The chapter we fell in love with...

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Harry holding a lantern up to look at the books in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library. His Invisibility Cloak is close by. 

The chapter that made us fall in love with… Draco Malfoy

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Dobby drops the chandelier on the assembled Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor.

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[Draco Malfoy](/features/draco-malfoy "Draco Malfoy") spent most of the series as one of those characters we just love to hate. He treated most students like they were beneath him, was quick to insult, and often resorted to dirty tactics… but we think maybe there was hope for him yet.

## ‘Malfoy Manor’ 

In *Deathly Hallows*, there was a moment where it felt like all was lost. After months of unsuccessful searches for Voldemort’s [Horcruxes](/features/the-horcruxes "The Horcruxes"), Harry, Ron and Hermione were taken by Snatchers, and transported straight into the belly of the beast, [Malfoy Manor](/features/malfoy-manor "Malfoy Manor").

[Harry](/features/harry-potter "Harry Potter"), who was disguised with a swollen, puffy face thanks to [Hermione’s](/features/hermione-granger "Hermione Granger") Stinging Jinx, must be identified before he’s given to [Lord Voldemort](/features/lord-voldemort "Lord Voldemort"), with the Malfoys, [Bellatrix](/features/bellatrix-lestrange "Bellatrix Lestrange") and [Fenrir Greyback](/features/fenrir-greyback "Fenrir Greyback") hungry to present him to the Dark Lord. One word from Draco would seal his fate. 

Draco’s parents were alive with ecstasy, with [Lucius Malfoy](/features/lucius-malfoy "Lucius Malfoy") convinced that catching Harry Potter would put him back in favour with Lord Voldemort. But Draco, for the first time in his life, was almost speechless. 

> ’Well, Draco?’ said Lucius Malfoy. He sounded avid. ‘Is it? Is it Harry Potter?’ 
> ‘I can’t – I can’t be sure,’ said Draco. 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*

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## Why it mattered

Why did Draco hesitate? He could have got rid of his rival once and for all and restored the Malfoys to their former glory.

But the events of *Half-Blood Prince* took their toll on Draco. Though he entered sixth year with the usual sneer and swagger, he appeared nervous and dishevelled as time passed. Secretly he’d been initiated into the [Death Eaters](/collection/characters-deatheaters "Death Eaters") and told to kill [Professor Dumbledore](/features/albus-dumbledore "Albus Dumbledore"). Draco quickly realised that he was in over his head and began to crack under the pressure.

> ‘The only people who can see Thestrals… are people who have seen death.’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*

Seeing death permanently changed the way a person sees the world. Draco witnessed his kindly old headmaster struck down in front of him and and the Muggle Studies teacher [Charity Burbage](/features/charity-burbage "Charity Burbage") was tortured and killed in his own home.

We forget that Draco was still only a boy and seeing innocent people tortured and killed was not something he was prepared for. Until recently, Draco seemed to have lived a charmed and sheltered life; he’d never been poor like [Ron](/features/ron-weasley "Ron Weasley"), accused of having ‘dirty blood’ like Hermione or suffered the loss of a loved one like Harry. 

It could be said that his childish slurs against Muggle-borns and ‘blood traitors’ came not from a place of hatred so much as one of ignorance. Perhaps if he’d understood the weight of his words Draco would have been more careful about how he wielded them. 

> Harry saw Draco’s face up close, now, right beside his father’s. They were extraordinarily alike, except that while his father looked beside himself with excitement, Draco’s expression was full of reluctance, even fear. 
> ‘I don’t know,’ he said, and he walked away towards the fireplace where his mother stood watching. 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*

Then the moment finally arrived when Draco had the chance to redeem himself. So many thoughts must have been racing through his mind: maybe he felt remorse over helping the Death Eaters, who’d already claimed many innocent lives. He knew all too well what would happen to Harry and his friends if they were handed over, yet his parents would be proud and grateful beyond measure. 

Draco was torn between loyalty to his family, fear of Voldemort and worry for his former classmates. But Draco could not just flit from one position to another in one fell swoop – and instead of denying it was Harry completely, settled for a passive, ‘I don’t know.’

## A disinclined Death Eater 

We wonder if Draco’s hesitancy in this moment suggested that he had cast aside the boyish fantasy of being a powerful Death Eater; that he finally understood the horrifying reality of serving Voldemort. 

It’s tragic that he had to grow up so fast, but we can respect how much he changed. By refusing, Draco finally took a stand and stopped another innocent person being brutalised.

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Harry, accompanied by the spirits of his dead family and friends, approaches Lord Voldemort prepared to die.

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Actions have consequences – Draco learnt that the hard way. Harry would later risk his own life to save Draco from the Fiendfyre. [Narcissa Malfoy](/features/narcissa-malfoy "Narcissa Malfoy") would then lie to Voldemort – an extremely dangerous person to lie to – and spare Harry to hear that her son is alive. Thanks to all of this, Voldemort would be defeated and peace would return to the wizarding world. Much of this can be traced back to that one pivotal decision in Malfoy Manor. 

[Draco](/writing-by-jk-rowling/draco-malfoy "Draco Malfoy by J.K. Rowling") proved himself to be a stronger, braver and more sympathetic character than most of us gave him credit for, and how terrifying the pressure of his Death Eater father had on his entire life. It made us rethink the path he’d taken and the person he became. Most importantly, it showed us the power of redemption and how we can all learn from our mistakes.

*Pottermore looks back at the moments that made our favourite characters so memorable. Read about the chapter that made us fall in love with... [Neville Longbottom.](/features/chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-neville-longbottom "The chapter that made us fall in love with Neville Longbottom")*

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The chapter that made us fall in love with… Ginny Weasley 

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Ginny had an immensely strong spirit across the Harry Potter books, so strong in fact that Harry Potter himself began to notice after a while. But Ginny, accomplished Quidditch player and determined Gryffindor, was always far more than Harry’s girlfriend. And the very macabre chapter in which Harry breaks up with her is the one where we love her the most. 

## ‘The White Tomb’ 

Dumbledore was dead. As Harry and the people closest to him gathered for his funeral, Harry’s burning grief was not the only thing that he had on his mind. He knew that he must let go of someone else he’d grown to care for so deeply: Ginny. After spending a hefty portion of *Half-Blood Prince* realising he actually liked Ron’s little sister (and after Ginny spent the majority of her early years fancying Harry and blushing furiously whenever he was in the room), the pair finally did get together, and Harry finally had an ounce of happiness after so many dark days. After Dumbledore’s death, however, everything abruptly changed once again.

