History Literature / HarryPotter

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild''

!!Tropes specific to books, other media, and characters in the series:

* [[Film/HarryPotter The Movies]]
* [[VideoGame/HarryPotter The Video Games]]
* [[Characters/HarryPotter Characters]]
** Characters/HarryPotterTheTrio
** Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsStudents
** Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsTeachers
** Characters/HarryPotterMinistryOfMagic
** Characters/HarryPotterOrderOfThePhoenixMembers
** Characters/HarryPotterDeathEaters
** Characters/HarryPotterMuggles
** Characters/HarryPotterGhosts
** Characters/HarryPotterOtherCharacters
* [[Recap/HarryPotter Chapter Recaps]]

A series of seven children's and young adult novels by Creator/JKRowling, starting off in the late [[TheNineties 1990s]]. Blending fantasy with the nearly extinct British BoardingSchool genre, it was the debut work of Rowling, an ex-schoolteacher. Needless to say, there is [[Franchise/HarryPotter a multimedia franchise]] revolving around them, consisting of [[Film/HarryPotter a series of films]], [[VideoGame/HarryPotter video games]] and various other merchandising tie-ins, but at the heart of it are the books.

%%
%% This page is really long. Please only add more tropes here if they can't be easily made to fit on the character sheet (which is inherently better-organized) or the page for one of the individual books (which are a lot shorter).
%%
%% This is especially true for tropes that pertain to a only single book or character, which should be moved to that subject. For the most part, series tropes (such as EarnYourHappyEnding) or tropes spanning the entire series (Or at least most of it) belong here.
%%

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A]]
* AbusiveParents: Although not his biological parents, the treatment Harry receives from Petunia and [[EvilUncle Vernon]] Dursley is nothing shy of abusive.
* AcademyOfAdventure: Given that Hogwarts is not only a school, but where most of the most powerful and influential wizards and the most ancient secrets make their home, this is to be expected.
* AcheyScars: Harry's lightning-bolt scar, though [[spoiler:the pains go away after Voldemort's death.]]
* ActionGirl: Hermione, especially in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' and ''Deathly Hallows''. Tonks, Luna, Ginny, and even [=McGonagall=] also fall into this trope. For the most part, this is more extreme in the films. Particularly with Hermione, otherwise known as the [[MightyMorphinPowerRangers Pink Granger]].
** DarkActionGirl: Bellatrix Lestrange
** Overall, the series has managed a nice balance of male badasses with the female badasses, such that even the most innocuous character can be a badass when the time calls for it.
* AdoringThePests: The Weasley family adopts a rat named Scabbers, whom they thought was a wild rat at the time. [[spoiler:Turns out it was really a [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shape-shifted]] form of Peter Pettigrew.)]]
* {{Adorkable}}: Luna, and maybe Neville if you count him as a geek. Ron is sometimes seen as this too.
* AdultFear: This series, despite being [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids aimed at children]], has ''plenty'' of moments that scare the parents more than the kids, and a lot of them have to do with child abuse, ParentalAbandonment, and not being able to protect or take care of your own children. Most of this probably came from Rowling's own fears as a mother (and especially as a single mother, having broken off an ''abusive'' marriage).
* AerithAndBob: The "Muggle" first names range from Dudley to Hermione; the wizarding ones, from George to [[MeaningfulName Xenophilius]]. All in the UK. Same with the wizarding last names, which range from Potter and Black to Slytherin and Dumbledore. The old pureblood families are usually the ones to have the strangest names and they also tend to have themed names. For example, the Black family and their various offshoots named their children after constellations and stars.
* AfterActionPatchup: They land in the infirmary for treatment frequently. It's often where the post-action discussion takes place.
* AfterSchoolCleaningDuty: This is often given as a detention at Hogwarts. There is usually a requirement that the cleaning must be performed without magic.
* AgonyBeam: The Cruciatus curse.
* AgonyOfTheFeet: In all seven books to all three main characters. Shocking.
* AllCrimesAreEqual: How the House "points" system at Hogwarts works. Later, we discover that this is how the Ministry of Magic treats "crime" in general. There appears to be only one wizard jail for UK wizards to go to. The very act of just being there is severe psychological torture, as every happy, positive thought you've ever had is forcibly removed from you, leaving you with nothing but the worst memories of your life. You even forget that this might end. Any crime that merits more than a fine warrants Azkaban. And it's even used for preventative detention of suspects.
*** Wizards in this world are in hiding, and know they are dangerous to the general Muggle population. In most universes where this is the case of the "protagonists", punishment for potentially "rending the Veil" can be very harsh.
* AllergicToEvil: Harry's scar burns when Voldemort is feeling strong emotions and/or killing someone -- or nearby.
* AlliterativeFamily: Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana Dumbledore. Marvolo, Morfin, and Merope Gaunt. Padma and Parvati Patil.
* AlliterativeList: The Three "D"s of Apparition: Destination, Determination and Deliberation.
* AlliterativeName: Cho Chang, Colin Creevey, Dudley Dursley, Filius Flitwick, Gregory Goyle, Luna Lovegood, Minerva [=McGonagall=], Pansy Parkinson, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, Peter Pettigrew, Piers Polkiss, Poppy Pomfrey, Severus Snape, William (Bill) Weasley, Nearly-Headless Nick, The Fat Friar, The Bloody Baron, and Moaning Myrtle appear in the current time whereas the backstory has the four founders of Hogwarts: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Some creatures have them, like the Hungarian Horntail and Peeves the Poltergeist, and Quidditch teams also have alliterative names (Tutshill Tornadoes, Chudley Cannons, Appleby Arrows, Ballycastle Bats, Caerphilly Catapults, Falmouth Falcons, Holyhead Harpies, Kenmare Kestrels, Montrose Magpies, Pride of Portree, Wigtown Wanderers, Wimbourne Wasps, to name just the ones from the UK[[note]]Kenmare is actually in Ireland. Irish people can get quite [[TheTroubles annoyed]] with people telling them they're British. There are 4 different Ballycastles in Ireland, but 3 of them are in StrokeCountry, so the Bats are most likely British[[/note]] .)
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: In book 1, Harry is hated near the end for helping his house lose 150 points. In book 2, Harry is hated because his fellow students think he's attacking them. In book 4, Harry is hated because his fellow students think he sneaked his way into the Triwizard Tournament. In book 5, Harry is hated because almost all the students think he's an attention-seeking brat. In book 7, Harry is labeled "Undesirable No. 1" by the government.
* AllThereInTheManual: [[http://www.pottermore.com/ Pottermore]]is a hotbed of information barely even alluded to in the actual books.
* AllWitchesHaveCats: A cat is one of the animals which wizarding students can bring as a pet to Hogwarts. In this case the cats are merely pets, not familiars. A Witch and teacher, Professor [=McGonagall=], can turn into a cat. Both Hermione and Umbridge own cats, the latter of whom doubles as a CrazyCatLady. There is also a CrazyCatLady who lives near the Dursleys [[spoiler:who turns out to be a Squib (a non-magical person born to two magical parents).]] In an interesting subversion, the only cat in the series that acts like a witch's familiar belongs to the one non-magical person at Hogwarts, Filch.
* AlternateDVDCommentary: No, this doesn't go on the Film page -- ''Blog/MarkReadsHarryPotter'', reviewing the books a chapter at a time. It's genuinely hilarious and does very well to remind us all what it was like to read the books for the first time.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: The Weasley and Patil twins, though the Patils [[AvertedTrope avert]] this in the movies.
* AlwaysLawfulGood: Gryffindor House, with one or two very minor exceptions. Even a rumor that Godric Gryffindor may have come to his famous sword by doubtful means is dispelled in Pottermore.
** The one major exception to the above is, of course, [[spoiler:Peter Pettigrew]].
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Snape. He's a deeply unpleasant fellow with an extremely transparent bias in favor of the Slytherin house (a House which is ''not'' seen in a positive light, see AmbitionIsEvil below.) He also has an intense dislike of Harry Potter (which turns out to be not only for somewhat complicated reasons, but [[spoiler: is also tempered with an odd sense of loyalty and protectiveness]]) This results in Harry and friends swiftly jumping to the conclusion that Snape is one of the bad guys, ''especially'' in ''The Philosopher's Stone'', ''The Chamber of Secrets'', ''The Half-Blood Prince'', and ''The Deathly Hallows'' (and they don't really trust him in the slightest in ''The Prisoner of Azkaban'' or ''The Order of the Phoenix'', either.) ''The Goblet of Fire'' is the only book in the series that ''doesn't'' seem to go out of its way to villify Snape in some fashion, at least in Harry's eyes. It doesn't help that the events of the books have a knack for making you think that Harry's suspicions might be well-founded, at least until TheReveal at the very end. [[spoiler:This comes to a head in ''The Deathly Hallows'', in which Snape has pulled an apparent full-blown FaceHeelTurn by returning to the service of the Death Eaters. However, in the very end of the book, as he lies dying, he gives Harry his memories, revealing that his murder of Dumbledore was in fact a MercyKill, and [[ReverseMole he's been on Dumbledore's side the entire time]].]]
* AmbitionIsEvil: The usual trait of those put in Slytherin House. Some fans argue this is less about ambition being bad than about the serious lack of high-profile "good" House members.
** This is however a general theme, in that many wizards put ambition over family, friends and morality. Dumbledore [[spoiler:was frustrated by SmallTimeBoredom because he felt that his ambitions were thwarted by being Arianna's caretaker. He eventually comes to realize that the more humble Aberforth was the better man and likewise moderates to a life of service, leaving behind a great legacy of magical and social achievements]].
** Tom Riddle is essentially the picture of this trope, sacrificing his humanity and conscience for becoming the "most feared wizard of his age". He succeeds but [[spoiler:in the end, becomes a shell of a man and ends up in limbo. In the end, people stop being afraid of him as well]].
** Severus Snape wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted [[spoiler:to become a great wizard, rise high in Voldemort's favour and become a major Death Eater. But he also wanted to gain Lily's love at the same time. Eventually he spends most of his life in a job he hates, serving as a DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent and using his considerable skills to serve Dumbledore's ZeroApprovalGambit]].
** Dumbledore argues that Harry is himself the true aversion in that he isn't tempted by power at all. [[spoiler:Likewise Hermione despite being highly knowledable about magic wants to improve the lot of the less fortunate and help other people. Ron is also tempted by ambition but ultimately comes to terms with valuing himself in comparison to his more talented brothers and friends]].
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: A house-elf is freed from its master if it is given an article of clothing, which is actually sort of [[InvertedTrope an inversion]]; the clothing itself isn't the reward (at least, not the ''only'' reward), but rather a symbol ''of'' the reward.
** Even more an InvertedTrope, clothing is most often seen as an extreme form of ''punishment''. To be given clothes and set free means to be without a master and a family, and the lowest moment for a House Elf. Dobby, the most openly Free Elf seen in the books, is often looked at with absolute shame by other elves, and treated with sheer contempt when discussing the topic of ''wages''.
* AnimateDead: Inferi, first mentioned in ''Order of the Phoenix''.
* AnimalMotifs: An Animagus's animal form generally fits their personality. J.K. Rowling has also stated that Animagi don't get to choose what animal they turn into.
* {{Animorphism}}: Animagi are witches and wizards that can transform into an animal at will.
* AnonymousBenefactor: Harry has at least four through the course of the series: [[spoiler:Dumbledore gives him the invisibility cloak. Sirius gives him a Firebolt. Barty Crouch is a malicious benefactor who helps Harry by proxy. Snape leaves the Sword of Gryffindor in the woods for him to find.]]
* AnyoneCanDie:
** Not so much in the earlier books, but after ''Goblet of Fire'', all bets are off. By the time book seven was announced, and Rowling herself stoked the fires by claiming that more people ''would die'', entire websites were devoted to betting on which major characters were going to bite the big one, including the three main characters.
** Professional betting odds establishments made a fortune on the last two books. [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/08/books.harrypotter One professional bookmaker lost over 60,000 pounds on the outcome of the last book]] because [[spoiler:Harry both died and didn't die]], and he ended up having to pay ''everyone''.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Luna Lovegood is constantly going on about the bizarre magical creatures her father writes about in his magazine. Even in a world where there's magic, dragons and the like, hardly anyone else believes they exist.
* ArcNumber: The number seven [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Seven comes up numerous times throughout the series]].
* ArchEnemy: Harry and Voldemort.
%%* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving
* TheArtifact: The House Point system is this. In the first book, winning the House cup was serious business, but as the war against Voldemort gets more prominent the House Cup fades into the background. In Harry's last few years at Hogwarts, it isn't even mentioned who won at all.
* ArtifactOfDeath: Several: [[spoiler:Riddle's diary, the Elder Wand, and Marvolo Gaunt's ring. The latter includes a ''literal'' ArtifactOfDeath.]]
* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: The ceiling of Hogwarts' Great Hall is enchanted to always correspond with the weather outside.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
** "[[http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-wilkins01.shtml Magic is a dominant and resilient gene.]]" Given the number of wizards born to Muggle parents (and the extreme rarity of the reverse), this blatantly flies in the face of middle school genetics. You could say that AWizardDidIt (it ''is'' magic, after all), but a better explanation would perhaps be that magic is ''recessive'' and that squibs have mutations that block or repress the magic gene.
** Both [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone the book]] and [[Film/HarryPotter movie]] of ''Philosopher's Stone'' feature a snake that winks at Harry. Snakes can't wink or blink because they don't have eyelids, but they ''do'' have a translucent retractable lens called a nictitating membrane, sometimes referred to as a "third eyelid". This fulfills much the same purpose as eyelids do while letting snakes see.
%%* {{Asshole Victim}}s: The Riddles.
* AudienceShift: As Harry and the original audience grew older, the maturity level of the books "grew" as well, making it so that whereas the early books are straight children's literature, the later ones fall more into the YA genre. Though it will be tricky for future generations of Potter fans, it makes sense when you realize the series took over a decade to be released in full; the 10-year olds who were reading ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' in 1997 were 20-year olds by the time they were reading ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' in 2007.
* AuthorAvatar: Hermione is, by Creator/JKRowling's own admission, an exaggeration of herself when she was younger. Rowling says she was a bit of an InsufferableGenius in her younger days but [[DefrostingIceQueen gradually mellowed out]], much as Hermione does over the course of the series (this may be why, of all the young performers in the ''Potter'' movies, Rowling is closest to Creator/EmmaWatson). Rowling has admitted that each of the three main characters are aspects of herself.
* AwesomeButImpractical: [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Animagus]] transformation is largely considered more trouble than it's worth. To begin with, it's a particularly difficult branch of the already particularly difficult art of Transfiguration, and the consequences of botching the job are said to be disastrous. Even when carried out successfully, one is instantly labelled a criminal unless one gives full public disclosure of one's skill and animal form to the government to prevent misuse, which rather jives with the fact that stealth and inconspicuousness are the skill's main use. Even with all this, the form taken by the Animagus is fixed and determined by their personality, so they can easily end up with a useless conspicuous form for all their trouble. Cats, dogs and beetles? Useful and mundane-looking in any backdrop. Huge deer? Not so much.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: A couple stand out, but '''Kingsley Shacklebolt''' wins the prize.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* BadPowersBadPeople:
** DoubleSubverted: Parseltongue is usually an ability only found in evil wizards. Harry is good and runs into trouble when people assume he's bad because he possesses it. [[spoiler:It turns out in the last book that the reason Harry has it is because it belongs to Voldemort, who gave him the ability when he accidentally turned Harry into a sixth Horcrux. And when Harry loses the fragment of Voldemort's soul residing in his body, he supposedly loses the ability with it.]]
** To some degree it's debatable how much it's true that only those born with Parseltongue can speak it. Dumbledore is able to understand it without being able to speak it; Ron can speak it (by imitating Harry) without understanding it. If those who aren't born Parselmouths can do each one individually, it's reasonable to assume that someone might eventually figure out how to do both.
*** But not many wizards would likely bother with such study, as most humans don't think snakes would be worth conversing with.
** Perhaps played straight as well with Dumbledore. In the first book, [=McGonagall=] suggests that Dumbledore could do everything [[BigBad Voldemort]] was capable of if he were less noble. (Whether this means that Dumbledore ''can't'' do them or simply ''wouldn't'' is not answered.) For starters, Dumbledore knows Parseltongue; he can't speak it because he wasn't born with it, but he can understand it. Likewise, in the seventh book, Voldemort states that what he will achieve could have been Dumbledore's, implying that Dumbledore could have been as "great" if he weren't such a sentimental old fool.
* BadassAdorable:
** [[LittleMissBadass Ginny]], and Luna.
** Harry, Hermione, and Ron themselves arguably qualify as well in earlier installments. Especially Hermione.
* BadassBookworm: Several, but primarily [[TheSmartGuy Hermione]], Lupin, and, most of all, [[TheChessmaster Dumbledore]].
** Snape would also appear to count, going so far as to have made dozens of corrections and improvements in his potions text. Note that he did this while still a student, showing ingenuity, creativity, and ability beyond even a master Potions-brewer-cum-author.
* BadassCrew: Dumbledore's Army
* BadassFamily: The Weasley siblings already include a curse-breaker, a dragon rancher, and a prefect when the books begin, and ''all'' of them go on to be successful in various fields. And let it be put on record that [[MamaBear the matriarch]] of this family, Molly, [[spoiler:kills [[TheDragon Bellatrix]], who is the second most powerful Death Eater after Voldemort himself.]] The fact that they happen to be close friends of Harry Potter (who himself is considered a member of the family, in more ways than one) certainly helps.
* BadassGrandpa: Dumbledore, full stop.
* BadassTeacher: Moody, [=McGonagall=], Snape, Lupin, and Slughorn.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Ghosts are people who either refused or were too scared to accept death and move on. Apparently, there's no take-backs later on if you change your mind.
* BatmanGambit:
** [[BigBad Voldemort's]] plan in the ''Half-Blood Prince''.
** Much of Dumbledore's [[TheChessmaster extensive]] plan for the year following [[spoiler:his death]] as explained to Harry at the end of ''Deathly Hallows'' was based on how he expected Harry, Ron, and Hermione to act.
* BattleCouple: Many. Examples include [[spoiler:Lupin and Tonks, Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione]], and Arthur and Molly.
* BeamOWar: Spells have been known to clash and cancel each other out, though there's at least one instance of two characters firing spells at each other where the beams hit each other and ricochet off at angles, each hitting the person standing right next to the intended target.
** ''Priori Incatatem'', the current image for the trope page, is a magical phenomenon known exactly for this. It occurs when two wands which share the same (or directly related) Cores are used against one another in combat. The wizards involved are surrounded by golden light as their wands connect by a partially tangible golden thread, and the two have a more internal battle of will and determination.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. [[TheHero Harry's]] destiny is self-fulfilling precisely because Voldemort ''insists'' on fulfilling it. Dumbledore suggests that not all prophecies must be fulfilled.
%%* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: The series upgrades a few historical characters to "real" wizards.
* BerserkButton:
--> '''Hagrid:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis NEVER -- INSULT -- ALBUS DUMBLEDORE -- IN FRONT OF ME!]]
** Hurting Harry or any of his furry friends will get Hagrid very angry. When Fang gets hit by a spell, Hagrid hurls the perpetrator ten feet in the air.
** Harry doesn't take kindly to willing parental abandonment, given his experiences as an orphan. He flips out a bit on [[spoiler:Lupin]] when the latter discusses leaving his wife and newborn son.
** Harry also doesn't like to be left out of things, going into [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqelinjo1r1qkvd9to1_500.jpg ALL-CAPS RAGE]] because he got stuck at the Dursleys' while Ron and Hermione got to hang out with the Order at Grimmauld Place.
** Dumbledore will kindly accept horrible slurs against him and remains civil to his enemies even when dueling them, but reacts furiously if any of his students are threatened. The one time Harry manages to get Dumbledore mad at him is when he accuses Dumbledore of not taking the students' safety seriously.
** Dobby is fiercely protective over Harry ever since Harry freed him and his trademark is "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" He is so devoted to Harry that he [[spoiler:risks his life (and loses it) for Harry and the others to escape the Malfoys' manor.]]
---> "Kreacher will not insult Harry Potter in front of Dobby! No he won't! Or Dobby will shut Kreacher's mouth for him!"
** Ron bickers and argues with Hermione in a BelligerentSexualTension style but if anyone else goes after her, all bets are off.
** Neville flips out when Malfoy says they should send Harry to St. Mungo's as they have special floor for people with brain damage. Considering what happened to Neville's parents, this is understandable. Any mention of Neville's parents in a negative light will result in a beatdown that even Death Eaters didn't expect.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Quite a long list, though three names stand out as particularly notable examples.
** Luna "Loony" Lovegood, who, similar to her namesake, is... eccentric, something that she gets from her father. Despite her pacifistic nature, she proves herself repeatedly as a very capable witch.
** Molly Weasley of the "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" fame. She's been described as being a short, portly, and very "motherly" type of woman with an extremely kind nature. However, if you fuck with ANYONE she cares about, watch out.
** Neville Longbottom is more of a "grew into it" type. Early in the books, he was TheDitz and MommasBoy and was frequently picked on because of these traits. However, by ''Order of the Phoenix'' his testosterone levels skyrocketed and he TookALevelInBadass, becoming a capable wizard in the process. His best and brightest moment/[=CMoA=] is the entirety of book 7 (much of which unfortunately falls into NoodleIncident territory and is told by secondhand accounts) as he [[spoiler:becomes the ''de facto'' leader of Dumbledore's Army, outright resists everyone who's taken over the school at every turn, defends as many people as he can, and proves instrumental in the final battle by destroying Nagini, the seventh horcrux, on top of fighting in and surviving the final battle.]] In short, after book 5, this guy will trounce your sorry ass if you mess with him.
* BigBad: Voldemort. Harry's nemesis, Dark Lord, leader of the Death Eaters, and the initiator of two Wizarding Wars. Almost everything bad that has happened from the past 50 years to the Wizarding World can be traced back to him in some way.
* BigGood:
** Most obviously Albus Dumbledore at the start. Head of the school, known as the most powerful wizard of the age and the only one [[BigBad Voldemort]] ever feared, and an important mentor figure.
** Harry himself in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. Even though he does not exactly lead anyone, he continues to inspire hope and is a rallying point for the students of Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Army, and the Order of the Phoenix. In the practical sense, however, [[spoiler:Moody and, after ''he'' dies, Kingsley]] seem to be Dumbledore's designated successors.
** Off-screen, [[spoiler:Neville]] is this for Hogwarts during ''Deathly Hallows'': it's implied by the way he talks that he stood up and took a lot of crap so the other students wouldn't have to, he was the only leader of the DA to remain at school for the entire year, and during the Second Battle of Hogwarts he's explicitly shown leading an attempt to ''kill Death Eaters en masse'' using Mandrakes.
** Professor [=McGonagall=] also serves as a Big Good at Hogwarts in Dumbledore's absence: she protects the students from the sadistic Carrows, overthrows Snape, and leads the resistance against Voldemort when Harry returns.
%%* BigLabyrinthineBuilding: Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
* BilingualBonus: The Latin. For example, "Expecto Patronum" is the CORRECT Latin form.
%%* BitchInSheepsClothing: Quirrell and Umbridge. The latter is arguably the queen of this trope.
* BittersweetEnding: ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. Even though [[spoiler:Sirius manages to convince Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and even ''Snape'' of his innocence, Wormtail still gets away, preventing Sirius's true exoneration before the Ministry and eventually bringing about Voldemort's resurrection a year later. And the only good and skilled Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher quits to avoid being fired after Snape reveals that he's a werewolf.]]
** ''Deathly Hallows''. Even though [[spoiler:Voldemort is finally dead, and most of the Death Eaters are killed or captured, Hedwig, Moody, Dobby, Colin, Fred, Lupin, and Tonks all died in the process.]]
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The series starts out this way. Dumbledore is the BigGood, Harry and his friends are the heroes, the other students are generally nice except for the Slytherins, and Voldemort is the BigBad. As the series goes on, it adds more and more shades of gray with turncoats on both sides, a corrupt government opposing Voldemort, heroes [[PayEvilUntoEvil paying evil unto evil]], and Harry discovering that his father and Dumbledore have... complicated backstories.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Played with. The Ministry of Magic is definitely gray; although they're much better than the Death Eaters, they have more than their share of [[TheQuisling Quislings]], {{Fantastic Racis|m}}ts, and {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s. Harry and his friends/family are more on the unblemished side, but not entirely.
** Harry occasionally slips towards this in battle; when crossed or when his friends are threatened, Harry can become quite pitiless, instinctively resorting to the nastiest/most powerful curses he can think of (save ''[[InstantDeathBullet Avada Kedavra]]''). He even casts [[spoiler:''[[AgonyBeam the Cruciatus Curse]]'']] at a few points (though he never uses it very effectively; as Bellatrix explains [[spoiler:after he tries it on her]], in order to cast an Unforgivable Curse successfully you have to ''really'' want to [[KickTheDog go through with it]]--the one time Harry does the spell properly, [[KickTheSonOfABitch he really does mean it]]).
* BlackCloak: Death Eaters wear them. Dementors wear them. The Hogwarts school uniform includes black robes.
* BlackSheep:
** Sirius and Andromeda to the Black family. Considering that the family is evil as a whole, this makes them WhiteSheep.
** Percy is the only member of the Weasley family who is not friendly and outgoing.
* BlackSpeech: [[SssnakeTalk Parseltongue]] is regarded as this in-universe, as pointed out above.
* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: The ''Expelliarmus'' spell, which is intended for exactly this purpose. Amusingly, the spell seems capable of disarming a person of anything, whether it's a weapon or a book.
* BlondGuysAreEvil: Played straight with Draco and Lucius Malfoy, Barty Crouch Jr., Dudley Dursley, and Gilderoy Lockhart. Averted with Ernie Macmillan.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: In the books, if you pool the main and beta trios, you get one of each gender -- Neville (whom JKR once stated she pictured as a blond) and Luna the blondes, Harry and Hermione the brunettes, and Ron and Ginny the redheads.
* BloodlessCarnage: ''Avada Kedavra's'' lack of leaving physical injuries on bodies provides a convenient excuse for not describing much blood and gore, so most deaths in the series play this straight because they are bloodless and painless. That said, there ''are'' spells for dismembering, and they can get bloody indeed.
%%* TheBoardGame: Yes, and there's even been more than one.
* BoardingSchool: But also...
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: At times, Hogwarts can be quite a dangerous place. Made obvious when, on Harry's ''first day'' at school, there's an announcement to the student body to please not enter the third floor corridor unless you want to die horribly.
** It has been this in the past as well: In an early book Filch talks about how they used to string students up. In book 4, Moody is admonished for punishing a student with transfiguration, but the scolding implies it was allowed at one time.
** This is in no small part due to the inherent dangers of practicing magic. Many spells can be very dangerous, especially in the hands of someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
** Hogwarts becomes this full-time when [[spoiler:Umbridge, and later Voldemort, take over. ''Deathly Hallows'' goes out of its way to explain how horrible it's become by saying that some prefects used the Cruciatus curse on ''first years'' (about 11 years old) for refusing to use it themselves in the now-mandatory Dark Arts class.]]
* BondVillainStupidity: Massive amounts from Voldemort, who does many things that the EvilOverlordList advises you not to do. Probably more a case of SanityHasAdvantages than anything else.
** Mentioned frequently by Dumbledore, that [[spoiler:Tom Riddle]][=/=]Voldemort never bothered to study those powers he ''already considered useless'', meaning Voldemort's plans could always be defeated by such "trivial" things as Love.
** He did follow the EvilOverlordList's suggestion to [[spoiler:leave (one of) the [[SoulJar item(s) that is the source of his power and his greatest weakness]] in his safe deposit box instead of a dungeon (well, somebody else's safe deposit box), but that doesn't stop the heroes from stealing it anyway.]]
** He also followed #101, by not delegating away the task of killing "the infant who is destined to overthrow [him]", but trying to kill Harry himself. [[NiceJobBreakingItHerod That worked]] [[SarcasmMode rather brilliantly.]]
** In perhaps his final big villain stupidity moment, he [[spoiler: makes one of his lackeys check to see if Harry is dead, not doing it himself or using a messy non-magic way of ensuring his greatest opponent remains dead]]. Of course, he's physically exhausted from the backlash of his curse, so he can't well do it himself.
* BookDumb: Ron and Harry really aren't diligent students, though when they ''do'' try they prove to be quite adept. Fred and George are even worse academically, but they're experts in magical joke item inventions, which eventually gets them far in the business world.
** A case could be made for Harry that he isn't this trope. Or at least that he plays with this trope. Harry has shown a particular knack and affinity for the D.A.D.A (Defense Against the Dark Arts) skills, which is then compounded by him actually utilizing these skills a lot in the real world, giving him experience to boot.
* BookEnds:
** Harry's life with the Dursleys. When he was one, having recently lost his parents and disembodied Voldemort, Hagrid brings him to Privet Drive riding Sirius' magical motorcycle. When he is about to become seventeen, with the magical protections about to fall, Hagrid is the one that carries Harry out of Privet Drive on the same motorcycle. Hagrid even lampshades it.
** Also, in book one: Ron: "Are you a witch or not?" In book seven: Hermione: "Are you a wizard or not?"
** The entire series effectively begins and ends with [[spoiler:Voldemort getting the ''Avada Kedavra'' curse reflected back at him by Harry. In the first book, Voldemort's power is negated by Lily's selfless sacrifice; his spells won't keep during the final battle because Harry willingly gives his life to save his friends (he gets better).]]
* BoomerangBigot:
** Voldemort. One of the goals of the Death Eaters is the elimination of any wizard who isn't pure-blooded, especially if they are Muggle-born, but Voldemort himself is a half-blood (his father was a Muggle). But then, he ''is'' based on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler (see below).
** Snape is a double hitter -- in his youth, he was highly prejudiced against Muggles and Muggle-borns despite being a half-blood himself [[spoiler:and in love with a particular Muggle-born]]; as an adult teacher, he mocks [[TheSmartGuy Hermione]] for being, as he once put it, "an [[InsufferableGenius insufferable know-it-all]]" -- ironic coming from Snape, who is himself an InsufferableGenius.
* ABoyAndHisX: For all the Hogwarts students with pets.
* BrainBleach: The reason why Rowling has yet to reveal the exact method of creating a Horcrux. It supposedly made one of her editors vomit. (For note, one of the steps is ''committing murder'' in order to split your soul to place it in the Horcrux. Murder is one thing, but the entire process is implied to involve crossing the MoralEventHorizon, and it's certainly treated as such in-universe. For ''one'' Horcrux.)
* BribingYourWayToVictory: InUniverse, Harry is constantly praised as the best Seeker in the school, and maybe the best player for several years. However, twice in the series, Harry is gifted broomsticks that are demonstrably faster and more maneuverable than his opponents'.
** ...Kind of. Harry's initial feat of Seeking that earns him praise is performed on one of the school brooms, which are universally derided in-universe. He then receives a good broom--but not so good a broom that it would make up for a lack of skill on his part. Then, in second year, he wins against a whole team of players on better brooms than his own, and with a serious disadvantage. (The Bludger is cursed to attack him.) It's only halfway through the third book that he gets a broom that's a whole class above his opponents', and by that point he's pretty well proved himself.
* BrickJoke: In what is perhaps the most elusive brick joke in the series, at the start of book 5, Harry and Dudley are attacked by Dementors. After Harry fights them off, he attempts to explain to his aunt and uncle what happened, only to realize it's hopeless because neither of them have any idea what he's talking about. Petunia finally says, "They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," and Harry asks how she could possibly know that. Petunia responds with "I overheard -- that awful boy -- telling ''her'' about them, years ago." At the time (and even after finishing the series), everyone simply assumed "that awful boy" to be Harry's father, James Potter. However, at the very end of book 7, we find out that it was actually [[spoiler:Severus Snape]]. While watching his memories, Harry witnesses the scene "first-hand," but it's played so quickly and amidst so many other things very few people pick up on it.
* BrokenMasquerade: Despite the Dursleys' best efforts, Harry learns of the Wizarding World he belongs to that's hidden from the {{Muggles}}.
* BuildingOfAdventure: Hogwarts is the setting for many, many adventures.
* BullyingADragon: There's this giant man standing in front of you. You know he has SuperStrength because he just knocked your door down. This is ''clearly'' not someone to be messed with, so what do you do? Well, whatever it is, you do NOT threaten your nephew, who up until now has had no idea that he is a wizard, in front of said man, and you do NOT insult a man the giant clearly admires... unless you're Vernon TooDumbToLive Dursley.
* ButtMonkey:
** Neville "Why's It Always Me?" Longbottom. Peter Pettigrew during his days at Hogwarts, as well.
** There is a minor character (Dawlish) who is sort of a background ButtMonkey in that the only time we see him, he gets defeated in one hit, and whenever he is mentioned, he has been cursed or failed in something. This is pretty shocking when you consider he's an Auror, the equivalent of magic police (who above that are also elite dark wizard catchers), and is therefore supposed to be skilled at defensive magic.
** Draco Malfoy, Gilderoy Lockhart, Argus Filch, and Dolores Umbridge also fall under this category at times, [[KickTheSonOfABitch although they more than deserve it.]] Quirrell, too, until [[spoiler:he is revealed to be TheDragon at the end of Book 1.]]
** Also, Hufflepuff House in general.
** Ron Weasley, particularly to Slytherins. Harry has also been subjected to this, most notably due to the Rita Skeeter articles.
* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: Thestrals are only visible to people who have witnessed death first-hand.
** Not only that, but they have to fully comprehend what they saw -- Harry wasn't able to see thestrals when he first came to Hogwarts despite having witnessed the murder of his parents[[spoiler:, but he is able to see them when he comes back fifth year after he saw Voldemort kill Cedric Diggory. (It's generally assumed that he couldn't see them at the end of his fourth year because Cedric's death hadn't fully sunk in at that point.)]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CainAndAbel: Dudley and Harry, Petunia and Lily, [[spoiler:Severus and Lily]].
* CallingYourAttacks: Played straight at first, but justified in that you ''have'' to say the name of the spell in order to cast it. However, it gets subverted when a major portion of the sixth-year curriculum turns out to be learning how to cast spells ''without'' calling them, specifically so that you don't alert your enemies as to what you are doing.
* CanisLatinicus: Expelliarmus, Wingardium Leviosa, Petrificus Totalus, Riddikulus. There ''are'' real Latin spells as well.
* CannotCrossRunningWater: Belief in this principle is why the Dursleys take Harry to a shack in the middle of the sea in their attempt to escape the wizarding world.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: Inverted by the prophecy in the fifth book -- "[[spoiler:Neither can live while the other survives.]]"
* CaptainErsatz: Though possibly coincidental, the Dementors have a certain resemblance to the Nazgûl of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''; both are based on TheGrimReaper. Dementors are also an allegory for clinical depression; they suck the joy out of everything.
%%* CaramelldansenVid: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inSjePhFe2o Hoo boy.]]
* CaptureAndReplicate: Polyjuice Potion can allow one to mimic any person, but it requires [[SympatheticMagic a piece of the person]], usually a hair. The piece must be recent and taken while the subject is alive, so in order to impersonate them for more than a few hours, it's necessary to keep them captive somewhere. To protect against the technique, people who are at risk of being replaced use {{Trust Password}}s.
* CardCarryingVillain: Godelot, a historical personage and author of ''Magick Most Evile'', reveled in his villainy (although a passage quoted in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' indicates that [[spoiler:[[EvenEvilHasStandards even he would not dare go into the field of Horcruxes]]]]).
%%* CassandraDidIt: Augeries.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Several characters have one.
** Ron: "Bloody hell!"
** Hermione: "I read about it in ''Hogwarts: A History''."
** Moody: "Constant vigilance!"
** Umbridge: "Hem hem."
** Slughorn: "Merlin's beard!"
** Voldemort (in the movies): "NYEAAAAAAAA!"
* CategoryTraitor: The [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Death Eaters]] consider wizardry to be in the blood. They also feel that all "real" wizards are obliged to be "loyal" to "their own kind," and thus despise all [[{{Muggle}} regular humans]], fantasy creatures, and above all else the so-called "mud-bloods"--Muggle-born wizards (and later, once they resurface and begin openly fighting the Order of the Phoenix, any and all wizards who don't agree with the Death Eater ideology's arbitrary definition of a "real" wizard). Unsurprisingly, their contempt for pure-blood and half-blood wizards who care for muggles and "mudbloods" turns out to become a big part of their undoing, [[spoiler:as young Snape loses faith in them because of his love for the "mud-blood" witch Lily Evans.]]
%%* CatsAreMagic
* CardboardPrison: Azkaban shows this. Whereas in book three it is said that Sirius Black is the first to ever escape from Azkaban, [[spoiler:in the very next book it is discovered that Barty Crouch Jr. had been snuck out some time ago, and in book 5 everyone gets out.]]
* CentralTheme: [[ThePowerOfLove Love is what makes us strongest]]. Prejudice and bigotry are bad. Everybody has to die eventually.
** For her part, Creator/JKRowling says that the central theme is death: "The theme of how we react to death, how much we fear it. Of course, I think which is a key part of the book because Voldemort is someone who will do anything not to die. He's terrified of death. And in many ways, all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death."
** Also, whether certain values -- courage, intelligence, hard-work and cunning -- can be easily sorted and identified. People can be brave in all sorts of unexpected ways, even the {{Bookworm}} can't know everything, and everyone needs a good deal of cunning to survive. Even the best magic in the world can't identify WhatYouAreInTheDark and there are many cases, where people "sort too soon" and judge too readily.
* CerebusSyndrome: Kinda. The darkness of the plot was there from the beginning, but it gets more visible as the story progresses.
* ChameleonCamouflage: The Dissillusionment Charm has this effect, and if done well enough can confer actual invisibility. Putting it on a garment is one way to make an InvisibilityCloak, though the charm fades over time.
* ChangelingFantasy: Harry's is fulfilled when Hagrid takes him to the wizarding world.
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: The book titles all follow the pattern of "Harry Potter and the..."
