope is but one example of his ability to care for those outside his family as well. When his youngest brother makes some friends, he’s quick to take them on as surrogate siblings in his own, slightly-inept way. He, well, tries to comfort Harry through such things as his barring from Hogsmeade. He’s there to advise fellow overachiever Hermione. Sure, it might come more from a desire to prove authority than genuine empathy, but for better or worse, Percy cares.

Once he graduates from Hogwarts and enters the Ministry, Percy’s authority-empathy balance starts to shift decisively to the former. As he settles into his new position in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, he finds a new source of authority to worship heed in Barty Crouch, Senior.

“Mr. Crouch!” said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of halfbow that made him look like a hunchback. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

Young and quite eager to please, the line between Weatherby’s reverence for Crouch’s reputation and empathy for Crouch’s humanity starts to blur. Weatherby is said to love Crouch so much that he’s willing to marry him. But when the widowed, lonely man is so sick that he can only communicate by owl, Weatherby puts the office’s well-being ahead of Crouch’s. It doesn’t seem to be out of malice - just that this is the only way Weatherby knows how to help.

While stoically following the rules may help Percy deal with the stresses of everyday wizarding life, his unyielding rule adherence leads to conflict with his family members. The caring and emotional side of his character is smothered by his ambition to move up in the Ministry of Magic. With rumors of Voldemort’s return causing distress at the Ministry and in the wizarding community at large, Percy turns not to his family for support, but to his long-trusted belief system. He continues to play his role and do things by the book, but the book starts to tell him to betray his family.

Once the Weasleys have to choose between The Order and The Ministry, Percy alone chooses the latter because that’s where he can find the most order. His life’s trajectory takes him all-in before he can even question the decision. But even when he disowns the bulk of his family, he still tries to look out for Ron and do what he thinks is best for him, sending him the worst answer to the classic r/relationships question: “So my [15m] famous best friend [15m] of several years is being slandered by the government. What should I do?”

He goes pretty far off the deep end in his blind allegiance to the Ministry. When his family issues come full-circle and he’s asked to escort Scrimgeour to The Burrow in order to recruit Harry, he does it begrudgingly but shamelessly. He even goes so far as to say, or at least imply, that Dolores Umbridge isn’t the only living human who actually deserves to be carried off by a herd of centaurs.

Before we move on completely from Percy’s years as a traitorous git, we should take a look at one of the most interesting results of the treachery: Percy’s relationship with his father. Arthur Weasley is a kind and generous man at heart. He is full of curiosity and whimsy, and obviously fiercely proud of and loving toward his children. When Percy chooses the Ministry over his family, Arthur is deeply injured. We are told that the two men fight and yell, a surprise coming from the Weasley patriarch. Up until this point, he has typically shown a more measured response to conflict. (except for that time he fought Lucius Malfoy in a bookstore) The fight between father and son shows the reader a lot about the two characters. It is moving to learn of the row, as it is to see the two stoically ignoring one another at work. It must have been extremely trying for all of the Weasleys, but especially for Percy and his parents.

The idea of young adults and adolescents rebelling against their parents is not unique. Percy’s story of distancing himself from his roots is one that echoes broadly in literature and in our world, making his character understandable. His believability as a character is part of what makes him so strong. Sure, his abandonment of his family is jarring. It’s surprising to see him renounce them and refuse to believe Harry, but it fits with his character. He has been shown to follow figures of authority with little question, to make quick judgements and to uphold order above all else. His character is so well known to the reader in this way that he becomes his own archetype in the series. Many of his mentions in the novels use him as a tool for comparison. When Ron speaks about being a prefect he is careful to note that he doesn’t enjoy it he’s “not like Percy.” A pompous note of Regulus’ looked to Harry as “the sort of thing Percy Weasley might have stuck to his bedroom door.”

Fortunately, Percy is not completely obtuse. Once the Ministry gets overtaken, his last vestiges of sense finally kick in. He realizes that his precious government is wrong and that his family has been right all along. By that point, he is unfortunately in too deep. He can’t just leave the Ministry, but he manages to eventually find a contact for a way out via Aberforth.

When the Battle of Hogwarts starts, Percy finally makes the right choice. His Gryffindor nature finally comes out, jumping into action as soon as possible. On his way to join the fight, he is reunited with his family in the Room of Requirement and gives the reader the single most compelling example of redemption in the series:

“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a – a --”

“Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron,” said Fred.

Percy swallowed.

“Yes, I was!”

“Well, you can't say fairer than that,” said Fred, holding his hand out to Percy.

Cue the emotional release. Finally. In this moment, pompous, self-righteous Percy humbles himself in front of his family, and asks for forgiveness. He has spent the last few years denouncing them, actively working against them, and wounding them terribly. It takes a war to knock some sense into him, but it happens. It is this interaction that makes Percy’s story the best example of atonement and redemption in the Harry Potter series. Dudley Dursley may a have a similar story to tell, but we don’t hear too much of it so first place in the “I was a prat” competition goes to the redhead.

Shortly after his glorious moment of redemption, he solidifies his new position by bravely leaping into the fight and jinxing his boss for good measure. He’s even willing to go back on his pre-schism personality, cracking jokes like he hadn’t since he was -

So, each month, as you placed your bets, you were also given the chance to pick your FAVORITE WRITTEN CUTS!

#TO VOTE ON YOUR FAVORITE JUNE CUTS GO HERE

#HERE ARE THE RESULTS FROM THE PREVIOUS MONTHS!

#MONTH 01 - NOVEMBER

81 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#MONTH 02 - DECEMBER

54 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#MONTH 03 - JANUARY

105 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#MONTH 04 - February

67 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#MONTH 05 - March

53 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#MONTH 06 - April

48 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#MONTH 07 - May

55 Betters submitted votes on their favorite cuts!

#JUNE FAVORITES WERE NOT SELECTED, SO THOSE CUTS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE ADDITIONAL CALCULATIONS

#TOP 10 CUTS TOTAL
##from Month 01 to Month 07

The usual results post is a touch, er, broken at the moment, so please forgive the lack of the usual organization. :)

June’s Rankdown betting results are as follows:

If you would like the full info as usual, feel free to poke /u/k9centipede about it. Muahaha.

#Rankdown: The Final Chapter

It’s the final month of Rankdown, so betting is going to work a bit differently than you’re used to. And also get a little weird.

This month, every single remaining character will be ranked from #10 to #1—You can’t in good conscience bet on every character! Everyone will get cut, and that just spoils all the fun. Instead, here’s what we’re going to do:

1. You will rank the surviving characters from 10 (who you think will place the lowest) to 1 (who you think will place the highest).
2. When each character is cut, you will receive Doe Points based on how close they were cut to your original guess. For example, if you bet on Percy Weasley as #1 and he finishes #1, you will receive 10 Doe Points (0 spots away, 10-0=10). If he finishes #10, you will receive 1 Doe Point (9 spots away, 10-9=1). If he finishes #9, you will receive 2 Doe Points (10-8=2). Etc, etc.

3. There may be a prize for finishing 10/10. Maybe. We’ll see!

##You can submit your best guess at our final ranking using this form.

###The first cut will be posted on July 12th, so get all your bets in before then!

For my last cut before we go into the top 10, I went back and forth between this and one other character for the last 4 days. I knew I wanted to cut one of them (and it would have been both, had it not been for Padfoot), and I do think I feel some disappointment that one of them will make top 10. But such is the rankdown and at this point, we are no longer cutting throwaway characters.

I mentioned in my Snape cut that I value humanity in characters like Percy. Let me elaborate on that a little bit. I think that due to the way the books are written, starting very much as a children’s series, some of the characters are (necessarily) a tad black and white morally. We see them through the eyes of a child, with a child’s sense of justice. We laugh with characters like the twins and we suffer with the injustice of Snape’s treatment of the Gryffindors. We side with the ‘fun’ characters. I re-read these books a lot as a teenager, but after the release of the last one, I didn’t touch them again for nearly a decade. When I did, for this rankdown, I saw them with the eyes of an adult and nearly 30 years of being alive, I saw through the lenses of broken relationships and forgotten friendships, through hard choices and right choices. Characters I’d brushed off because they were inconsequential seemed much more real to me. Percy is one of them, because that feeling of ambition and drive is one that I was instilled with from an early age. I like that Percy didn’t settle, I like that he aspired to more and even if he went about it in a botched, awful way, he tried. He really tried.

The other character I experienced a shift in was Petunia.

Because Petunia starts off as a cartoonishly evil stepmother, enough to rival whatever Disney can cook up. She abuses Harry and spoils Dudley with near fanatical devotion. She lives a life dictated by thoughts of what the neighbours would think, where Harry’s mere presence is enough to destroy her idea of normality, of blending in. Because for Petunia, standing out is a horrible, terrible thing. She has seen firsthand what standing out looks like. But for those early books, she is merely annoying and we breathe that sigh of relief when Harry leaves her house.

Until Dumbledore’s Howler and we’re told that Petunia should remember his last. Until through the cracks, we see that Petunia is aware of more than she lets on. And we see something else: the vitriol that she carries within her, that her attitude to Harry goes beyond just envy of her sister Lily. That there is a lot more here than meets the eye. Over the course of the last three books and especially in the Prince’s Tale, we see a side of Petunia that we didn’t before. We see Petunia happy in childhood, playing with her sister. We see Petunia growing fearful of Lily’s displays of magic, because it makes her stand out. When you think about, as a child, did you really want to stand out? Especially since the only other person who shared your weirdness was some freak kid who was nothing like you? When you, as the older, protective sister, see your younger sister start to resemble this freak, how do you react? You want to protect your sister, you want her to be happy and that means being normal.

(An aside here: magic, from a Muggle perspective, is weird. And yet both Luna’s affectations and Squibs are seen as weird by a magical perspective. What does that say, about tribal allegiances and how we separate those who are ‘in’ from those who are not?)

Petunia is bigoted towards magic because to her, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. Her parents, rather than punish Lily for her weirdness, end up praising her. Imagine being brought up to be, to act, to feel ‘normal’ and when your sibling displays something different, they are not punished or shunned, they are praised and loved. Imagine how all this attention shifted from Petunia to Lily, this one sided adoration of their daughter. Lily goes to Hogwarts and Petunia, for probably the first time in her life, begs someone to let her go with. The answer is no. And Petunia resolves herself to despise everything that drove this wedge between her and her sister, this unspoken chasm between her and a person she cared about. And imagine being Lily, full of enthusiasm for the things you can do and coming home to sour-faced Petunia. Imagine how that must feel, that rejection, that loss ultimately of one of your childhood companions (how Lily must have felt, when she lost Snape too).

I wonder sometimes how much of Lily’s storyline with her sister is meant to reflect what LGBT people go through. Indulge me for a second. If Remus is meant to be a reflection of HIV+ people and if lycanthropy is like the magical equivalent of AIDS, then I can see how magic (and its discovery) can be a very rough equivalent of coming out. You have the support of all the other wizards and witches, but you risk being shunned by your own family. When their parents die, Lily and Petunia lose touch. They don’t talk about it, as far as Petunia goes, she has no family. She chooses bigotry and she chooses ‘normalcy’ and she chooses to renege her own sister, but she can’t forget what she knows of the magical world.

And yet… when Harry gets deposited on her doorstep and she finds the letter, she takes him in. Dumbledore himself admits that she made the enchantment work because she did so of her own volition. Petunia hates Lily at this point, by her own admission, yet she takes in her sister’s child. She tries to break him of his magic and cannot and I wonder what she must have thought. She knew, when his hair grew back, when he vanished and appeared on to the roof, what he has. This child, who looks nothing like her sister (except for his eyes), he will get his letter too and he’ll be off to magic school and it will be another bitter reminder of what Petunia has lost.

In this, Petunia displays her humanity, her flawed nature and yet it does not mean that she is somehow forgiven for her treatment of Harry. She could have made a different choice and once again she chose the normal and the safe, the things that make you not stand out. She chose a coward’s way and it has lasting effects on the last link she had to her sister. I pity Petunia. Because when you look at it from her perspective, what good did magic ever do for her? She lost her sister in more ways than one and she gained nothing from it (indeed, by the end, she has to flee her home, with her husband and son in tow, to escape certain death). It doesn’t excuse her abuse, nothing will, but this human aspect of Petunia touched me on re-reads in ways I’d missed before. That envy and jealousy and bitterness? They’re all things we experience. But what we ought to never do, is make the same choice Petunia did.

It’s finally come to this, the last two cuts I make before we go into the final month. Before I got into this, I’d like to thank everyone here, readers and fellow rankers, for an amazing experience. It’s made me look at the books and its characters in new and amazing ways, it’s made me fight the corners of characters I loved and, in the case of this cut, really (re)consider my own opinions about characters I had previously liked.