Harry realised he must go after Voldemort alone – and was in more danger than ever before as he planned to hunt down the Dark Lord’s Horcruxes. The least he could do, it seemed, was end his relationship with Ginny, to protect her. Or as Ginny defined it, for ‘stupid noble reasons’. 

> She met Harry’s gaze with the same hard, blazing look that he had seen when she had hugged him after winning the Quidditch Cup in his absence, and he knew that at that moment they understood each other perfectly, and that when he told her what he was going to do now, she would not say ‘Be careful’, or ‘Don’t do it’, but accept his decision, because she would not have expected anything less of him. And so he steeled himself to say what he had known he must say ever since Dumbledore had died. 
> *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* 

## Why It Matters 

The way Ginny reacted to Harry breaking up with her showed how emotionally mature beyond her years she really was. Ginny had grown up now and accepted she didn’t just like some boy, she liked The Boy Who Lived. 

Harry had seen her as ‘Ron’s little sister’ for so long, but Ginny was so much more than a ‘girlfriend’ or a ‘sister’. Sure, when she first met Harry she was a blushing, shy girl, but let’s bear in mind she was only 11. After being possessed by Lord Voldemort’s diary and nearly dying in *Chamber of Secrets*, Ginny was not left wobbly and traumatised, but sturdier. In a mere handful of years, Ginny became a hardened fighter, capable of performing spells in Dumbledore’s Army that were extremely advanced for her age. She was also incredibly good at Quidditch, very funny (nicknaming Fleur Delacour ‘Phlegm’ a particular highlight) and seemed to be the perfect combination of all the Weasleys combined, including the irreverence of Fred and George, the good spirit of Ron, and the ferocity of Mrs Weasley. 

But most importantly, she was also a cynic, and greeted Harry’s emotional break-up (she was also at the funeral of her headmaster, let’s not forget) with an ambivalent wit. 

> ‘Ginny, listen ...’ he said very quietly, as the buzz of conversation grew louder around them and people began to get to their feet. ‘I can’t be involved with you any more. We’ve got to stop seeing each other. We can’t be together.’ 
> She said, with an oddly twisted smile, ‘It’s for some stupid, noble reason, isn’t it?’ 
> ‘It’s been like ... like something out of someone else’s life, these last few weeks with you,’ said Harry. ‘But I can’t ... we can’t ... I’ve got things to do alone now.’ 
> She did not cry, she simply looked at him. 
> *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*

Nope, she did not cry; she didn’t protest; she simply looked at Harry and calmly ruminated on how Hermione told her to try and move on from fancying Harry years ago, and how she learned to not get entrapped in the hearts of boys and be her own person. 

> ‘I never really gave up on you,’ she said. ‘Not really. I always hoped ... Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more – myself.’ 
> ‘Smart girl, that Hermione,’ said Harry, trying to smile. ‘I just wish I’d asked you sooner. We could’ve had ages ... months ... years maybe ...’ 
> ‘But you’ve been too busy saving the wizarding world,’ said Ginny, half-laughing. ‘Well ... I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn’t be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that’s why I like you so much.’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* 

She was right. Maybe Hermione had a word at some point around *Order of the Phoenix*, seeing as Ginny was suddenly far more confident during Harry’s fifth year. She gained a reputation for her notorious Bat-Bogey Hexes, she joined Dumbledore’s Army with vigour (even coming up with the name of it), then accompanied Harry all the way to the Department of Mysteries to fight Death Eaters, despite Harry’s several protests. In *Half-Blood Prince*, her relationship with Dean Thomas sparked an unexpected monstrous jealousy inside Harry, and even something as simple as Ginny not joining him in his Hogwarts Express carriage sparked annoyance – Ginny had got under Harry’s skin like he never realised, just at the moment Ginny had moved on from him. 

This is only fair considering Ginny spends a lot of the books being held back. How often do we see her storm out of the room because Mrs Weasley insisted she’s ‘too young’ for this, that, and the other? At the Battle of Hogwarts, Ginny was forced to remain safe, but headed out to fight anyway. Ginny seemed to find youth frustrating, as if she was wrapped in bubble wrap, always ever-so-slightly out of the action. Allow us to salute Ginny for learning to find herself, and find some humour in it, despite the world trying to protect her, be it Mrs Weasley or Harry Potter. 

Not that their break-up lasted that long anyway, eh? 

*Pottermore looks back at the moments that made our favourite characters so memorable. Read about the chapter that made us fall in love with... [Professor Slughorn.](/feature/chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-horace-slughorn "The chapter that made us fall in love with Horace Slughorn")*

The chapter that made us fall in love with… Neville Longbottom

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Neville at Hogwarts from the Deathly Hallows 

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Lord Voldemort is killed by his own rebounding spell in a battle against Harry in the great hall from the Deathly Hallows. 

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While Harry was ‘the Boy Who Lived’, Neville could have been called ‘the boy who kept losing his toad’. Nervous, clumsy and seemingly hopeless at many things, Neville struggled to find his strength. But we knew the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor for a reason…


## ‘The Flaw in the Plan’ 

> ‘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!’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*


So how did the boy who could hardly stand a cauldron the right way up find the courage to stand up to Voldemort? 

From his first days at Hogwarts, Neville was a target for bullies and mean teachers (we’re looking at you, Snape!). He seemed to be a liability in the classroom, not to mention those perilous situations he and his friends kept finding themselves in. In spite of this, Neville’s unwavering loyalty meant he never shied away from danger. 


> ‘We were all in the DA together,’ said Neville quietly. ‘It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn’t it? And this is the first chance we’ve had to do something real – or was that all just a game or something?’ 
> ‘No – of course it wasn’t –’ said Harry impatiently. 
> ‘Then we should come too,’ said Neville simply. ‘We want to help.’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*


Neville’s mettle was well and truly tested in clashes at the Department of Mysteries and the Astronomy Tower. But it was at the Battle of Hogwarts when his real moment arrived…

While Harry, Ron and Hermione were hunting Horcruxes in *Deathly Hallows*, Neville led the rebellion at Hogwarts. After rallying the troops, a war-torn Neville threw himself into combat armed with Mandrakes (he knew his Herbology!) and accepted an important task from Harry – ‘kill the snake’.

