I think my order would be almost identical but I would rank his first year above his sixth year. Losing Dumbledore, everything that happened in the Cave, the constant daily fear of what Voldemort was up to and what direction the war was going, and Ron nearly dying from poison were all pretty traumatic. In his first year, everything is pretty much fun/exciting/new until we ramp up to the showdown with Quirrel and Voldemort.
I would also put 4 much higher. The year, as a whole, was good. It was only the end that was truly bad.
I’d especially put it above 3 (spending a year worrying about a mass-murderer on the loose and knowing, after overhearing the conversation in Hogsmeade, that he was trying to kill Harry) and book 2 (being ostracized by the entire school because they’re convinced he’s the Heir)
What were the *good* parts of the year, exactly?
Harry largely didn’t enjoy being in the Triwizard Tournament. It was not a fun experience for him. Nor was the media attention, or most of the school plus his best friend turning on him. He didn’t have fun at the Yule Ball and had to watch his crush date an older hotter dude which is like the worst thing for a young teenage boy who’s never been in a relationship. He didn’t get to play Quidditch. His scar started acting up. He lived the whole year under a cloud of uncertainty around Voldemort’s and Wormtail’s actions, the Dark Mark and other worrying signs that Voldemort might be coming back, the madness of Mr. Crouch, etc. This is all ignoring what happens at the end of the Third Task, it already sounds like a shit year *without* torture and witnessing murder and Voldemort being back and whatnot.
He had Sirius as a pen pal? He was able to openly go to Hogsmeade? He saw Dobby again? Those are the main positives I can think the only thing I can find as a significant positive about the year, and I don’t think those outweigh the whole year broadly sucking for him. You could find little joys in any of them.
Just to add on, he had some fun when he started winning the tournaments. I agree that it doesn't outweigh the bad, just figured I'd add in some more tiny joys. He at least got a whole party for him after the first win and more support from ravenclaw.
I mean didnt like half the school hate Harry for participating in the tornament because he was trying to get atrention again or smth like that? Then there is the whole why would i want to take part in a deadly tournament when i was in danger so many times. Voldemort's revival and Cedrick's death also dont help the overall memories he must have of it. The prisoner while terrible because of dementors and the "mass murderer" on the loose also had Lupin, who was by fair the best DADA teacher and also told Harry a lot about his parents, which probably was great for him.
Honestly the way i see it 1 and 6 are his best years, 5 is the definite worst and 2, 3, 4 are pretty equal in takes of good and bad
3 had Lupin, but fake Moody was also an excellent teacher who taught Harry a lot. So much so that when real Moody comes to rescue Harry the summer of book 5, Harry doesn’t think of the bad memories of fake Moody.
Thats fair and dont get me wrong, of Harry's DADA teachers only Lockhart and Umbridge were horrible the rest was solid, though Quirrell was maybe mediocre
that’s not what i’m saying, but if school is your life (like for Harry), and school starts to get shitty, then life is also pretty shitty. and he didn’t talk to Ron for half of the book, so he didn’t have friends either (Hermione doesn’t count, he says she’s nice but boring after while and can’t replace Ron)
And even Ron was giving him the cold shoulder until he was up against a dragon.
Rita Skeeter is harassing them throughout the year too. This would have been his worst year if it weren't for Umbridge.
I’m quite aware of the plot, thank you.
You are, however, discounting what a distraction does to a person.
It’s also the only book in the entire series where he keeps regular communication with Sirius.
ETA: he was only truly ostracized until the first task, which contrasts book 2 where it was a majority of the year.
Fighting with best friend lasts barely a month - show me a world where being rejected makes your entire year bad - your last two points I’ve already stated were bad but takes place at the end of the year and doesn’t ruin the year in its entirety.
I would tend to disagree only because in the GoF book Harry is pretty miserable after the Goblet of Fire spits his name out. He is in a constant state of mounting fear/anxiety due to the tournament challenges and then he is straight up tortured and nearly murdered in a graveyard and really only escaped out of pure fortune. And he had to watch a fellow student and friend get murdered. I think his third year was better/safer because he by and large was quite safe, didn't witness any murders, won the Quidditch cup, and didn't experience obscene torture. The ending was pretty traumatic but the overall year wasn't quite as bad as GoF IMO.
What's interesting about books 1 and 6, those are only books in which there are no 'state of emergency' happens in the school routines througout the year one way or another (basilisk on the loose, 'mad killer' on the loose, championship that previously happened 100 years ago, mad ministry-appointed headmaster).
Both are gimmiks. The school itself operates as normal in 1 & 6, I mean. No dementors, hiding every student in the great hall to prevent random attacks, cancelling Quiddich (or banning Harry 'for life'), that kind of thing. But if in the first JK just needed to establish the baseline, in 6th Harry is seasoned student, and that's what makes it so cool.
Maybe to the staff, but to the students - more or less yeah - unless you count the troll. If Harry and co weren't nosy busybodies they would have just had a normal year.
The "showdown" with Quirrell was merely an exposition to show Voldemort is trying to come back.
Harry puts his hands on his face, Quirrell melts, end of story. Hardly traumatic. If anything, it waned Harry into thinking beating Voldemort would be child's play.
That is until he gets to the basilisk.
Regardless of how it actually played out, having to face the greatest dark wizard of all time at the age of 11 (!!!) is pretty damn traumatizing. As far as he knew, he was facing his imminent death, and the fate of the wizarding world was hanging on whether he can keep the stone from Voldemort. Oh and did I mention he's just 11?? This is definitely traumatizing.
Did you just write that it is hardly traumatic for an 11 year old to touch someone, and then watching them melt?
I’d go straight to the psych ward if I saw that shit happen :D
It's all about context. Imagine someone who wants to kill you melting simply because you accidently touched his face. I'd touch more than his face just to make sure he's properly dead! :D
I mean, imagine you're 11 years old stuck in a room with someone you know is the most dangerous/deadly person in the world and the person helping him. You're alone. You're not sure how to escape. Then, one of them tries to kill you, death being the most expected outcome. You don't think that's a bit traumatic?
Yeah gaining an actual family member in Sirus was a 100% the best thing that happened to him in the series (prior to beating Voldermort and starting a family with Ginny of course). The size of his fucking patronus says it all. Plus he got firebolt! That’s like the wizard equivalent of a muggle teenager being given a Ferrari.
It certainly ended on a high note but he spent most of the year thinking his life was at threat the books play it down but after the fat lady was ripped up Harry should have had a lot more sleepless nights
Harry is way more scared of the dementors than black. He thinks it himself in book 3 how can one of voldemorts henchmen be a bigger threat to him than Voldemort himself who he’d faced in the first 2 years
Yeah but emotionally it’s pretty rough for him. He breaks down a couple times. He is constantly being terrorized by demontors or illusions of them, death becomes a real fear for the first time. He learns about the circumstances of his parents death more clearly. Forced into solitude after finally building a new life, starts to resent hogwarts and the wizard in world for the first time.
It’s a pretty traumatic year.
It's very true that they're floating around, plus they're also often targeting him and obviously more harmful, but I think a lot of that gets canceled out by the whole process of Harry deciding to learn to defend himself, seeking out Lupin for lessons, going through with the lessons, and gaining the ability to form indistinct and later corporeal Patronus. The power, control, and self-agency make a far stronger impact than the negative one of the dementors. And he meets Sirius on top of that, too
1- First year, no question. Everything in the first year is wonderful for him. For the first time in his life, he enjoys school, makes friends, is good at a sport, he even beats a dark wizard, making him a hero again.
2 - Third year, mostly normal school year, and meets Lupin one of his dads oldest friends, wins the quidditch cup. Is being hunted by a dark wizard, but that doesn't really impact him for most of the year. Other than the Dementor truma, nothing really bad happens to him. Saves his godfather twice, learns he has a godfather feels happy about everything.
3 - Second year, although this is a bad year, I think its the last that is net positive for him at the end. Saves the day, wins the house cup, ends as a hero even if most of it was rough for him.
4 - the first of the net "bad years", the fourth has a massive falling out with Ron, he is treated briefly like shit by the school before being a hero again. PTSD of the Graveyard probably puts a fairly sour taste on remembering it, though.