When I got Padfooted earlier, I knew that from that list of characters, I couldn’t really cut Hermione. When I applied for the rankdown, I knew I wanted Hermione to make endgame (and yes, perhaps it’s silly to think she wouldn’t, but here we are). How far she gets in that endgame remains to be seen, but I wasn’t going to cut her before she gets her shot in the sun. So it came down to Draco, Percy and Snape. I almost cut Percy, before reconsidering; not just because of the prodigal son storyline, but because Percy has always felt very human to me, this staid and by the rules kind of guy. It’s easy to dislike Percy, because the Twins and Ron are always teasing him and Harry ends up feeling this same way about him. He’s a bit of a dick, isn’t he, that Percy? Such a killjoy. And then, in a very un-Gryffindor manner, he ends up going against the wishes of his parents and pursuing his own ambitions. He finds redemption and he returns to the Weasley bunch, but I liked that aspect of him, that idea that you know what, not every single Weasley likes the life they lead; being a bit of a joke among other wizards. Percy’s humanity is precisely because you hear about these kinds of people all the time.

On the other side of the pureblood family coin is Draco, who spends the first books acting like an absolute dick. He bullies people, he calls Hermione Mudblood, because of course he does, he picks on Ron for being a Weasley and generally just exists as a guy for all of us to hate. And then, all of a sudden, there is a new side of Draco. All of a sudden, he goes from being just a bullying arsehole, to being a teenager in way over his head. It turns out that when push comes to shove, Draco doesn’t really have the courage to kill Dumbledore, precisely because of how terrifying murder actually is. I find Draco’s arc fascinating because again, Rowling is able to capture his humanity and make him real.

So that left me with Snape and I went back and forth on this cut for a long time. I knew that ultimately, if he went to endgame, he would make top 5 easily. And while I don’t really hate Snape, I also don’t think he’s number two material. If this rankdown was not a group effort, but the /u/bubblegumgills rankdown, he’d end up about number 7 or so. Instead, he’ll have to contend with 12. Sorry Severus.

It’s hard to divorce Snape from his portrayal by the late, great Alan Rickman, because he captured that side of Snape from the very early books: the snide arsehole teacher, the bully and the man who favours Slytherin, this guy that for like four books is dangled in front of you as potentially still a Death Eater. He relentlessly bullies Harry and Neville, he puts down Hermione’s interest in answering questions, he awards his own House points basically for shits and giggles. Then you see him, in his fifth year, bullied by Harry’s father and there is a twinge of sympathy for young Severus -- until he calls Lily a Mudblood and it’s painfully obvious that in a way, he’s seriously not that different from the adult he turned into. When he finally kills Dumbledore, it feels like a culmination of everything we’ve believed so far, we’re vindicated for thinking, believing for so long that he truly was a complete bastard, in Voldemort’s employ all along.

Then, we get ‘The Prince’s Tale’, which for a lot of people completely flipped their opinions of Snape. Initially, I was one of those people. Here is the vindication of Snape as a true hero, here is where we find out that he really is a poor tortured soul and all he ever wanted was the love of this one woman. He was a woobie and honestly, reading these books at the age I did, it’s hard not to feel pity for him, poor unloved Severus who comes from a shit family and happens to fall in with the wrong crowd. He suffered and he loved Lily (and lost her!) and then spent the rest of his life doing some convoluted revenge plan against Voldemort. Now, I no longer feel so charitable towards him.

It should be said, there are some parts of Snape’s characters that are truly worth mentioning here. The man is an amazing potion maker (he edited a book to make the potions even better when he was only 16!), he is an accomplished Legilimens and no matter what Harry may think of his teaching skill (more on that in a second), he managed to fool Voldemort. Now, you could argue that this is because Voldemort can’t understand love and therefore he cannot understand what drives a man like Snape to do these things (to plead for Lily’s life, without a thought for James or Harry, for example). He manages to maintain this facade that he’s not a double-crosser and only Dumbledore knows the truth and has his back, up until Snape sends him tumbling from the top of the Astronomy Tower. I genuinely became fascinated by this aspect of Snape the spy and the way he managed to retain his sanity right up until his death, how he aided Dumbledore and brought about Voldemort’s demise.

Yet, it’s Snape’s motivation for doing this that I now cannot forgive. On the surface, his love for Lily is noble and courageous. But when you look at all his interactions with her, they are tinged with an aura of desperation. From the moment he lays eyes on her, Snape is taken by her, in a greedy, hungry, needy way. He latches onto Lily and he never lets her go. Lily’s feelings on this are essentially ignored and she becomes subsumed into his storyline; even when she makes the choice to break off her friendship with him, Snape won’t let her go. That reaction that Dumbledore has after Voldemort has killed her and James? That revulsion? That is the reaction that we as readers are supposed to have. Because there is nothing endearing about the way he clings to her, to his idealised memory of her. Lily is no longer a person, she is a symbol, she is Snape’s entire motivation and all his hopes and dreams are pinned on to this one woman who hadn’t spoken to him in months.

Snape’s obsession with Lily is not endearing, it’s not touching, it’s not selfless. It’s selfish and it’s downright creepy. He feels no shame or guilt in sentencing her husband and son to Voldemort, because if Snape gets what he wants, then who cares about the innocents who die? He would gladly have this woman he loves lose everything, as long as he could swoop in to save her. The fact that, a decade later, he treats both her son and Neville (who, it should be said, has no clue why this teacher hates him so much) with such contempt and anger, with such vitriol, shows that Snape never truly understood the real sacrifice that Lily made for her family. Think about it this way: throughout their childhoods and their years at Hogwarts, Lily made excuses for what Snape was getting into, she stood up for him in front of James and how does he repay her? By calling her a disgusting slur. When she cuts off that friendship, she doesn’t do it out of spite, she doesn’t do it because of James, she does it because she realises that Snape is a toxic friend and he has crossed a line. His grovelling is pathetic, it’s not endearing. Up until the day he died, Snape never really understood where he went wrong with Lily.

Which leads to his years as a teacher. Despite his competency and knowledge, he is an appalling teacher. McGonagall is strict and yet still projects fairness. Lupin is competent (and indeed perhaps the ideal model of a teacher) and he’s able to gently admonish without crushing people’s self esteem. If anything, he actually builds up their confidence (look at how he treats Neville), he encourages them, he supports them. Snape tears everyone down, but he especially tears down Harry for looking like James and Neville for taking away the woman he loved (inadvertently but still). You know what would have genuinely been an interesting storyline? One about a man who loses the woman he loves and instead of carrying a torch to his idealised memory of her for the rest of his life, devotes himself to living by her ideals, by her standards, to being the man she thought he was capable of being.

Snape is a tortured soul and his sacrifice (the wholeness of his soul, ultimately), should not be understated. But his motivations are nothing short of obsessive. This is not a happy love story and we shouldn’t gloss over the seedier, creepier aspects of the Snape/Lily plot just because he ends up doing the right thing. I see Snape as Rowling’s version of Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights: he is a tortured soul with an all-consuming passion and obsession, one that ultimately destroys all those around him.

To an extent, I don’t agree with Dumbledore’s assertion, that sorting happened too early for Snape, that he somehow was more Gryffindor than Slytherin. He was sorted in exactly the House that he belonged to: one of ambition and cunning, one of folks who use any means to achieve their ends. He still ended up selling out James and Harry for a shot at Lily, without ever seeing that by that point, she had made her choice.

Do I feel that he still has a lot of literary merit? I do. But I do not feel he deserves to rank higher in this rankdown and therefore, we say goodbye to our favourite greasy-haired professor.

As a note, I will also be using my Wormtail, that cut to follow on later this afternoon.

So thanks to Gryffindor House and their misguided sense of retribution, I have to choose between four characters: Dolores Umbridge, Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy, and Percy Weasley. And sadly, despite the best efforts of Hufflpuff House, Neville is the weakest of the four. It's a difficult choice, and one I don't enjoy making, but I believe it's the correct one. Here's why:

Dolores Umbridge will get cut in this Rankdown over my goddamned dead body. "Robbed" doesn't begin to describe her treatment in HPR1. She was physically removed from her house, forced to watch as it was burnt to the ground, and then beaten to death with the charred remains of her infant son that was inside the house. Don't get me wrong, she as a person would deserve that, and that's the goddamned beauty of the character.

There will (hopefully) be a much more appropriate time soon enough for me to rant about how much I lovehate Umbridge, so I'll keep my comments brief. But Harry Potter is nothing if not a story about how everyone deserves a little empathy. We see the creation of the most powerful dark wizard in history, and the way he grew up an orphan born without love. We see the man that betrayed his closest friends and feel a bit of pathos as not even the people he defected to care about him. The Malfoys, Rita Skeeter, even Severus "M'Lady" Snape, we feel twinges of sadness on their behalf.

And then there's Dolores Jane Fucking Umbridge. Lawful Evil like it's never been done before. She's so very convinced that what she can do is what she should do. Remember that line from PS, "There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it"? Tell me that there's any character that personifies that as well as Umbridge. (Hint: there isn't.) She's never cruel for the sake of it, never goes out of her way to harm others. Just does what she has to do to achieve her goal of destablizing Dumbledore and Harry. She acts on the orders of Fudge and removes her entire moral compass from the equation.

When she gets hers, abducted by a horde of centaurs, we don't even feel a little bad. We laugh along with the Trio as they trigger her PTSD. Why? Because we all fucking hate her. To write a character that elicits that strong an emotion is nothing short of genius, and quite possibly J.K. Rowling's greatest single work within the series.

And speaking of deserving sympathy, does any single character do a complete 180 from reviled to sympathetic more so than Draco Malfoy? He's the immediate archnemesis to Harry, a bigoted, pompous asshole. But it's truly not his fault. When we meet Lucius in the beginning of the next book, it starts to become clear - the kid was indoctrinated into this life.

By the time Half-Blood Prince comes around, Draco's still young enough to believe in everything his parents taught him. He acts like the goddamn cock of the walk once Voldemort assigns him to a mission, but he's dying inside. He realizes that it's truly wrong to take a life. He realizes that he's been the asshole the whole time. His health goes right down the drain in a way that only extreme stress and/or lycanthropy can cause.

We don't really get to see him resolve as a character, he's still struggling between what he's been taught versus what he's learned until he's suddenly okay in the Epilogue. But we see enough to reasonably extrapolate what must have happened. In a series that climaxes with the Big Bad being given a chance at remorse and redemption, Draco is the only one that seems to truly, selflessly, show it.

This brings us to Percy Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Their characterizations have a lot more in common than is immediately obvious, so let's delve straight into that.

Neville is the black sheep of his family. The only child of two brilliant Aurors, he's raised in a pureblood family yet shows no signs of wizarding talent up through the start of his adolescense. Percy is just as much the odd one out in his family. His two older brothers were 'good' kids, but one went off to chase dragons and the other had long hair. When we first meet Percy, he's the sibling in charge, the prim-and-proper prefect. He spends all his time keeping his younger siblings in check and he's never shown to be hanging out with them. That sort of exclusion has to hurt.

After Percy graduates, he goes right down the path that he'd be expected to take - Junior Syncophant to the Very Important Politician. This path takes him to some shitty places. He disowns half his family and is in turn disowned by the rest. He doesn't care, he's lost in his own grandeur. When Neville gets to Hogwarts, he goes right doen the path he'd be expected to take - the barely-magical kid is complete shit at magic. He can't really do anything right, the only subject he seems to have any aptitude in is basically hardcore gardening. He seems to have resigned himself to a life of mediocrity.

Percy and Neville both come around in stellar character development, but both of these occur mainly off-screen. Neville's inspired by Bellatrix's escape from Azkaban to finally make something of himself magically, but he's okay-at-best at the end of OOTP and then we don't really see a whole lot of him until he's suddenly the rebel king at the end of DH. Same story with Percy, he's pretty much written off as a lost cause to the Weasley clan until he makes a suprise appearance at the Battle of Hogwarts, because it turns out that he had been questioning the ways of the Ministry for months, apparently.

Throughout their stories, Percy just squeaks by Neville on point after point.

• We get to see the moment where Percy truly changes as a person - sure, Neville has that awesome staredown with Voldy, but he had already turned into that person months prior.
• Neville's story is quite frankly diluted by him being the comic relief throughout the first few books, where nearly every part of Percy's story builds towards his characterization in a substantial way.
• Neville is just, well, formulaic. It's a good story, but it's the same old Ugly Duckling story of the shitty kid that grew up to be less shitty. Percy is something a bit less derivative, a child making the choice between self and kin, safety and what's right.

I have some more scattered thoughts, but it's pushing 2am and I haven't had any proper sleep in over 40 hours. I'll probably go back and revisit some of my arguments, and especially find a way to segue neater into this paragraph:

Fuck the whole "But Neville could have been the Chosen One!" argument. No, he couldn't have. He was never going to. The prophecy was definitive - There is a child about to be born that has the power to stop the Dark Lord. The humans that had to interpret that weren't sure if said prophecy referred to Neville or Harry. Once they got more information, it was clear that it was Harry, and investigation closed. If Harry had died, that's it. There wouldn't have been a Chosen One. If there's a murder investigation and there's two main suspects but you eventually figure out which one did it, you can't say "Oh, sure he did it, but the other guy would've if he didn't." False fucking dichotomy.