* ChekhovsArmoury: ChekhovsGun is [[ChekhovsGun/HarryPotter common]] in the series; e.g., The Deluminator. Fans obsess over details in earlier books, looking for hidden Chekhov's Guns, to the point where J.K. Rowling made a public apology about accidentally giving a minor, unimportant character the same last name as Harry's mum.
%%* ChekhovsBoomerang
* ChekhovsClassroom: In ''The Prisoner of Azkaban'', [=McGonagall=] mentions in the middle of a scene [[spoiler: focused on Professor Trelawney's dubious oracular record the fact that there are numerous wizards known as animagi who can transform themselves into animals. Towards the end of the book, it is revealed that Sirius Black is an animagus, and so were Peter Pettrigrew and James Potter.]]
* ChekhovsGun: More accurately, Chekhov's Wand. We learn that Harry and Voldemort's wands share a common source for their magical cores; it takes on plot significance from book 4 onward. Also, the Vanishing Cabinet, and Godric Gryffindor's Sword. Along with a fair laundry list of other objects. [[spoiler:Of the six Horcruxes, we actually see four of them before they are recognized for what they are. [[labelnote:*]]The diary, Slytherin's locket, Nagini the snake, and Harry himself.[[/labelnote]]]]
* ChekhovsGunman:
** Grindelwald, mentioned in the ''Philosopher's Stone'' and barely ever brought up again until ''Deathly Hallows''. Same goes for Aberforth Dumbledore, who was first mentioned in ''Goblet of Fire'' and first appeared in ''Order of the Phoenix''.
*** Even better? ''We didn't know who Aberforth was until Deathly Hallows.'' In both ''Order of the Phoenix'' and ''Half Blood Prince,'' he is only referred to as "the barman of the Hog's Head," though there are hints to his identity regarding his inappropriate charms on goats...
** The name Regulus Black briefly comes up in one of the books, then [[spoiler:becomes significantly more important in Deathly Hallows.]]
** The name Sirius Black gets mentioned in passing in the very first chapter of the very first book; he only comes up again in the third book, as the title character.
** The Lovegoods also get a brief mention early in The Goblet of Fire, although Luna doesn't become important until the next novel, and her father until the 7th.
* ChekhovsSkill:
** Ron's aptitude for wizard chess becomes important in getting the group past [[spoiler:the defenses for the Philosopher's Stone]].
** Harry's prodigious skill with casting a Patronus becomes useful in a variety of situations involving Dementors beyond the initial purpose of defending himself from Dementors during Quidditch games.
** Hermione having taken Ancient Runes comes into play in the seventh book, as her copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard was written in runic alphabet.
** Neville's skill at Herbology becomes useful during the final battle.
** Harry's Quidditch playing. He's good at flying and good at spotting and getting ahold of small golden objects. This comes in handy when he has to catch a flying key in The Philosopher's Stone, and when he has to get the dragon's egg in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament.
** Harry's Seeker skills and the generally harmless "Expelliarmus" spell both play key roles in [[spoiler:Harry's final defeat of Voldemort.]]
%%* TheChewToy: Ron. Neville.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Several:
** Of the Unlucky kind, [[spoiler:Snape was friends with Lily when they were kids, and loved her, but she ended up with James instead.]]
** Of the Victorious kind: [[spoiler:Ginny, for Harry. Ron, for Hermione.]]
* TheChooserOfTheOne: Voldemort (unknowingly) got to choose his arch-enemy, and picked Harry.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Harry does sort of have a "saving people thing," as Hermione [[LampshadeHanging puts it]].
** This is also lampshaded by Ron in the fourth book. He mentions that Harry couldn't help "playing the hero."
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** Ludo Bagman plays an important role in the fourth novel, however he never appears again after escaping from the goblins. He is only briefly mentioned in the next book.
** Cornelius Fudge was not seen at all in the last book. It's unknown what happened to him following the take over at the Ministry.
** Florean Fortescue was kidnapped at the beginning of the sixth book yet we never learn about what happened to him.
* TheClan: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] with the House of Black, a well-known pure-blood family known in previous generations for its fixation with blood purity. Was once wealthy but the loss of numbers and the fact that quite a few of its named members are [[AxCrazy a bit nuts]], has veered more toward BigScrewedUpFamily.
** The Weasleys, despite their massive numbers (even outside the ones directly introduced in the series), don't meet the requisites otherwise - until arguably the epilogue, [[spoiler: by which point Arthur and Molly Weasley's children and children-in-law include professional athletes, successful businessmen, known geniuses, war heroes, dragon experts... and Harry Potter himself.]]
* CleverCrows: Ravenclaw House, although intelligence is its defining trait and it is not the most sinister of the Houses. [[InNameOnly Despite the name]], Ravenclaw's mascot is an eagle.
* ColdBloodedTorture: What happens to many characters at the hands of the Death Eaters (mostly Voldemort and Bellatrix), including [[spoiler:Neville's parents.]]
** Also what goes on in Umbridge's detentions.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Various colors are strongly associated with [[GoodColorsEvilColors both good and evil]] across the story:
** Red - either [[RedIsHeroic heroic spirit]] ([[TheHero House Gryffindor]], [[RedHeadedHero The Weasleys]], [[FieryRedhead Ginny in particular]], [[SignificantGreenEyedRedhead Lily Evans]], also the [[ThouShaltNotKill non-lethal]] [[StunGun Stupefy]] and [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands Expelliarmus]] spells) or ChaoticEvil tendencies ([[RedEyesTakeWarning Voldemort's eyes]] in the book, [[AgonyBeam the Cruciatus curse]]).
** Green - either the mark of [[EmeraldPower a powerful wizard or witch]] who is [[ThePowerOfLove loving]] and [[HeroicSacrifice self-sacrificing]] (Lily and Harry's eyes, later inherited by Albus) or the color of [[AmbitionIsEvil the bigoted and often villainous House Slytherin]] as well as outright [[SicklyGreenGlow sinister powers]] such as [[InstantKill the Killing curse]] and dark [[{{Necromancer}} revival potions]].
** Blue - almost uniformly associated with calm and reasonable types (House Ravenclaw, Dumbledore's eyes), although Ron Weasley also has InnocentBlueEyes mostly to [[BlueAndOrangeContrast contrast]] with his red hair and impulsive character. In the film, Patronuses are [[HeavenlyBlue glowing blue]] and on the evil side, Voldemort has IcyBlueEyes which fit well in his scenes in HollywoodDarkness.
** Yellow - either friendly, down-to-earth people (House Hufflepuff) or evil magic such as [[CharmPerson the Imperius curse]] or a [[SupernaturalGoldEyes Basilisk's eyes]].
** Purple - either the sign of [[PurpleIsPowerful a great benevolent force]] ([[BigGood Dumbledore]]) or [[PurpleIsTheNewBlack Dark magic]] ([[DemonicPossession Quirrell's turban]] and Antonin Dolohov's signature curse).
** White: almost uniformly connected to [[LightIsGood goodness]] ([[MeaningfulName Albus]] Dumbledore, Patronuses), except Voldemort's [[EvilMakesYouUgly unnatural]] [[UndeathlyPallor chalk-white skin]]. The final stage of Voldemort's body regeneration potion is also glows [[LightIsNotGood so bright white that Harry sees it through eyes screwed shut]].
** Gray: linked to sneaky characters ([[YouDirtyRat Scabbers]]) or outright evil ones (Fenrir Greyback). The [[RichBitch cold and haughty]] Malfoys have GrayEyes.
** Black: mostly perceived as [[DarkIsEvil evil]], though the BlackCloak is worn by the school students and evil characters alike. [[DarkIsNotEvil Averted]] by Harry and James' black hair, Sirius Black and [[spoiler: Severus Snape]]. Played straight with the [[EldritchAbomination Dementors]], [[BlackMagic Death Eaters]] and [[BigScrewedUpFamily the rest of the Black family]].
** Gold: paired with red (Gryffindor) symbolizes heroism Harry's Polyjuice Potion is also gold. Paired with green (Slytherin's locket, Tom Riddle's awards before TheReveal of his identity) hints of an evil presence.
** [[SilverHasMysticPowers Silver]]: Can be good when paired with [[LightIsGood light]] (Patronus charm), neutral (memories in the book) or sinister (House Slytherin, Wormtail's hand). The Malfoys have silvery blonde hair.
* ComingOfAgeStory: ''Harry Potter'' is as much about growing up as it is about wizards.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Lord Voldemort is the consistent BigBad, but each individual book also has its own secondary antagonist whose nature and motivations often say much about the themes and conflict at the heart of each installment. ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]'' has [[TheRenfield Quirinus Quirrel]], the frail and cowardly servant of the crippled Voldemort; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The Chamber of Secrets]]'' has "[[FromNobodyToNightmare Tom Riddle]]", the ghostly echo of Voldemort's former self; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban The Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' has [[spoiler: [[EvilFormerFriend Peter Pettigrew]]]], the confidant of the Potters who betrayed his friends out of cowardice; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The Goblet of Fire]]'' has [[spoiler: [[WellDoneSonGuy Barty Crouch, Jr.]]]], the troubled young Death Eater initiate who remains faithful to Voldemort in the wake of his downfall; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix The Order of the Phoenix]]'' has [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Dolores Umbridge]], the corrupt Ministry bureaucrat who denies Voldemort's return; and ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The Half-Blood Prince]]'' has [[TheRival Draco Malfoy]] and [[spoiler: [[TheAtoner Severus Snape]]]], who finally openly join Voldemort after six years of lurking in the background at Hogwarts.
* ContrivedCoincidence: The Marauders present themselves in their map as "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs", or MWPP. Is it a coincidence that [[spoiler:they die in that order, backwards? Prongs (James Potter) dies on October 31st, 1981, Padfoot (Sirius Black) dies in the Battle of the Ministry in June of 1996 (Harry's fifth year), Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew) gets killed in March of 1998 by the silver hand Voldemort gave him back in 1995, and Moony (Remus Lupin) dies in the Battle of Hogwarts on May 2nd, 1998.]]
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' kicks off because 1) the Weasleys won a lottery ticket, 2) this gets them a large front page picture, 3) Ron's pet rat Scabbers was included in said picture, and 4) Cornelius Fudge happened to be carrying that exact issue when he visited Sirius Black.
* ConvenientlyCoherentThoughts: Subverted with Legilimency, which reveals thoughts in a disjointed manner and requires much training to sort out which thoughts are important.
* CoolButInefficient: So many of the things the wizards do.
** Particularly that we repeatedly see wizards are rendered helpless when they are disarmed, which in later books often leads to their death. For some reason, there seems to be an unwritten rule amongst wizards that you can't carry ''a spare wand''.
** Given that most Wizards are capable of Apparating, possess cars such as the Knight Bus for those who can't, and possess the ability to carry large amounts of objects in a BagOfHolding, it often begs the question why they bother with the mess of using Owls to deliver their mail. Theoretically ''a single wizard'' could serve as the postman to the entire country. That being said, owls are implied to be capable of always finding the person they are supposed to give a letter to.
* CoolTrain: It's pulled by a [[SteamNeverDies steam locomotive]] and carries the students to and from Hogwarts at each end of the school year, as well as for holidays.
* CorporalPunishment: Not unexpected, given the BoardingSchool setting. Early on, it's played relatively comically, with Argus Filch constantly bemoaning the fact that he's not ''allowed'' to string misbehaving students up by their ankles anymore. It gets rather darker later, with ''Order of the Phoenix'' featuring a quill that carves whatever you write into your hand, and God-only-knows-what going on at Hogwarts during ''Deathly Hallows''.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Once you get past the initial cool factor of the magical world, the Harry Potter universe is not an exceptionally happy one. FantasticRacism of absurd extremes permeates every level of the wizarding world, and the government seems to be run by evil, scheming, political glory hounds (regardless of their allegiance to "good" or "bad"). The justice system is a KangarooCourt, the regulations on dangerous magic are feeble at best, the very system of instruction in magic carries a high injury/mortality rate, the schools are run by people who think nothing of manipulating their students for years with the express intention of having them throw their lives away, said schools think nothing of employing borderline sociopaths with a stated dislike of--and known enjoyment of torturing--children, the entire population as a whole seems to have crippling naiveté about the non-magical world (to the point that you wonder how they've kept the {{masquerade}} going for so long), and the overall respect for human, sapient non-human, or animal life and sanity is appallingly low. The in-universe explanation is that this was a cultural reaction to Voldemort, and that it supposedly went away once he was defeated. Also, it's heavily implied that there's degradation of the "magical" ecosystem and natives, with species like the dragons and giants dying out and forced on to small reservations.
** They maintain the 'masquerade' by casually (and ofttimes repeatedly) using magical LaserGuidedAmnesia on {{Muggles}} who don't know about the magical world.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Ron Weasley, especially in books 4 and 6. (The latter was [[OperationJealousy deliberately]] started by Hermione.)