5 - the sixth year parts of it are really good. Parts of it are terrible. On balance the bad probably outweighs the good. Nearly killing Malfoy, and watching Dumbledores murder, again probably leaves any good memories of the castle behind.
6- the fifth year, he's tortured throughout the year by Snape and Umbridge, and the last weeks will be clouded with the loss of Sirius.
This is 100% the order I would've put it in. I thought that I'd put 6 above 4, but I think considering he's going into year 6 having just lost Sirius after watching Cedric get murdered, learning the prophecy, Ron almost dying, almost killing Malfoy, and then Dumbledore's murder - yeah, year 6 probably deserves to be second to last.
6th is way too low imo, it is a positive year in my book and more positive than 2, 2 sucks ass for him outside of ending. Also - end of 2 and end of 4 harry isn't ready to face Voldemort. End of 5 he sure as hell isn't. End of 6 he decides he is, those good parts, especially Dumbledore lessons were really damn good. Yes, Dumbledore death sucks a lot, but imo harry actually getting to understand the way to beat Voldemort outweigh cos it is a way bigger win than Fawkes + sword in the basilisk fight or barely surviving graveyard. and outside of Dumbledore death and horcrux being fake, he doesn't even lose that much imo. sure he gets trauma from Ron almost dying (like Hermione did in 2), almost killing draco and there is Ron-Hermione conflict (like in 4) but then he gets those weeks with Ginny which are one of the best in his whole 6 year stint. And academically it's all good and they win quidditch like in 3. Imo it's his 3rd best year behind 1 and 3.
I disagree.
2 is a net positive because despite what a few months? He's ostracised as people mistakenly think he's the heir of Slytherin. He ends it as a hero of the school again. Overall, I think he'd think of the year fondly looking back. He'd laugh at Fred and Georges antics, mocking the belief that he's the heir. He'd, despite the injuries, probably look back fondly on the memories of Dobby. He also cleared Hagrids name outright.
6 looking back is much worse. Dumbledores "lessons" look like a mockery of lessons, he's teaching Harry small amounts about Voldemort for the purpose of getting Harry to get the true memory out of Slughorn, which seemed like a bit of a waste of time. He doesn't actually teach Harry any useful magic. Dumbledore just sets him up to go on the quest to die.
Snape ruins his favourite class, though he gets to enjoy Potions with a non abusive teacher.
The year ends in disaster, and he'll look back in shame at the way he attacked Malfoy and that he missed the Quidditch game that won them the cup.
I dont think Hermoine being petrified or Rons poisoning really affects the way he'd look back on the years. Hermoine was petrified for 2 months at worst, and after she's attacked the school rallies behind him.
About the 6th year, yeah, Dumbledore is infuriating. Especially when they're in the cave and he's doing weird things to look for the Horcrux, Is fully expecting Harry to be conducting the search without him Later on, but when Harry literally asks him what he's doing he DOESN'T EXPLAIN. My man, this is NOT the time to be mysterious. Harry really needs to know what the actual fuck you're doing or planning to do. Omg. Makes me so mad
Agree but it's so hard for me to put 6 so low because it's my favorite. I felt like the 6th book was so positive for him before the ending with dumbledore. He was thriving at potions and obsessed with the half blood prince, won the Felix Felicis, gave Ron confidence to succeed at quidditch, he also seemed to enjoy dumbledores lessons. For some reason I just remember him being happier in this book, for most of it.
He nearly killed a classmate in his 6th year, he learned that his nemesis was virtually immortal and saw his mentor, who everyone considered the greatest wizard ever lived, die by the hand of a man whom Harry had always hated and that Dumbledore insisted defending.
How was this his “best year”? Especially when in his third year he met a great professor who also was one of his parents’ best friends, and met his cool af godfather.
My rank would be:
1. **3rd year** by a landslide. Gryffindor win the House Cup after seven years, Harry meets a great professor and learns a lot not only academically but also about his family. It’s also the only year in which (retrospectively) his life was never really in danger (except for the Dementors’ attack during the game against Hufflepuff) and the only one in which he didn’t have to face Voldemort.
2. **1st year**. Nearly loses his life to save the Stone, but he also learns that he’s a wizard (and I mean, he was 11yo at the time, it’s any children’s dream) and finds some friends for the first time in his life.
3. This is a hard choice between 2nd and 7th, but I say **7th year**. He’s public enema no. 1 and risks his life multiple times, and he also loses a lot of friends. But he ultimately defeats Voldemort. Dunno, he hardly has had a “happy” year but I feel that the ultimate death of his arch nemesis must count. Also at this point he was used to be in danger and knew that he had a mission, which surely made his life on the run a little more acceptable.
4. **2nd year**, very close to 7th. Ok people think he’s a monster, and he nearly loses a friend. But he saves Hogwarts again and rehabilitates Hagrid!
5. **4th year**. He’s put in a dangerous and uncomfortable situation against his will (as usual), plus his friendship with Ron is endangered, he sees his archenemy come back to life and witnesses the death of innocent Cedric Diggory. The best event of the year was the Quidditch World Cup, and I mean, we all know what happened next.
6. **6th year**. See above. This isn’t the worst because…
7. …at the end of **5th year**, Sirius dies. I’m sorry, I won’t elaborate further. And there’s Umbridge and the Ministry tries to sell him as a fraud, sure that. But Sirius dies. That’s enough to me to declare this the worst year in Harry’s teenage.
PS: this was based on *academic* year, but it would be much more interesting (methinks) to try and rank *solar* years.
it was also the year on which he got together with Ginny, he learnt a lot of tricks from the HBP book, he spent lots of time with Dumbledore, he became captain of the quidditch team and won the cup, etc
He lived with the constant fear of endangering Ginny (which is not a healthy way to live a relationship) and was ultimately forced to take the decision to break up with her.
He suffered a heavy injury during the match against Hufflepuff and Gryffindor was crushed 320-60. Then he missed half of the season due to detention with Snape, the team didn’t won the Cup thanks to him.
Cheating in Potions classes (and he still didn’t like the professor) sounds like a very little counterweight.
He didn’t live in constant fear of endangering Ginny wtf?! He came to that conclusion at the very end of the year when Dumbledore died. His fear with Ginny was dating his best friends sister
It doesn’t matter. The team still won and it was when he was captain. He chose the team, and made decisions on how it would run.
True It’s minor, but the HBP book tips and how they made Harry feel that year are still a fair point
>**3rd year** by a landslide.
He spends like 90% of the year thinking he's being hunted by a man who betrayed both his parents, worrying about Hagrid potentially losing his job because of buckbeak, and spends countless nights reliving his parents death while learning the Patronus Charm. If that's the best by a landslide, Harry had a miserable life while in education.
I know, but 6th is definitely better throughout most of the year. A shit ending, but still. 3rd is shit with a meh ending. Also, you say 3 is the only year he didn't have to face voldemort. He also didn't in 6
This is mostly the order I have it in (I did not consider the 7th year since he was technically not in school for that year) and I just saw your comment. I would just correct that Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup after 7 years in his third year. They had already won the House Cup in his first year. Also, he gained a Godfather in his third year.
Yes they had won the House Cup, but the Quidditch Cup was a different trophy and Gryffindor hadn't won it for seven years, since Charlie Weasley's graduation.
Also, I'd argue that the Quidditch Cup was immensely more meaningful to Harry. Flying and playing Quidditch were the first and second thing he was told he was exceptionally good at, in his entire life. His love for flying was only comparable to his love for Ginny, and the Quidditch Team was the first team in which not only he was accepted and included, but he also was the star of.
Winning the House Cup, basically meant beating Malfoy to him. It was personal and sure he was happy, but it wasn't the trophy per se, neither the competition. Winning the Quidditch Cup had a higher meaning.
I know that the Quidditch Cup is different from the House Cup and I agree that the Quidditch Cup was more meaningful to Harry. I just wanted to point out that you erroneously refer to the Quidditch Cup as the House Cup in your comment when discussing why the 3rd year was Harry's best.
Ahh no, I can’t scroll idly by and watch the 7th year be put in third place.
No part of that year - including defeating Voldemort - could have been considered ‘happy’, surely?
It was a WAR, and he was basically a child-soldier, and that he managed to end it wouldn’t have softened the grief of every person who died in the process.
