Harry Potter might be the hero of the incredibly popular franchise, with the young wizard being the person that is seen as the ultimate good character in the movies and is the one wizard responsible for defeating the Dark Lord.
While Harry Potter is considered to be a major icon and a hero to many fans of the books and films, that doesn’t mean that he is a perfect human being with absolutely no flaws, as that would have made him a very one-dimensional character. In actual fact, Harry does make many mistakes over the course of his journey and he does make some questionable choices, and within this article, we will take a look at 10 of the worst things Harry himself ever did.
Blowing Up Aunt Marge
We will start off with one that most fans actually enjoyed, despite the fact it is one of the worst things he does throughout the movies, which is when he decided to blow up his Aunt Marge. Even though it was funny, and the Dursley’s are the worst, it still wasn’t a great thing of him to do.
Aunt Marge wasn’t a nice person, which is what makes this forgivable, but at the same time, she was an innocent muggle who experienced magic for the first time, which is something Harry knew all too well he shouldn’t have done. This is behavior that is expected of a Slytherin, which is one of the reasons why the Sorting Hat attempts to put him there first, as he does have those tendencies at times.
Lashing Out At Ron
Harry and Ron have quite a combustible friendship in the sense that they do like an argument, and that is never more clear than in Deathly Hallows, where the pair argue so much that it actually causes Ron to leave them.
While both men end up crossing the line during this whole situation, with Hermione firmly left in the middle, they cut deep at each other’s flaws and don’t hold back in their assessment of one another, taking their arguments to levels that hadn’t been seen before.
Issues With His Son
While this doesn’t take place in the movies it is one of the worst things that Harry ends up doing, with this moment happening in the play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, where he begins to have a rift with his middle son, Albus.
After he is sorted into Slytherin and becomes friends with Scorpius Malfoy, Harry has a problem connecting with him, with this issue being the central focus of the entire play as Harry tries to deal with the situation as best he can. They constantly fight and argue as Harry fails to be a good dad, eventually telling Albus that he wished he wasn’t his son.
Sneaking Around
Harry Potter uses the invisibility cloak to his advantage countless times throughout the series, and although its purpose is very much to not get caught, the fact that Harry spends such a lot of his time sneaking around isn’t a great characteristic.
Even though Harry uses the cloak for the greater good, trying to locate things or find out information that will help him on a quest, that doesn’t necessarily make it the right thing to do. The fact that Harry isn’t talented enough or smart enough to get the answers without sneaking around Hogwarts isn’t a good sign for him, and considering nobody else has this advantage, it isn’t fair either.
The Yule Ball
So, let’s be honest here, Harry Potter is a total jerk during the Yule Ball, showing a side to his personality that hadn’t been shown until that point, which left some fans upset with the character. Not only did he and Ron treat their dates, Parvati and Padma terribly, but they also treated Hermione horribly as well.
In what is meant to be an amazing evening for all the women of Hogwarts, Harry, who is one of the Triwizard Tournament stars, manages to ruin it for three separate people, with Ginny Weasley also not being too pleased with them. While you could put it down to the stress he is under from the tournament, his actions during the Yule Ball are poor, and it is one of his worst moments as a character.
His Sulking
Harry Potter does have a lot of pressure on him during his time at Hogwarts, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he can be very sulky and moody to most of his friends throughout the series, which is highlighted in the fifth movie.
While he might not like the idea of being placed with the Dursleys, after all, who would? But that is the best place for him, and Ron and Hermione were told to not speak to him much, which he should really have understood. Instead, Harry acted like a child and sulked around, which isn’t exactly something you would expect a hero to do, but that is exactly what he does, even with Dumbledore.
Reading Snape’s Mind
During the Occlumency lessons that Harry Potter has with Professor Snape, which are set to help him prepare for his mental battles with Voldermort, Harry makes the decision to not only ignore him (which we will come on to) but also to do one of the worst things he has ever done.
Harry decides to go all out and use the lessons against Snape, taking a look at his own memories which ends up backfiring on him as he learns that his own father had a cruel nature as well and actually bullied Snape as a child. Even though the moment does go against him as he learns something he wishes he hadn’t, it still wasn’t great when Snape was actually trying to help him that Harry decided to try and hurt him.
Unforgivable Curses
In the wizarding world, using an unforgivable curse is a major sin, as they shouldn’t be used in any circumstances, which is why they’re typically used by dark wizards such as Voldermort and Bellatrix Lestrange.
However, Harry Potter himself uses an unforgivable curse not just once, but twice throughout the movies. First, he uses the Imperius Curse on Bogrod and Travers during the Gringotts Heist, even though if he got it wrong it would have destroyed their minds. The second time sees him use Crucio, and even though he admits he didn’t mean to use it, the fact he has done it twice doesn’t exactly scream hero, does it?
Ignoring Snape’s Lessons
While it is obvious to see why Harry Potter doesn’t want to listen to Professor Snape’s Occlumency lessons due to their bad blood, you would think Dumbledore insisting he did them would be a wake-up call for their importance.
However, Harry, thinking he knows best opts to spy on some of Snape’s most personal moments here, sabotaging them and not concentrating which allows Voldermort to trap him in the Department Of Mysteries. This leads to a series of events that is culminated by the death of Sirius Black. Harry’s only real family member dying is a major moment for him and the story in general, and while he wasn’t overly responsible for his death, had he paid attention to Snape, it could have been avoided.
Sectumsempra
Earlier in the list, we mentioned the unforgivable curses and how they should never be used, but at least Harry was aware of what they were. When he decides to bust out the Sectumsempra spell, he has no clue what is about to happen, as he just found it written in a book.
He uses the spell on Draco Malfoy and almost kills him instantly, with Draco being left to bleed out, with the only reason he survived is that he managed to get medical assistance. The fact that Harry would be so ruthless and careless is a clear sign that he didn’t care about Draco’s well-being and actually wanted to seriously hurt or kill him, making this the worst thing that he has ever done.