** Viktor Krum: Quidditch star, and Ron's a fanboy of his. Guess what Ron says to Hermione at the Yule Ball when Hermione goes with Krum.
---> '''Ron''': You're[Hermione] fraternizing with the enemy[Krum]!
** When Hermione goes to the Slug Club party with Mclaggen in book 6 (and after Ginny accuses him of being insecure about never having kissed a girl), he starts the most shallow and kissy relationship with Lavender Brown.
* CrazyPrepared: Hermione, especially with her BagOfHolding in ''Deathly Hallows''. Also, Dumbledore, in general.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Luna "Loony" Lovegood may act like she ain't playing with a full deck, but when it comes down to an actual battle... watch yourself. She participates in several battles, but the only time she gets injured the entire series is when a door gets blown off its hinges into her face and she flies across the room.
** Neville Longbottom, ButtMonkey poster boy in the early years, becomes a seriously competent fighter in his own right from the latter parts of the fifth year on. In the battle of the Department of Mysteries in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', he is the only other student besides Harry who stays fighting right up until the end, whereas everyone else gets incapacitated one way or another during it.
* CrushingHandshake: The Slytherin quidditch team captain tends to do this when he shakes hands with the Gryffindor captain at the begining of a match. In the first few books, Oliver Wood is able to give as good as he gets, but Angelina and Harry (during their respective stints as captain in the later books) have to keep themselves from wincing.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: At one point Harry sees some warlocks drinking at a pub, but whatever makes a warlock different from a wizard is never mentioned. Simply being a male witch as is typical is unlikely, as the series treats "witch" as the female equivalent of "wizard.
** The difference is finally explained in one of Rowling's footnotes in ''[[Literature/TheTalesofBeedletheBard Tales of Beedle the Bard]]'': a warlock is either an unusually fierce-looking wizard or an unusually skilled and accomplished wizard.
* CulturalPosturing: Even the ''Muggle-born'' wizards are condescending toward Muggles.
* CulturalTranslation: Editors at Scholastic Books forced a change from "Philosopher's Stone" -- a genuine item of folklore and alchemy -- to "Sorcerer's Stone" for the American editions on the grounds that American children would have no idea what a Philosopher's Stone was. Due to the negative reaction, British terms and slang in the later books, such as "jumper," "taking the mickey," and "snogging," were left in.
* {{Curse}}: Spells that have a major negative effect are often referred to as "curses." More minor curses are called "hexes" and "jinxes."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DancesAndBalls: The Yule Ball. In both the book and the movie, however, it quickly degenerates into a magical rock show.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The series gradually gets darker and darker as it moves forward. Although the first book starts in the aftermath of a ''double homicide'', so...
* DeadGuyJunior: Lots of examples from the epilogue, including [[spoiler: James Sirius Potter, Lily Luna Potter (even though Luna Lovegood doesn't die), Albus Severus Potter, and Fred Weasley II.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Honestly, if you took a shot every time a character made a wry comment, you'd be pretty messed up early on in the series. There are so many examples, [[DeadpanSnarker/HarryPotter it has its own page]].
* DeathRay: The Killing Curse, ''Avada Kedavra''. The reason that Harry is known as "The Boy-Who-Lived" is because he's the only person in the wizarding world to have ever survived the spell.
* DecliningPromotion:
** Horace Slughorn is described as "preferring the backseat." However, it's not so much exerting power as it is enjoying being able to influence the world thanks to former students he gave a boost to (e.g., casting a vote for a new junior minister or getting free tickets to a Quidditch match). Harry has a mental image of a spider pulling a webstrand to bring a juicy fly closer.
** It was stated more than a few times Mr. Weasley could have easily been promoted within the Ministry years ago, but enjoyed where he was in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office too much. He does finally take a promotion AND get rank in the Order of Phoenix as the series goes on, however.
* DeconstructedTrope: Happens a lot in the series, especially concerning character dynamics. A character is a ButtMonkey? Turns out that they have some pretty depressing baggage and it motivates them to become a total badass later. Another is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}? They are relentlessly teased and bullied over it and have very few friends. Our main man is a Chosen One and FamedInStory? They really hate it. Kid Genius? Is seen as an InsufferableGenius (which they sometimes are).
* DisproportionateRetribution: The treatment Harry received from the Dursleys for most of the eleven years prior to his acceptance into Hogwarts, and occasionally afterward as well. He was confined to the cupboard under the stairs until age 11 just for existing, yelled at for asking questions or innocently mentioning strange dreams, and punished (up to and including being denied meals) for exhibiting signs of the hated magic, which he neither understood nor was able to control. For example, in the first book he gets locked in the cupboard for much of the summer just for talking to a snake after the "vanishing glass" incident.
* DistantFinale: [[spoiler: The last chapter of book seven, better known as the Epilogue, takes place 19 years after the end of the previous chapter.]]
* DirectLineToTheAuthor/ATrueStoryInMyUniverse: ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'', ''Literature/QuidditchThroughTheAges'', and ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' are all presented as reprintings of in-universe books. ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'' also makes reference to the existence of a seven-volume biography of Harry Potter, thus implying that the main ''Harry Potter'' series exists in its own universe as non-fiction as well.
* DitchTheBodyguards: In several books, Harry is being threatened by someone (usually Voldemort) and everybody tries to keep him safe. It never works; somehow, for some reason, he always finds his way to the source of the problem to face it himself.
* DividedWeFall: [[spoiler:The ''Half-Blood Prince'' DVD has a chapter entitled "Free Agents", a clever reference to not only Harry and Ron's Quidditch issues, but their romantic lives, as well.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The Death Eaters are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName a group who believe in "purity" who overtake the government in an effort to eradicate "nonpure" people and are led by an extremely creepy-looking dude.]]
* DoingResearch: Hermione, in almost every book.
* DomesticAbuser: It's implied in ''Order of the Phoenix'' that Snape's father was at the very least verbally abusive to Snape's mother, and that this was a large contributing factor in his anti-Muggle attitudes.
* DontFearTheReaper: According to Creator/JKRowling, the CentralTheme of the series has always been death. [[spoiler:It doesn't really come to the forefront until ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', where Dumbledore states that Harry is the Master of Death not because he owned all three of the Deathly Hallows, but rather because through his experiences where he unknowingly gathered all three, he came to realize that death is inevitable and that there are far worse fates than dying, and accepted his death. The Tale of the Three Brothers, where the legend of the Deathly Hallows comes from, shows that if you try to escape death or are unable to accept the death of a loved one (the first and second brothers, represented by Voldemort and Snape in ''The Deathly Hallows''), then death will be a grueling bastard. However, if you accept death as inevitability (the youngest brother, represented by Harry), then death will greet you like an old friend.]] All of this stems from Rowling's own experiences with the death of her mother.
* DontTellMama: The only time the Weasley twins get talked into cooperating with authority is when Hermione [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment threatens to tell Mrs. Weasley about their antics]].
-->'''Hermione:''' If you don't stop, I'm going to...\\
'''Fred:''' Put us in detention?\\
'''George:''' Make us write lines?\\
'''Hermione:''' No, but I will write to your mother.\\
'''George:''' [[OhCrap You wouldn't...]]
* {{Doorstopper}}: All of the books from the fourth onwards; the fifth, weighing in at 766 pages for the Bloomsbury hardback edition, is the winner here.
** The original American hardcover edition had it at over 800 pages.
*** Stephen Fry is even credited with the following:
-->"So if any of you hear someone pronounce her name "Rohw-ling", you have my permission to hit them over the head with -- not with Order of the Phoenix, that would be cruel. Something smaller, like a fridge."
* DownerEnding:
** [[spoiler:Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, and Half-Blood Prince.]]
** [[spoiler:Deathly Hallows is no picnic either, even considering the fact that, technically, the good guys have finally won a complete victory.]]
* DrGenericius: A lot of wizards have names ending in "us": Albus, Bilius (Ron's middle name), Lucius, Regulus Arcturus, Remus, Rubeus {Hagrid), Severus, Scorpius, Sirius... It seems to be more frequent in the Pureblood families, though.
* TheDreaded: Each side has their own. [[BigBad Voldemort]] is easily the most feared being on the planet. His power and cruelty are legendary; people are terrified of even speaking his name long after he is thought to be dead. Even he has his own in [[BadassGrandpa Dumbledore]], the only person Voldemort ever feared.
* DuelingMessiahs: Flashbacks reveal that there was once a legendary duel between Grindelwald and Dumbledore. The former wanted to lead the wizards out of hiding whereas Dumbledore sided with the muggles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: Several supporting characters are mentioned in passing long before their importance to the plot is revealed, among them [[spoiler:Mrs. Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, the Lovegoods, Grindelwald, Aberforth Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and his brother Regulus Arcturus Black.]]
** Several creatures in ''Order of the Phoenix'' were mentioned in ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' prior to their appearances, and even Thestrals earned a minor, blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference under "Winged Horse".
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Hogwarts School Song. Sung once in the first book, then never mentioned again.
%%* EarnYourHappyEnding
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Salazar Slytherin intended to use the Chamber of Secrets as this, doubling as a SupervillainLair after the schism with the other Founders.
* EmbarrassingPassword:
** The Ministry of Magic encourages people to devise security questions with their loved ones. One of the security questions between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley is:
-->'''Mr Weasley:''' What do you like me to call you when we're alone together?
-->'''Mrs Weasley:''' Mollywobbles.
** The password to Dumbledore's office is always a type of candy. At one point in ''Goblet of Fire'', Harry, trying to get inside, lists off every single magical candy he can think of, only to find the correct one is "Cockroach Cluster".
-->Cockroach Cluster? I was only joking.
* EmotionBomb:
** Dementors. They ''eat'' happiness.
** Cheering Charms are an example of this in the ''good'' way.
* EmotionalPowers: The Patronus spell is fueled by the caster thinking of their happiest thoughts or memories.
* EmpathicWeapon: Wands are said to choose the wizard who will use them, and they don't work as well for anyone who is not the original owner and hasn't defeated the previous owner in some form of combat.
* EnforcedColdWar: The House rivalries, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin. According to the history of Hogwarts's founders, it's actually closer to Slytherin versus everyone else. It goes down a ''lot'' after [[spoiler:Voldemort is defeated.]]
* EntertaininglyWrong: In ''Half-Blood Prince'', Dumbledore and Harry both come to the perfectly valid conclusion that Voldemort tried to get a job at Hogwarts in an attempt to get ahold of an item belong to a Hogwarts Founder for use as a SoulJar. In ''Deathly Hallows'', Harry realizes they had it backwards: Voldemort used the interview to ''hide'' one of his Soul Jars in a hidden room on the way to Dumbledore's office--actually getting the job would've just been a bonus.
* EnthrallingSiren: Veela are a less malicious version of this. Generally, they look like they're an InhumanlyBeautifulRace of women complete with MindControlMusic and hypnotic dancing. If enraged, however, they suddenly gain [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies cruel, bird-like features and chuck fireballs]].
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas:
** Draco Malfoy's only redeeming quality is his love for his family.
** Although Voldemort is incapable of real love, his mother's sad death is his motivation for some of his crimes.
** Narcissa Malfoy's main motivation by the end is making sure her family is safe, [[spoiler:to the point where she lies to ''Voldemort''.]]
* EveryoneIsRelated[=/=]TangledFamilyTree: Check out the Black family tree, for starters. The Peverell and Weasley familes are similarly tangled up: the Peverell family contains almost ''every'' single wizard, including Voldemort and [[spoiler:Harry Potter]]! Gets to the point where EveryoneIsRelated both literally and in terms of the trope.
** This is implied to be a result of forced intermarrying of pureblood families in order to ''keep'' the blood "pure." Amongst the many notable muggle discoveries proud purebloods dismiss are the effects of inbreeding. (Even though there are plenty of things, like the health benefits of laughter, that wizards noticed long before Muggles did.)
** Step back for a moment and consider this. Draco Malfoy is easily recognised by his curious platinum-blond hair and aristocratic features. When we meet Lucius we see he too has the same hair colour and similar features, not that unusual. However, his mother Narcissa has exactly the same unique hair colour and aristocratic features. What are the odds of her and her husband being related?
** There is already canon saying that Harry Potter, Narcissa Malfoy, and Andromeda Tonks are first cousins, as are the Weasley twins to Neville Longbottom, and the six of them are second cousins to each other. Their family tree also implies a relation to the Crabbe, Macmillan, Burk, Bulstrode, Yaxley, and Crouch families.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Voldemort was conceived through the use of a love potion, which is essentially fake love. (In fact, [[FridgeHorror if you think hard enough]], it seems like he's almost a ChildByRape.) His mother later made no attempt [[DeathByChildbirth to keep herself alive through magic as he was born]]. Without any proper upbringing, he was seemingly born with the inability to understand real love at all.