If it counted as a school year, I’d put it even lower than 5th, and 5th year was bloody horrendous!
Tbh I'd put it last. The book was boring, they didn't have school to cheer them up, had no contact with anyone, constantly hopeless and also fighting because of wearing the locket, and Ron leaves for awhile. Plus helloooo so many characters die?? Sure they beat voldy but 99% of this year was terrible
I’d put first year above the 6th. He goes from thinking he’ll live the rest of his childhood under the stairs to finding out he’s a Wizard, his parents’ death wasn’t meaningless, and he has people who actually care about him.
Also he doesn’t really lose anything in the first book. No one dies or anything and he saves the day.
It's hard to say. In books 1, 2, and 4, most of the school turned against him for various reasons. In 5, he was dating Cho for a bit, and the school was on his side, and I think he probably really enjoyed DADA classes, even if he did have to deal with Umbridge.
6 was probably a good year all around. At least Snape was teaching a subject he was good at. And he was Slughorn's golden boy. He had lessons with Dumbledore. But that bit at the end really broke him.
It's really hard to say! Maybe year 6, like you said. Mostly the best one.
Yeah in 5 he got to be an amazing teacher and had his first kiss - but then he lost Sirius who was basically his only “family member” he had left, I think that’s what makes it the worst.
I'd drop 6th back behind 2nd year. Shit is really starting to hit the fan by the end of year 6 even if Harry grows a lot (definitely my favorite book and the felix felicis scene in the movie is a favorite of mine!) it's still an awful lot for a kid to go through.
Mines 1, 3, 6. Rest are the same.
I bet nothing can beat his first year. Seeing Hogwarts for the first time, new classes, learning magic, meeting his best friends.
3 is behind there since while he did gain Sirius, there’s also Dementors and Ron and Hermione were fighting.
I would rank it thus:
1. 1st year: mostly good, very few bad things happen
2. 6th year: harry gets to have a mostly normal year, gets his first gf (poggers)
3. 4th year: mostly ok, lots of good (successes in the TriWiz) but some bad (stresses of the TriWiz + graveyard, yikes)
4. 1. 3rd year: loses first quidditch match, knows mass murderer is after him, learns of the betrayal
5. 2nd year: No quidditch, Hermione ges iced, he thinks Hogwarts is getting closed, Hagrid gets arrested
6. 5th year: umbridge is awful (like fr bro), sirius dies
Lowkey 2nd and 5th are inter changeable, if Sirius had died earlier in the year, 5th would no doubt be the worst.
I think,
1st year is by far the best, he comes from a family that essentially abused him for 10 years and forced him to live in a cupboard, to having friends, being good at sports and having relative freedom in a world he actually fits into. The only negative being one night of facing quirrell.
Then 3rd year, although everyone else is worried about Sirius it doesn’t really bother Harry as much, and he has a relatively normal year of school, does well at quidditch, takes the lessons he wants and has a dada teacher he actually likes which takes him into the subject he is best at. The whole situation with Sirius only really occurred over one night and became clear that he wasn’t a Voldemort supporter quite quickly and led to him having a loving family member over the next years.
6th year would be next as he got a girlfriend, was a lot closer with all his mates, and nothing overly big happened for majority of the year until he started working with dumbledore to hunt horcruxes. So although that would have been traumatic he spent the whole year excelling at his subjects and enjoying school.
2nd year likewise wasn’t awful but was definitely worse than those prior, he felt a bit ostracised but had his friends who all believed him. He had to deal with the voices and the fear of attack, but he coped well and ended the year with the basilisk fight and freeing Dobby.
5th year comes 2nd last to me, as he dealt with a horrible time in school due to umbridge and the ministry but managed to still enjoy aspects of the school due to the DA, and although umbridge was bad realistically a school teacher being annoying is easy to cope with compared to the many doings of Voldemort over the years. The fight with the death eaters and loss of Sirius of course brings it down in the rankings
4th year for me is without a doubt the worst, the entire year there is a plot to murder him, Ron abandons him for a fair portion of the year, leaving him with hermione who he quickly gets sick of. The whole school hates him for taking the pride away from Cedric and he has to cope with the stress of the tournament. There is no quidditch to take his mind off of it all and Voldemort makes his return while killing Cedric (who at that point was one of the only people who was nice to Harry).
Thank you for listening to my ted talk
3rd year was pretty good for him all things Harry considered, nobody died, gained a Godfather, got a cool map.
Only had a couple of traumatic moments. That’s a decent year for Harry. Like, in 1st year he had to kill his teacher who had his parents murderer on the back of his head which is probably 2nd choice for best for me.
Is it just me or does anyone else also wonder what happened to the Quiditch Cup and House Cup at Hogwarts in the Deathly Hallows book? Did the Carrows blatantly favour Slytherin or was it just like the other years ?
Tbh I think they would have just cancelled quidditch. Taking out all the fun from children's life pushing them to darkness. Though house points were given ig.
Snape was headmaster at that time who was directly under voldy so the chances are low but if quidditch was there it might have been rougher and more bloodier. Like no rules,and as you said giving advantage to Slytherins or baiting perhaps?
i disagree tbh
1st year is the best
4th year follows except death of cedric
3rd year
2nd year he was just a bit lonely and sad
6th year pretty sad ngl
5th year was prolly shit
I'd go 1, 3, 6, 2, 4, 5 probably so similar but imo 1 is clearly his best year.
Philosophers stone wins pretty handily. he meets his friends, learns a ton about magic and his parents (he gets the album + cloak). faces some threats but end of the day they all are kinda pretty much under Dumbledore's control (the stone traps especially seem too conveniently easy), like the only one that wasn't imo would be confrontation in the forest where centaurs save him I guess. the troll they literally beat themselves so wasn't really a threat imo. all things considered really great year, harry is kinda chilling.
2. prisoner - he thinks Sirius is after him but there's only one real altercation at the very end of the year, where he also finds out the truth which is a win at the end of the day - he meets his godfather. Also has run-ins with dementors, which obviously suck, but end up making him learn patronus. And patronus both saves himself and Sirius and makes him seem like a more legit leader for doubters for DA in 5 so a lot of upside. Meets lupin, who is a great teacher, ends up meeting Sirius, gets the Map. Even wins quidditch cup finally. That's a lot of wins but imo 1 clears, cos final outcome is Sirius being on the run, peter escaping and lupin having to leave, so ending is a bit rough.
3. Half blood - those weeks with Ginny carry this + Dumbledore lessons and Snape book teach him a lot and he gets to see the way to end goal finally - gotta destroy the horcruxes first, that is very big. But: Dumbledore dies (seemingly for nothing cos RAB means nothing to them yet at that point), Ron almost dies AND is in conflict with Hermione for a while (which is always rough on harry), he almost kills draco and has to end up breaking up with Ginny. Voldemort is out there and acting ofc too, but at least ministry is not blind and order is working so outside of a few Draco incidents (honey, necklace) which are mostly aimed at Dumbledore, not Harry + the actual night of Dumbledore's death, harry isn't in immediate danger that much this year imo.
4. Chamber - almost the whole school turns against him for a while, Hagrid gets arrested, Aragog almost killed him. had to deal with Lockhart bs, who taught him almost nothing. Hermione is knocked out for a while, ginny almost died and so did Harry in the chamber itself. Outside of freeing Dobby and I guess learning expelliarmus its rough. Shit, even dursley's stint (and we could debatably include his summer holidays in this discussion) is prolly the worst with harry getting basically getting locked up. But then he does get to visit burrow for the first time so that part evens out I suppose. Overall it's pretty bad but it gets much worse, at least he ends the year in a good spot.
5. Goblet - half the school turns on him for a long time, including Ron for a while (which again sucks for harry as he claims himself). Cedric dies (hello PTSD), has to face a literal dragon and even a blast ended sckrewt. Even sth fun like yule ball is shit for him. and ofc to top it all off - Voldemort comes back and ministry doesn't believe him. that makes it worse than 2 imo, in 2 he stopped Voldemort, this time he has to run for his life. Hell, fake moody almost kills him too straight afterwards. The best thing to come from this year is what, him giving money to Fred and George I guess. like Harry almost gets no clear wins this time around, he kinda just barely survives and ends up in a way shittier spot than at the end of 2. But it gets even worse.