It looked like the battle was lost. Neville stood alone and unarmed against Lord Voldemort himself. As punishment for his defiance he was forced into wearing the Sorting Hat, which Voldemort set ablaze. But Neville broke free, pulling forth the sword of Godric Gryffindor…

> 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. 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*

## Why it matters 

Neville’s destruction of the final Horcrux saved the day, but what is really fascinating is the journey that brought him there. 

> He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, ‘Gran, I’ve lost my toad again.’ 
> ‘Oh, Neville,’ he heard the old woman sigh. 
> *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone*

Between his botched potions and runaway toad Trevor, we always felt a bit sorry for Neville. We didn’t know much about him except that he came from a proud wizarding family and his grandmother Augusta raised him to uphold that honour. However, Neville’s shortcomings masked a tragedy that, for many years, he kept to himself.

> ‘– poor devils,’ growled Moody. ‘Better dead than what happened to them…’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*


When Neville was a baby, his parents Frank and Alice Longbottom were tortured to insanity with the Cruciatus Curse. Though he dutifully visited them in hospital, the couple appeared to be husks of their former selves, handing Neville empty sweet wrappers. We see this play out in the heartbreaking chapter ‘Christmas on the Closed Ward’.

> ‘Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now.’ 
> But as they left, Harry was sure he saw Neville slip the sweet wrapper into his pocket. 
> *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*

To see a loved one lost in this manner is not something many can relate to. We might ask why Neville didn’t talk to his friends but, like holding on to a seemingly worthless sweet wrapper, it’s complicated.

## ‘A true Gryffindor’

> In nobody was this improvement more pronounced than in Neville. The news of his parents’ attackers’ escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him. 
> *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*

How did the nervous lad with the love of plants grow up to face the Dark Lord? Simple – he never gave up. 

Neville didn’t seek sympathy or wallow in despair. Instead he took his pain and channelled it into his training. Spurred by news of the Death Eaters’ escape, he strove to avenge his parents and prevent more innocents from suffering their dreadful fate. The Sorting Hat was right – deep down, Neville Longbottom had the heart of a lion.

Neville’s story is an inspiration to us all. It doesn’t matter how many cauldrons you’ve melted; with hard work and courage, you can still be a hero. 

*Pottermore looks back at the moments that made our favourite characters so memorable. Read about the chapter that made us fall in love with... [Ginny Weasley.](/feature/chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-ginny-weasley "The chapter that made us fall in love with Ginny Weasley")*

The chapter that made us fall in love with… Ron Weasley

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With his hand-me-down robes and his sad old pet rat, Ron was never going to be the most popular boy at Hogwarts. His fortunes changed when he befriended Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, though admittedly it did take him some time to warm to the latter. 

While some people will tag along with the in-crowd for their own protection (Peter Pettigrew springs to mind) and others might collect notable acquaintances for name-dropping purposes (Slug Club, anyone?), Ron’s intentions were always pure. He valued friendship, not glory, and became the heart of a loving and supportive group.

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But while Hermione was dubbed ‘the cleverest witch in her year’ and Harry was the Boy Who Lived, Ron often fell in their shadow. Ron tried his best not to let it get him down, but cracks began to show. He became bitter towards Harry when he was selected for the Triwizard Tournament and was rude to Hermione at the Yule Ball. His behaviour sprang from his insecurities, which hindered him in other ways. Take Quidditch, for example. Unless ‘tricked’ into feeling confident, Ron would buckle under pressure and play poorly, despite showing himself to be a highly talented Keeper.

But there would come a moment when Ron would face his fears and prove that Weasley really was our king.

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## The Silver Doe

> Then a voice hissed from out of the Horcrux. 
> ‘I have seen your heart, and it is mine.’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Ron’s struggles finally hit breaking point while the trio were on the run. It was easy to get annoyed with him – while everyone suffered the strain of fugitive life, Ron complained more frequently and loudly than anyone. Eventually, in a shocking move, he abandoned his friends.

While Ron seemed completely unreasonable, we didn’t understand what was happening in his head. Encased in the locket, Voldemort’s soul fragment had been eating away at his mind, whispering terrible thoughts that he couldn’t dismiss.

As much as Mrs Weasley loved each of her children equally, Ron couldn’t help but feel insignificant. His older brothers were all special in their own ways while Ginny was both the only girl and the baby of the family. This led to Ron’s tragic assumption that, as ‘boy number six’, he must have come as a disappointment. With little enough room at The Burrow already, Ron always felt in danger of being squeezed out.

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He also couldn’t help but notice the way his mother doted on Harry:

> ‘Your mother confessed,’ sneered Riddle-Harry, while Riddle-Hermione jeered, ‘that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange …’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

These insecurities intensified when Ron and his friends were left holding the Horcrux. Ron’s romantic feelings for Hermione had grown too strong for even him to ignore, while his worry that she preferred Harry went into overdrive. Every time Ron saw Harry and Hermione together, it would validate his jealousy, spurring agony and madness that he tried to keep bottled up. Eventually these anxieties overwhelmed Ron and he became convinced his friends would be better off without him.

> ‘Who wouldn’t prefer him, what woman would take you? You are nothing, nothing, nothing to him,’ crooned Riddle-Hermione. 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Just like the Dementors affected Harry more than those around him, the locket had a unique power over Ron. It was only fitting that he would be the one to finish it off.

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> ‘Are – you – mental?’ 
> Nothing but the shock of hearing that voice could have given Harry the strength to get up. Shivering violently, he staggered to his feet. There before him stood Ron, fully dressed but drenched to the skin, his hair plastered to his face, the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other. 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Ron’s return saw him retrieving the sword of Gryffindor and saving Harry’s life in one fell swoop. But the real act of heroism came when the locket was opened and he had to face what was inside. When he did, we finally realised the pressures and the anxieties that Ron had been carrying with him all along. It was a cathartic rather than triumphant moment that we shared with Ron as he smashed the locket and destroyed the Horcrux.

> The sword clanged as Ron dropped it. He had sunk to his knees, his head in his arms. He was shaking, but not, Harry realised, from cold. 
> *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Ron might have been the joker of the group, but his easygoing demeanour masked someone who was constantly fighting off insecurities. He did this because he valued his friends far too dearly to succumb to jealousy. While he was normally strong enough to put those negative thoughts aside and continue with the task at hand, there were times when he just couldn’t ignore the torment. Those were the moments when his courage was truly tested.