* EvilCounterpart:
** Harry and Voldemort both had very similar beginnings, and Harry occasionally finds himself sympathetic to Voldemort. Nonetheless, the choices that both of them made sent them in totally different directions. [[{{Anvilicious}} Lampshaded]] in the film during the disturbing moment when the two of them briefly meld into one image while falling through the air.
** Harry also notes parallels with Snape in ''Deathly Hallows''. He refers to himself, Voldemort, and Snape as "the abandoned boys", and notes that they all found a home at Hogwarts. Interestingly, Snape seems to have been set up as the half-way point between Voldemort and Harry.
** Bellatrix and Hermione. Hermione is as devoted to Harry as Bellatrix is to Voldemort. Both intelligent and powerful witches, on the opposite side of the good/evil divide; both capable of, and shown willing to go to, extremes for their purposes. (Bellatrix tortured the Longbottoms into insanity to find Voldemort. Hermione comes up with the same method for Harry to communicate with his DA members as Voldemort used with his Death Eaters; she bewitches a DA document so that it will semi-permanently facially disfigure anyone who signs it and later sells them out; she blackmails Rita Skeeter.)
** Bellatrix also serves as an EvilCounterpart to Molly Weasley. According to Rowling that is why the two fight each other at the end -- Bellatrix loves no one (besides her obsession over Voldemort) and Mrs. Weasley is very loving. Love wins out. (This is in spite of Bellatrix having all but been set up as Neville Longbottom's ArchEnemy.)
** Voldemort and Dumbledore turn out to have a lot in common.
** Umbridge could be considered [=McGonagall=]'s EvilCounterpart. Both are known for being disciplinarians, but [=McGonagall=] is [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure fair and well-meaning]] whereas Umbridge, to say the least, is not. Incidentally, both of them cast a Patronus in the shape of a cat.
** Though they're on the same side in ''Order of the Phoenix'', Sirius and Snape can be interpreted this way as well. They started out as Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, then they joined opposite sides of the war. Sirius was James's best friend, and Snape had been best friends and had a crush on [[spoiler:Lily]], and despite the falling out that Snape and [[spoiler:Lily]] had, he and Sirius are incredibly loyal to their said best friends. Both of them even did something ''really'' terrible to a close friend of theirs, Sirius's being sending Snape to be torn apart by Remus on the full moon and Snape's being [[spoiler:calling Lily a Mudblood]]. Snape hated his father, and Sirius hated his family. More importantly, both make a misguided major decision that indirectly causes the death of their respective best friends: Sirius [[spoiler: offers Pettigrew as the real SecretKeeper with him as a decoy, resulting in Pettigrew's betrayal]] and Snape [[spoiler: informs Voldemort about the prophecy of TheChosenOne which causes Voldemort to target the Potters in the first place]].
** Harry and Voldemort's respective chosen methods of self-preservation: [[spoiler:Voldemort survives through his six [[SoulJar Horcruxes]], which he created by murdering five people (plus Harry as the sixth Horcrux) plus one more after his ill-fated attempt on Harry's life. Harry survives through his relationships with friends and relatives, six of whom are killed in the act of directly saving his life: James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, Peter Pettigrew, and Dobby. Harry and Voldemort act as the seventh Horcrux/relationship for each other: Harry is Voldemort's unknown seventh Horcrux, and Voldemort unknowingly saves Harry's life by creating a blood bond between them during his resurrection in Goblet of Fire; he even "dies" to save Harry's life when he tries to kill Harry in the Forbidden Forest and instead destroys the portion of his soul preserved in Harry.]]
** Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand share the same core, a phoenix feather from Fawkes, who only gave two feathers. Then, we have the Elder Wand, which is different entirely. People have written papers on the connections between Voldemort and Harry.
** Ron and Pettigrew. Both are/were close friends to a guy who is/was considered very popular and cool and are/were ignored otherwise. Both are hinted to be a little jealous of this. ''Deathly Hallows'' implies that Ron, like Pettigrew, has a bit of a lust for power (his interest in the Elder Wand, though [[NotSoAboveItAll Hermione is just as fascinated by it]]). Unlike Pettigrew, Ron never abandons his friends for power or protection. More importantly, Ron refuses to be an ExtremeDoormat and bottle up his frustration, indeed he voices it out and works through it, which Pettigrew never did and so never worked out his bitterness. Wormtail would sell out his friends to curry favor to the next biggest bully for his own ends.
** Neville and Pettigrew. In their early school days at least, both are seen as weak students who need help form their more powerful/competent trio of friends (Harry/Ron/Hermione and James/Sirius/Remus). While this trio is their closest friends, they are always portrayed as being slightly outside of it as well. Pettigrew was famous for having attempted to bring down one of Voldemort's greatest strengths [[spoiler:(Sirius Black), which he had actually set up as a frame job,]] and Neville [[spoiler: actually did take one out (Nagini)]]. Neville eventually learned to find his own strength and stepped up to the level of his friends, while Pettigrew never tried to work through his weaknesses and was always looking for someone to protect him [[spoiler:(James/Sirius/Remus, Voldemort, the Weasleys, Harry)]].
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Tom Riddle (Voldemort) was a handsome student, but by the time he is reborn, he is bald, has pale white skin, bloodshot eyes and slits for nostrils. We see him earlier in a Pensieve memory Dumbledore has of him entering his office to ask to be the Defense of Dark Arts professor after he began dabbling in Dark Arts but before he gained power, and Harry notes that he had already lost his good looks by then and was beginning to resemble the pale, snake-like creature he would fully become later on. Even many years before that when Tom Riddle was still pretty handsome, he is stated to have already begun to look a little pale by the time he took a job in a store to get ahold of an ancient artifact.
* EvilSoundsDeep: {{Inverted}}. Voldemort is described as having a high, cold voice.
* EvilTeacher: PlayedWith with [[spoiler:Snape]] but played very straight with Quirrell, [[spoiler:Crouch/Moody]], Umbridge, and the Carrows.
* ExoticEntree: Voldemort dines on unicorn blood in ''The Philosopher's Stone'' (though there is a magical justification for this).
* {{Expy}}: Harry and Dumbledore are expies of Wart and Merlin, respectively, from ''Literature/TheSwordInTheStone''.
* ExtranormalPrison: Azkaban is a prison for evil wizards, guarded by the soul-sucking dementors.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F]]
* {{Fainting}}: Many characters do this, but this unfortunately happens to Harry multiple times in each book, especially in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' (wherein the Dementors inevitably have this effect on him) and ''Order of the Phoenix''.
* FamilyThemeNaming: Most families have a theme:
** Blacks: Stars and constellations and galaxies, except most females who remarry
** Carrows: Names of Myth/{{Greek mytholog|y}}ical characters
** Bagmans: Names of Holy Roman Emperors
** Belbys: Names of Roman (and Byzantine) Emperors
** Campbells: Names of Shakespearean characters
** Evanses (Harry's mother and aunt): Names of flowers
** Weasleys: Names connected to medieval royalty.
** The [[https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/the-potter-family revelation of the Potter Family history]] makes them an aversion, they tend to alter between AerithAndBob, with names like Linchfred, Ralston, Hardwin, Henry, Fleamont, James and Harry among many others, having no particular theme.
* FamilyValuesVillain: The Malfoys' only mildly redeeming quality is their care for each other as a family.
%%* FantasticAnthropologist
* FantasticRacism:
** Done four times in the series: first, in the way some "pureblood" wizards look down on Muggles and those who have Muggles in their ancestry; second, in Hermione's well-meaning campaign on the behalf of house-elves; third, the treatment of werewolves and "halfbreeds" such as Hagrid; and fourth, the Dursleys' bigotry against wizards. The second and third are part of a larger theme of non-humans being discriminated against, and centaurs fall into this category too; [[Characters/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] hates them, and Firenze the centaur gets into trouble with his own people, who consider him an "Uncle Tom" and traitor for associating with humans. Lupin chooses to resign from school after everybody finds out he's a werewolf.
** And the "official" wizard attitude to the other magical races is clearly portrayed as a different ''kind'' of racism to the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Nazi-esque]] Death-Eaters, not open-minded egalitarianism; Harry is surprised to see a statue at the Ministry of Magic with a centaur and a goblin in submissive adoration of a wizard and witch; totally preposterous (unlike the house-elf in the same statue), but evidently the way the Ministry believes the world "should" work.
*** It is, perhaps, worth noting that the Ministry of Magic classifies all living creatures as either "beast" or "being," with the latter being less discriminated against. Centaurs are classed as "beasts," and thus discriminated against greatly... because they themselves discriminated, and weren't willing to share "being" classification with things like vampires. According to [[AllThereInTheManual tie-in materials]] they were also insulted that humans thought they had authority in such matters at all, and originally insisted on the beast classification after the mermaid civilization was filed there for not speaking English (which was later rectified).
** Draco Malfoy displays this often, calling Hermione a "mudblood" more than once (a slur for a wizard or witch who is born to non-magical parents, and whom "purebloods" of certain persuasions, like the Malfoys, see as inferior) and such insults almost ''always'' end up badly for him, as the wizard m-word is as nasty as the Muggles' n-word. Considering that several of the teachers, particularly Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=], are often shown to strongly dislike the term and be angered by it, it's surprising that Draco's frequent use of it did not earn him suspension or expulsion. Likewise with [[spoiler:Snape, whose life took a turn for the worse when he called Lily a "filthy little mudblood."]]
** Hermione's campaign for house elves is portrayed as well-meaning but misguided, with her imposing human values on the elves and refusing to accept that the vast majority of them are actually happy with their jobs as long as they're not abused. She seems to have become better educated on the house-elf psyche by ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', though, and has gone for a more practical approach--at no point in book seven does she ask Harry to ''free'' Kreacher, but she ''does'' convince Harry to treat Kreacher well despite his betrayal in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. [[spoiler:It pays off almost immediately, and again at the end of the novel.]]
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The Half Blood Prince]]'', Tom Riddle murdered a woman for her artifacts and framed her House Elf for it. Dumbledore tells Harry that the Ministry should have investigated further but didn't "...because she was a House Elf". Harry had never sympathized with Hermione's campagin as much as he did at that moment.
** There is also the treatment of Squibs (non-magic children of witches and wizards). Even the Weasleys had a relative (Molly's second cousin) who possibly was a squib and, as such, an embarrassment to the family.
%%* FantasticScience
* FantasticSlurs: "Mudblood", a derogatory term for a witch or wizard who was born into a {{Muggle}} family. It's considered to be an extremely vulgar term as well, almost on par with the N-word; when Draco Malfoy first calls Hermione this in ''Chamber of Secrets'', there is a tremendous uproar and Ron even tries to curse him.
** In Books 5 and 7, [[spoiler:Snape's friendship and romantic hopes for something bigger are ruined when in reaction to Lily pulling an embarrassing rescue he says, "I don't need help from a filthy little mudbloods like her." This ruined his life... to say the least.]]
%%* FantasyForbiddingFather: The Dursleys.
* FantasyCounterpartAppliance: Mostly averted, because wizards either appropriate Muggle technology or invent something completely strange of their own, but there are a few cases; e.g., the Floo Network, which is regulated and functions not unlike a mass transit or communication system.
* FantasyGunControl: Guns exist in the Muggle world, but apparently not even Squibs seem to have them in the wizarding community; in an article about Sirius Black, it's mentioned that the Muggles have been warned he's carrying a gun, which is then defined as "a type of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other."
** This has more to do with UK gun laws than Fantasy Gun Control. If the story took place in a country where owning arms is considered a basic right (like the US), then it would be unusual. However in the UK guns are strictly prohibited: it is illegal for citizens to own them and even police officers need special permits to carry.
* FantasyKitchenSink: Nearly everything about wizardry from Fantasy novels is revealed to exist -- and every mythological creature as well, especially in ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them''.
* FateWorseThanDeath:
** Neville's parents were tortured into insanity.
** The Dementor's Kiss sucks out a person's soul while leaving the body alive, leaving a shell of a person behind.
** The side-effect of drinking unicorn blood is "a cursed half-life."
** The state one finds oneself in after a horcrux successfully prevents death. Unlike the above, however, this state can be ended, either by true resurrection, or just "letting go."
** In the first book, Dumbledore mentions people who, transfixed by the Mirror of Erised, have literally wasted away in front of it.
* FictionalSport: Quidditch. Despite fantastic requirements, [[http://www.internationalquidditch.org/ people in real life have tried to replicate it.]]
* FieryRedhead: The Weasleys. All of them (except maybe Percy), but ''especially'' Ginny. Also, Lily Evans in book five.
* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest: Cedric's death to Cho.
* FirstGirlWins: [[spoiler:Ginny Weasley is the first young witch Harry hears/meets at Platform 9 3/4, and Hermione is the first female friend Ron Weasley makes. Years later, Harry marries Ginny, and Ron marries Hermione. In TheFilmOfTheBook, Ginny Weasley is the first girl Harry's age we meet in both the first film ''and'' the second. She's also ''almost'' the first girl we see in the third film -- soon after Hermione's entrance, we see Ginny's face in a newspaper clipping.]]