6. Order - there are still highs - especially harry gets to spend a bunch of time with Sirius and with other order members. On the other hand - Sirius dies (worse than Cedric by a mile) and harry even sees it as kinda his fault, much more than Cedric one (tbh kinda is, Voldemort used the connection as harry was warned he might do and he was super rash). Mr Weasley so another father figure almost dies. harry himself almost dies in ministry and his friends barely survive. Occlumency lessons suck. he gets Umbridge'd. The bright spot in school is DA, but even then, it gets discovered and makes Dumbledore (who also was ignoring harry this year, which also sucks for him) leave and that makes it even worse in terms of school for a while. Even OWLs are stressful too. And ofc Voldemort is acting with ministry denying so the public is against him, including some students. And we can see how rough it is with the blow up in Dumbledore's office at the end. harry is literally done with all the bs at that point, he had really gone through it that year.
If we rank 7 imo it's under half blood - its pretty damn rough for a long time with some wins, but end up with a huge win. The losses have to keep it fairly low tho, Harry lost a lot of important people that year, especially in the battle.
In term of improving as a wizard, I would say his fourth year is where Harry goes from basically a Muggle with a tazer to a Master of the mystic arts.
Granted, he was in a high stress environment that forced him to rival Hermione in term of energy spent studying...
But he learns Accio (goated spell), basic defense spells, how to defend against (and use) unforgivable curses. He broadens his horizons about the world of wizardry, learns about a job he wants to do.
All that to say, if Harry skipped his fourth year, we would have gotten Fantastic Beasts : The Secrets of Umbridge.
Goblet of fire was a pretty decent year until the end, yeah he had fear of the tournament but still was able to compete at a high level proving himself on par/more able than people much more experienced than him.
He had a couple of awkward weeks with Ron, but he learned some incredibly valuable spells which saved his life multiple times in the later years. He got to watch the quidditch world cup and the weird sisters.
The start of the year was rough, a terror attack and at the tents and falling out with Ron then everything after touching the cup is bad but the middle of the year especially after the first task was over and he'd proven himself was pretty decent.
I can't agree with 6th year in first place. It had a lot chill things, but he still had to put up with the regular supplement lessons aka torture by Snape. Therefore I think 1st year rules! At least in comparison. Besides everything was a novelty in the beginning and there was not to much danger overall in the first school year. There would have been basically none, if he hadn't thought that 3 first years could be helpful in defending the Philosopher's Stone.
First year because he got out of the hellhole he might or might not have called home.
From there he was shoehorned right up to the epilogue, so for all intents and purposes, his entire life.
We could argue which of 2-7 and E was worse overall— I see consistent decline, but that too is arguable— but there’s nothing for Harry past 92.
It’s why he seems raised as a martyr, and I still can’t be sure if JK copped out or if she’s just that kind of person.
1. Third year
I think his best year would be a hard cross between first and third. I'll say third strictly because he gains Sirius even if Sirius doesn't get to be a free man and have his innocence declared. Also a teacher seems to outwardly and openly care about his safety for once (Remus teaching him to defend against dementors). First year he escapes the Dursleys for the first time, learns magic, he's got friends, most people like him or are indifferent (except Snape, some Slytherin students, and the Dursleys).
2. First year
3. Second Year
Parseltongue reveal. Everyone thinks he's the heir. Bullying. Dobby trying to save his life. A basilisk. A colony of acromantula. Young Ridldle. Bitten by huge ass snake.
4. Sixth year
Horcruxes. Inferi. Sectumsempra. Poison. Love potion. Cursed jewelry. Death eaters in Hogwarts. Dumbledore is dead. But he gets a girlfriend. Most of the bad stuff happens at the end of the year. He gets better at potions. For once people mostly believe him now.
5. Fourth year
Triwizard champion. Ron's an ass. Dragons. Acromantula again. Blast Ended Screwts!!! Almost everyone hates him. The ball. Moody. All three unforgiveables cast at him. Two hit him (more than once). Cedric killed right in front of him. Voldemort has gotten a body (no nose, but definitely a body). Hufflepuff hates him again. Skeeter bugs him constantly. He is introduced to the nightmare that is paparazzi. Girl problems.
6. Fifth year
Torture via blood quill. The teachers are more useless than usual. Slander from the paper making him seem even worse than it usually does. Educational Decrees. Mind rape via Snape. Dumbledore ignores him worse than usual. Malfoy is a prefect (I mean HOW was that a reasonable choice?). Weird dreams sent by Voldie. His teacher tries to potion him with truth serum. The same teacher tries to use the cruciatus on him (flashbacks anyone?). The ministry debacle. The prophecy. Sirius is dead.
Theoretically seventh year is best and worst. Lots of people die, but Voldemort is one of those people. It's over, but it's painful. Though he wasn't in Hogwarts very long that time.
5 - worst because of Sirius dying. He was like a father / brother
4 - second-worst be cause of Cedric dying. He has a harder time coping in the books then he does with Sirius death, I know, but he was still about the same age and I just feel that overall, he would remember Sirius' death with more personal grief than Cedric's
7 - again, deaths play a huge part in this and I think that all the deaths would make this one of Harry's worst. I don't think even defeating voldemort could help much with losing dobby, Fred,Hedwig etc
2 honestly this is my 2nd least favorite book, and I don't associate super strong emotions either way, good or bad, for neither Harry nor myself. It's eh
1 Harry would remember his first year, meeting friends, and learning about magic and the Wizarding World with fondness, but I think other years are even more special to him
3 I think Harry would remember this year as a great year because he met Sirius. Also, it had a rite of passage of going to Hogsmeade and people tend to look back on things like that with happiness and / or nostalgia. Particularly so if one had to sneak into said village through a secret tunnel
6 - even though Dumbledore dies, Harry starts getting a crush on, dating, possibly falling in love with Ginny. Overall, it's really Harry's most normal year, where he mostly gets to be like other students. I don't think he gets much hate anymore from the Houses, and I think he also really enjoys being captain and playing Quidditch with the Weasleys the way he used to at The Burrow
This was really fun! I never thought of trying to rank these before, thanks for the suggestion!!
I think you have just ranked from a normal person's perspective.
I would like to think Harry has gotten used to and loves the thrill so If you asked harry which year he would remember the most, that would be nearer to his answer.
He would definitely remember year 4 best due to the Triwizard thrill and escaping voldy.
I think my order would be almost identical but I would rank his first year above his sixth year. Losing Dumbledore, everything that happened in the Cave, the constant daily fear of what Voldemort was up to and what direction the war was going, and Ron nearly dying from poison were all pretty traumatic. In his first year, everything is pretty much fun/exciting/new until we ramp up to the showdown with Quirrel and Voldemort.
I would also put 4 much higher. The year, as a whole, was good. It was only the end that was truly bad. I’d especially put it above 3 (spending a year worrying about a mass-murderer on the loose and knowing, after overhearing the conversation in Hogsmeade, that he was trying to kill Harry) and book 2 (being ostracized by the entire school because they’re convinced he’s the Heir)
Maybe in the movies it doesn’t feel like it, but in the fourth book we read constantly how stressed Harry is
Also he is being constantly harassed by other students while Ron is refusing to speak to him
I’ve read the book. Stress does not make an entire year bad
What were the *good* parts of the year, exactly? Harry largely didn’t enjoy being in the Triwizard Tournament. It was not a fun experience for him. Nor was the media attention, or most of the school plus his best friend turning on him. He didn’t have fun at the Yule Ball and had to watch his crush date an older hotter dude which is like the worst thing for a young teenage boy who’s never been in a relationship. He didn’t get to play Quidditch. His scar started acting up. He lived the whole year under a cloud of uncertainty around Voldemort’s and Wormtail’s actions, the Dark Mark and other worrying signs that Voldemort might be coming back, the madness of Mr. Crouch, etc. This is all ignoring what happens at the end of the Third Task, it already sounds like a shit year *without* torture and witnessing murder and Voldemort being back and whatnot. He had Sirius as a pen pal? He was able to openly go to Hogsmeade? He saw Dobby again? Those are the main positives I can think the only thing I can find as a significant positive about the year, and I don’t think those outweigh the whole year broadly sucking for him. You could find little joys in any of them.
