It's safe to say that JK Rowling has created an entire ensemble of characters in Harry Potter that we have grown to love and identify with throughout the years. We care deeply for the people she has bestowed upon the literary universe because they are so relatable regardless of the fact that they're fictional and have magical blood. Despite being wizards and witches, they are so undeniably human.
Rather than being perfect role models all the time, these characters, like us, often slip up and make mistakes. Sirius Black says it best when he tells Harry "the world isn't split up of good people and death eaters." Sometimes we mess up, even if we're inherently good. With that in mind, here are the 10 worst things each main character from Harry Potter has done.
HARRY'S HURTFUL WORDS TO HIS SON
If anyone should understand how it feels to be isolated and neglected as a child, it should be Harry Potter. He did live under the staircase for practically a decade, after all. We'd think after his own experiences with childhood abuse he would be extremely cautious about making sure his son Albus never feels that way, yet this ceases to be the case after Harry says some painfully regretful words to the boy who he is supposed to treasure the most. In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Harry lets it be known to Albus that he wishes the kid was never his son. We all make mistakes, but this one is just purely dark. Poor Albus! He's just a kid...
RON'S SERIOUS ISSUES WITH JEALOUSY
As teenagers, it's normal to experience the wrath of the green-eyed monster better known as jealousy, but Ron's inferiority complex is often taken to an extreme. It must be tough being the underdog when your two best friends are both "the chosen one" and "the brightest witch of their age."
That's hard to beat, and Ron sort of accepts defeat as the lacking one, but this does not come without consequences. Whenever his best friends seem to find happiness or success without him, he becomes a ive-aggressive "git." And let's not even get started about how terribly he treats Hermione during the whole Yule Ball Debacle... totally unacceptable.
HERMIONE CONSTANTLY UNDERESTIMATING HER FRIENDS
Hermione is a gem of a character, but one of her biggest faults is that she is always underestimating the people around her - especially when it comes to Harry and Ron. She constantly thinks she knows what's best for them and she doesn't even allow her closest friends to grow because she does everything for them. While we might wish to have a friend who is willing to do all of our homework for us, in hindsight, Hermione fails to allow Harry and Ron to grow by dismissing them from challenging themselves. Instead, she just does the job for them because she doesn't believe they are capable of getting things done themselves.
This just sounds really condescending if you ask us.
SNAPE ABUSING HIS POWER AS A PROFESSOR
Snape seems to keep on forgetting the fact that he is a fully grown man and that bullying innocent children is not the way to go about being an adult. Just because Severus dealt with bullying as a kid doesn't mean he has the right to torture a bunch of eleven-year-olds who have nothing to do with his miseries.
If Snape ever really loved Lily he would want to protect Harry and be more understanding towards him rather than being hateful and nasty towards the kid. Teachers should know that they are there to help, but Snape is only there to ridicule and stroke his own ego.
DUMBLEDORE SUCKS AT BACKGROUND CHECKS
It's honestly amazing how oblivious the "greatest wizard of all time" is when it comes to knowing whether or not danger lurks around Hogwarts. He claims that the magical school is the safest place in the world, but this is basically a straight-up lie because the students are constantly in danger while on Hogwarts grounds. Dumbledore has a habit of hiring professors who want to kill or destroy a bunch of children, especially our boy HP. How can someone be this terrible at doing background checks on the professors? You'd think he'd learn after year one when one of the school's professor's casually had Lord Voldemort chilling on the back of his head...
JAMES POTTER'S CLICKY AND ARROGANT WAYS
James Potter may be the father to one of the most important wizards of all time, but that doesn't mean he's not a total jerk. We all knew that one kid from growing up who thought the world revolved around them, and James was definitely one of those guys. If he lived long enough to realize the power his son held, who knows how much his inflated ego would've grown? Not to mention the fact that he was Regina George-style clicky back in his school days and he had a lot of fun shaping Snape into being the greasy-haired slimeball that he is now.
HAGRID NEEDS TO GET OVER HIS SUPERIORITY COMPLEX WITH MUGGLES
Out of all the characters in the series, Hagrid is probably the "good guy" that struggles the most with muggles. He doesn't understand them and he doesn't want to understand them because he seems to believe all muggles are beneath him. At least that's what he tells himself. Discriminatory much? Let us also not forget the fact that when Dudley was an eleven-year-old child, Hagrid cursed him with a pigtail. What kind of twisted sense of humor is that to do such a thing to a kid? Dudley is a fetus! He doesn't know any better!
MCGONAGALL IS UNNECESSARILY STRICT
Let's be honest. Minerva McGonagall is a total badass. Yet as baller as the professor is, it is safe to say that she is way too strict when it comes to all of the rules and regulations she sets out for the school of witchcraft and wizardry. Oftentimes when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sneaking around late at night, it's not to cause trouble but to figure out how to survive against Lord Voldemort. Instead of giving them detentions and removing 10 points from Gryffindor, she should try talking to the kids in an effort to see what's troubling them. Although she does sometimes do this, she mostly scolds the kids and resorts to unfair punishments.
DRACO AND HIS BIGOTED BELIEFS THROUGHOUT
If we were to list all of the worst things Draco Malfoy has done in the history of the Potter series, we would have to write a whole novel on the subject because this kid is just the absolute worst. The most awful part is that Draco seems to take pride in his mean-spirited behavior because, in his mind, it would make his father proud.
He is so dedicated to making his father proud of him that he is willing to believe in all of the bigoted beliefs Lucious Malfoy holds. He believes half-bloods and muggle-borns are below him and he judges people purely based on their blood status. Gross! It makes us sick just thinking about it.
CHO TELLS UMBRIDGE ABOUT DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY
Cho Chang is a sweet girl, yet she makes one big mistake in Order of the Phoenix movie that causes everything to fall apart. After Cho is interrogated by Professor Umbridge, she finally gives in and confesses to their secret army. Although this is not the best thing she's ever done and it certainly ruined things for a lot of people, we can't fully blame her considering how terrifying Umbridge is. If she interrogated us, we'd probably be scared out of our minds too. Plus, Cho is only fifteen. People (Harry) should seriously cut the girl some slack.