* FiveBadBand: The major Death Eaters.
** BigBad: Voldemort.
** TheDragon: Bellatrix.
** EvilGenius: [[spoiler:Crouch, Jr. and Snape. The latter [[ReverseMole isn't really evil]], though...]]
** TheBrute: Fenrir Greyback.
** DarkChick: Peter Pettigrew and the Malfoys.
** SixthRangerTraitor: [[spoiler:Snape and, eventually, Narcissa.]]
** TeamPet: Nagini.
* FiveManBand: The main trio plus the auxiliary trio:
** TheHero: Harry.
** TheLancer: Ron.
** TheSmartGuy: Hermione (sometimes TheChick).
** TheBigGuy: Ginny, her [[LittleMissBadass petite stature]] notwithstanding.
** TheChick: Neville (Hermione and Luna show some traits as well).
** SixthRanger: Luna, who also counts as TheChick.
** TeamPet: Hedwig (and to a lesser extent, Pigwidgeon and Crookshanks).
* {{Flanderization}}: The Hogwarts Houses. Gryffindors are brave and righteous, Ravenclaws are clever and scholarly, Hufflepuffs are fair and sympathetic, and Slytherins are "ambitious and cunning," except Slytherin comes across much more as "the house of bad guys."
* FluffyTamer: Rubeus Hagrid. He has raised giant spiders, baby dragons, and a three-headed dog. Their names were Aragog, Norbert, and Fluffy, respectively. He's half-giant, so such creatures are less likely to hurt him, but he tends to not realize that most people aren't as indestructible as he is. This has landed him in trouble numerous times. Tom Riddle was able to use Aragog to frame him for opening the Chamber of Secrets and yet he never seems to learn. He's also a Fluffy ''breeder'', credited with the creation of the Blast-Ended Skrewts, an incredibly dangerous and aggressive hybrid possessed of absolutely no useful qualities.
* FluffyTheTerrible: Quite a few monsters, but the most famous is actually named Fluffy.
* FlyingBroomstick: Quite a few, often of plot significance, including the Nimbus and the Firebolt.
* FollowTheLeader: Rowling has admitted she wasn't the first to send kids to wizarding school. However, a lot of books have attempted to cash in on the success of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', some of them even being obvious ripoffs.
* ForeShadowing: The most important one is in the first book. Very subtly done, but right there for everyone to see, it may be one of the finest examples of foreshadowing in the history of literature. It forms the foundation for the build-up to the final confrontation with Voldemort, and gives Harry an advantage that he didn't know he had until literally the last minute. "''The wand chooses the wizard, Harry.''" Rowling says she had the entire outline for the series and how everything was going to play out clearly pictured in her head before she first put pen to paper. She wasn't kidding.
* FormallyNamedPet: Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris.
* ForTheEvulz: This seems to be the motivation behind at least half the things done by members of Slytherin House -- especially Malfoy. It seems rather bizarre when you remember that they're '''supposedly''' the House for the [[BadassDecay cunning and ambitious]].
* ForWantOfANail: If Voldemort's mother hadn't had the absolutely miserable life that she had -- abused by her father and brother, abandoned by her brainwashed Muggle Lover, swindled out of her sole possession, forgotten and uncared for by Wizard society -- perhaps Voldemort would not have been the sociopathic mass-murderer that he eventually came to be.
** That's not so much For Want Of A Nail, that's more For Want Of An Entire Toolbox!
* TheFourLoves: The main theme of Harry Potter is Agape.
* FullNameBasis: Harry Potter, to a few characters, notably Dobby and Voldemort.
* FullPotentialUpgrade: Wands are this for wizards. They have to either be precisely matched when purchased or legitimately won from a prior owner for best effect. Wizards who are shown to use hand-me-down wands (Ron and Neville) show a level of improvement when using one purchased just for them.
* FunctionalMagic: JKR says in interviews that she spent time working out the limits of wizard magic, but the novels only touch on these a few times.
* FunetikAksent: Hagrid, and the foreign visitors in ''Goblet of Fire''.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: A common aspect of Rowling's writing in this series, one of her favorite kinds of scenes seems to be one where the characters are having a private conversation while in the background something amusing is going on at the same time. Most commonly, in the school scenes these often involve [[TricksterArchetype Peeves.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G]]
* GangOfBullies: Dudley's gang as well as [[TerribleTrio Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle]].
** The Marauders were also this in regards to Snape. Snape was also a member of a gang of future Death Eaters, as was Tom Riddle.
* GenerationXerox: Subverted. Though differently mixed to form each character, there are several tendencies that carry on from the previous Hogwarts generation to this one:
** A [[TrueCompanions tightly-knit]] group of Gryffindors consisting of a [[TheHero a heroic, adventurous natural leader]] with disregard for the rules (Harry/James), a [[TheLancer more impulsive sidekick]] (Ron/Sirius), [[TheSmartGuy a studious]], member reluctant to break the rules (Hermione/Remus),[[TheSmartGirl a talented Muggle-born girl]] (Hermione/Lily) and a more loosely associated follower who is [[spoiler: (at first glance)]] inept at magic (Peter/Neville)
** A Pureblood Gryffindor strongly opposed to Pureblood supremacy (Ron/James). Said Gryffindor's family warmly accepts that Gryffindor's best friend (Harry/Sirius);
** A Slyterin Pureblood supremacist who has a lasting enmity with TheHero (Draco/Severus);
** A poor and unpopular boy who is friends with and in love with a Muggleborn witch (Ron/[[spoiler: Severus]]) who he [[KickTheMoralityPet hurts for no good reason]] (in Ron's case it gets better). He is often bullied by his wealthy Pureblood rival (Draco/[[spoiler: James]]);
** A no-nonsense and ambitious Gryffindor witch with red hair who ends up together with TheHero (Ginny/Lily);
** A pair of Gryffindor pranksters (Fred and George/James and Sirius);
** An [[AlwaysSecondBest insecure]] and [[OvershadowedByAwesome overshadowed]] member of the TrueCompanions (Ron/Peter). [[spoiler: He betrays and endangers the group out of weakness, but unlike Peter, Ron's betrayal is a MomentOfWeakness he overcomes]].
* GenericistGovernment: The Ministry of Magic.
* GeniusLoci: At Hogwarts, staircases sometimes change direction and are said to be fond of doing it.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: See Radar.HarryPotter.
* GiantSquid: There's one in the Hogwarts lake. It's mainly there to add color and is very much a GentleGiant--when Dennis Creevey falls in the lake, it helps him back into his boat. Lee and the twins are even seen tickling it at one point.
* GiganticAdultsTinyBabies: Dragons start out football-sized at hatching, but most species grow to bus-size or larger.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Dumbledore has shown that he can understand quite a bit about Voldemort. However, it turns out that Dumbledore was unable to figure out that Voldemort [[spoiler:hid one of his Horcruxes in the Room of Requirement]]. Why? Because Dumbledore was a model student who never cheated and hence had no need to use the room. Harry, however, was certainly not a model student, he cheated a couple of times, and he used that room, so he could figure it out.
* GoodLuckCharm: Felix Felicis potion acts as this when drunk.
* GradeSystemSnark: The N.E.W.T. scores. Among the grades are "T for Troll."
* GreaterScopeVillain: Lord Voldemort, the official Big Bad of ''Harry Potter'', fills this role instead sometimes:
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''. If you consider [[spoiler:the Tom Riddle in the diary]] as a separate person, Voldemort (the disembodied spectre in Albania) is a Bigger Bad in this book. Tom Riddle is more a manifestation of Voldemort's will, and at any rate acts independently from him (although in his interests).
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''. He isn't directly involved in the book's events but it's believed that Sirius Black, the Death Eater who helped Voldemort to kill [[Franchise/HarryPotter Harry's]] parents and later killed Peter Pettigrew and several muggle bystanders, was trying to kill Harry in hopes it'd somehow restore Voldemort. [[spoiler:Then in TheReveal we find out Peter Pettigrew faked his death and framed Black, but it still counts for the trope as Voldemort killing Harry's parents led to Sirius being imprisoned and Peter faking his death.]]
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' doesn't feature Voldemort at all, and all his actions take place outside the main events of the plot. The BigBad of the book eventually turns out to be [[spoiler:Severus Snape, who kills Dumbledore and sets most of the events in motion to further himself in Voldemort's eyes.]]
* GrowingWithTheAudience: Creator/JKRowling has stated that she intentionally wrote the series to encompass more mature and scarier themes as the young readers got a little older for each book. This took something of a hit during the "Three-Year Summer" after the fourth book; the audience grew quite a bit older than Harry, and so the reception began to decline.
* GuiltComplex: Harry suffers a massive one, usually born from his ChronicHeroSyndrome.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:H]]
* HappilyMarried:
** Molly and Arthur Weasley.
** While they were still alive, Harry's parents Lily and James.
** There's even reason to believe that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are happily married.
** Vernon and Petunia, whatever else you can say about them.
** Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were likely this until [[spoiler:they were driven insane by the Cruciatus Curse]].
** Mr. and Mrs. Granger appear to be this from what little we can see of them.
** Bill and Fleur. Harry and [[spoiler: Ginny]] end up as happy marriages, too.
** Luna, Neville, George, Percy, and Dudley all had/will have this as well.
* HappinessInSlavery: Most house-elves love being servants. There's also the issue (which Hermione never seems to grasp in canon) that with one exception, "freeing them" -- especially from a master who isn't openly abusive -- is equivalent to ''sacking them in disgrace''. There are several instances of house-elves working around orders or finding loopholes to disobey masters that they ''don't'' like, rebelling without being freed. Even the exception to the rule, Dobby, essentially considers freedom the right to decide whose orders he will obey.
* HateSink: Plenty of characters exist solely to inspire hatred in the reader, starting with the Dursleys and later including Rita Skeeter, Zacharias Smith, Cormac [=McLaggen=], and Cornelius Fudge. But the main one is [[SadistTeacher Dolores Umbridge]], a secondary villain whose every quality, including her [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast name]], is carefully designed to make the reader despise her as much as possible.
* HeadlessHorseman: The Headless Hunt is an event held by a group of these.
* HeroesWantRedHeads: Ginny and Lily (and also Ron and Bill, if you argue that Heroines, or known beauties at least, want them as well).
** JKR confirmed that she really likes red hair, so she stuck an entire extended family of them into her series and made one her hero's best friend and the other [[spoiler:his (eventual) love interest]].
* HeroSecretService: The Order of the Phoenix.
%%* TheHerosJourney
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Harry himself, along with Sirius Black and [[spoiler:Severus Snape]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners:
** James Potter and Sirius Black.
** Harry and Ron, most definitely. They even have two break-up episodes: once in ''Goblet of Fire'' and another in ''Deathly Hallows''.
* HiddenDepths: A large amount of characters become gradually more rounded, most notably Snape and Neville.
** All {{Jerkass}} characters, without exception.
* HiddenElfVillage: Hidden Wizard World. Wizards routinely travel between sanctuaries such as their homes and [[BazaarOfTheBizarre Diagon Alley]], but on average, the ''entire'' Wizarding World is InvisibleToNormals.
* HillbillyHorrors: The Gaunt family represent this.
* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Although Harry is Voldemort's [[spoiler:literal]] mortal enemy, Voldemort [[spoiler:does have a huge responsibility in his own downfall right from the very beginning. When he was presented the Schrodinger's Prophecy he could've chosen to ''ignore'' it, but he didn't, and in doing so created his own downfall with Harry's scar]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Voldemort had no idea that [[spoiler:the Elder Wand technically belonged to Harry]]. [[spoiler:(Even though Harry actually ''told him'' about it.)]] So, naturally, when he tried to cast the Killing Curse on Harry with it, [[spoiler:it reflected back on him (''again'') and killed him permanently]].
* HomeschooledKids: According to JKR, this is the easiest way for wizarding families to get their kids through Primary School without exposing the wizarding world to Muggles. In ''Deathly Hallows'' it's also stated that wizarding parents have the option of homeschooling their children rather than sending them to Hogwarts or a foreign school, but at that point Voldemort's regime makes it mandatory for parents to send their children to Hogwarts so he can keep an eye on them.
* HomoeroticSubtext: Intentionally invoked with Sirius and Lupin, according to Alfonso Cuarón. Apparently, the director thought that Lupin was a "gay junkie".
* HormoneAddledTeenager: Nicely {{avert|ed trope}}s this trope until the later books, and then {{subvert|ed trope}}s it by making the main characters' teenage relationship tangles A) realistic and B) quite secondary to the actual plot. Done especially well with Hermione. After her brief liaison with Viktor Krum in ''Goblet of Fire'', she decides dating isn't all it's cracked up to be and realizes she's still not old enough for serious romantic entanglements. She's also largely uninterested in clothes and doesn't care that she has frizzy hair, concerning herself with academics rather than vanity.