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Ron holding up the destroyed locket Horcrux.

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## Why it matters 

Standing next to ‘the cleverest witch of her age’ and the Boy Who Lived would leave most people feeling insignificant. Sadly for Ron, this experience was nothing new. For years he watched his older brothers excel at school, become Quidditch stars and travel the globe in pursuit of some enviable careers – seriously, who wouldn’t want something like ‘dragon keeper’ as a job title? All their accomplishments left their little brother in the dark. No matter what Ron achieved, another Weasley had already done it. We saw it in Ron’s eyes when he peered into the Mirror of Erised, finally standing tall and alone above his peers and his family, yearning for his own ‘moment’.

In ‘The Silver Doe', Ron finally got it. He realised you don’t have to be the Chosen One to be a hero. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is to own our mistakes, go to a friend and say ‘Sorry.’ And often, the hardest battles are the ones we fight within our own minds. For this, we respected Ron more than ever: the boy who lived through so many insecurities to become the man we knew he could be.

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Ron flying Harry's Firebolt from the Prisoner of Azkaban 

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*Pottermore looks back at the moments that made our favourite characters so memorable. Read about the chapter that made us fall in love with... [Albus Dumbledore.](/features/the-chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-albus-dumbledore "The chapter that made us fall in love with... Albus Dumbledore")*

The chapter that made us fall in love with... Hermione Granger 

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Harry and Hermione using the Time Turner in the Prisoner of Azkaban

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While Harry may have been the one with his name on the book series, it was actually the enduring strength, talent and smarts of Hermione that saved the day on oh-so-many occasions.

Where do we begin? Solving the mysteries of the Chamber of Secrets while Petrified? Working into the early hours of the morning trying to help Harry figure out how to defeat a giant dragon? Withstanding torture from Bellatrix Lestrange, and endless prejudice for being Muggle-born? Modifying her parents’ memories so they forgot who she was, in order to protect them? Being a tower of strength for Harry when Ron got the jitters during their Horcrux camping trip, even though she was exhausted herself? In every book, [Hermione goes above and beyond](/features/why-harry-and-ron-would-never-have-got-so-far-without-hermione) – but the chapter we have picked to celebrate Hermione’s prowess happened rather early on, and involves a Hippogriff, a Patronus and a Time-Turner.

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## Hermione’s Secret 

In *Prisoner of Azkaban*, Hermione spent the vast majority of her third year hidden behind a fort of books. Yep, give Hermione the choice to take on extra lessons and she will take on all of them. While it was compulsory for third-year Hogwarts students to take on some extra lessons, Hermione somehow filled her timetable beyond the point of logic, much to Ron’s continued bewilderment.

> ‘But look,’ said Ron, laughing, ‘see this morning? Nine o’clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o’clock, Muggle Studies. And –’ Ron leant closer to the timetable, disbelieving, ‘look – underneath that, Arithmancy, nine o’clock. I mean, I know you’re good, Hermione, but no one’s that good. How’re you supposed to be in three classes at once?’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* 

Towards the end of *Prisoner of Azkaban*, Hermione revealed to Harry just how she managed to go to three classes at once. Yes, Ron, Hermione was that good; so good that Professor McGonagall had persuaded the Ministry of Magic to give her a Time-Turner. 

It was the combination of Hermione’s endless cleverness and this Time-Turner that ended up saving two lives in *Prisoner of Azkaban*. In fact, if Hermione hadn’t been so enthusiastic about learning everything, she would have never had a Time-Turner in the first place. This proved incredibly useful when Albus Dumbledore furtively suggested taking Harry back a few hours in time after a particularly dreadful day of revelations – the execution of Buckbeak, the reveal of Scabbers being Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black not being a murderer but still being caught by Dementors. Thankfully, Harry and Hermione got the chance to put things right.

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Scabbers being forced to turn into his human form 

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Once Harry had got over the immense confusion of the Time-Turner experience, Hermione used intensely fast thinking to figure out how to save both Sirius and Buckbeak, all the while not bumping into her past self, and getting back to the hospital wing without anyone noticing. Only Hermione, at this point only in her third year, could have managed such a feat. 

## Why it matters 

> ‘OK, side with Ron, I knew you would!’ she said shrilly. ‘First the Firebolt, now Scabbers, everything’s my fault, isn’t it! Just leave me alone, Harry, I’ve got a lot of work to do!’ 
> *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* 

Grasping the intricacies of time travel aside, let’s not forget that Hermione had a miserable time in her third year. After adopting lovely Crookshanks (who turned out to be just as smart as Hermione, actually), Hermione was repeatedly chastised by Ron for her cat’s interest in Scabbers, leading to many fall-outs and many tears.

When Harry got a mysterious Firebolt sent to him, Hermione was the only one to suggest that it might have been given to him by Sirius Black. It made sense: at this point in the story, the Azkaban convict was known to be after him. 

However, all Harry and Ron were worried about was the broom being taken away from Harry by Professor McGonagall while it was checked for curses. As it turned out, Hermione wasn’t at all wrong about Sirius’s involvement. If you ask us, Harry and Ron should have made Hermione a massive ‘Sorry’ cake at the very least.

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Harry Potter And Hermione Granger In The Forbidden Forest

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Harry and Hermione in the Forbidden Forest from the Prisoner Azkaban 

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On top of all that, Hermione’s ambitions led her to be uncomfortably overwhelmed with work, needing actual time travel to make ends meet. This workload and the tension with Ron led to her being mostly isolated all year. In fact, Hermione got so wound up in *Prisoner of Azkaban* she even ended up punching Malfoy – another chapter that made us fall head over heels in love with her, obviously. 

Hermione and Harry’s Time-Turner adventure was the perfect moment that summed up how Hermione applied her studies and logic to real life. Remember, she figured out Lupin was a werewolf well before anyone else this year too, on top of all the stress, arguments and school work. 

Hermione worked impossibly hard, and then applied that Hogwarts knowledge to situations that could save lives. Without Hermione, Harry would have lost Sirius before he even properly got to know him, and Buckbeak would’ve never taken flight again.

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Harry and Hermione watch Sirius fly away on Buckbeak.