Neville chopping the head off Nagini is, in my opinion, the single most iconic scene of the entire series. Unfortunately, it is time for Neville himself to suffer just as fatal a cut.

Neville Longbottom is, without a doubt, one of the most rich and developed characters in the series. As we all grew up reading the pages of each book, Neville grew up along with us. From the class dunce to the war hero that played a large role in the downfall of Voldemort, Neville Longbottom held one of the redemption arcs in the entire series.

When we first open up the pages and delve into the magical world, our first view of Neville is as the Hogwarts Express is preparing to leave Platform 9 ¾.

He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.

It’s such a simple interaction, but in those two sentences we already begin to form the picture in our head: an overweight child, speaking with his grandmother, a forgetful boy who apparently is prone to losing his pet. It’s an image that sticks with us throughout the first book, and it begins to be formed just with those two sentences. We can see that his grandmother is exasperated just by the emphasis in the way she says her name; she’s so used to his antics that it’s wearing on her.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on the platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

As we see Neville again the second time, they’re well on their way to Hogwarts and poor Neville is still looking for his toad. I really enjoy this little snippet of a scene, because shortly after he leaves Ron makes a jab about how he’d want to lose a toad if that was his pet. It’s one of those things that gives us an image in our head that shows us that Neville deeply cares for this little frog, who most would turn their nose up at. It’s the first sign that we have that Neville is an independent thinker, who won’t conform to the mass appeal. I also think it’s the first sign to his love for Herbology; toads and plants, after all, do go hand and hand in a way that a cat, rat, or owl never would.

He later returns again with Hermione in tow, allowing us to meet the incredibly bossy girl for the first time. I think in a way, it is one of the first indicators that Hermione is compassionate as well: Neville no doubt knocked on her compartment in a desperate plea and so she helped join in on the hunt to try and find his missing toad. It’s funny, when you think about it, how all four characters were some of the first ones (besides Draco) that we would end up meeting in the series and how all four of them would end up making huge and lasting impacts for the series.

It’s true, in fact, that he kept up the personification of the kid that is always the brunt of the joke throughout the first book. When he goes up to get his name sorted, he trips over his own two feet as he’s walking towards the stool, and then forgets to take the hat off after the hat declares him as a Gryffindor. When they first run into Peeves, Neville is the one that gets hit in the head by a bunch of walking sticks. When they get into the common room they make particular note that Neville needed a leg up to get through the portrait hole, further making a point to us that he struggled to do anything on his own. Neville would go on to melt a neighbor’s cauldron in Potions, and be injured in the process; when he goes into the flying lessons, he himself is the first one to fall and injury himself; he receives the fateful Remembrall that helps Harry become a member of the Quidditch team; he couldn’t remember the password to the common room and thus had to sleep on the floor outside the portrait hole… the list goes on. He was the brunt of every joke, the one to be laughed at.

Yet, throughout all of that, we learn more and more about Neville and who he is as a person.

"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.

"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so please he bought me my toad."

We learn that poor Neville seemed to be the brunt of the joke of his own family as well. Sure, they were happy and proud when he did end up being accepted at Hogwarts, but it seemed like they were willing to risk his life numerous times before it was confirmed. It gives us some of the first signs, as well, about the stigmas against Squibs in the magical world, and even shows strong signs of the superiority complex most wizards have in general.

This view from his family leads to a deep insecurity that is prevalent throughout Neville’s earlier years. When Malfoy curses him with a body-bind jinx, instead of reporting it he just wants it to all go away. He lets people walk over him and treat him poorly because that’s the environment he grew up in his entire life. Which is why, when it comes to the end of the book and Neville stands up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they go to the trap door, it comes as such a surprise: he stands his ground, he’s not willing to let them go. It takes Hermione jinxing him herself in order for them to pass; something that, no doubt, Dumbledore was made well aware of and why he was granted the house points at the end that would turn the tide in Gryffindor’s favor for the House Cup.

This was only the first act in which Neville would begin to stop fearing his own shadow, and facing a threat and being willing to take it down. If you had told us at the end of the first book that Neville would go on to lead a secret organization within the very halls of Hogwarts to try and protect other students while fighting against dark wizards, would we have believed it? I don’t think anyone would, and that’s just the first part of what makes his character so great.

Chamber of Secrets was largely the same. A lot more of showing how Neville was clumsy and not very good at magic and how forgetful he was. In Prisoner of Azkaban, however, we begin to see some more shades of Neville again. First of all, Neville does seem to react fairly bad to the dementors (of course, not as bad as Ginny or Harry) and so we can see more of how his past is haunted as we begin to understand how Dementors operate. Later, we also get more info about who he is as he confesses that his biggest fear is of Professor Snape. I always felt such sympathy for Neville for this being his biggest fear, because I don’t necessarily think that it was Snape himself that he was scared of, but mostly the thing that Snape represented: the inner demon inside of him that was constantly reminding him that he is a bad wizard. I found it very astute that Lupin chose to have Neville go first; no doubt that Lupin had picked up on Neville’s insecurities and wanted to give Neville a chance to redeem himself. When he successfully cast the spell, it was one thing… but when he was given the second chance:

"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach. Crack! Snape was back. This time Neville charged forward looking determined.

"Riddikulus!" he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.

Letting Neville finish off the Boggart was an excellent way to solidify that Neville was able to do magic: and it showed in Neville’s behavior that he was confident he could do it. It was the first time in the series that Neville was genuinely proud and confident in his magic, something that the first two books had continued to have as a running joke. Of course, he continued to be the brunt of many jokes in the third book, but this was the true start of the turning point in Neville’s character where he began to grow into someone much more than we had seen.

In Goblet of Fire, we meet a growing Neville. We began to get hints of his past, we began to see his strengths starting to show. When he raises his hand to talk about the Cruciatus Curse, even Harry notices and comments on how Neville was not usually the first to raise his hand to answer a question posed by a teacher (unless it was in Herbology). As we see the reaction Neville has to watching the spider get tortured, looking back and reflecting on what we know now it is painful to know what is running through his head: the images of his parents, crippling over in pain as they themselves were being tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville.

"There's one - the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice.

Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes.

"Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again.

Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!"

The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Harry was sure that if could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently -

"Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly.

Harry looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Harry, following her gaze, saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified.

Shortly after the lesson, “Moody” comes down to Neville to invite him to tea, and manages to cheer him up while talking about how he had heard how good he was at Herbology and lending him a book on Herbology. It’s such a simple thing, but it worked wonders for Neville. I also think it’s interesting to note how a freaking Death Eater was able to feel some sympathy for Neville and was willing (and able) to cheer him up.

As we travel onto Order of the Phoenix, we begin to see Neville’s confidence grow more and more. He joins Dumbledore’s Army and practices extremely hard until he is able to use some of the defensive spells that Harry teaches. He later is one of the group that heads to the Ministry of Magic to go on a super secret mission to save Sirius. It’s such a strong time for Neville; this is the first time in the series where we see Neville beginning to stand up to authority figures and think for himself. He begins to become more and more confident in his actions and behaviors. He is willing to fight alongside his friends against a bunch of Death Eaters - including the Death Eater he most feared and hated, Bellatrix Lestrange. He fights admirably, being one of the few to mostly make it out of the fight without too terrible of injuries. But beyond just that, we began to understand his past more.

First, we find out the fate of his parents, to which he ends up being raised by his Grandmother instead. We find out the impact that has on him, how it shapes who he is. He isn’t willing to let people make fun of them (even his own grandmother) and cares deeply for his parents even though his parents have very little understanding of what is going on with Neville.

"I mean," said Malfoy, raising his voice a little more, his gray eyes glittering malevolently in Harry and Ron's direction, "if it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance.... From what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years.... And as for Potter... My father says it's a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St. Mungo's.... apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic..."

Malfoy made a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling. Crabbe and Goyle gave their usual grunts of laughter, Pansy Parkinson shrieked with glee.

Something collided hard with Harry's shoulder, knocking him sideways. A split second later he realized that Neville had just charged past him, heading straight for Malfoy.

"Neville, no!"

Harry leapt forward and seized the back of Neville's robes; Neville struggled frantically, his fists flailing, trying desperately to get at Malfoy who looked, for a moment, extremely shocked.

As his mother hands him a bubble gum wrapper, Neville’s grandmother suggests he tosses it because he has so many from her already; however, Neville pockets it. It’s a sign of how much he cherishes that small little moments: the only reminders he has that his mother loves him and cares for him, even if she doesn’t have the ability to say it in words or truly be there for him. It’s these small things that shape Neville into a far deeper character in the series than he had been previously. While there had been hints of it before, we were now understanding it fully.

To make the journey of understanding with Neville fully complete, we get to the part at the end where we find out the Neville, in fact, could have very well been the “Chosen One”.

"It means - me?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath.

"The odd thing is, Harry," he said softly, "that it may not have meant you at all. Sybil's prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom."

"But then... but then, why was it my name on the prophecy and not Neville's?"

"The official record was relabeled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child," said Dumbledore. "It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could only have tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sybil was referring."

We learn so much about Neville in Order of the Phoenix. It’s really interesting when you put it all side to side like this; in the end, we learn more about Neville’s life before Hogwarts more than we even do Hermione’s, despite Neville not actually being considered one of the “main” characters of the series, but rather one of the more important side characters. He gets so much depth that helps explain more and more of his motivations and desires in life, and as we see Neville begin to blossom into a strong wizard, we begin to see him grow into something so much more.

In Half Blood Prince, he takes a back burner for a lot of the book. He’s still relishing in the pride of his role in the Department of Mysteries, he continued to put on this new brave face and show it to the world. He fought in the first Battle of Hogwarts, fighting toe to toe with Death Eaters once more. And then, we come to the end of the series, with Deathly Hallows.

Everybody will always remember that Neville was the boy who ended Nagini’s life, thus destroying the final horcrux in order for Voldemort to be defeated. He pulled Gryffindor’s Sword out of the Sorting Hat, just as Harry had done five years before. He showed that he was no longer the weak child that existed in the first book: he was brave, he was confident, and he wasn’t about to back down until Voldemort and his reign of terror was no more. He reignited Dumbledore’s Army, using it to protect innocent students from the Carrow’s wrath. He stood up to them and got in their face, unafraid of any punishment that may come his way if it meant that he was doing the right thing.

This was the book where we began to understand how far Neville had come. And while we only heard most of it from a third person view, it is such a warming experience to me that made me solidify my love for Neville.

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing in the no-man's-land between the survivors and Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?" Voldemort asked Neville, who stood facing him, his empty hands curled in fists.

"So what if I am?" said Neville loudly.

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army!" he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort's Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold.

"Very well," said Voldemort, and Harry heard more danger in the silkiness of his voice than in the most powerful curse. "If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head," he said quietly, "be it."

Still watching through his lashes, Harry saw Voldemort wave his wand. Seconds later, one of the castle's shattered windows, something that looked like a misshapen bird flew through the half light and landed in Voldemort's hand. He shook the mildewed object by its pointed and it dangled, empty and ragged: the Sorting Hat.

"There will be no more Sorting at Hogwarts School," said Voldemort. "There will be no more houses. The emblem, shield, and colors of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone. Won't they, Neville Longbottom?"

He pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still, then forced the hat onto Neville's head, so that it slipped down below his eyes. There were movements from the watching crowd in front of the castle, and as one, the Death Eaters raised their wands, holding the fighters of Hogwarts at bay.

"Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting Hat to burst into flames.

Screams split the dawn, and Neville was aflame, rooted to the spot, unable to move, and Harry could not bear it: He must act --

And then many things happened at the same moment.

...

In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind curse upon him, the flaming hat fell of him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubbied handle --

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or the stampeding centaurs, and yet it seemed to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake's head, which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's body thudded to ground at his feet.

Neville is a character which such amazing character depth and development that it’s so hard to fit it all into such few words. You can’t help but cheer for him as he cuts off Nagini’s head, thinking back to his earlier youth where he was so small and so weak. There was no denying his determination, his fearlessness, and confidence in his final scenes in the books. He was a true champion, and a true hero to the series. While Harry may have been the one to take down Voldemort, he may have never been able to do so if Neville had not ended Nagini’s life.

Neville has all the checkpoints of a great character with astounding literary merit. He is absolutely worthy of the top 12 - and as BisonBurgers has said - he transcends above all others in the series as someone who almost doesn’t deserve to be ranked because he is just that good. His character will forever remain my favorite in the series, and I hope this writeup will help show others that, too.

Since the remaining cuts are all Padfoot choices (unless u/bubblegumgills uses Wormtail), we know that Professor McGonagall will not be one of the next two cuts at least. In spite of this, u/pizzabangle and I wanted to express our love for the ever-amazing Minerva. The woman who showed Harry what it meant to be sassy. The woman that sees right through your lies and penetrates your soul with a look of disdainful reproach. The woman with a soft side for her students, no matter how hard she is on them sometimes. The woman that had a hand in raising hundreds of the most talented magical youth in the world. The badass woman who commanded an army of living statues in the Battle of Hogwarts in addition to facing the Dark Lord himself in battle.

