Many fans of Harry Potter have noticed that the Gryffindors in the series get special treatment compared to the other houses. Of the four houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor both get the most favoritism from professors, but it’s the Grynffindors that are clearly Dumbledore’s favorite.
Seeing that this is the house he was in, it definitely comes off as very biased. While much of the favoritism is directed towards Harry, this isn’t always the case. Here are the ten times Dumbledore let the Gryffindors get away with murder.
LETTING HARRY JOIN THE QUIDDITCH TEAM
During Harry’s first year of Hogwarts, he shows that he’s quite a talented Quidditch player. While he has no practice in the sport, he has a lot of natural ability with riding a broom.
When McGonagall sees his skill when he fetches the Remembrall, she is able to get Dumbledore to bend the rules and allow Harry to join the team. It’s against the rules for a first-year to be on the house team, and it seems pretty unfair that an exception was made for Harry just because he was talented.
FRED AND GEORGE NEVER BEING EXPELLED
Some of the most egregious examples of Gryffindors getting away with things they should have to do with Harry, but this isn’t always true.
There are other Gryffindors who are known for breaking the rules that never get into too much trouble for it. Of all the troublemakers at Hogwarts, Fred and George are two of the worst. They are always breaking rules. While some of these things are harmless pranks, they also test products, including food that makes people sick, on other students. The fact that Dumbledore never intervenes is rather messed up.
LETTING HERMIONE BREAK THE RULES JUST BECAUSE SHE’S SMART
This is an overall example that applies to Dumbledore as well as some of the other professors. Hermione is definitely one of the smartest students at Hogwarts. She is a good student, and she generally cares about rules, except when it comes to what she feels is the right thing.
She breaks a variety of rules, including stealing from Snape’s stores and brewing Polyjuice Potion. It’s unlikely that Dumbledore didn’t know about a lot of this rule-breaking, yet Hermione never gets into trouble.
THE MARAUDER’S GETTING AWAY WITH BREAKING SO MANY RULES
Harry isn’t the first person in his family who got away with a ton of rule-breaking. Dumbledore was also the headmaster while James and his friends were at school.
The Marauders were known for breaking rules left and right and being rather arrogant about getting away with things. However, they never got in serious trouble, even for the time Sirius put Snape’s life at risk. It seems that Dumbledore has favored Gryffindor students for years.
HARRY NOT GETTING IN TROUBLE FOR USING SECTUMSEMPRA
When Harry uses the sectumsempra spell on Malfoy, he didn’t mean for it to be such an extreme curse. The fact he uses it without knowing what it does is pretty stupid in the first place.
But, the fact that it’s such a violent curse that almost leads to Malfoy’s death should have gotten Harry into more trouble. While he was given many detentions by Snape, it’s unlikely that Dumbledore didn’t hear about it from Snape or McGonagall. The fact that Harry never got in much trouble for this doesn’t make any sense.
WHEN HARRY AND RON BARELY GOT IN TROUBLE FOR FLYING THE FORD ANGLIA
Harry and Ron get into a lot of rule-breaking starting during their early years at Hogwarts. While they break a lot of little rules along the way, one of the most extreme things they do is to fly the Ford Anglia to Hogwarts.
They steal the car from Ron’s parents, and, worst of all, they end up being sighted by many Muggles. The fact that they aren’t expelled for this doesn’t make a lot of sense as they put the wizarding world at risk by being so reckless.
ALLOWING HERMIONE TO HAVE THE TIME TURNER
This is something that McGonagall is mostly in charge of orchestrating, but it’s clear that Dumbledore knew about it as well as he seems to know most about what goes on in the Potter universe. Dumbledore and McGonagall had to approve of Hermione using this and get permission from the Ministry of Magic.
It makes no sense that a 13-year-old would be given such a powerful and dangerous magical object to use just to take classes. This is a pretty extreme example of a Gryffindor student getting to bend the rules.
GIVING HARRY THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK
When Harry is in his first year of Hogwarts, Dumbledore does something that’s way out of line for a headmaster to do. He gives Harry the invisibility cloak that used to be his father’s.
While it technically was Harry’s to have, giving this item to an 11-year-old is rather dangerous. This cloak allowed Harry to break so many rules and get into a lot of trouble. It would have made more sense for Harry to have it when he got a little older.
THE TRIO BREAKING SO MANY RULES
Of all of the Gryririndors to be under Dumbledore’s care during the years, the ones he let get away with things the most were Harry, Ron, and Hermione. While this is concerning in and of itself, the reason Dumbledore lets them get away with so much is even worse.
It’s clear that he does this because he is using Harry all along, and it shows that he might not really care about Harry that much at all.
AWARDING GRYFFINDOR SO MANY HOUSE POINTS AT THE END OF HARRY’S FIRST YEAR
Of all the things that Dumbledore does to show favoritism toward the Gryffindors, this example is talked about the most. Instead of letting Slytherin win the House Cup, he gives Gryffindor a ton of points at the last minute.
Most of these points are awarded for things that really have nothing to do with being a student, so it doesn’t make sense that Dumbledore would give them points. It’s just an example of him favoring them and letting Harry get away with so much.