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And this was all before the days of Voldemort’s ascent, when Hermione achieved near-impossible things. However, before all that, this shining moment in *Prisoner of Azkaban* foreshadowed Hermione’s greatness to come: as a scholar, a lifesaver, and a damn good friend.

Oh, and for good measure, she passed all her third-year exams too.

[Read more of our 'The chapter that made us fall in love with...' series right here.](/collection/the-chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with)

The chapter that made us fall in love with... Harry Potter 

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[Much like Albus Dumbledore](/feature/the-chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-albus-dumbledore), it's important to note, first of all, that Harry Potter was loved – by us, and by you – long before *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*. He is the hero of the stories, after all: our window into the wizarding world, the young man that we've followed ever since he was a boy, whom we've grown up with ourselves. We know Harry Potter, we know the kind of person he is. He's brave, he's loyal, he's selfless – and he's very, very nosy. By this point, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, what could possibly surprise us? 

As you'll no doubt recall, ‘The Forest Again’ is the chapter where everything changes: the chapter where Harry, having just learned the truth from Severus Snape's memories, has to come to terms with some disturbing revelations. Snape was really a double agent; Harry himself is a Horcrux; Dumbledore always knew; the only way to defeat Lord Voldemort is for Harry to die – for him to walk to the Forbidden Forest, and allow himself to be killed. It hits him hard. 

> He felt his heart pounding fiercely in his chest. How strange that in his dread of death, it pumped all the harder, valiantly keeping him alive. But it would have to stop, and soon. Its beats were numbered. How many would there be time for, as he rose and walked through the castle for the last time, out into the grounds and into the Forest? 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*

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Harry looking into the Pensieve from the Deathly Hallows Part 2 

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The Harry Potter series has always been, in one way or another, [about death](/feature/what-harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-teaches-us-about-death); explicitly, about how we deal with grief and loss, less explicitly how we deal with the idea of death itself – how we face the reality of it. This is nothing new in fiction, of course. How a hero overcomes death, how they power through fear to save the day, is what makes them heroic – a condition that Harry had met many times before. 

> Terror washed over him as he lay on the floor, with that funeral drum pounding inside him. Would it hurt to die? All those times he had thought that it was about to happen and escaped, he had never really thought of the thing itself: his will to live had always been so much stronger than his fear of death. 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

But this is different. For it is one thing to face death and come out on top, but it is quite another to give yourself to it willingly, to sacrifice your own life so that others may live, to walk, against all nature, towards your own destruction. It's an act that requires, as J.K. Rowling wrote, 'a different kind of bravery’: a heroism that goes beyond wisdom and skill, and becomes something nobler, something higher. It's little wonder why, for example, self-sacrifice plays such a huge part in religion and myth. 

That doesn't mean, however, that Harry walks towards death gladly. His journey from Hogwarts castle to the Forest is fraught with sadness and fear. Under the cover of his Invisibility Cloak, he passes through the carnage of the Battle of Hogwarts, full of fallen friends and suffering comrades. He tells Neville to kill Voldemort's snake, to finish the job after he's gone; he leaves without saying goodbye to Ron, Hermione or Ginny – they would only slow him down.

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It sounds cold-blooded, but he can't risk anything changing his mind. 'He wanted to be stopped, to be dragged back, to be sent back home,' J.K. Rowling writes. He's already scared enough. Dumbledore knew this would be the case. Which is why, halfway through the Forest, Harry finds the moral support he needs – the words of the dear departed Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and his mother and father, Lily and James. Summoned through Dumbledore's Resurrection Stone – hidden in Harry's Golden Snitch – they guide him through the end. 

> ‘You are nearly there,’ said James. ‘Very close. We are ... so proud of you.’ 
> ‘Does it hurt?’ 
> The childish question had fallen from Harry’s lips before he could stop it. 
> ‘Dying? Not at all,’ said Sirius. ‘Quicker and easier than falling asleep.’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

It is fitting, in a way, that even at his final hour, Harry relies on the support of friends, which is a constant throughout the series. But ultimately, this is something he must face alone – which, after reaching his destination, he does. 

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

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Illustration of Voldemort's open hand showing the image of Harry Potter from Read the Magic

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He could, of course, have run away. He had an Invisibility Cloak. He could have decided at any time that being alive was more important than anything else, and disappeared into the countryside. Maybe a few years beforehand he would have; maybe it is only now, after overcoming so much, that Harry had become the hero the wizarding world needed him to be. No, more than that. ‘The Forest Again’ shows Harry as more than a simple hero. It reminds us exactly who he is – the opposite of Lord Voldemort. 

It all comes back to death, you see. Voldemort has devoted most of his life to [avoiding death](/features/the-horcruxes). Literally nothing is more important to him than his own life. He has performed acts of unparalleled evil in order to preserve and extend it. He is defined, entirely, by fear. Could Voldemort ever have had the courage to walk into that Forest? To give his life for something greater than himself? No, because to Voldemort there is nothing greater than himself. And that, in the end, is his undoing – and Harry's strength. There is a reason, after all, why Harry would go on to become the true Master of Death: a title that, according to J.K. Rowling herself, is 'not about striving for immortality, but about accepting mortality’.

*Pottermore looks back at the moments that made our favourite characters so memorable. Come back in two weeks for the chapter that made us fall in love with [Molly Weasley.](/feature/chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-molly-weasley "The chapter that made us fall in love with… Molly Weasley")*

The chapter that made us love... Harry Potter 

The chapter that made us fall in love with... Sirius Black

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Harry and Sirius by the Black family tapestry at number twelve, Grimmauld Place

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Sadly, we only had the pleasure of Sirius’s company for three books, with his fierce, complex, clever and downright cool character wooing us on several occasions. But in which chapter did Sirius particularly stand out? Well, it took a while to pick one, but...

## ‘The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black’

In the ‘Noble and Most Ancient House of Black’, Harry realised just how dark Sirius’s life had been. As if Azkaban hadn’t been enough, the rugged hero also had to contend with a childhood riddled with a pure-blood obsessed family. 

The revelations all pour out during this particular chapter. While the gang were hiding out in Grimmauld Place and Mrs Weasley was as cross as two sticks with Mundungus Fletcher, Harry inspected an ancient tapestry in one of the rooms. Sirius explained that it represented his family tree – but unlike most family trees, a lot of names were heartlessly burnt out. 