Minerva McGonagall, everybody.

First of all, thank you Hufflepuff for choosing to use your Padfoot on me. I was kind of hoping I’d be put in a tough position by one of these at some point, however, I was entirely set on cutting Fudge before given those choices.

I actually really like Fudge (as a character, not as a person). I didn’t think I’d be the one to cut him. For some reason, I thought someone else would have cut him before now. I’ve been preparing to see his name this whole month. I don’t think Fudge is a typical literary character, though I do find his characterization simple enough to prevent me from considering him endgame-worthy. At Fudge’s core, he is an all-around selfish man. His entire life revolves around keeping himself in office (or generally in power). His method of keeping this power is by agreeing with the majority opinion, no matter how poorly informed or ill-intentioned they may be. If you’re in the opposition: tough luck. You should’ve tried harder to be on the side with more support. Let’s take a look at his big decisions throughout the series, as narrated by himself:

• “Albus sure is a swell guy. How is it that he had such a large number of people supporting him for the Minister position? I’m gonna write my bestie eeeeevery day to get his advice on how things should be done. The people will have to like me as much as him if I do whatever he recommends!”

• We have no solid lead on fixing the petrification problem at Hogwarts. I’m just gonna arrest Hagrid and send him to Azkaban without trial. I don’t like it, but them’s the brakes.”

• “Oops, we almost let America’s Britain’s Sweetheart get murdered by neglecting to tell him a mass murderer is after him, plus the kid used magic outside of school for the second time in a year. Better sweep this one under the rug.”

• “You know what’s a great idea? You know those soul-sucking monsters with very little discretion for who they stalk? The ones we use to drain the life out of our most dangerous criminals! Yeah, those ones! We should have them stand guard at Hogwarts. Sirius Black may have gotten right by them once, but that just means there’s no way he could ever do that again.”

• People like sports right? Bread and circuses!^^^EVERYTHING ^^^IS ^^^FINE. What if we added teenagers to the mix with a little dash of potential death? Ooh, ooh! Let’s invite some international folk to show off how good we are at being awesome. Why did we ever stop this in the first place? What could go wrong?

• “NOTHING WENT WRONG. NOTHING AT ALL. EVERYTHING IS FINE. LA LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU NOTORIOUS LIARS THAT NOBODY EVEN LIKES, POTTER AND DUMBLEDORE (trust me, they all told me not to tell you, but everyone hates you both)!”

• “Smear campaign. Do it. This teenage savior and beloved genius of our time are trying to actively take over the government, or worse, get me fired. EVERYTHING IS FINE! There is literally no possible way the increased disappearances are related to what they’re been trying to tell me.”

• “Also, let’s ensure the children are as unprepared as possible to defend themselves. Dolores, you’re good at destroying young minds and crushing innocence, right? Why don’t you have a go as their teacher?”

• “I fucked up. I fucked up big time. Mr. Prime Minister, please be aware of how fucked we are. Like, seriously. Everything is very not fine. We’re all fucked.”

I can really empathize with Fudge for a while here. The intentions behind his actions are good, but he has the underlying need to stay on top that prevents him from seeing what the rightful action to take would be. He is self-serving to the point of self-destruction. I can’t blame him for removing Hagrid from Hogwarts, seeing as he was credited with opening the Chamber the previous time, though I don’t agree with his decision to keep Hagrid locked away in Azkaban. That seems a bit extreme to be his punishment with no evidence supporting his arrest. (Side note: HOW is Hagrid still catching the blame for opening the Chamber when the only evidence to suggest this was a lie by Tom freaking Riddle?) I find this extremely unethical, though I can see how a general populace might get behind this. I feel like they should at least have like, a separate prison without soul-sucking monsters for the people you need detained but not proven guilty. And as seen with Sirius’ escape and his denial of Voldemort’s return, he wants to prevent panic. That is a good goal for a leader to have, but it becomes detrimental when counterproductive measures are put into place that wind up causing bigger issues that may have been prevented. Issues such as these do not go away on their own. Fudge was given various opportunities to enter magical history as the leader that quashed the second rise of Lord Voldemort. He is his own worst enemy. If he had stayed true to his initial method of following Dumbledore’s advice on everything, he could’ve been renowned throughout history. Instead he relegated himself to being an embarrassing footnote about how Voldemort was able to regain so much traction with so little resistance.

Slightly unrelated, but writing this just really had me thinking that the Sorting Hat would have likely wanted to put him in Slytherin for his self-preservation tactics (which would be a shame for yet another antagonist to be grouped in with them), but I feel like he would have asked to be in Hufflepuff, to be seen as the well-mannered, good-intentioned guy. He certainly enjoys his comforts and maintaining calmness, but his self-serving attitude and more than slight preferences for pure-bloods (i.e. his camaraderie with Lucius, his dislike of Arthur, and his straight up accusation of Madam Maxime killing Crouch Sr. based purely on her being half-giant) give him away as a Slytherin at heart. (Note: While I do attribute these particular bad qualities to Slytherin, I am a huge advocate for Slytherin being better represented, as they do have great qualities while other houses have poor qualities typical of them as well.)

However well-intentioned he may be, he caused far more harm than good and it’s time to see him go.

Being the good little homo that I am, I’m celebrating my last cut of Pride Month by packing Fudge away one last time.

I will be quite honest, after the stunt Hufflepuff tried to pull off yesterday, I was just a bit tempted to change my chosen character out of spite, if nothing else. But even without Hufflepuff's antics, I was unsure of who to cut, and I even have 70-75% of another character's write-up written. But I do think I made the right choice.

I am not very pleased with this write-up. Firstly, I feel it is incomplete and that there's some important material that I probably should have covered. Secondly, I am just burnt out after doing nearly three long write-ups in two days (nearly 5k words), so this is definitely not my best work. I might come back to edit it further in a day or two. But with that in mind...

“You're underage!” Mrs. Weasley shouted at her daughter as Harry approached. “I won't permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you've got to go home!”

“I won't!”

Ginny's hair flew as she pulled her arm out of her mother's grip.

“I'm in Dumbledore's Army---”

“A teenagers' gang!”

“A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one else has dared to do!” said Fred.

“She's sixteen!” shouted Mrs. Weasley. “She's not old enough! What you two were thinking bringing her with you—-”

Fred and George looked slightly ashamed of themselves.

Mom's right, Ginny,” said Bill gently. “You can't do this. Everyone underage will have to leave, it's only right.”

“I can't go home!” Ginny shouted, angry tears sparkling in her eyes. “My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and --”

Her eyes met Harry's for the first time. She looked at him beseechingly, but he shook his head and she turned away bitterly.

Put yourself in Ginny’s shoes for a moment. You are Ginny Weasley. You have already fought in several battles against the Death Eaters – fourth year at the ministry, fifth year at Hogwarts. You joined a secret group to learn to defend yourself in your fifth year, the group you christened the Dumbledore’s Army. You have spent more than six months as one of the leaders of the resistance group at the school-turned-Death Eater camp, leading at least one high stakes mission (albeit unsuccessfully). And now, after all that, when the time comes to participate in the final battle, you are told to go back home like a good little girl and wait for news. She’s not old enough. Literally everyone turns against you – your mother, your father, your brothers, your (former?) boyfriend. It’s annoying. It’s anguishing. It’s frustrating.

It’s just another day in the life of Ginny Weasley.

Frustrations against her family’s over-protectiveness is something Ginny has had to combat her whole life. The the youngest of seven and the only girl born in the Weasley family in a long time, she grew up as the darling of the family, always under Molly Weasley’s watchful eye. As a child, she’s not even allowed to play quidditch with her brothers.

And yet, as it so often happens, Ginny’s upbringing has the exact opposite effect Molly intended. Ginny develops a fierce streak of independence and a desire for agency in her life, one that would influence all her future actions. Not being allowed to play Quidditch with her brothers? Ginny sneaks out at night at teaches herself to fly, eventually getting on the Quidditch team. Molly tries to keep news of the war from all of her kids, and yet she compromises on all of her kids – everyone except Ginny. No matter, Ginny swears to get the news from Hermione instead. Harry tries to tell her that she too young to go the Department of Mysteries. Ginny reminds him what age he was when he fought the basilisk, and perseveres until he gives in.

Confidence. Courage. Determination. All attributes Ginny Weasley lives by. Not only does Ginny carries herself with an easy air of confidence, she demands the same confidence and self-belief from those she regards as her friends. I’m nobody, Neville says. No you’re not, Ginny responds sharply, immediately. There is a certain kind of beauty in Ginny’s brand of determination – there's just something about watching someone running their head repeatedly against a wall, if it is the only way they think they can get the wall to crumble^1. Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve, Ginny says. She certainly spends every day trying to live up to that principle.

“Right,” said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at Ron, “let’s get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron —”

“Yeah, it is!” said Ron, just as angrily. “D’ you think I want people saying my sister’s a —”

“A what?” shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. “A what, exactly?”

One often overlooked aspect of both of their characters is how Ginny and Ron are set up to be foils to one another. Ginny’s self-belief and confidence is one of her biggest strengths. She is charming, popular and has loads of luck with the opposite sex. Ron is the opposite – he is perpetually ill at ease in every situation, possesses low self-esteem and myriad insecurities. Watching his younger sister of all people have a successful love life hits him hard – how should his sister have all the luck, when he hasn’t even had his first girlfriend yet?

It turns ugly. Ron comes across as a sexist prat. Ginny comes across as someone one step away from committing fratricide.

“Just because he’s never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he’s ever had is from our Auntie Muriel —”

“Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow?”

”You’ve got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!” '

Ginny has this ability to cut through all the clutter and then hit you where it impacts you the most. Very similar to what Tom Riddle would do to Ron a year later, she cuts to the root of Ron’s insecurity and hits him with barb after barb, acidic and venomous, unyielding and relentless. Her barbs hit their mark, make their way under Ron's skin, infuriate him and only exacerbate his self esteem issues. Ginny's anger is righteous, and it is a strong stand for her independence and her freedom of sexuality, but you also wonder if she perhaps took it a bit too far.

This won’t be the only fight Ron and Ginny would have through the years, though it would be by far the worst one. While they do often engage in bickering not atypical of siblings, it is quite clear that they do love each other. We see it in how unhesitatingly Ron jumps into the Chamber of Secrets to save his sister. It is Ron’s concern for Ginny that would be the final straw to break his back and leave Harry and Hermione on their long, meandering horcrux hunt. On Ginny’s side, she would be the one to comfort Ron after the disastrous invitation he sends Fleur for the Yule Ball. It is not the kind of compassion that is characteristic to Ginny, which does make the moment sweeter.

The Horcrux's words to Ron in DH: "Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter". The horcrux lied, of course, but its lies did need to have basis in truth for Ron to be affected by them. As the youngest and the only girl, Ginny does command more attention from her parents. Attention is something Ron has always had little of in his life, something not helped by his awkward positioning in his family. Ginny’s always had far too much attention that brings with it over-protectiveness and lack of freedom. She craves the anonymity and freedom that Ron’s position in the family could bring her. It is why they are interesting foils to one another: not only do they have clashing opposite personalities, but they are both dissatisfied with their lot in life and each craves what the other one has.

It is no secret that Ginny isn’t always the nicest of people. She’s no Fred or George type 'prankster', but her humor and snark is still occasionally sleazy^2 and often at somebody else’s expense. She can have a certain casual disregard for people she isn’t close to. When she introduces Harry to Luna (then only an acquaintance), she tells him, “There’s only Loony Lovegood in here.” Fast forward a year later and she’s snapping and snarling at anyone who calls Luna by her old nickname. Ginny is fiercely protective of those she loves, and can also extend her compassion to strangers under certain circumstances (recall her consoling the kid after the first leg of the battle of Hogwarts, merely minutes after her own brother died). But she can also be excessively harsh to people she dislikes – she stops just short of congratulating Harry for almost killing Draco Malfoy.

One subplot in which she definitely does not comes out smelling of roses is the HBP feud with Fleur. Ginny hates Fleur, this arrogant foreign girl who just had to drop on her doorstep out of nowhere and announce she was marrying his brother. From HBP: “It’s the way she talks to me… you’d think I was about three!” Ginny absolutely hates being seen as a child. Fleur's condescension gets on Ginny's last nerve, and she is in turn less than subtle about her dislike of Fleur. Ginny gives her a childish nickname (which is rather ironic) and makes exaggerated impressions of her. She extends her dislike of Fleur to doubting her love for Bill, dismissing the relationship entirely. Bill is "hardworking, down-to-earth sort of person", while Fleur is "a cow".