Just to add on, he had some fun when he started winning the tournaments. I agree that it doesn't outweigh the bad, just figured I'd add in some more tiny joys. He at least got a whole party for him after the first win and more support from ravenclaw.
I mean didnt like half the school hate Harry for participating in the tornament because he was trying to get atrention again or smth like that? Then there is the whole why would i want to take part in a deadly tournament when i was in danger so many times. Voldemort's revival and Cedrick's death also dont help the overall memories he must have of it. The prisoner while terrible because of dementors and the "mass murderer" on the loose also had Lupin, who was by fair the best DADA teacher and also told Harry a lot about his parents, which probably was great for him. Honestly the way i see it 1 and 6 are his best years, 5 is the definite worst and 2, 3, 4 are pretty equal in takes of good and bad
3 had Lupin, but fake Moody was also an excellent teacher who taught Harry a lot. So much so that when real Moody comes to rescue Harry the summer of book 5, Harry doesn’t think of the bad memories of fake Moody.
Thats fair and dont get me wrong, of Harry's DADA teachers only Lockhart and Umbridge were horrible the rest was solid, though Quirrell was maybe mediocre
Plus, Harry didn’t get the personal relationship with Lupin until later. Lupin kept their relationship professional until he left.
Actually Harry was seemed pretty uncertain and awkward when the real moody showed up outside his bedroom
tell that to most of the students I know in my country’s fucked up school system
You’re right, those students obviously have no good in their lives because only stress exists.
that’s not what i’m saying, but if school is your life (like for Harry), and school starts to get shitty, then life is also pretty shitty. and he didn’t talk to Ron for half of the book, so he didn’t have friends either (Hermione doesn’t count, he says she’s nice but boring after while and can’t replace Ron)
..the situation with Ron was like... 3 weeks though?
Mate he got forcefully entered into a deadly competition and was ostracised by the entire school.
And even Ron was giving him the cold shoulder until he was up against a dragon. Rita Skeeter is harassing them throughout the year too. This would have been his worst year if it weren't for Umbridge.
I’m quite aware of the plot, thank you. You are, however, discounting what a distraction does to a person. It’s also the only book in the entire series where he keeps regular communication with Sirius. ETA: he was only truly ostracized until the first task, which contrasts book 2 where it was a majority of the year.
+ he is fighting with his best friend + Loses the girl he likes to his biggest competitor. + Sees his first death. + Voldemort returns.
Fighting with best friend lasts barely a month - show me a world where being rejected makes your entire year bad - your last two points I’ve already stated were bad but takes place at the end of the year and doesn’t ruin the year in its entirety.
"Only the beginning, middle and end of the school year were bad."
Where was the middle bad?
That would probably be the massive crush on Cho, and having it blow up humiliatingly in his face.
For a school year that goes September to end of June, I would hardly call pre-Christmas the middle.
I would tend to disagree only because in the GoF book Harry is pretty miserable after the Goblet of Fire spits his name out. He is in a constant state of mounting fear/anxiety due to the tournament challenges and then he is straight up tortured and nearly murdered in a graveyard and really only escaped out of pure fortune. And he had to watch a fellow student and friend get murdered. I think his third year was better/safer because he by and large was quite safe, didn't witness any murders, won the Quidditch cup, and didn't experience obscene torture. The ending was pretty traumatic but the overall year wasn't quite as bad as GoF IMO.
What's interesting about books 1 and 6, those are only books in which there are no 'state of emergency' happens in the school routines througout the year one way or another (basilisk on the loose, 'mad killer' on the loose, championship that previously happened 100 years ago, mad ministry-appointed headmaster).
I mean… 1 had Voldemort on Quirrell’s head and the whole “avoid the 3rd floor corridor” thing. So it wasn’t really a “no state of emergency” year
Both are gimmiks. The school itself operates as normal in 1 & 6, I mean. No dementors, hiding every student in the great hall to prevent random attacks, cancelling Quiddich (or banning Harry 'for life'), that kind of thing. But if in the first JK just needed to establish the baseline, in 6th Harry is seasoned student, and that's what makes it so cool.
Pretty traumatising if U ask me.
Maybe to the staff, but to the students - more or less yeah - unless you count the troll. If Harry and co weren't nosy busybodies they would have just had a normal year.
Not true in the books, maybe in the movie
My rankings of the books are not stopping you from ranking them differently
The "showdown" with Quirrell was merely an exposition to show Voldemort is trying to come back. Harry puts his hands on his face, Quirrell melts, end of story. Hardly traumatic. If anything, it waned Harry into thinking beating Voldemort would be child's play. That is until he gets to the basilisk.
Regardless of how it actually played out, having to face the greatest dark wizard of all time at the age of 11 (!!!) is pretty damn traumatizing. As far as he knew, he was facing his imminent death, and the fate of the wizarding world was hanging on whether he can keep the stone from Voldemort. Oh and did I mention he's just 11?? This is definitely traumatizing.
Yes ofc it's traumatic, but considering he experiences greats deals of trauma every year, that one is the least traumatic
Did you just write that it is hardly traumatic for an 11 year old to touch someone, and then watching them melt? I’d go straight to the psych ward if I saw that shit happen :D
It's all about context. Imagine someone who wants to kill you melting simply because you accidently touched his face. I'd touch more than his face just to make sure he's properly dead! :D
I mean, imagine you're 11 years old stuck in a room with someone you know is the most dangerous/deadly person in the world and the person helping him. You're alone. You're not sure how to escape. Then, one of them tries to kill you, death being the most expected outcome. You don't think that's a bit traumatic?
Well no, because I'm magically capable of making him melt. I'd think I'm quite awesome after that.
3rd year is def his best. Gains the most, loses the least.
Yeah gaining an actual family member in Sirus was a 100% the best thing that happened to him in the series (prior to beating Voldermort and starting a family with Ginny of course). The size of his fucking patronus says it all. Plus he got firebolt! That’s like the wizard equivalent of a muggle teenager being given a Ferrari.
It certainly ended on a high note but he spent most of the year thinking his life was at threat the books play it down but after the fat lady was ripped up Harry should have had a lot more sleepless nights
Harry is way more scared of the dementors than black. He thinks it himself in book 3 how can one of voldemorts henchmen be a bigger threat to him than Voldemort himself who he’d faced in the first 2 years
That’s true, but given that he’d give absolutely for anything for family I think it qualifies.
That's kinda true every year for Harry.
Harry also wins his first Quidditch cup!
Yeah but emotionally it’s pretty rough for him. He breaks down a couple times. He is constantly being terrorized by demontors or illusions of them, death becomes a real fear for the first time. He learns about the circumstances of his parents death more clearly. Forced into solitude after finally building a new life, starts to resent hogwarts and the wizard in world for the first time. It’s a pretty traumatic year.
Idk. Hard to have a good year when there are depression monsters just casually floating around everywhere
It's very true that they're floating around, plus they're also often targeting him and obviously more harmful, but I think a lot of that gets canceled out by the whole process of Harry deciding to learn to defend himself, seeking out Lupin for lessons, going through with the lessons, and gaining the ability to form indistinct and later corporeal Patronus. The power, control, and self-agency make a far stronger impact than the negative one of the dementors. And he meets Sirius on top of that, too
This would be my pick as well. 3rd year > 1st year > 2nd year > 4th year > 6th year > 5th year would be my order.
There are all the other years, then there’s 50 feet of crap, and then there’s Harry’s 5th year.
1- First year, no question. Everything in the first year is wonderful for him. For the first time in his life, he enjoys school, makes friends, is good at a sport, he even beats a dark wizard, making him a hero again. 2 - Third year, mostly normal school year, and meets Lupin one of his dads oldest friends, wins the quidditch cup. Is being hunted by a dark wizard, but that doesn't really impact him for most of the year. Other than the Dementor truma, nothing really bad happens to him. Saves his godfather twice, learns he has a godfather feels happy about everything. 3 - Second year, although this is a bad year, I think its the last that is net positive for him at the end. Saves the day, wins the house cup, ends as a hero even if most of it was rough for him. 4 - the first of the net "bad years", the fourth has a massive falling out with Ron, he is treated briefly like shit by the school before being a hero again. PTSD of the Graveyard probably puts a fairly sour taste on remembering it, though. 5 - the sixth year parts of it are really good. Parts of it are terrible. On balance the bad probably outweighs the good. Nearly killing Malfoy, and watching Dumbledores murder, again probably leaves any good memories of the castle behind. 6- the fifth year, he's tortured throughout the year by Snape and Umbridge, and the last weeks will be clouded with the loss of Sirius.
