Important characters in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling:
Harry Potter
Seriously, by now, who DOESN’T know who Harry is? But OK, here we go …
On the cusp of coming of age, Harry has a singular mission: to destroy the evil wizard who killed his parents, James and Lily, and left him an orphaned baby.
Since their deaths, Harry has lived with his nonmagical and thoroughly venal relatives, the Dursleys, when he is not at Hogwarts, his magic school. He is currently dealing with the latest death of someone close to him, Albus Dumbledore, the wizard headmaster of Hogwarts.
Harry is in love with Ginny Weasley, the sister of one of his best friends, but has stopped seeing her because he doesn’t want to endanger her life. In the last book, he’s got quite the task ahead of him: Find the pieces of Voldemort’s soul and destroy them.
Ron Weasley
From the moment they met on the train in the first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Harry and Ron have been friends. If Harry’s running headlong into trouble, Ron’s usually right there with him.
There have been moments of friction, though, since Harry has more fame and more money, the lack of which is sometimes hard for Ron to take. There’s romantic tension between Ron and Hermione, but the road to true love has some bumps.
Hermione Granger
Harry’s other best friend, she is by far the smartest student in their class, and extremely gifted in magic.
Born to nonmagical parents, Hermione is usually the voice of caution, and tries to keep Harry out of trouble – not that she’s successful. But in the end, she’s right there in the thick of things.
She and Ron have promised Harry that they will be with him on his quest to vanquish Voldemort.
Lord Voldemort
Born to a witch mother and a nonmagical father, Tom Marvolo Riddle was a Hogwarts student before becoming the evil Lord Voldemort, perhaps the most hated Dark wizard ever.
Afraid of death, he separated his soul into pieces and hid most of them so no one could get rid of him without destroying all the fragments. Some of those pieces have already been destroyed, but Harry has to find and destroy the rest.
Voldemort is just as determined to destroy Harry.
Severus Snape
Whose side is he on? Only J.K. Rowling really knows.
A teacher at Hogwarts, Snape has always had it in for Harry. But he also convinced none other than Dumbledore that his days working for Voldemort were over, that he had switched to the good side. At the end of Book 6 – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – it was Snape who uttered the fatal spell that killed Dumbledore.
Did he do it on purpose? Or was he acting on Dumbledore’s orders?
You can bet it’s going to be a major part of the last book.
Draco Malfoy
Harry’s nemesis at Hogwarts, he’s always had a thing for the dark side. And no wonder. His father, Lucius, was one of Voldemort’s biggest supporters. But Draco couldn’t kill Dumbledore, even though Voldemort ordered him to.
While Harry still doesn’t like him, by Book 6 Harry feels “the tiniest drop of pity” because he knows that Voldemort is making Draco do things under threat of death.
Ginny Weasley
The youngest of the Weasley children and the only girl, Ginny has had a thing for Harry since the beginning.
She’s smart and brave, and understands when Harry tells her they can’t be together because he doesn’t want anything to happen to her. But Ginny is powerful – just ask her brothers about the strength of some of the spells she’s used on them.
The Dursleys
Harry’s nonmagical family. Petunia is his aunt, Lily’s sister. Vernon is her odious husband, and Dudley is their horrible son.
They never wanted Harry, but they took him in. It had something to do with Dumbledore, and Rowling has said that Petunia still has a role to play.
Harry must make one final visit to the Dursley house before he sets off to find Voldemort.
The Weasleys
The magical Weasleys are like family surrogates to Harry.
Arthur and Molly Weasley have taken him in like another son. They have plenty of children of their own – along with Ron and Ginny, there’s Bill, Charlie, Percy (currently estranged), and the twins Fred and George.
A Weasley wedding is coming up, with Bill marrying Fleur Delacour, the beautiful girl who competed with Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Albus Dumbledore
He may be dead, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a major character.
Harry’s mentor for years, Dumbledore died at the end of Book 6, killed by Severus Snape. But as Rowling has said, Dumbledore will only truly be gone when no one is loyal to him. Harry remains Dumbledore’s man.
– Associated Press
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