She and Hermione can only stare in disbelief as Fleur demonstrates her love for Bill in the hours after the Battle of the Astronony Tower, and Molly and Fleur embrace. And yet, the incident does make her review her views. Ginny would never like Fleur, but after that display she has to grudgingly accept that Bill and Fleur are getting married after all. She does stand as bridesmaid at their wedding in DH without complaint.

What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain? Why didn’t you show the diary to me, or your mother?

There are very few things in the world that Tom Riddle can’t twist to his own evil purposes; an eleven year old girl’s innocent crush certainly ain’t one of them. Ginny’s somewhat sheltered upbringing leaves her easy prey to Tom Riddle. Tom is kind, he is patient, he is understanding, he’s the best friend one could ever have. Ginny loves him. No one’s ever understood me like you, Tom. Tom feeds on Ginny’s emotions, growing stronger bit by bit, taking control of her body, stealing her soul, even as Ginny comes to a slow and horrified realisation. She struggled and cried and became very boring.

Ginny’s experiences with the diary would leave her with a certain degree of wariness - In HBP, she is immediately triggered by Harry choosing to trust an unknown book. She is the only one affected as badly by dementors as Harry is. The effect of her experience also shows in her fury at St Mungo’s. She cuts straight through all of Harry’s existential angst by reminding him he’s the not the only one who has suffered at the hands of Tom Riddle, and maybe, just maybe, he might just think to ask someone who had already been possessed as to what it feel like. Harry confesses he had forgotten – of course he had. Lucky you, Ginny says, as scathing as ever.

One definite lesson we learn from Ginny’s character is the importance of self-belief and staying true to oneself. In her first year, Ginny was overwhelmed by her new circumstances and her crush on Harry. She turned to Tom Riddle for validation of her self, and he in turn destroyed her. It is Ginny’s self-belief that makes her stand out, that makes her popular, that makes her stand up to her mother and father and brothers, all of whom would rather lock her in an ivory tower than let her put herself in danger. It manifests itself in her relationship with Harry as well: it is only after Ginny gains the self-confidence to be herself around him does he begin to like her back. Confidence. Courage. Determination.

Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.

1 – A rather amusing instance of this is when Umbridge’s inquisitorial squad captures Harry’s group the day of the Ministry fight. Most of them have been captured by big, burly Slytherins, probably three times Ginny’s size. Neville and Hermione are struggling feebly, Luna is as dreamy and unreactive as ever. Ginny just keeps on kicking the shins of her captor – right from the moment she’s captured to when Hermione comes up with her plan. It is a continuous, relentless, aggressive, obviously futile struggle, but Ginny perseveres through it anyway.

2 –

“It looks like he’s eating her face, doesn’t it? But I suppose he’s got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry.”

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. The Marauders. The most popular gang in Hogwarts. Loud, boisterous and carefree. All internal demons firmly clamped down. Everything is simply fun to them – from bullying Severus Snape to harassing Lily Evans to Remus’s lycanthropy. Everyone loves them – both the teachers and the student body. Talented as hell, showing magical aptitude far beyond their years. They are on the top of the world, and as they move from the hallowed halls of Hogwarts into the grim realities of a war-torn nation, there is no reason for that to change. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs – best friends for life, they will face whatever life throws at them, together.

Before one of them makes them all fall in a jarring note. It all falls apart.

Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. After five minutes of this, Harry wondered why James didn’t tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James seemed to be enjoying the attention.

..

“Put that away, will you,” said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, “before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.”

Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned.

..

Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water’s edge as he went. Wormtail was on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Lupin to get a clearer view.

One question that a lot of people ask of Wormtail is why he was part of the Marauders in the first place. Why would Sirius and James, the epitome of cringy high school coolness, choose to associate with someone as blatantly uncool as Wormtail? What value does Wormtail – sad, pathetic loser that he is, not nearly as talented or charismatic, not possessing nearly the same presence – hold to Sirius and James (who, let’s face it, made all the decisions that mattered in the marauders)?

I think the answer to this lies in one word: Ego. James and Sirius had highly inflated heads, and it absolutely pleased them to have someone like Peter following them around, sucking up to them, cheering and egging them on. I think they genuinely grew fond of him as time went on, and he went from hanger on to firmly part of the group. I don’t doubt Sirius’s genuineness for a second, when he told Wormtail that they would have died for him, down in the Shrieking Shack.

Wormtail’s reasons for joining the Marauders are far more obvious. The Marauders were super popular, but they were definitely not nice people. Both of those things suited Wormtail perfectly, because if you hadn’t noticed till now, Wormtail isn’t exactly a nice person. Wormtail desired popularity and power and security, and the best way to do that was to attach himself to the local bullies. The bullying appealed to Wormtail’s baser instincts; notice his reaction when Sirius and James bully Snape : he’s watching ‘hungrily’. It is a perfectly symbiotic relationship – Wormtail feeds James and Sirius’s ego, and they in turn give him the power and security he desires.

It is almost inevitable that such a relationship would fall apart. Because when the Marauders leave school they can no longer provide Wormtail with power and security. They are now fighting a mighty enemy, one whose victory looks almost guaranteed. Imagine yourself to be Wormtail in this situation – you have built your life attaching yourself to better men and having them look out for you, but now all your security pillars are crumbling, the ship you’re on is sinking, defeat is inevitable. Not only have you bet on the wrong horse by joining the Order, but you’ve directly put yourself on the enemy’s hit list. But when the enemy offers you a way out, something that will not only get you to avoid the fallout of inevitable defeat, but will get you the power you previously held. The only catch? You would have to betray all the friends you have made through the years and actively work against them. For Wormtail, the decision is easy. Wormtail would always look out Wormtail, everyone and everything else is secondary. The Marauders are now old news; Voldemort is now the biggest bully in town. Wormtail exchanges nine or so years’ worth of friendship for a skull mask and the Dark Mark – the memories of all the fun times spent pranking and bullying and exploring Hogwarts’ deepest secrets and running around with a werewolf now tinged with betrayal.

The most interesting thing about Wormtail is how everyone underestimates him. Who would have expected Wormtail, the overlooked rat-like kid who hung around more talented friends, to be the spy the Order was looking for? Remus was suspected for being a dark creature, Sirius for his family connections, but why would anyone suspect Peter? Sirius greatly underestimates Wormtail, and ends up in Azkaban because of it. Even Voldemort underestimates Wormtail – admitting that among all his servants, he would never have expected Wormtail to be the one to find him.

The moral of this tale? Never underestimate Wormtail. Wormtail is a fucking rat, with no loyalty to anyone but himself, and armed with an almost unerring instinct for survival. The way he turns the tables against Sirius is nothing short of genius – shouting loud and clear about the supposed betrayal, blowing up the street with absolutely no regard to anyone else’s life, cutting off his thumb as ‘evidence’ for his supposed death. In one stroke he has brought down the biggest enemy to his survival, made sure he would be left in peace for dead and ensured that he would be remembered as a hero. He is the ultimate opportunist, turning a potentially fatal encounter with Bertha Jorkins and turning her into a resource for Voldemort. You would never ever guess someone of Wormtail’s appearance and mannerisms and skills would be capable of a fraction of the shit Wormtail manages to pull off. Wormtail marches on in his quest for survival, with no regard to anyone but himself, leaving behind a trail of destruction wherever he goes.

One question that often gets asked of Wormtail is why, oh why, is this man a Gryffindor? Gryffindor’s defining trait is courage, right? And surely, Wormtail is the biggest coward in the book, the anti-thesis of everything that is Gryffindor?

I think Wormtail does have a spark of goodness in him, a bit of desire to do the right thing. We rarely get to see this, but there are a few instances – like how to tries to admonish Voldemort for killing Bertha Jorkins when he could have obliviated her instead, and how he is unable to look Harry in the eye during the resurrection ritual. I think that Wormtail is deeply ashamed of his cowardice and wishes that he could do the right thing for once in his life. He wishes he could be brave, that he could find the courage to do the right thing, and perhaps that sliver of a desire is enough to make him a Gryffindor. But if wishes were unicorns, the beggars would certainly make a killing. Wormtail’s desire to do the right thing is so buried deeply beneath layers of amorality and cowardice and a base desire for power that it might as well not be there.

And yet there is one time where Wormtail’s humanity almost wins out. This moment comes in the darkness of the Malfoy dungeon. Wormtail’s momentarily hesitation, his momentary show of goodness leads to his undoing. It is extremely ironic that that one time Wormtail wasn’t a despicable person of the highest order would be the direct reason for his death.

I know I have been kinda cranky lately about Wormtail not being cut, but it is not because I hate him as a character. Though I will admit, as far as Death Eaters go, I prefer Barty Crouch Jr, Lucius and Bellatrix to him, not to mention Voldemort. I have Wormtail at around 30 in my character rankings. Wormtail is very much the designated betrayer: he’s the betraying betrayer who betrays. That’s fine, most characters are designated somethings. But I also don’t find the reasons for his betrayal satisfactory in a literary sense. I’m convinced of it, but being convinced of something doesn’t make it satisfactory. Wormtail is a cowardly coward who lives on cowardice, so of course he would sell out the Potters. But what I wanted from Wormtail was why, why was he a cowardly coward? I needed some backstory or additional context – not one as detailed and amazing as Dumbledore’s, but perhaps one like Sirius’s. Wormtail’s betrayal is a pivotal moment in the story, and yet there are times when I feel we got more context on Marietta turning coat than Wormtail. Plus, he just isn’t that complex. Wormtail’s character is in a spot where you can showcase moral complexity or greyness. Yet his motivations are simple, and he barely has any redeeming traits.

Anyway, that’s it for Wormtail. But after using Moony on Moony – Wormtail on Wormtail, Bitches!

..

That one really did sound better in my head.

Good morning (or whenever you happen to be reading this) all. Welcome to the Mooniest Moony to ever moon. Time to resurrect Professor RJ Lupin.

First of all, I’d like to thank Khaj for offing one of my very favorite characters in the series. If she hadn’t cut him I might have felt guilty about not using my remaining individual marauder on Harry. Thankfully, I need not carry that burden. Here I am, guilt-free, happily rescuing my #1 literary werewolf.

Remus John Lupin is a fantastic character, one woven from assorted virtues and shortcomings. The interplay of these qualities color his journey through the series and make him a profoundly interesting person. From his very first appearance, Remus Lupin is a bit of a mystery. An adult traveler sleep (or at least seemingly) in a traincar typically reserved for children on their way to magic camp school. A conundrum. Right off the bat he proves himself a capable in unforeseen and potentially treacherous situations, responding quickly to the invasion of the car by a threatening, hooded dementor. He’s also resourceful and forward thinking - prepared for the worst with emergency chocolate on hand (really, this quality alone could have made him one of my favorites, so useful). Lupin’s actions are driven by his intensely emotional, caring, and analytical nature. He loves his friends and family deeply; their safety and happiness mean more to him than his own. Unfortunately for him, he does not always extend the powerful compassion he feels for others to himself. As a smart, perceptive man who is adept at divining the emotional needs of others, his own flaws are painfully obvious. This causes him intense strife and motivates his worst decisions.

Apart from fervently believing that Lupin is solid endgame material and wanting him around for a higher placement, I am also resurrecting him because I disagree with most of his original cut. The main reason that /u/khajiit-ify gives for her ranking is her assertion that she "lost all respect for Lupin’s character in Deathly Hallows when he showed up at Number 12 Grimmauld Place" and this scene shows “a 180 of character” for him. I could not disagree more with that sentiment. As /u//Moostronus and others pointed out, Remus’ inclination to seek out and join Harry et al and his emotional, angry outburst when denied his request are completely in line with his established personality. His weakness, self-hatred, and feelings of inadequacy all fit perfectly with his attempt to distance himself from those who care most deeply about him. His return to Tonks and his son are also congruent with with his character arc. The fight with Harry shook him and challenged his view of himself so strongly that he was forced to reevaluate his decision to isolate himself from his family.

The original cut also states that in regards to Lupin’s appearance at Grimmauld Place:

Even worse, after that entire argument, he returns to Tonks, everything is happy, Teddy is born, and everything is happy and peachy until Lupin dies at the Battle of Hogwarts.

I would argue here that just because the reader was not privy to the scene of Remus’ return to Tonks does not mean that his temporary abandonment was ignored. I highly doubt that Nymphadora would let the issue slide by unmentioned. I do believe that she would wholeheartedly forgive him upon hearing an apology and commitment to stay with her and their baby from then on. Tonks knows Remus. She understands his positive and negative attributes even better than he does at times, and has done what he struggles to do - she loves him for who he is, flaws and all. So I think that saying “everything is happy” is reductive and assumes much more than we know. I also believe that including such a reunion scene would have been nigh on impossible to weave smoothly into the end of DH. Sometimes supporting/background characters stay, well, in the background.

So, anyway, Lupin’s coming back. His complexity has earned him a bit more time in this crazy thing we call Rankdown. (And honestly, I’m pretty sure my Lupin puns are the whole reason I got involved with any of this online Harry Potter chicanery, so I definitely owe him one.)

