Harry Potter might be the hero and main character of the Harry Potter series, but that doesn’t mean that he was always a perfect person. Harry was a complex character with a lot of strengths as well as a lot of flaws. While he might have always been trying to do the right thing and tried his best to help other people, there were some situations where he could be rather shameless. Whether it was related to breaking the rules or being emotionally immature, there were definitely times that Harry was brash and brazen.
Here are the ten most shameless things that Harry Potter ever did.
BEING AWFUL TO PARVATI PATIL AT THE YULE BALL
When Harry asked Parvati to the ball, it was as a second choice after Cho was already going with Cedric. While Harry was understandably bummed he couldn’t go with his crush, this didn’t mean he had to be a jerk to Parvati. He could have just enjoyed hanging out with her friends and at least acted like a decent date. Instead, he basically ignored her the whole time and spent most of the Yule Ball moping with Ron. The fact that Harry didn’t even seem to care how rude he was is also pretty shameless.
LASHING OUT AT RON AND HERMIONE
Harry is definitely not someone who is great at controlling his emotions. To be fair, a great deal of this is unsustainable, as he’s someone who has been through a lot of trauma and he’s only a teenager. He definitely needs help dealing with the things that have happened to him, but it’s still hard to watch him take things out on Ron and Hermione. This is especially the case in Order of the Phoenix where he often yells and gets angry at them for even small things.
NEVER TAKING HIS OWN SAFETY SERIOUSLY
While Harry definitely has many traits that make him a hero such, as courage and bravery, he’s not always the most logical about things. He often puts his own safety at risk in ways that don’t make sense, and he can be really reckless. While taking risks and having courage is important, he goes against the advice of those closest to him all the time, and he really doesn’t think or plan things through. Harry regularly puts his not only own life at risk, but the lives of others around him.
NOT TAKING OCCLUMENCY SERIOUSLY
This is one thing about Harry that’s extremely infuriating. While it’s understandable that he’s not thrilled about taking private lessons with Snape, he should take them seriously. It’s clear that having Voldemort inside Harry head is dangerous, and instead of learning to control and cut off that connection, he wants to keep it open. He goes against the advice of those wiser than him, and he never really learns Occlumency. It’s because of this that he falls right into Voldemort’s trap.
BEING A JERK TO CHO CHANG
This is another instance of Harry being unable to handle his emotions or really know how to deal with relationships. Given that he’s a teenager, it’s somewhat understandable, but, at the same time, his immaturity isn’t admirable. When Cho Chang is grieving the death of Cedric, Harry seems more bothered that Cho isn’t ready to leap into a romantic relationship and not have any hang-ups about Cedric anymore. This doesn’t even make sense, as Harry himself is also dealing with the trauma of Cedric’s death.
USING THE IMPERIUS CURSE
This is definitely one of the most controversial things that Harry does in the entire series. While he might be using the Imperius Curse in an attempt to do good, it’s definitely a slippery slope. When he uses the Imperius Curse in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it’s also not the first time he’s used an Unforgivable Curse. He also attempts to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix after she kills Sirius.
USING SECTUMSEMPRA
This is another example from the Harry Potter series of Harry being extremely reckless and not thinking things through. When he and Malfoy get into a duel in the bathroom, Harry uses a spell from the Half-Blood Prince book that has been labeled as for enemies. He doesn’t have any idea what this spell does or how severe it is, and he just brazenly uses it anyway. This kind of shameless reactionary fighting is definitely an issue and shows that he’s not always very smart about making decisions.
GETTING MAD AT HERMIONE ABOUT THE FIREBOLT
It’s really a shame how often Hermione gets made out to be the bad guy by Harry and Ron when she is often being the more logical, responsible one. When Harry gets sent the Firebolt in the books, Hermione is worried that it might have come from Sirius Black. In an attempt to keep Harry safe, she tells McGonagall, who takes the broom to check for hexes. Harry gets extremely mad at Hermione even though she’s the only one using her head in this situation.
BREAKING RULES ALL OF THE TIME
While there are definitely some times where it makes sense that Harry would break the rules, he has a huge disregard for them in a way that’s kind of annoying. While breaking the rules to try and save someone’s life or keep Voldemort from coming to power is definitely excusable, Harry definitely has the attitude of being above the rules. This is why he does things like sneak into Hogsmeade. While a lot of his rule-breaking might make sense, his attitude that he can break rules all the time is definitely shameless.
BEING HOTHEADED AND IRRATIONAL SO MUCH OF THE TIME
Overall, the most shameless thing about Harry is that he’s extremely hot-tempered and makes so many decisions rather emotionally. He doesn’t think things through, and he tries to always act on instinct. While this does go well for him much of the time, it doesn’t always. Luckily, he has friends like Hermione who think about the rational things. One example of this is when Harry doesn’t have any plans or organization in place for how to get the Horcruxes and instead has to rely on all the prep work that Hermione did.