> ‘You’re not on here!’ said Harry, after scanning the bottom of the tree. 
> ‘I used to be there,’ said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn. ‘My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home – Kreacher’s quite fond of muttering the story under his breath.’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* 

Sirius explained how his family, principally his parents, displayed frankly bigoted behaviour, wanting their children to have absolutely pure blood and strictly follow Black family tradition. They shared many of the same ideals as Voldemort, even if they weren’t card-carrying supporters.

Sirius then mentioned that his brother, Regulus, was formerly a Death Eater, much to Harry’s surprise. This was before Harry found out about Regulus’s U-turn, of course.

Sirius went on to explain the interconnected nature of wizarding families and how he was related to Nymphadora Tonks and Bellatrix Lestrange, not to mention the Malfoys. Besides being a pretty shocking revelation, it gave Harry a better idea of how relationships work between wizarding families and that every pure-blood wizard has some connection, however distant, to the others.

## Why it matters

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In many ways, Sirius was a lone wolf – or, rather, a lone dog. He spent a great deal of the series living alone. His disconnect from others was obviously due to his incarceration in Azkaban but ‘The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black’ shows that Sirius’s relationship with his family left him feeling like an outsider long before then. 

Sirius bucked the trend in the Black family by being sorted into Gryffindor as opposed to Slytherin, like the rest of his family. This marked him as being different from the off and him being a Gryffindor – coupled with a significantly more sympathetic disposition – resulted in a rocky relationship with his family. 

His discontent with being at Grimmauld Place, the house where he spent many of his formative years, resulted in Sirius’s more bitter side coming out. He made no bones about the fact he didn’t enjoy his childhood.

> ‘I don’t like being back here,’ he said, staring across the drawing room. ‘I never thought I’d be stuck in this house again.’ 
> Harry understood completely. He knew how he would feel, when he was grown up and thought he was free of the place for ever, to return and live at number four, Privet Drive.
 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* 

This is an important chapter not just in the development of Sirius but in a wider sense: it outlines how close-knit the wizarding community is. And, of course, Sirius mentioning his brother Regulus sowed the seeds for the discovery of the R.A.B. locket – and the truth about [Regulus’s tragic ending](/feature/unsung-heroes-of-harry-potter-stories-regulus-black "Unsung heroes: Regulus Black").

> ‘No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren’t alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things ... they got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first.’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* 

Sirius Black taught us that your biological family don’t have to be your true family. For Sirius, he found a family in Harry’s father and Remus Lupin. Sirius taught Harry many things, but one of the most important messages he imparted on his godson was that even if you don’t have a family, you will always have one in the form of your friends.

The chapter that made us fall in love with... Nymphadora Tonks

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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and the Order of the Phoenix

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First impressions really can mean a lot. After all, with four books under our belts, and myriad magical characters we had already met and fallen in love with, the introduction of [Nymphadora Tonks](/features/nymphadora-tonks), the upbeat and clumsy young Auror took us by surprise – and she rapidly became a latecomer fan-favourite. Turn back the pages with us and meet her all over again. 

## Before the chapter

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Some members of the Order of the Phoenix wait outside Grimmauld Place  

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We all know the fifth book perhaps saw Harry at his most-frustrated. After witnessing the return of Lord Voldemort and the death of Cedric Diggory, he was then forced to return to Privet Drive with no news on what was going on in the wizarding world, no letters from his friends and only his chilling memories for company.

When a bunch of rag-tag wizards, including (the real) Mad-Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and a few other members of the Order of the Phoenix turned up to rescue Harry, we knew we were entering an edgier instalment to Harry’s story, full of new, idiosyncratic friends.

## ‘The Advance Guard’

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> ‘And this is Nymphadora –’
> ‘Don’t call me Nymphadora, Remus,’ said the young witch with a shudder, ‘it’s Tonks.’
> ‘Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only,’ finished Lupin.
> ‘So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora,’ muttered Tonks. 
> *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*

With her iconic, cockney greeting of ‘Wotcher, Harry’ Tonks was already a huge breath of fresh air after all the doom and gloom at the close of *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*. Accompanied by a tired-looking Lupin and a dishevelled Mad-Eye Moody (who had been kidnapped and plucked for Polyjuice Potion only a few months previously...) seeing the vibrant, interestingly-named Tonks turn up was a welcome bit of comic relief.

Sending the Dursleys away to an ‘All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition’ was a masterstroke move, and we were immediately endeared to this eccentric, violet-haired witch.

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Tonks with pink hair and her wand from the Order of the Pheonix 

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As the chapter progressed, she got even cooler when she went to help Harry pack his things – revealing a deep love of Quidditch and her rare Metamorphmagus status (meaning she can change her appearance at will).

She even shared a more sincere moment with Harry, rightly assuming he’d love to hide his lightning bolt scar sometimes. Tonks, where had you been all our lives?

It was also nice meeting someone like Tonks, an uncharacteristically young Auror with so much potential, a bit of relatable clumsiness and a carefree attitude when talking her to her mentor, Mad-Eye Moody. It made us feel like, if we grabbed a few bottles of hair dye, we could be cool like Tonks too. 

## Why it matters

> ‘If they take out all of us and you survive, Harry, the rear guard are standing
> by to take over; keep flying east and they’ll join you.’
> ‘Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, he’ll think we’re not taking
> this seriously,’ said Tonks, as she strapped Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s
> cage into a harness hanging from her broom.’ 
> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 

As Harry says to Fred and George at the end of *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, ‘we could all do with a few laughs’ ominously thinking about the dark times ahead. The introduction of Tonks, full of quips and one-liners, like a new embodiment of the Weasley twins, made us realise that even in the murkiest eras of the wizarding world, there would always be brightness along the way.

And thank Merlin for that.

## Some extra special mentions

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Tonks looking scared with Lupin at her side from the Half Blood Prince.

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Of course, Tonks’ introduction chapter wasn’t the only moment we had to choose from. There was also...

- __“Christmas on the Closed Ward”__ where she got Harry a cute, model Firebolt for Christmas!

- _ __“The Phoenix Lament”__ where its revealed that Tonks is in love with Lupin, not caring about him being a werewolf despite Lupin’s anxieties.

- And __“The Battle of Hogwarts”__, where she bravely gave her life, after only recently becoming a mum to Teddy, to find Lupin in the midst of the fight. That’s just how amazing Tonks was.