I am going to preface this by saying: sorry, /u/PsychoGeek, but I 100% lied to you because I knew if I told you I was planning to make this cut, you would have worked with Duq to use Padfoot on me to stop me from doing this.

I want to make this perfectly clear as well: I am not doing this for shock value. I know this cut will absolutely ruffle feathers, and I am prepared for that. I have made it known for quite some time (even back in the original Rankdown) my distaste for Lupin as a character and how I did not think he was deserving of top 10, let alone top 15. There’s one very big reason for that, and it’s a reason that /u/OwlPostAgain mentioned in the original cut (placement: 6) in the original Rankdown. I have copied it below for posterity:

This is going to be a controversial opinion, but there’s no better time to express controversial opinions. I like Lupin as a character, but I’ve always been a little bit disappointed with him. I consider him to a sympathetic character but one who exhibits deep insecurities that repeatedly leads moral cowardice.

Lupin openly admits to not confronting Sirius and James as much as he should have, undoubtedly because this is the first time in his life that he had proper friends. After Lily and James’ death, there’s no indication in PA or later books that he seriously entertained the possibility that his best friend was innocent prior to seeing Peter on the map. And despite his belief that Sirius was indeed guilty and a genuine threat to Harry’s life, Lupin neglects to tell Dumbledore about Sirius’s knowledge of the secret passages nor Sirius’s animagus form. Instead he convinces himself that Sirius used dark magic to escape. In DH, he runs away from his pregnant wife because he regrets marrying her and getting her pregnant. On top of this, at no point does Lupin write to Harry. He doesn’t write to him when he starts at Hogwarts, he doesn’t write to him after PA, and he doesn’t write to him after Sirius’s death. He has an apology for not writing in HBP, but doesn’t take up communication even after he’s returned.

Over and over again, Lupin seems to grapple with an insecurity far worse than any other character in the books, and it seems to be this insecurity that drives him to reject Tonks, turn a blind eye to his friends’ bad behavior, and not pursue a long-term relationship with Harry. And while insecurity is a perfectly legitimate flaw, Lupin repeatedly fails to act or acts in a less than Gryffindor manner because of those insecurities.

But all of this seems brushed over in the second half of DH. The reader is told that he’s returned to Tonks, and he seems blissfully happy at the birth of his son. Remus then dies a hero’s death alongside his wife, and it’s as though his past failings are sanded down.

I really want to drive this point home. I’m sure many of you will talk down below about the great things that Lupin does as a character, so I’m not going to focus on them as much. As it stands, I would not be surprised if someone uses Moony on him (ah, the irony), but I am keeping to my convictions and wanting to explain why I truly believe he doesn’t deserve the top marks. He’s obviously a good character, but he is not an excellent character. I’ll be honest: I lost all respect for Lupin’s character in Deathly Hallows when he showed up at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. So, for reference, I am going to sit here and copy that scene down for you all to re-read again since I’m sure it’s been a while for some of you.

Lupin hesitated.

"I'll understand if you can't confirm this, Harry, but the Order is under the impression that Dumbledore left you a mission."

"He did," Harry replied, "and Ron and Hermione are in on it and they're coming with me."

"Can you confide in me what the mission is?"

Harry looked into the prematurely lined face, framed in thick but graying hair, and wished that he could return a different answer.

"I can't, Remus, I'm sorry. If Dumbledore didn't tell you I don't think I can."

"I thought you'd say that," said Lupin, looking disappointed. "But I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to."

Harry hesitated. It was a very tempting offer, though how they would be able to keep their mission a secret from Lupin if he were with them all the time he could not imagine.

Hermione, however, looked puzzled.

"But what about Tonks?" she said.

"What about her?" said Lupin.

"Well," said Hermione, frowning, "you're married! How does she feel about you going away with us?"

"Tonks will be perfectly safe," said Lupin. "She'll be at her parents' house."

There was something strange in Lupin's tone; it was almost cold. There was also something odd in the idea of Tonks remaining hidden at her parents' house; she was, after all, a member of the Order and, as far as Harry knew, was likely to want to be in the thick of the action.

"Remus," said Hermione tentatively, "is everything all right... you know... between you and--"

"Everything is fine, thank you," said Lupin pointedly.

Hermione turned pink. There was another pause, an awkward and embarrassed one, and then Lupin said, with an air of forcing himself to admit something unpleasant, "Tonks is going to have a baby."

"Oh, how wonderful!" squealed Hermione.

"Excellent!" said Ron enthusiastically.

"Congratulations," said Harry.

Lupin gave an artificial smile that was more like a grimace, then said, "So... do you accept my offer? Will three become four? I cannot believe that Dumbledore would have disapproved, he appointed me your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all. And I must tell you that I believe that we are facing magic many of us have never encountered or imagined."

Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry.

"Just-just to be clear," he said. "You want to leave Tonks at her parents' house and come away with us?"

"She'll be perfectly safe there, they'll look after her," said Lupin. He spoke with a finality bordering on indifference. "Harry, I'm sure James would have wanted me to stick with you."

"Well," said Harry slowly, "I'm not. I'm pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren't sticking with your own kid, actually."

Lupin's face drained of color. The temperature in the kitchen might have dropped ten degrees. Ron stared around the room as though he had been bidden to memorize it, while Hermione's eyes swiveled backward and forward from Harry to Lupin.

"You don't understand," said Lupin at last.

"Explain, then," said Harry.

Lupin swallowed.

"I-I made a grave mistake in marrying Tonks. I did it against my better judgment and I have regretted it very much ever since."

"I see," said Harry. "so you're just going to dump her and the kid and run off with us?"

Lupin sprang to his feet: His chair toppled over backward, and he glared at them so fiercely that Harry saw, for the first time ever, the shadow of the wolf upon his human face.

"Don't you understand what I've done to my wife and my unborn child? I should never have married her, I've made her an outcast!"

Lupin kicked aside the chair he had overturned.

"You have only ever seen me amongst the Order, or under Dumbledore's protection at Hogwarts! You don't know how most of the Wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me! Don't you see what I've done? Even her own family is disgusted by our marriage, what parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf? And the child - the child--"

Lupin actually seized handfuls of his own hair; he looked quite deranged.

"My kind don't usually breed! It will be like me, I am convinced of it - how can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father whom it must always be ashamed!"

"Remus!" whispered Hermione, tears in her eyes. "Don't say that - how could any child be ashamed of you?"

"Oh, I don't know, Hermione," said Harry. "I'd be pretty ashamed of him."

Harry did not know where his rage was coming from, but it had propelled him to his feet too. Lupin looked as though Harry had hit him.

"If the new regime thinks Muggle-borns are bad," Harry said, "what will they do to a half-werewolf whose father's in the Order? My father died trying to protect my mother and me, and you reckon he'd tell you to abandon your kid to go on an adventure with us?"

"How - how dare you?" said Lupin. "This is not about a desire for - for danger or personal glory - how dare you suggest a --"

"I think you're feeling a bit of a daredevil," Harry said. "You fancy stepping into Sirius's shoes --"

"Harry, no!" Hermione begged him, but he continued to glare into Lupin's livid face.

"I'd never have believed this," Harry said. "The man who taught me to fight dementors - a coward."

I really wanted to highlight this scene because it was the scene that made me lose respect for Remus Lupin as a character. As a person, it makes sense to lose respect for him (who the heck leaves their pregnant wife to go chase a pipedream?) but what really bothered me about this was the character part.

From a character perspective, Lupin has always been part of Gryffindor (true) but of the Marauders, he has always been the person who was the one who cared the most about others. He has a lot of Hufflepuff traits: he’s a hard worker, he’s kind, compassionate, loyal. I would not even be surprised if the hat had trouble deciding between houses for him because of his most powerful traits. Which is why it makes no sense why he would even consider leaving his pregnant wife at home in the middle of a war, to go and do extremely risky things that could leave her a single mother.

Like, okay, if his main concern was the kid having a werewolf for a father (or even worse, the kid itself being a werewolf) why would he make Tonks face that challenge alone? That alone is a difficult thing to imagine. Why would Lupin, the man who cares so much about others, be so utterly selfish as to leave his wife to deal with the backlash by herself? The Lupin we met in Prisoner of Azkaban certainly would not have done that, so this weird change in character (that seemed to start in Half Blood Prince) is just… well, bizarre.

Even worse, after that entire argument, he returns to Tonks, everything is happy, Teddy is born, and everything is happy and peachy until Lupin dies at the Battle of Hogwarts. No explanation given, JKR just wanted to make sure we all liked him again after that weird chapter of confusion earlier in the book just to make sure we were properly sad about his death.

Sure, some could argue that what Harry said to him hit home and that’s what made him change his mind and return to Tonks. But why did he have to have Harry, a 17 year old kid, tell him what the right thing to do was in that situation? Lupin isn’t dumb, Lupin is a loyal man from what we’ve been told… why did he put himself in that situation in the first place?

I don’t think that fear of passing on his werewolf genes is enough. If that was the case, as he so pointed out, he would, no offense to the viewers, use a goddamn condom. I refuse to believe that contraceptives don’t exist in the wizarding world, and if they didn’t, I sure as hell would hope he would at least try to ensure she didn’t become pregnant if he was so scared of having a child.

So again the question will always be: why did his character get written into a way to have this story? What was the point of it? Why did this story need to be told? If at the end of the day they were able to see their son be born together, and if they were both destined to die to continue the cycle of orphans from the wars, then why, why did they take half a chapter to expressly have Lupin show up to make this ridiculous request?

Deathly Hallows would have been exactly the same if Lupin had never shown up at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The book would have ended the same, and everyone would still laud Lupin as one of the best characters in the series. But that one interaction is enough to hurt him as a character to drop him out of the top 15 for me. That interaction hurt his character in my eyes, and it’s enough to make me safely say it’s time for him to be gone in this Rankdown.

Like I said, we could talk all day about Lupin’s good parts, and his other obvious flaws, but this one thing was so out of character that it needed to be addressed and it needs to be seriously looked at, not just pushed aside.

No, no.... the other one.

Aberforth has one main chapter that he is in, that to me just doesn't allow for Abe to make the finals. I have cut ½ of one brotherhood so now it is appropriate I cut half of another. Aberforth is weaker than Albus much like George is weaker than Fred. I'm not talking about an arm wrestling match here, I'm talking about in terms of character development and what they bring to the story.

As Lucio from Overwatch says, "oh, let's break it down"

When it comes to Ariana, Aberforth is nothing more than a big brother. He takes care of her, he loves her, he rightfully believes that he was Ariana's favorite. When Albus was out tending to other matters Aberforth was there. He was also there when Ariana was killed and could have been her murdered. HUGE DEAL, RIGHT? Wrong. This does nothing more than dividing the two brothers. Ariana is dead and Aberforth is sad. I think that is a mighty fine display of humanism, but not a mighty fine display of doing anything to the plot. Sure, he broke Albus's nose and got involved in a love-thing between his brother and Grindelwald. The first part of that last sentence doesn't mean anything the later part of that sentence is only fleshed out outside of the bounds of the seven novels so it doesn't matter. Strike one of any plot significance. This story brings out some of the dark side of Albus but that is neither here nor there when discussing Aberforth.

He owns the Hog's Head. That could be major, a lot of shit went down there. WRONG. Not a major plot point. He simply owns the building where some shit happened. Aberforth let Albus know that Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov where waiting for Riddle in Hogsmead when he applied to the Dark Arts position. Big deal, I'm sure that Aberforth didn't want EVERYONE dead so he tipped off his brother. Albus was a skilled legilimens, I'm sure he could have figured this out from Tom Riddle if he really wanted. He also banned Mundungs from the Hog's Head. Doesn't stop him from selling shit outside of it from the Black estate. Threw Snape out when he was eavesdropping on The Prophecy. He probably didn't want Voldemort to come to power, Aberforth was good after all. Snape was a death eater, see ya later Snape. Sure, the prophecy is a HUGE deal but Aberforth didn't do anything to stop it. Snape heard what he could and was thrown out. Snape, also being a skilled legilimens could have stopped Sybil outside and did his thing.

He did have one cool thing he did for the plot though. He operated the secret passageway into the Room of Requirement and he had the mirror that Albus/Sirius used to watch over Harry. Since ya just can't waltz into Hogwarts or apparate onto the grounds, this was crucial for the WWII. He did send Dobby to get Harry and the gang from the Malfoy manor. That's a big deal, but Aberforth didn't do it. Dobby did. Aberforth was just the eye in the sky. It's like the CEO getting all of the credit when the business does really well. Yeah, he was in charge but the workers did the majority of the work. Oh yeah, and with the passage? Aberforth just owned the building. Ariana's portrait actually did the work and went to get Neville.

I have a hard time saying that Aberforth is this great character and he did so much. He kind of put some things into motion but in the end, other's carried out some of his tasks. Say he's great would be like saying Dickey Simpkins did a shit ton for the 96-97 Chicago Bulls. Yeah, he was on the team, but he kind just rode the bench, practiced a little, and Jordan and Pippen carried the team.

