Harry Potter Top Ten List Part 8

Tomorrow is the big day, going to see Order of the Phoenix tonight, will be skipping Half-Blood Prince though.  You can reference the rest of the list using the tags at the bottom for ‘harry potter.’

#3 Least Favourite Character: Cornelius Fudge

I suppose I should feel sorry for Fudge, he ended up getting the short end of the stick, being killed by Voldemort, but his role reversal from Prisoner of Azkaban to Order of the Phoenix was intolerable.  In the third book, he acts kindly too Harry, worrying after his safety with Sirius Black on the loose, then by the end of Goblet of Fire, he’s accusing Harry, and Dumbledore of being traitors and God knows what else.

He is such a fizzle.  He is a spineless bureaucrat and has no moral compass at all.  When you pair Umbridge with him, to some degree, you get some really hateful characters.  I also look at Fudge and think, if he had listened to Dumbledore and Harry, instead of fighting against them, perhaps Voldemort wouldn’t have gotten the strangle-hold he did on the Wizarding World after Dumbledore’s death.

#3 Favourite Character: Ginny Weasley

It’s interesting, my love for Ginny didn’t really materialise until Order of the Phoenix.  But when I look back at the series, I can’t imagine any of the books without Ginny.  However superficial it may seem, Harry needed someone like Ginny in his life, as much as he needed Ron or Hermione, though we’ll get back to Ron another day.  Ginny was always around, but as we finally saw in the fifth book, she cared about Harry and was willing to risk a great deal to help him get what he wanted.

Of course, once the romance between the two began, it wasn’t any wonder that her status as a ‘side’ character evaporated and she became a main character and a driving force for Harry to defeat Voldemort.  Who can forget the lines at the end of Half-Blood Prince where he tells her that he has to break up with her and she responds to the effect that it was probably for something noble and that was why she liked him so much.  It is a sweet thing to say and it is also an honest thing to say.  And in a much more simplistic way, her saying that is also a noble thing, because she recognises that he has bigger things to deal with than his feelings for her.

I feel like Ginny brought out the best in Harry, and there are countless scenes in the end of Deathly Hallows that support that, like the decision Harry makes to go to Voldemort in the forest.  He passes Ginny on his way out, and almost stops to talk to her, but doesn’t, because he knows what he has to do.

In a story that is filled with such peril, it was endearing and encouraging to see something so sweet emerge from it.  It is the silver lining to a harrowing tale.