The chapter that made us fall in love with… Molly Weasley

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Before Molly Weasley was the Bellatrix-slaying legend we all know and adore now, once upon a time she was simply Ron’s exasperated mum at King’s Cross Station. But there was one particular moment that gave Molly a dear place in our hearts forever, and all it took was a hug. Let's return to *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,* chapter 36, ‘The Parting of the Ways’. 

## Before the third task

Prior to *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,* Molly could always be relied upon to dish out punishment and make us, the readers, laugh at the Weasley siblings’ misfortune. Of course, our favourite was when the twins and Ron stole a car to break Harry out from the Dursleys’, and they were punished by having to de-gnome the garden. Despite this, Ron stole the car again, and was greeted by a Howler reprimanding him so loudly that everyone in the Great Hall could hear. 

> ‘... STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY’D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON’T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT HAD GONE …’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*

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Before ‘The Parting of the Ways’, Molly was the necessary disciplinarian, the strict parent to Arthur’s laid-back one. But every reprimand was born out of love, and Molly’s love shone through more than ever in one of the final chapters of the fourth book. 

## ‘The Parting of the Ways’ 

We'll never forget the awful scene where Harry witnessed the return of Lord Voldemort and the death of Cedric Diggory before having to explain the events to Dumbledore and Sirius. On top of all this, Harry had to deal with the shock revelation that Mad-Eye Moody was, in fact, the Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr. It was an awful lot to take in. Traumatised and in shock, he took a Sleeping Potion in the hospital wing, only to be woken by the Minister of Magic, who made it clear he didn’t believe Harry’s story about Voldemort’s return. He was then left alone by Dumbledore and his godfather, while Ron, Hermione and Molly remained at his side. 

> Harry slumped back against his pillows as Dumbledore disappeared. Hermione, Ron and Mrs Weasley were all looking at him. None of them spoke for a very long time. 
> ‘You’ve got to take the rest of your potion, Harry,’ Mrs Weasley said at last. Her hand nudged the sack of gold on his bedside cabinet as she reached for the bottle and the goblet. ‘You have a good long sleep. Try and think about something else for a while… think about what you’re going to buy with your winnings!’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* 

In this case, Molly was there for Harry. When no one knew what to say, and even Ron and Hermione were at a loss, she was the first person who tried to comfort him and distract him from the horror he had been through. What’s more, there were a thousand Galleons on his bedside table that Harry said he didn’t want, and Molly didn’t think about them for a moment when Harry offered it to her. We know how poor the Weasleys were, and how much they could have done with that money that Harry was telling her to take. Instead, the Weasley matriarch didn’t think about anything but Harry’s wellbeing.

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An illustration of Molly Weasley from the Philosopher's Stone

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When it became clear that Harry was utterly despondent, Molly gave Harry one simple thing that he desperately needed – a hug. 

> ‘It wasn’t your fault, Harry,’ Mrs Weasley whispered. 
> ‘I told him to take the Cup with me,’ said Harry. 
> Now the burning feeling was in his throat, too. He wished Ron would look away. 
> Mrs Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother. The full weight of everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs Weasley held him to her. His mother’s face, his father’s voice, the sight of Cedric, dead on the ground, all started spinning in his head until he could hardly bear it, until he was screwing up his face against the howl of misery fighting to get out of him. 
 *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* 

## Why it mattered

We all know Harry’s past: he was an orphan who was raised in a home with no love or affection from his family, and always longed to know them, so much so that he would later sit and stare at them for hours in the Mirror of Erised. 

Throughout *Goblet of Fire*, where Harry needed family more than ever to get him through the tournament, it was Molly who turned up to support Harry through the final task, when Harry was expecting no one. 

After Harry’s dreadful ordeal in the graveyard, Molly’s motherly presence had never been so important. Although Dumbledore and Sirius were the father figures in Harry’s life at that point, when the moment came that he desperately needed comfort, Molly knew exactly what to do. She gave him the parental affection that Harry so desperately craved. 

> ‘Your potion, Harry,’ said Mrs Weasley quickly, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. 
 *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* 

## Molly’s role in Harry’s life

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Although Molly had always been kind and looked out for Harry, right from the moment she helped him on to platform nine and three-quarters in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone*, she became so much more after comforting him that night in the hospital wing. If anything, this chapter marked the moment Harry stopped being Ron’s friend and became family in Molly’s eyes. Nothing proved this more than in chapter nine of *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, ‘The Woes of Mrs Weasley’, when Harry walked in on her trying to banish a Boggart that had taken the shape of her worst fear – the death of her family – and saw his own dead body: 

> ‘No!’ Mrs Weasley moaned. ‘No ... riddikulus! Riddikulus! RIDDIKULUS!’ 
> Crack. Dead twins. Crack. Dead Percy. Crack. Dead Harry ... 
> ‘Mrs Weasley, just get out of here!’ shouted Harry, staring down at his own dead body on the floor. ‘Let someone else – ’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* 

This was made even more apparent in *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, when Mrs Weasley gave Harry her late brother's watch for his seventeenth birthday. This was special because it was traditional to give a wizard a watch when he came of age, and Mrs Weasley knew that Harry didn’t have anyone else to give him one. 

> ‘I’m afraid that one isn’t new like Ron’s, it was actually my brother Fabian’s and he wasn’t terribly careful with his possessions, it’s a bit dented on the back, but –’ 
> The rest of her speech was lost; Harry had got up and hugged her. He tried to put a lot of unsaid things into the hug and perhaps she understood them, because she patted his cheek clumsily when he released her, then waved her wand in a slightly random way, causing half a pack of bacon to flop out of the frying pan on to the floor. 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Molly was there for Harry right at the beginning of his magical journey, and right at the very end. And although Harry had many other good friends to help him along the way, no one else thought to give him a hug after a bloody confrontation with Lord Voldemort. 

*Pottermore looks back at the moments that made our favourite characters so memorable. Read about the chapter that made us fall in love with... [Professor Snape.](/feature/chapter-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-severus-snape "The chapter that made us fall in love with Severus Snape")*

The chapter that made us fall in love with… Dobby

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The chapter that made us fall in love with Dobby

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From the moment [Dobby](/features/dobby "Dobby") entered our lives by landing a sugared violets pudding onto the Dursleys’ house guest, he has had a special place in our hearts.