Oh and he banged a goat.

“Horace […] likes his comfort. He also likes the company of the famous, the successful, and the powerful. He enjoys the feeling that he influences these people. He has never wanted to occupy the throne himself; he prefers the backseat — more room to spread out, you see. He used to handpick favorites at Hogwarts, sometimes for their ambition or their brains, sometimes for their charm or their talent, and he had an uncanny knack for choosing those who would go on to become outstanding in their various fields. Horace formed a kind of club of his favorites with himself at the center, making introductions, forging useful contacts between members, and always reaping some kind of benefit in return, whether a free box of his favorite crystallized pineapple or the chance to recommend the next junior member of the Goblin liaison Office.”

Or so Dumbledore tells Harry after they part ways with the recently re-instated Professor Slughorn and his temporary dwelling. This quote offers an excellent synopsis of what we learn about Slughorn from the private conversation he holds with Harry, while Dumbledore catches up with the latest Muggle fashion trends from a magazine in the bathroom, and definitely fails to listen in on the discussion taking place in the next room.

And while understanding this aspect of Slughorn’s character helps lay the groundwork for the story going forward, the bits of the visit that include Dumbledore are just as revealing as the part that doesn’t.

Throughout the meeting with Slughorn, you can’t help but get the feeling you’re witnessing a battle of wills between two men who know each other very well. Dumbledore apparates several minutes out from Slughorn’s residence, purposely giving his old colleague a decent amount of time to prepare for their visit, and with that time, Horace Slughorn pulls off an extraordinary and disturbing welcome. It’s clear that Slughorn has been anticipating a visit from the headmaster rather than Voldemort’s cronies; otherwise, he would not pretend to have been killed by Death Eaters. But Dumbledore is not deterred by Slughorn’s attempt to turn the living room into a murder scene, and figures out Slughorn’s disguise rather quickly. His decision to transfigure himself into an armchair gives us a lot of insight into Slughorn’s personality. As a metaphor, the chair shows that he is a creature of comfort; though he now moves around a lot, he prefers the sedentary lifestyle, and, like a floor that people walk all over, he’s a chair that people, uh, can sit on and manipulate rather easily if they know what buttons to push (okay, that last part sounded way better in my head, but you get the gist).

Most importantly though, Horace Slughorn is a coward who prefers to run, rather than stand and fight, or in this case, face his flaws and come to terms with an old memory, a source of great guilt and regret. On re-read, it’s evident that Dumbledore wants Slughorn to return to Hogwarts specifically so Harry can wheedle out the true events of the night Tom Riddle confronted the potions master about Horcruxes, and on some level, Slughorn is aware of this. Dumbledore certainly never attempts to conceal it, either; he openly shows Slughorn he now owns the ring Riddle wore that night he accosted him for information. Slughorn is scared of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, sure, but as Harry points out, there probably isn’t a place that could offer him better protection than Hogwarts. What Slughorn really fears is the truth: that he was the one who gave Voldemort the key information he needed to ascend to power, leading, among other things, to the deaths of people Slughorn cared about. Returning to Hogwarts and the Slug Club is just a reminder of that guilt, though in the end, the lure of luxury and networking proves too persuasive for a glutton like Slughorn to overcome.

We leave that first visit with Slughorn with an understanding of two things: Slughorn is a scared man who likes to hide, but you can manipulate him past his fears and reservations by appealing to his ego and base desires.

I’d argue that there isn’t actually anything particularly damning hidden within the true memory. The basics Slughorn gives Tom could’ve come from another source. In fact, there’s a good chance that Riddle may have already had a working and more specific knowledge on Horcruxes before he interrogates Professor Slughorn about them, and the answers Slughorn provides are vague. He doesn’t really go into the process or necessary rituals, just explains that there’s murder involved. The memory is useful to Dumbledore and Harry mostly because it proves Voldemort was interested in making multiple Horcruxes. But the memory does showcase Slughorn’s greatest flaws, and therefore his greatest shame. He liked Tom Riddle. He liked Tom Riddle because the boy was charming and talented and brought him his prized crystalized pineapple, and because he liked Tom Riddle he disregarded the obvious: Tom Riddle’s interest in Horcruxes was clearly extracurricular. In the false memory, Slughorn tries to cover these flaws, pretending that he told Riddle he was heading down the wrong path, rather than encouraging him. Perhaps Slughorn wishes he had the courage to tell Riddle" no," when he first asked about the Horcruxes.

While he’s definitely the type of person I would hate in real life, I like Horace Slughorn a lot as a character. I think he fills an important niche in the series as the non-evil, quintessential Slytherin. He looks out for himself, and what and who can benefit him, while also seeking out and supporting talented students, helping them succeed wherever their ambition might take them; he forms symbiotic relationships with powerful people. Slughorn is a complicated man who has his obvious strengths and flaws. It’s slimy and unfair that he so explicitly prefers certain students due to their talents and connections to prominent people, while ignoring others. But at the same time he cares about teaching and enjoys it. He makes potions fun and educational. His style extends beyond copy this down and don’t be an idiot, and we never see him unfairly punish a student he doesn’t like. While he does have a few favorite Muggleborns, like Lily and Hermione, it’s also apparent that he holds a deep-seated prejudice, believing that, generally, pureblood families produce more magically skilled children, even though he claims otherwise.

Though he is so often ruled by his shame and fear, Slughorn always seems to find his courage in the end. Harry succeeds in getting the memory by appealing to Slughorn’s great respect for Lily. The recollection of her bravery helps Slughorn find his own. The last time we see Slughorn, he’s dueling against Voldemort at the battle of Hogwarts. Just the previous school year, he expressed reservations about teaching at Hogwarts in the event of a Death Eater attack, and earlier in the evening before the battle, he suggested that trying to fight against Voldemort was useless. Yet he returns to Hogwarts once again, as the acting head of Slytherin, with reinforcements to help defend the school.

On another episode of Khajiit-ify's chronicles called "I don't know how this character made it this far, but it's high time they should go" I introduce to you the newest sparkly shiny character: Arthur Weasley!

I'll be honest, I don't really give much of a rat's ass about Arthur Weasley. Most of the time that he's on the page I end up falling asleep (oh dearest readers, please feel free to smite me where I stand) but where he does have some interest, it's mostly in weird quirky attributes.

Like his insanely bizarre fascination with all muggle-related things. He seems to worship the very feet of Muggle lifestyle, forever fascinated about how us poor saps without magical abilities can make do. Except he's horribly inept at everything he does with the Muggles, considering he doesn't understand the concept of a telephone and how it would work properly, or how to properly pronounce electricity, or why plugs are completely and utterly unfascinating. Honestly, I imagine it like weeaboos. People joke about them all the time, constantly focusing in on Japanese culture (despite being in a Western civilization) and how their weird fetishastion of their culture is honestly offensive to some people. That's how I felt whenever I read whatever antic's Arthur Weasley was up to. I cringed. What is meant to be cute and quirky just seems utterly irritating. Nobody really ever tells Arthur what's so bad about his attitude, either. Not Harry or Hermione, who spent 10 years of their lives not knowing about the magical universe. You'd think one of them would pull him aside at some point and tell him he's being obnoxious and offensive and to not bring up his huge fascination with Muggles in front of the Muggles themselves... but nope.

His relationship with children is pretty relaxed. He's supposed to be the cool dad. The only times he loses his cool is the one time that Fred and George dropped their test of the Ton-Tongue Toffee for Dudley to taste (at which point he yelled at them, but then when Molly asked what was up he suddenly quailed - which shows that his tough love is nothing as strong as what Molly could or would ever do). The other time is when he is pissed at Percy for Percy's desires to put his career over his family. Even still Arthur goes for a more passive-aggressive approach rather than a direct approach to dealing with his children. The only time he really showed any kind of aggressive approach to dealing with people was when he got into a fight with Lucius at the bookstore, and the one time that Arthur tried to force the Dursleys into telling Harry good-bye as he was preparing to leave for the World Cup.

Honestly, Arthur in terms of his attitude towards others is a direct foil to his wife. He's laid back while she is strict. He's meek where she is strong. He's boyish while she is girlish. Only, in my opinion, he is less interesting because he never stops being any of those things. Up until the end of the series he is still the same guy that he was in the very first few books.

Sure, I could talk about how he was attacked while protecting the prophecy, but even then he was still the same Arthur Weasley he always was (oh dear, he convinced them to try STITCHES to mend his wounds!)

Honestly, I wouldn't have put Arthur within the top twenty. He should have gone about 10 places ago, but alas, here we are. He never grows or changes in the story, which is something I can easily say about the remaining characters in this Rankdown. So, audios, Arthur. Your time is up.

Apologies on the tardiness of this cut. For some reason, none of my irl commitments seem to understand that I have important internet discussions to pursue.

As you all have noticed, I’ve decided to cut Molly Weasley here at number 20. Aaaaaaaaaaaand here’s why!

Molly Weasley is a strong character. I know that I’ve been branded a Molly-hater, a hit person of several well-loved women, but I do like Molly. Moreover, I respect her. She is the backbone of the Weasley family, good-hearted, protective, and steadfast. Much like how her physical house is (seemingly) held upright by magic, Molly magically holds her family together through her compassion, love, and hard work. I’m going to be honest here, raising kids sounds mildly terrifying to me. Raising SEVEN kids who also have magical powers? Oh, hell no. I am not about that life. Molly Weasley, however, is more than equal to this formidable task.

Mrs. Weasley somehow manages to keep her household running (fairly) smoothly and keep the dynamics in balance. Percy, Fred, and George all manage to live under the same roof for years without starting their own Wizarding War and Arthur doesn’t blow the place up playing with his plugs. I’d say that the survival of the family as a unit is largely down to Molly. She is the main source of discipline in the family, as we see when Ron and the twins steal Arthur’s car to liberate Harry from his room on Privet Drive.

Molly is a great mom. For all the reasons I’ve already alluded to and many more. She makes Arthur’s less-than-considerably-sized income stretch to care for all of their children. Sure, Ron (and I’m sure pretty much all of the children) have to make do with hand me down items and don’t have their pick of the broomsticks at Quality Quidditch Supplies but they are assuredly well looked after. We know that Ron has never been without ample, carefully prepared food available to him whenever he has been hungry. Ok, his dress robes were god-awful, but if he had been proactive and ambitious I’m sure he could have found a magical way to make them somewhat presentable. I guarantee Hermione would have hit the tailoring section of the library and found some spells to rectify her outfit if it had been terrible.

Anyway, getting back to Molly. Wonderful, talented witch and mother though she is, I am cutting her here as I find that her character falls short in several ways. /u/22poun sums it up well in their comment:

Molly has like no . . . character development. She's the loving mum to Harry's best friend, and as such, becomes a foster mother to Harry himself. But her whole character is defined by how much she loves her family and her foster family, and how she'd do anything for her them. Yes, her duel with Bellatrix in DH was badass, but it wasn't character-defining. (I'm a stickler for good character development, and much prefer that over silly things like plot).

I would add that Molly does grow as a person throughout the books, and a good example of this is found in her relationships with Fleur and Hermione. At some point with each of them, Molly’s love for her family (I include Harry in this, as I believe she would) overpowers her sense of reason and ability to extend her love to people beyond her kin. More specifically, she finds it difficult to find empathy for two young women she sees as threats to her son and adoptive son. This flaw is one of the most interesting things about Molly. Similar to what poun said about her duel with Bellatrix, I don’t believe that Molly’s character was significantly changed by her tumultuous relationships with these young women. The conflicts arise from her deep and overwhelming ability to love her family, and are resolved when she is convinced that those people are indeed worthy of her familial love as well.

Another way that Molly’s character serves the books is as an introduction to many quotidian aspects of wizarding life. She is the character we see most involved in daily tasks. We see her cooking and learn how wizards cook. We see her with the floo powder and learn how wizards travel. We see her two strange clocks and learn that wizards use them for more than the numerical time. Molly is often the embodiment of what it is to exist in a typical wizarding home in Britain, and the world she inhabits comes alive through her interactions.

On to the spouse-shaped elephant in the room. Several people have wondered why I feel that Molly deserved to be cut before Arthur. I like both Weasley parents a lot. Both have fascinating relationships with their children. Molly's concern for their safety after Voldemort's return to power is incredibly moving. Arthur's fraught dynamic with Percy is similarly captivating. I love their dynamic as co-parents and friends. They are a team, and they care deeply for one another. Molly is not being cut first, as BBG hypothesized “because Arthur comes across as the “fun dad” whereas she’s the annoying mum”. I don’t see her as an annoying mum at all. She’s protective yet fair, motherly and cautious, but not annoying. Yes, Molly is stricter than Arthur on several occasions, but she is by no means the only one in the family enforcing rules and acting to protect the children. Arthur does it differently, and it takes more serious situations for his stricter side to come out, but when real danger is present he can lay down the law. The main reason why I rank Arthur a bit higher is I feel he not only fulfills many of the same roles as Molly in the story (adoptive family to Harry, a grounding for the reader in what wizards are like at home, Order member) but his character has a few additional perks.