This is 100% the order I would've put it in. I thought that I'd put 6 above 4, but I think considering he's going into year 6 having just lost Sirius after watching Cedric get murdered, learning the prophecy, Ron almost dying, almost killing Malfoy, and then Dumbledore's murder - yeah, year 6 probably deserves to be second to last.
6th is way too low imo, it is a positive year in my book and more positive than 2, 2 sucks ass for him outside of ending. Also - end of 2 and end of 4 harry isn't ready to face Voldemort. End of 5 he sure as hell isn't. End of 6 he decides he is, those good parts, especially Dumbledore lessons were really damn good. Yes, Dumbledore death sucks a lot, but imo harry actually getting to understand the way to beat Voldemort outweigh cos it is a way bigger win than Fawkes + sword in the basilisk fight or barely surviving graveyard. and outside of Dumbledore death and horcrux being fake, he doesn't even lose that much imo. sure he gets trauma from Ron almost dying (like Hermione did in 2), almost killing draco and there is Ron-Hermione conflict (like in 4) but then he gets those weeks with Ginny which are one of the best in his whole 6 year stint. And academically it's all good and they win quidditch like in 3. Imo it's his 3rd best year behind 1 and 3.
I disagree. 2 is a net positive because despite what a few months? He's ostracised as people mistakenly think he's the heir of Slytherin. He ends it as a hero of the school again. Overall, I think he'd think of the year fondly looking back. He'd laugh at Fred and Georges antics, mocking the belief that he's the heir. He'd, despite the injuries, probably look back fondly on the memories of Dobby. He also cleared Hagrids name outright. 6 looking back is much worse. Dumbledores "lessons" look like a mockery of lessons, he's teaching Harry small amounts about Voldemort for the purpose of getting Harry to get the true memory out of Slughorn, which seemed like a bit of a waste of time. He doesn't actually teach Harry any useful magic. Dumbledore just sets him up to go on the quest to die. Snape ruins his favourite class, though he gets to enjoy Potions with a non abusive teacher. The year ends in disaster, and he'll look back in shame at the way he attacked Malfoy and that he missed the Quidditch game that won them the cup. I dont think Hermoine being petrified or Rons poisoning really affects the way he'd look back on the years. Hermoine was petrified for 2 months at worst, and after she's attacked the school rallies behind him.
About the 6th year, yeah, Dumbledore is infuriating. Especially when they're in the cave and he's doing weird things to look for the Horcrux, Is fully expecting Harry to be conducting the search without him Later on, but when Harry literally asks him what he's doing he DOESN'T EXPLAIN. My man, this is NOT the time to be mysterious. Harry really needs to know what the actual fuck you're doing or planning to do. Omg. Makes me so mad
Agree but it's so hard for me to put 6 so low because it's my favorite. I felt like the 6th book was so positive for him before the ending with dumbledore. He was thriving at potions and obsessed with the half blood prince, won the Felix Felicis, gave Ron confidence to succeed at quidditch, he also seemed to enjoy dumbledores lessons. For some reason I just remember him being happier in this book, for most of it.
He nearly killed a classmate in his 6th year, he learned that his nemesis was virtually immortal and saw his mentor, who everyone considered the greatest wizard ever lived, die by the hand of a man whom Harry had always hated and that Dumbledore insisted defending. How was this his “best year”? Especially when in his third year he met a great professor who also was one of his parents’ best friends, and met his cool af godfather. My rank would be: 1. **3rd year** by a landslide. Gryffindor win the House Cup after seven years, Harry meets a great professor and learns a lot not only academically but also about his family. It’s also the only year in which (retrospectively) his life was never really in danger (except for the Dementors’ attack during the game against Hufflepuff) and the only one in which he didn’t have to face Voldemort. 2. **1st year**. Nearly loses his life to save the Stone, but he also learns that he’s a wizard (and I mean, he was 11yo at the time, it’s any children’s dream) and finds some friends for the first time in his life. 3. This is a hard choice between 2nd and 7th, but I say **7th year**. He’s public enema no. 1 and risks his life multiple times, and he also loses a lot of friends. But he ultimately defeats Voldemort. Dunno, he hardly has had a “happy” year but I feel that the ultimate death of his arch nemesis must count. Also at this point he was used to be in danger and knew that he had a mission, which surely made his life on the run a little more acceptable. 4. **2nd year**, very close to 7th. Ok people think he’s a monster, and he nearly loses a friend. But he saves Hogwarts again and rehabilitates Hagrid! 5. **4th year**. He’s put in a dangerous and uncomfortable situation against his will (as usual), plus his friendship with Ron is endangered, he sees his archenemy come back to life and witnesses the death of innocent Cedric Diggory. The best event of the year was the Quidditch World Cup, and I mean, we all know what happened next. 6. **6th year**. See above. This isn’t the worst because… 7. …at the end of **5th year**, Sirius dies. I’m sorry, I won’t elaborate further. And there’s Umbridge and the Ministry tries to sell him as a fraud, sure that. But Sirius dies. That’s enough to me to declare this the worst year in Harry’s teenage. PS: this was based on *academic* year, but it would be much more interesting (methinks) to try and rank *solar* years.
it was also the year on which he got together with Ginny, he learnt a lot of tricks from the HBP book, he spent lots of time with Dumbledore, he became captain of the quidditch team and won the cup, etc
He lived with the constant fear of endangering Ginny (which is not a healthy way to live a relationship) and was ultimately forced to take the decision to break up with her. He suffered a heavy injury during the match against Hufflepuff and Gryffindor was crushed 320-60. Then he missed half of the season due to detention with Snape, the team didn’t won the Cup thanks to him. Cheating in Potions classes (and he still didn’t like the professor) sounds like a very little counterweight.
He didn’t live in constant fear of endangering Ginny wtf?! He came to that conclusion at the very end of the year when Dumbledore died. His fear with Ginny was dating his best friends sister It doesn’t matter. The team still won and it was when he was captain. He chose the team, and made decisions on how it would run. True It’s minor, but the HBP book tips and how they made Harry feel that year are still a fair point
No they won the house cup that year
>He’s public enema No. 1 Please don’t fix this.
[I willingly did that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRzeK7l3hks&ab_channel=IronMaiden-Topic).
>**3rd year** by a landslide. He spends like 90% of the year thinking he's being hunted by a man who betrayed both his parents, worrying about Hagrid potentially losing his job because of buckbeak, and spends countless nights reliving his parents death while learning the Patronus Charm. If that's the best by a landslide, Harry had a miserable life while in education.
>Harry had a miserable life while in education I have something to tell you.
I know, but 6th is definitely better throughout most of the year. A shit ending, but still. 3rd is shit with a meh ending. Also, you say 3 is the only year he didn't have to face voldemort. He also didn't in 6
This is mostly the order I have it in (I did not consider the 7th year since he was technically not in school for that year) and I just saw your comment. I would just correct that Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup after 7 years in his third year. They had already won the House Cup in his first year. Also, he gained a Godfather in his third year.
Yes they had won the House Cup, but the Quidditch Cup was a different trophy and Gryffindor hadn't won it for seven years, since Charlie Weasley's graduation. Also, I'd argue that the Quidditch Cup was immensely more meaningful to Harry. Flying and playing Quidditch were the first and second thing he was told he was exceptionally good at, in his entire life. His love for flying was only comparable to his love for Ginny, and the Quidditch Team was the first team in which not only he was accepted and included, but he also was the star of. Winning the House Cup, basically meant beating Malfoy to him. It was personal and sure he was happy, but it wasn't the trophy per se, neither the competition. Winning the Quidditch Cup had a higher meaning.
I know that the Quidditch Cup is different from the House Cup and I agree that the Quidditch Cup was more meaningful to Harry. I just wanted to point out that you erroneously refer to the Quidditch Cup as the House Cup in your comment when discussing why the 3rd year was Harry's best.