The big-eared, big-hearted [house-elf](/features/house-elves "House-elves"), who just wanted a fair wage for his work, was easy to love and helped [Harry Potter](/features/harry-potter "Harry Potter") out on plenty of occasions. But the moment that will always stick with us was when the free elf made the ultimate sacrifice for Harry and his friends, and died while helping them to escape from [Malfoy Manor](/features/malfoy-manor "Malfoy Manor"). 

## ‘Malfoy Manor’ 

Harry, [Ron](/features/ron-weasley "Ron Weasley") and [Hermione’s](/features/hermione-granger "Hermione Granger") luck ran out and they found themselves captured and helpless at Malfoy Manor. While the boys were put in the cellar with [Luna Lovegood](/features/luna-lovegood "Luna Lovegood"), [Dean Thomas](/features/dean-thomas "Dean Thomas") and [Ollivander](/features/garrick-ollivander "Garrick Ollivander"), Hermione was tortured for answers by [Bellatrix Lestrange](/features/bellatrix-lestrange "Bellatrix Lestrange"). With all hope lost, Harry desperately called for help through a shard of a mirror once given to him by [Sirius Black](/features/sirius-black "Sirius Black"), where he was sure he kept seeing [Dumbledore’s](/features/aberforth-dumbledore "Aberforth Dumbledore") piercing blue eye looking back at him…

> Dumbledore’s eye was gazing at him out of the mirror. 
> ‘Help us!’ he yelled at it in mad desperation. ‘We’re in the cellar of Malfoy Manor, help us!’ 
> The eye blinked, and was gone. 
> Harry was not even sure that it had really been there. 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

But like on so many previous occasions when Harry had been in need of help, it wasn’t Dumbledore who came to his aid, but his faithful friend, Dobby. Much like when Dobby had to punish himself to tell Harry about the [Chamber of Secrets](/writing-by-jk-rowling/chamber-of-secrets "Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling"), or when he stole [Gillyweed](/features/gillyweed "Gillyweed") for Harry to use during the Triwizard Tournament, Dobby risked everything to help out his friend in this chapter. 

## Why it matters

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It’s heartbreaking to think of how truly scared poor Dobby must have been to be back at Malfoy Manor. Not only was he risking his life by answering Harry’s pleas for help, he was returning to a place where he had been enslaved, to face the family that were cruel to him for many years. It just goes to show that Dobby really would do anything to help Harry. Of all of the places Harry could have been, he was in Dobby’s old home. And the house-elf was terrified to be there.

> ‘Dobby’s enormous, tennis-ball-shaped eyes were wide; he was trembling from his feet to the tips of his ears. He was back in the home of his old masters, and it was clear that he was petrified.’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

But of course, Dobby’s heroism wasn’t just limited to rescuing the captives in the cellar. When Dobby left with Ollivander, Dean and Luna, the trio were again thrown into mortal peril when [Voldemort](/features/lord-voldemort "Lord Voldemort") was summoned and Bellatrix held a knife to Hermione’s throat, promising her to the werewolf, [Fenrir Greyback](/features/fenrir-greyback "Fenrir Greyback"). With Harry and Ron unable to act, once again they would have been lost if it wasn’t for Dobby’s idea to drop a chandelier onto Bellatrix.

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This move would have been something only a nimble house-elf could have managed without detection, which was probably why Bellatrix was so caught off guard, and it also says so much about the strength of Dobby’s character. In this moment, Dobby was not only defying his old masters, he was directly trying to harm one, which most definitely shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s notoriously difficult for house-elves to break away from the families they once belonged to, and as if this act of defiance wasn't enough, Dobby truly showed his masters that he was a free elf (and has his own impressive brand of magic) by stealing their [wands](/features/wands "Wands"). 

> As Narcissa dragged Draco out of the way of further harm, Bellatrix sprang to her feet, her hair flying as she brandished the silver knife; but Narcissa had directed her wand at the doorway. 
> ‘Dobby!’ she screamed, and even Bellatrix froze. ‘You! You dropped the chandelier –?’ 
> The tiny elf trotted into the room, his shaking finger pointing at his old mistress. 
> ‘You must not hurt Harry Potter,’ he squeaked. 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Dobby’s death is one of the saddest moments in the entire series, and like everyone, we were devastated when Bellatrix killed Dobby. But that being said, if Dobby really had to die, we are so glad that he finally got a chance to declare himself a free elf in front of his former masters, who had treated him as a slave for all of those years.

> ‘You dirty little monkey!’ bawled Bellatrix. ‘How dare you take a witch’s wand, how dare you defy your masters?’ 
> ‘Dobby has no master!’ squealed the elf. ‘Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!’ 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

## True to the end

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If you are easily distraught thinking about Dobby’s death, now might be the time to look away and think of happier times. Okay, here we go. After Harry and his friends Apparated to the safety of [Shell Cottage](/features/shell-cottage "Shell Cottage"), and Harry thought they’d all come away (mostly) unscathed, he saw the knife – thrown in one last-ditch attempt by Bellatrix Lestrange – protruding from Dobby’s chest and begged his house-elf friend not to die. 

> Harry caught him and laid him sideways on the cool grass. 
> ‘Dobby, no, don’t die, don’t die –’ 
> The elf’s eyes found him, and his lips trembled with the effort to form words. 
> ‘Harry … Potter …’ 
> And then with a little shudder the elf became quite still, and his eyes were nothing more than great, glassy orbs sprinkled with light from the stars they could not see. 
 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* 

Dobby’s [death](/features/harry-potter-most-devastating-deaths "The most devastating deaths in the Harry Potter stories") was particularly devastating as it was the one time that he couldn’t do what Harry wanted him to do: stay alive. 

Dobby taught us that heroes come in all different shapes and sizes and that even a little house-elf can stand up for himself and his friends, face his fears and show those who doubted him just what he is made of. We love you, Dobby.

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Dobby bows to Harry in his bedroom in Privet Drive

Do you remember that moment, when you were reading the Harry Potter books, where a certain character jumped off the page to you? This series celebrates those special chapters where we felt a particular person in the stories got their true time to shine.

The chapter that made us fall in love with Professor Severus Snape

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Revealing him as a hero, J.K. Rowling completely changed our opinion of Severus Snape in just a single chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The chapter that made us fall in love with Severus Snape | Wizarding World

The chapter that made us fall in love with… Severus Snape 