Mr. Weasley’s character is similar to his wife’s in that he is also driven by love. Their respective loves are expressed differently. Molly’s love is defensive and protective. In her fear, she attempts to put walls around those she loves. Arthur’s love is full of curiosity. His love is a bit more expansive. He easily loves things and people different than himself and his experiences. In times of peace and security, we are shown his love of muggles and his ability to empathize with others. In contrast to Molly, he perhaps does not put up enough barriers or stand up for himself. I see Arthur as a people-pleasing type. Someone who finds it difficult at times to assert healthy boundaries. Arthur also provides an avenue for the reader/Harry to learn about the Ministry of Magic, knowledge that becomes critical to the plot of the books as they progress.

The biggest reason that I rank Arthur higher is due to his interaction with the muggle world. In and of itself, this detail could be written off as simply a fun bit of flair in his character. I see it as much larger and important not only to him but to the series. Arthur loves to tinker with muggle objects, but what is interesting is the place where this hobby comes from. He is inquisitive and open minded. He is not perturbed by typical wizarding views of muggles as inferior or lacking, he sees them as a people with a different culture and much to offer wizards who are willing to learn. This theme of acceptance and humility as pathways to greater understanding is a powerful one. We see how Dumbledore, epitome of knowledge and power, is modest and equally interested in what can be learned from influential wizards, giants, and house-elves alike. Arthur is one of the few other characters we have who exhibits openness approaching Dumbledore-levels. This is not his cut, so I will wrap this exploration up, but in my mind Arthur and his curiosity are important to the story and how the series relates to our own world. Molly’s brand of love is more overt, jumping off the page towards the reader. Several other characters also highlight this type of love. Narcissa, Petunia, and Lily (mom club) all portray this protective love. Few others help Arthur carry the torch for inquisitive, welcoming love. Remus has a bit of it, Dumbledore for sure, and Harry has some. In these three other characters, however, the trait is more muted or shown in concert with many other competing aspects. In my mind, Arthur Weasley is the character that flies this flag highest.

All in all, I’m going to agree with /u/bubblegumgills agreeing with /u/Marx0r in that:

Molly doesn't evolve beyond that stereotype of loving mum. I agreed with /u/Marx0r's cut, where he said that all she ever is, is a mother. There is no hidden depth to Molly, nothing there to ever contradict what she is initially presented as: a mother.

Molly Weasley is an interesting character. She underscores the important theme of the importance and power of love. She helps us to understand how wizards live, and provides some occasional comic relief. This is all incredibly valuable to the series, but from my perspective, she doesn’t have enough going on in her development to keep her around any longer. There has been some really great commentary on her cuts and revival. Lots of super points have been made and equally good counter points. If I addressed them all here I think this cut would be approaching the length of a entire book on Molly. Thanks all for your patience in waiting this edit! See you around.

Narcissa Malfoy a great minor character if not a really great person. For someone who makes her debut in the series fairly late in the game, she does have a fair amount of impact on the story over her tenure and has a memorable and striking presence. We are first introduced to her as mother to Draco and wife to Lucius. She fits right in with the family she married into: slender and pale, a first name which is basically the word “narcissism”, and an upturned nose whenever she is in the presence of someone she has deemed to hold lower status than her family (aka, everyone else).

Narcissa makes few appearances and speaks very little for the first several books, but even then her effects are felt broadly in the story. One thing that we know from the get-go is the Narcissa Malfoy loves her son. She like, really loves Draco. Til the end of the earth, move a mountain, walk 500 miles kind of love. Like Petunia, she shows her love for her son by praising him, seeing to his every need, and fulfilling his every selfish childish desire. We don’t see this outright in many scenes but from the first time Draco opens his mouth we can tell he’s been told he shits rainbows every day of his 11 years on this planet. Thanks, Cissy, real class act you raised there.

Love is the driving force behind nearly all of the visible things that Narcissa does in the series. She is overprotective of Draco in Diagon Alley, and equally protective (but I’d say with due cause due to the whole Voldemort-kinda-wants-to-kill-him-to-punish-his-father thing) when she asks Snape to make the Unbreakable Vow, she lies to the damn Dark Lord’s face just to reunite with her boy during the Battle of Hogwarts. Always looking out for her little blonde troublemaker attempted assassin racist torturer dickhead cherub.

The one action that we hear of Narcissa taking that wasn’t motivated primarily by love was her plumbing Kreacher for OOTP information to pass along to Voldemort. It could be argued that love drove her to do this as well, as ingratiating herself and her family to the Dark Lord would help to ensure their safety, but that’s never stated in the books and we only really have Dumbledore’s guesses (as formidable as they typically are) to tell us that she did any of it. I think it is most likely that that argument is the case, but who knows, maybe it's because she always wanted to be a singing telegram or carrier pigeon or something.

Something striking about Narcissa’s arc when you dissect it is that she played a decisive role in sealing the fate of several other major players in the story. By passing Kreacher’s words on to Voldemort she sets the wheels in motion for her cousin Sirius’ death. Similarly, by insisting that Snape into making an Unbreakable Vow to help Draco and be the Dumbledore-murder understudy (and behold! The lead twisted his ankle in the final crucial moments leading up to the grand finale and SEVERUS TOOK THE STAGE) she steered him down the path that led to his own murder. Cissy may be quieter and calmer, but she is deadly just like her sister.

I like how so much is written into the small appearances that Narcissa makes. We can palpably feel how desperate and bare-nerved she is when she is darting down Spinner’s End with Bellatrix

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do anymore!” Narcissa breathed, a note of hysteria in her voice, and

as she brought down the wand like a knife, there was another flash of light. Bella let go of her sister’s arm as though burned.

Damn, girl. Assaulting B-Strange is a bold move, even if she is family. Normally, Narcissa is much more composed and her intelligence (or at least knack for self-preservation) is visible in several scenes. Notably, she survives being hostess to Lord Voldemort while being most assuredly on his shit-list. She knows to keep her head down and reminds Draco that the less Voldemort notices them the better.

Another decidedly risky move - her most brazen - was lying to Voldemort to his face when asked if Harry was dead. MASSIVE gamble. Would he put the Legilimens mumbo-jumbo on her to check? Would anyone else notice Harry’s chest rising and falling? Would she be able to make it out of the Hogwarts grounds with her beloved nuclear family unit intact? Would they all go to Azkaban to live out their days due to the HORRIFIC CRIMES they had each committed? Turns out Mrs Malfoy was incredibly lucky and a good enough liar to pull it off. Kudos, I guess. Still, you’re all pretty evil. It is, as I previously stated, love that pushes her to make this ludicrously dangerous choice. She loves Draco more than safety, more than status, more than is reasonable. This love, unforeseen and never understood by Voldemort, allows Harry to slip through the Dark Lord’s fingers for a final time. Her love yet again seals a powerful wizard’s fate as Harry is finally able to destroy him.

All in all, Cissy had a good run in the series. Cruel, loving, a bit mysterious, cunning, and slippery to the last. See ya in HPRD3, hon.

OH HEY GUESS WHAT? TIME TO USE MY WORMTAIL THAT’S WHAT.

For a previous, stellar analysis on Grindelwald, see team Gryffindor’s earlier Prongs write-up. While I’ll re-tread some of the same ground I’m mostly going into this assuming everyone’s already read that one.

At the heart of each book in the series there is a mystery for the heroes to unravel. This is the secret sauce of Harry Potter, the plot point that draws you into the story and holds your attention for the duration. This is JKR’s craft and it’s no surprise that her non-Potter related writings are also in the mystery genre.

The mysteries begin as tangibles; they revolve around Whos and Whats: What lies under the trap door? Who is Slytherin’s heir and what monster does he control? What is the strange, black dog Harry keeps seeing? Who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire? Where is the door Harry returns to in his dreams and what’s behind it? But in the sixth book, the mysteries move into more nebulous territory. Now the story is more interested in character motivations, the Whys, if you will: What is Draco Malfoy up to and who, exactly is Lord Voldemort? The mystery at the center of the DH, the plot thread that holds the entire book together: Who is Albus Dumbledore, really?

At the core of the Dumbledore riddle lies a man an enigma unto himself: Gellert Grindelwald. I’m going to make a bold claim here: there is no character more important to Dumbledore’s development into the wise mentor that will guide the hero on his journey than Grindelwald.

Consider the sage advice Dumbledore imparts over the course of the series (here are just a few samples from various books):

“You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.”

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right,”

And then there’s his whole second chance thing with Snape. And the way he’s able to empathize with Harry’s guilt and pain over Sirius’ death.

Albus Dumbledore was always clever and insanely talented, but you can only come by wisdom through experience. Those two months Dumbledore spent as Grindelwald’s “friend” and the fallout that followed over the loss of Ariana, encapsulate the most formative period of his life.

Grindelwald allowed a bitter and trapped Dumbledore, shouldering the responsibility of a parent, to find freedom in villainous plots for power. Of course Dumbledore didn’t see it that way at the time. He saw: a fellow boy-genius, someone who could keep up with him, a magical and intellectual equal, and an escapist dream to pursue the “Greater Good” and the ability to cast aside his responsibility an ill sister (his only worry was about keeping her hidden).

And then it all fell apart. Ariana died and Grindelwald left to conquer the world with messaging he borrowed from Dumbledore. These experiences haunted Dumbledore for the rest of his life, but they allowed him to become more empathetic to people like Snape and Percy, to predict Ron’s weaknesses, and to offer Harry an understanding smile.

Adult Dumbledore knows his weaknesses and accepts those of other humans. Adult Dumbledore accepts that death is inevitable. And all this can be traced back to his original sin: Gellert Grindelwald.

But enough about Dumbledore.

Who is Gellert Grindelwald, anyway? The problem is, we don’t really know.

Grindelwald’s part in the story gets told by multiple people, each with their own agenda and spin. We hear stories about him third hand and from secondary sources. We see him grinning in pictures and get a taste of his vile ideology from letters sent to him by another person. We see him in Gregorovitch’s memory and through Voldemort’s eyes. Gellert Grindelwald’s story is like a trail of breadcrumbs being eaten by birds. But there are enough morsels left for us to at least trace a faint path.

Grindelwald’s story begins at Durmstrang, where he experimented with dark magic on fellow students, leading to his explusion. At some point in his education he came across the tale of the Deathly Hallows and made it his mission to find and unite them. And it should be noted that, at this time, Grindelwald is likely concerned only with the potential power these objects could bring.

After his expulsion, he visits with his distant family member, famed historian Bathilda Bagshot in Godric’s Hollow, as a means to find Ignotius Peverell’s grave. Here he meets Albus Dumbledore and his life changes. And this is really the key point of this write-up: Albus Dumbledore was just as important to Grindlewald's development as Grindelwald was to his.

Based on the only evidence of their relationship we have, a late night letter from Dumbledore to Grindelwald:

Gellert --

Your point about Wizard dominance being FOR THE MUGGLES’

OWN GOOD -- this, I think, is the crucial point. Yes, we have been given power and yes, that power gives us the right to rule, but it also gives us responsibilities over the ruled. We must stress this point, it will be the foundation stone upon which we build. Where we are opposed, as we surely will be, this must be the basis of all our counterarguments. We seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD. And from this it follows that where we meet resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary and no more. (This was your mistake at Durmstrang! But I do not complain, because if you had not been expelled, we would never have met.)

--Albus

Albus was likely the strategic and moral brains of the operation. It was Dumbledore who probably took the story of the Hallows and helped Grindelwald formulate a larger plan on how to use them. After all, at Durmstrang Grindlewald made the Deathly Hallows his symbol, but in the history books he’s not associated with the imagery. At some point he dropped the Hallows as his main goal and instead began pursue them as tools to a new end: wizard dominance over Muggles. That change coincides with his introduction to Albus Dumbledore.

I doubt Grindelwald copped the Greater Good ideology only because he liked the optics. I think Dumbledore’s brilliance inspired him beyond the two months they spent together. I’d like to think that Dumbledore’s morals, even if they were only justification for evil acts, stuck with Grindelwald throughout his years in prison. I want to believe it’s these ideas along with a more philosophical understanding of the Deathly Hallows story that potentially lead to his remorse for his actions.

During Harry’s conversation with Dumbledore at “King’s Cross,” Harry mentions that Grindelwald lied to keep Voldemort from obtaining the Elder wand, which leads to this wonderful exchange:

“They say he showed remorse in later years, alone in his cell at Nurmengard. I hope that is true. I would like to think that he did feel the horror and shame of what he had done. Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends . . . to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow . . .”

“. . .or maybe from breaking into your tomb?” suggested Harry, and Dumbledore dabbed his eyes.

I think Grindelwald’s true motivation likely encompasses both these explanations: that he lied because it was the right thing to do and to honor Dumbledore even after his death.