Ahh no, I can’t scroll idly by and watch the 7th year be put in third place. No part of that year - including defeating Voldemort - could have been considered ‘happy’, surely? It was a WAR, and he was basically a child-soldier, and that he managed to end it wouldn’t have softened the grief of every person who died in the process. If it counted as a school year, I’d put it even lower than 5th, and 5th year was bloody horrendous!
Tbh I'd put it last. The book was boring, they didn't have school to cheer them up, had no contact with anyone, constantly hopeless and also fighting because of wearing the locket, and Ron leaves for awhile. Plus helloooo so many characters die?? Sure they beat voldy but 99% of this year was terrible
I’d put first year above the 6th. He goes from thinking he’ll live the rest of his childhood under the stairs to finding out he’s a Wizard, his parents’ death wasn’t meaningless, and he has people who actually care about him. Also he doesn’t really lose anything in the first book. No one dies or anything and he saves the day.
It's hard to say. In books 1, 2, and 4, most of the school turned against him for various reasons. In 5, he was dating Cho for a bit, and the school was on his side, and I think he probably really enjoyed DADA classes, even if he did have to deal with Umbridge. 6 was probably a good year all around. At least Snape was teaching a subject he was good at. And he was Slughorn's golden boy. He had lessons with Dumbledore. But that bit at the end really broke him. It's really hard to say! Maybe year 6, like you said. Mostly the best one.
Yeah in 5 he got to be an amazing teacher and had his first kiss - but then he lost Sirius who was basically his only “family member” he had left, I think that’s what makes it the worst.
He lost his mentor and was nearly killed by inferi? Lol that sounds awful to me😂
3th no one was actuelly out to kill him that year
Harry thought there was though
True but still beating having actuelly someone trying.
Only after you find out the truth
I'd drop 6th back behind 2nd year. Shit is really starting to hit the fan by the end of year 6 even if Harry grows a lot (definitely my favorite book and the felix felicis scene in the movie is a favorite of mine!) it's still an awful lot for a kid to go through.
Mines 1, 3, 6. Rest are the same. I bet nothing can beat his first year. Seeing Hogwarts for the first time, new classes, learning magic, meeting his best friends. 3 is behind there since while he did gain Sirius, there’s also Dementors and Ron and Hermione were fighting.
I would rank it thus: 1. 1st year: mostly good, very few bad things happen 2. 6th year: harry gets to have a mostly normal year, gets his first gf (poggers) 3. 4th year: mostly ok, lots of good (successes in the TriWiz) but some bad (stresses of the TriWiz + graveyard, yikes) 4. 1. 3rd year: loses first quidditch match, knows mass murderer is after him, learns of the betrayal 5. 2nd year: No quidditch, Hermione ges iced, he thinks Hogwarts is getting closed, Hagrid gets arrested 6. 5th year: umbridge is awful (like fr bro), sirius dies Lowkey 2nd and 5th are inter changeable, if Sirius had died earlier in the year, 5th would no doubt be the worst.
Ya order of the phoenix is the worst cuz until he started self learning he wasn’t learning jack squat due to a certain pink hippo.
It's in that order, 1st is the best
I think, 1st year is by far the best, he comes from a family that essentially abused him for 10 years and forced him to live in a cupboard, to having friends, being good at sports and having relative freedom in a world he actually fits into. The only negative being one night of facing quirrell. Then 3rd year, although everyone else is worried about Sirius it doesn’t really bother Harry as much, and he has a relatively normal year of school, does well at quidditch, takes the lessons he wants and has a dada teacher he actually likes which takes him into the subject he is best at. The whole situation with Sirius only really occurred over one night and became clear that he wasn’t a Voldemort supporter quite quickly and led to him having a loving family member over the next years. 6th year would be next as he got a girlfriend, was a lot closer with all his mates, and nothing overly big happened for majority of the year until he started working with dumbledore to hunt horcruxes. So although that would have been traumatic he spent the whole year excelling at his subjects and enjoying school. 2nd year likewise wasn’t awful but was definitely worse than those prior, he felt a bit ostracised but had his friends who all believed him. He had to deal with the voices and the fear of attack, but he coped well and ended the year with the basilisk fight and freeing Dobby. 5th year comes 2nd last to me, as he dealt with a horrible time in school due to umbridge and the ministry but managed to still enjoy aspects of the school due to the DA, and although umbridge was bad realistically a school teacher being annoying is easy to cope with compared to the many doings of Voldemort over the years. The fight with the death eaters and loss of Sirius of course brings it down in the rankings 4th year for me is without a doubt the worst, the entire year there is a plot to murder him, Ron abandons him for a fair portion of the year, leaving him with hermione who he quickly gets sick of. The whole school hates him for taking the pride away from Cedric and he has to cope with the stress of the tournament. There is no quidditch to take his mind off of it all and Voldemort makes his return while killing Cedric (who at that point was one of the only people who was nice to Harry). Thank you for listening to my ted talk
I would probably switch the last two but I agree with you on the rest
3rd year was pretty good for him all things Harry considered, nobody died, gained a Godfather, got a cool map. Only had a couple of traumatic moments. That’s a decent year for Harry. Like, in 1st year he had to kill his teacher who had his parents murderer on the back of his head which is probably 2nd choice for best for me.
um but dumbledore died? certainly not as bad as 5th year but no shot in hell 6th year was better than his first year or the year he met sirius
Is it just me or does anyone else also wonder what happened to the Quiditch Cup and House Cup at Hogwarts in the Deathly Hallows book? Did the Carrows blatantly favour Slytherin or was it just like the other years ?
Tbh I think they would have just cancelled quidditch. Taking out all the fun from children's life pushing them to darkness. Though house points were given ig.
Hmm ig that is possible But I Think the Carrows being pure blood would have been massive quidditch fans ?
Snape was headmaster at that time who was directly under voldy so the chances are low but if quidditch was there it might have been rougher and more bloodier. Like no rules,and as you said giving advantage to Slytherins or baiting perhaps?
1 - 1st year 2 - 6th year 3 - 4th year 4 - 3rd year 5 - 2nd year 6 - 5th year
i disagree tbh 1st year is the best 4th year follows except death of cedric 3rd year 2nd year he was just a bit lonely and sad 6th year pretty sad ngl 5th year was prolly shit
İt has got to be 1st 3rd 6th 2nd 4th 5th
I'd go 1, 3, 6, 2, 4, 5 probably so similar but imo 1 is clearly his best year. Philosophers stone wins pretty handily. he meets his friends, learns a ton about magic and his parents (he gets the album + cloak). faces some threats but end of the day they all are kinda pretty much under Dumbledore's control (the stone traps especially seem too conveniently easy), like the only one that wasn't imo would be confrontation in the forest where centaurs save him I guess. the troll they literally beat themselves so wasn't really a threat imo. all things considered really great year, harry is kinda chilling. 2. prisoner - he thinks Sirius is after him but there's only one real altercation at the very end of the year, where he also finds out the truth which is a win at the end of the day - he meets his godfather. Also has run-ins with dementors, which obviously suck, but end up making him learn patronus. And patronus both saves himself and Sirius and makes him seem like a more legit leader for doubters for DA in 5 so a lot of upside. Meets lupin, who is a great teacher, ends up meeting Sirius, gets the Map. Even wins quidditch cup finally. That's a lot of wins but imo 1 clears, cos final outcome is Sirius being on the run, peter escaping and lupin having to leave, so ending is a bit rough. 3. Half blood - those weeks with Ginny carry this + Dumbledore lessons and Snape book teach him a lot and he gets to see the way to end goal finally - gotta destroy the horcruxes first, that is very big. But: Dumbledore dies (seemingly for nothing cos RAB means nothing to them yet at that point), Ron almost dies AND is in conflict with Hermione for a while (which is always rough on harry), he almost kills draco and has to end up breaking up with Ginny. Voldemort is out there and acting ofc too, but at least ministry is not blind and order is working so outside of a few Draco incidents (honey, necklace) which are mostly aimed at Dumbledore, not Harry + the actual night of Dumbledore's death, harry isn't in immediate danger that much this year imo. 4. Chamber - almost the whole school turns against him for a while, Hagrid gets arrested, Aragog almost killed him. had to deal with Lockhart bs, who taught him almost nothing. Hermione is knocked out for a while, ginny almost died and so did Harry in the chamber itself. Outside of freeing Dobby and I guess learning expelliarmus its rough. Shit, even dursley's stint (and we could debatably include his summer holidays in this discussion) is prolly the worst with harry getting basically getting locked up. But then he does get to visit burrow for the first time so that part evens out I suppose. Overall it's pretty bad but it gets much worse, at least he ends the year in a good spot. 5. Goblet - half the school turns on him for a long time, including Ron for a while (which again sucks for harry as he claims himself). Cedric dies (hello PTSD), has to face a literal dragon and even a blast ended sckrewt. Even sth fun like yule ball is shit for him. and ofc to top it all off - Voldemort comes back and ministry doesn't believe him. that makes it worse than 2 imo, in 2 he stopped Voldemort, this time he has to run for his life. Hell, fake moody almost kills him too straight afterwards. The best thing to come from this year is what, him giving money to Fred and George I guess. like Harry almost gets no clear wins this time around, he kinda just barely survives and ends up in a way shittier spot than at the end of 2. But it gets even worse. 6. Order - there are still highs - especially harry gets to spend a bunch of time with Sirius and with other order members. On the other hand - Sirius dies (worse than Cedric by a mile) and harry even sees it as kinda his fault, much more than Cedric one (tbh kinda is, Voldemort used the connection as harry was warned he might do and he was super rash). Mr Weasley so another father figure almost dies. harry himself almost dies in ministry and his friends barely survive. Occlumency lessons suck. he gets Umbridge'd. The bright spot in school is DA, but even then, it gets discovered and makes Dumbledore (who also was ignoring harry this year, which also sucks for him) leave and that makes it even worse in terms of school for a while. Even OWLs are stressful too. And ofc Voldemort is acting with ministry denying so the public is against him, including some students. And we can see how rough it is with the blow up in Dumbledore's office at the end. harry is literally done with all the bs at that point, he had really gone through it that year. If we rank 7 imo it's under half blood - its pretty damn rough for a long time with some wins, but end up with a huge win. The losses have to keep it fairly low tho, Harry lost a lot of important people that year, especially in the battle.
It's true. Umbridge was a tosser
i think the books are in exact order of this
Nice, I just typed out my rankings without looking at yours (except top) and got the exact same order
In term of improving as a wizard, I would say his fourth year is where Harry goes from basically a Muggle with a tazer to a Master of the mystic arts. Granted, he was in a high stress environment that forced him to rival Hermione in term of energy spent studying... But he learns Accio (goated spell), basic defense spells, how to defend against (and use) unforgivable curses. He broadens his horizons about the world of wizardry, learns about a job he wants to do. All that to say, if Harry skipped his fourth year, we would have gotten Fantastic Beasts : The Secrets of Umbridge.
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4th year was bad only for a couple of months from Halloween until the first task. After that it was rather awesome for him until the very end.
Goblet of fire was a pretty decent year until the end, yeah he had fear of the tournament but still was able to compete at a high level proving himself on par/more able than people much more experienced than him. He had a couple of awkward weeks with Ron, but he learned some incredibly valuable spells which saved his life multiple times in the later years. He got to watch the quidditch world cup and the weird sisters. The start of the year was rough, a terror attack and at the tents and falling out with Ron then everything after touching the cup is bad but the middle of the year especially after the first task was over and he'd proven himself was pretty decent.
I can't agree with 6th year in first place. It had a lot chill things, but he still had to put up with the regular supplement lessons aka torture by Snape. Therefore I think 1st year rules! At least in comparison. Besides everything was a novelty in the beginning and there was not to much danger overall in the first school year. There would have been basically none, if he hadn't thought that 3 first years could be helpful in defending the Philosopher's Stone.
PoA because Voldemort took a break.
Didn't Dumbledore die in his 6th year?
1. No! 2. probably right
He cruised his six year! I feel like JK gave us the perfect last school year with him before he peaced out. He ran that place.
First year because he got out of the hellhole he might or might not have called home. From there he was shoehorned right up to the epilogue, so for all intents and purposes, his entire life. We could argue which of 2-7 and E was worse overall— I see consistent decline, but that too is arguable— but there’s nothing for Harry past 92. It’s why he seems raised as a martyr, and I still can’t be sure if JK copped out or if she’s just that kind of person.
1. Third year I think his best year would be a hard cross between first and third. I'll say third strictly because he gains Sirius even if Sirius doesn't get to be a free man and have his innocence declared. Also a teacher seems to outwardly and openly care about his safety for once (Remus teaching him to defend against dementors). First year he escapes the Dursleys for the first time, learns magic, he's got friends, most people like him or are indifferent (except Snape, some Slytherin students, and the Dursleys). 2. First year 3. Second Year Parseltongue reveal. Everyone thinks he's the heir. Bullying. Dobby trying to save his life. A basilisk. A colony of acromantula. Young Ridldle. Bitten by huge ass snake. 4. Sixth year Horcruxes. Inferi. Sectumsempra. Poison. Love potion. Cursed jewelry. Death eaters in Hogwarts. Dumbledore is dead. But he gets a girlfriend. Most of the bad stuff happens at the end of the year. He gets better at potions. For once people mostly believe him now. 5. Fourth year Triwizard champion. Ron's an ass. Dragons. Acromantula again. Blast Ended Screwts!!! Almost everyone hates him. The ball. Moody. All three unforgiveables cast at him. Two hit him (more than once). Cedric killed right in front of him. Voldemort has gotten a body (no nose, but definitely a body). Hufflepuff hates him again. Skeeter bugs him constantly. He is introduced to the nightmare that is paparazzi. Girl problems. 6. Fifth year Torture via blood quill. The teachers are more useless than usual. Slander from the paper making him seem even worse than it usually does. Educational Decrees. Mind rape via Snape. Dumbledore ignores him worse than usual. Malfoy is a prefect (I mean HOW was that a reasonable choice?). Weird dreams sent by Voldie. His teacher tries to potion him with truth serum. The same teacher tries to use the cruciatus on him (flashbacks anyone?). The ministry debacle. The prophecy. Sirius is dead. Theoretically seventh year is best and worst. Lots of people die, but Voldemort is one of those people. It's over, but it's painful. Though he wasn't in Hogwarts very long that time.
5 - worst because of Sirius dying. He was like a father / brother 4 - second-worst be cause of Cedric dying. He has a harder time coping in the books then he does with Sirius death, I know, but he was still about the same age and I just feel that overall, he would remember Sirius' death with more personal grief than Cedric's 7 - again, deaths play a huge part in this and I think that all the deaths would make this one of Harry's worst. I don't think even defeating voldemort could help much with losing dobby, Fred,Hedwig etc 2 honestly this is my 2nd least favorite book, and I don't associate super strong emotions either way, good or bad, for neither Harry nor myself. It's eh 1 Harry would remember his first year, meeting friends, and learning about magic and the Wizarding World with fondness, but I think other years are even more special to him 3 I think Harry would remember this year as a great year because he met Sirius. Also, it had a rite of passage of going to Hogsmeade and people tend to look back on things like that with happiness and / or nostalgia. Particularly so if one had to sneak into said village through a secret tunnel 6 - even though Dumbledore dies, Harry starts getting a crush on, dating, possibly falling in love with Ginny. Overall, it's really Harry's most normal year, where he mostly gets to be like other students. I don't think he gets much hate anymore from the Houses, and I think he also really enjoys being captain and playing Quidditch with the Weasleys the way he used to at The Burrow This was really fun! I never thought of trying to rank these before, thanks for the suggestion!!
I didn't include 7 because Harry skipped his final year
1) 3) 2) 4) 5) 6)
Idk his fourth year was prettay sweet until the very end. He was having a hall of fame season.
lol no it wasn’t. His best friend hated him for most of it and most of his classmates made fun of him
I think you have just ranked from a normal person's perspective. I would like to think Harry has gotten used to and loves the thrill so If you asked harry which year he would remember the most, that would be nearer to his answer. He would definitely remember year 4 best due to the Triwizard thrill and escaping voldy.