* HufflepuffHouse: In addition to having the TropeNamer, the Ravenclaw House serves as something of a less triumphant example of the trope, at least until Cho Chang and later Luna Lovegood begin taking more active roles in the plot.
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: A less extreme example with Portkeys, which accompany rather intense and blurry visuals. [[AllThereInTheManual According to Pottermore]], "Portkey-sickness" (hysterics and nausea) was a common start-of-school ailment during Hogwarts's brief flirtation with a Portkey network as subsidized transport to campus.
** Apparition certainly counts, as Harry describes it as an extremely unpleasant sensation of being squeezed through a very tight tunnel.
** Travelling by Floo powder could also count as a less-extreme example, considering that it involves spinning very fast and you could see any manner of things in one of the fireplaces, or fall out at the wrong grate, as Harry does in ''Chamber of Secrets''.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters are [[FantasticRacism prejudiced against]] wizards with [[WitchSpecies less than pure wizarding blood]] and non-human magical creatures in general despite he, himself, having a muggle parent. Though he's counting on the anti-Muggle feelings of his followers, he genuinely despises Muggles and anything he considers Mud-blood -- and he apparently has a one drop rule for everyone except himself [[spoiler:and personal Death Eaters like Snape]]. Although they also recruited giants and werewolves, they probably rationalized them as second- and third-tier "citizens" in Voldemort's new England.
*** It is suggested a few times that he is exploiting the prejudices of his own followers more than enforcing his own, and that he really doesn't care about anything but his own power anymore. Voldemort's own half-blood status is one of the reasons he started going after power. He considered his father to be lowly and weak and cowardly for turning away his mother and was determined to ignore his own history and go with wanting power.
** And then we have [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Umbridge]]. Although fans have a lot of reasons to [[HateSink hate her]] with [[LoveToHate relish]], her hypocrisy is certainly one of the main ones. In ''Order of the Phoenix'' she is seen as an agent of the Ministry, sycophantic to its causes and forcing tyrannical laws onto the school in order to get her own way, yet at the same time gleefully (although secretly) engaging in activities that are highly illegal and certainly unforgivable, even by the Ministry. Worse, she punishes Harry most severely for asserting that Voldemort is at large, insisting that he "not tell lies," while aping the official Ministry line on Voldemort, which is patently and obviously false. In ''Deathly Hallows'' she [[spoiler:persecutes Muggle-borns for "stealing magic," which she should certainly know is a nonsensical charge, while claiming that the locket she took as a bribe is an old family heirloom supporting her own bloodline. The injustice and cruelty of this enrages Harry so much that he attacks her immediately without resorting to a more subtle plan]].
** Sirius Black. Despite his axiom that the measure of a man is how he treats his inferiors, he behaves detestably towards Kreacher (because Kreacher reminds him of the house and the family he hated while growing up). Indeed, this is one of his least admirable qualities. [[spoiler:It also bites him in the arse. ''Hard''.]] But as Dumbledore clarifies, Sirius was kind to house-elves in general but Kreacher was special as a reminder of his home and the bad childhood that he hoped to escape.
*** Also, his belief that "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters" goes out the window during the argument with Snape, though the latter is himself not blameless in that regard. JKR admits that this is a serious flaw for Sirius, but she also admits that it's difficult to be morally consistent in life.
** Lupin in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban third book]] tells Harry that he's appalled that Harry never brought the Marauder's Map to a teacher's attention given how useful it would be to catch Sirius or how useful it'd be to Sirius if he found it. Yet, Lupin never bothers telling Dumbledore (or anyone except Harry, Ron, and Hermione) that Sirius is an animagus and knows about the tunnel from the Shrieking Shack onto Hogwarts grounds.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:I]]
* IAmBigBoned: Madame Maxine uses this excuse not at the prospect of being called fat, but when Hagrid speculates that she is half-giant. This trope also applies to the Dursleys blaming Dudley's weight on baby fat. In the ''Prisoner of Askaban'' PS2 game, an unnamed girl says this about the Fat Lady.
* IdiotHero: PlayedWith. Harry is not stupid per se, but he ''is'' lacking in common sense on more than one occasion and often operates on instinct rather than thinking things through. He's often trying to take on wizards far older and far more experienced than him, he pins ''all'' of the wrongdoing in the school on Draco Malfoy (or Slytherin in general), and if ever he senses a corrupt and possibly harmful teacher, ''it's always Snape''. It gets to the point where, in ''Half-Blood Prince'', Ron and Hermione start rolling their eyes at Harry whenever he brings up his "Malfoy is a Death Eater" theory. [[spoiler:This is subverted when he turns out to be correct about both Malfoy (who ''is'' a Death Eater) and Snape ([[ReverseMole sort of]]).]] This gets him into trouble in ''Order of the Phoenix'', and Hermione even lampshades this by telling Harry he's got "a [[ChronicHeroSyndrome saving-people thing]]" that Voldemort not only ''can'' {{exploit|ed trope}}, but has exploited in the past. [[spoiler:Namely, kidnapping a mind-raped Ginny and taking her into the Chamber of Secrets because he wanted to meet Harry.]]
* IllGirl: [[spoiler:Ariana, Dumbledore's sister, became half-insane because she refused to use magic after a traumatic experience where she was attacked by three {{Muggle}} boys who found out she was a witch. Her family put it about that she just had poor physical health to avoid attracting attention, leading many people to theorize that she was a [[MuggleBornOfMages Squib]], when in reality she would have magic exploding out of her when she couldn't keep it in anymore.]]
%%* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Gaunt Family.
* IncestIsRelative:
** Just look at every pureblood family tree; Sirius's parents themselves were second cousins, and it is possible that Lucius and Narcissa are related, too, in some way or another.
** Also, the Gaunts, heirs of Salazar Slytherin and Voldemort's family, were apelike and extremely stupid and unattractive. According to Rowling, this is due to generations of inbreeding (''close'' inbreeding) to preserve not only their pureblood status but also their Parseltongue abilities. Handsome young Voldemort got all of his looks from his Muggle father.
--->'''Dumbledore:''' [The Gaunts] were known for a violent streak that flourished in the family, due to their habit of marrying their own cousins.
* InhumanlyBeautifulRace: Veelas are beautiful women with long silver-blonde hair, blue eyes, shining skin and perfect teeth. However, they have supernatural powers to seduce men and hypnotize them, so it is possible that Harry's description of them is a little exaggerated. They have one downside though: piss them off and they turn into [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies crazy bird monsters]] that throw fire at you. Also, Fleur Delacour claims to be part-Veela on her maternal grandmother's side.
* IneffectualDeathThreats: The staff of Hogwarts seem to love to toss around expulsion as if it's done weekly -- especially directed at younger students. We only ''ever'' meet one person expelled from Hogwarts -- Hagrid, who is now a professor.
* InsistentTerminology:
** Hermione Granger gets rather snippy when people refer to her "Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare" by its [[FunWithAcronyms acronym]].
*** The name is even better in Dutch: "Stichting Huiself voor Inburgering en Tolerantie" (society house-elf for naturalizing and tolerance).
** Also, whenever Harry calls Snape "Snape," the nearest adult (or Hermione) often corrects him: "''Professor'' Snape."
* InstantDeathBullet: ''Avada Kedavra'', the Killing Curse.
* InternalizedCategorism: Some of the meanest persons are said to hate themselves because they are squibs -- and to take this self-hatred out on young wizards of whom they are jealous. Though more ambiguous, it is also possible that Tom Riddle (Voldemort) himself was embarrassed over being a half-blood and that his Fantastic Racism was partly an overcompensation for this. (This example is for the novels only; the movies don't have room for such nuances.)
* InvincibleIncompetent: Harry may be the highest-functioning version of this possible, given his constant victories despite rarely being noted as exceptionally gifted at any type of magic outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts and flying, and fully half the time defeating the villain either by accident or through the actions of another.
** This is [[LampshadeHanging his main argument]] for refusing Hermione's suggestion to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderofThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]''; he's very aware that he's lived as long as he has thanks to situational luck, external help, and/or some personal flash of inspiration that he can't exactly teach others to have.
* {{Irony}}:
** The series often displays many examples but ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the Half-Blood Prince]]'' is probably the one with the most and/or largest ones. In this book Snape stops teaching Potions class and teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, and is replaced in Potions by Professor Slughorn. Potions was previously Harry's worst subject because he hated Snape and never made the effort in class. In his first class with Slughorn he finds a second-hand book labelled as "the property of the Half-Blood Prince". Inside the book are vast amounts of hints that help Harry in his Potions classes, making it his best subject. Then the big reveal is that [[spoiler:Snape is the Half Blood Prince]]. At one point in the book Harry even makes a throwaway remark that The Prince is a much better teacher than Snape. Dramatic irony at its finest.
** The people who [[spoiler:seem to]] care the least for Harry (Vernon, Petunia, [[spoiler:Snape]], Aberforth) are the people who sacrifice the most of their own security and commodity to keep him free from Voldemort.
** Although everyone agrees that Professor Trelawney has not a whit of divinatory talent (most of the time), it happens that every single prediction she makes eventually comes true. Largely this is because they are extremely vague or already probable (for example, telling Harry, who's been marked as the nemesis of the Dark Lord, that he is in danger), but even so, her ultimate record is astoundingly perfect.
* IsThatWhatHeToldYou: Lots of well-meaning deception from Dumbledore.
* ItAmusedMe: The only reason Peeves the poltergeist does anything, although his pranks are (generally) more irritating than harmful. Dumbledore and the Bloody Baron are the only ones who can control him.
* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: The items from [[spoiler:Dumbledore's will]]: The Deluminator, The Snitch, and the Tales of Beedle the Bard.
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: For [[TheHero Harry]], who doesn't like how the Daily Prophet and the Ministry of Magic insist on calling him and treating him as the ChosenOne in ''Half-Blood Prince''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Many characters are of the sour, unpleasant variety.
** Special mentions go to the Dursleys, the Malfoys, Snape, Cormac [=McClaggen=], Percy Weasley, '''Dolores Umbridge''', and sadly, James Potter (from what we see in his youth during Snape's flashback).
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: Too many instances to count.
* JoinOrDie: Standard operating procedure for the Death Eaters.
* JustEatGilligan: [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18244_why-harry-potter-universe-secretly-terrifying.html Cracked]] pointed out that asking the Muggles for help in taking down Voldemort would have solved a ''lot'' of problems. Note that at the higher levels of politics, Muggles and Wizards know of each other as vaguely allies, despite the widespread dismissal of Muggles as being weak.
--> '''Michael''': We can shoot people with a thousand rockets... from space... with ''iPhones!''
** Is this before or after widespread use of Legilimency, Memory Charms, Polyjuice Potion, Confundus charms and the Imperius Curse play merry hell with...literally our entire government? Including the Nuclear Arsenals. ESPECIALLY THE NUCLEAR ARSENALS. Not to mention that if a bunch of Muggleborns and Half-Bloods intentionally break the masquerade this way, Voldemort and friends will have every word they ever spoke proven absolutely right, thus cementing their hold and vindicating their cause.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:K]]
* {{Kappa}}: Kappas are one of the creatures Lupin teaches his class about in the third book, and they're described as looking like scaly monkeys with webbed hands that like to drown people. Snape incorrectly claims that they're native to Mongolia, whereas ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' correctly identifies them as a Japanese monster with a side note from Ron saying "Snape hasn't read this."
* KarmaHoudini: The Malfoys, who escape death and/or imprisonment due to their one redeeming quality: love and devotion to each other.
* KidDetective / AmateurSleuth: The PowerTrio. A big part of the books' structure (and their appeal) is that most of the plots are mysteries that Harry, Ron, and Hermione can solve ("What's hidden beneath the school?", "who is Slytherin's heir?", "who put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire?", etc.), which is the main reason why three underage wizards can have any impact on the story at all.
* KillItWithFire: One of the few ways to [[spoiler:destroy a Horcrux]] is with the dark magic spell Fiendfyre, a.k.a. cursed fire, but the spell is so dangerous and hard to control that even ''Hermione'' says she wouldn't dare try it. And in ''Half-Blood Prince'', it's demonstrated that the Inferi are, if not destroyed, at least repelled by fire.
* KudzuPlot: All of the Harry Potter books (except ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'') end with some answers being revealed but also leave the reader asking several questions which will not be revealed until later books. Some questions that are asked in the first book aren't answered until the last book. Thankfully, they are all resolved in the end.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:L]]
* LaResistance: Dumbledore's Army, against the Ministry's interference at Hogwarts in ''Order of the Phoenix''; Potterwatch and the Order of the Phoenix, against Vlodemort's regime.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The effect of a Memory Charm on the recipient.
* LegendaryWeapon: The Sword of Godric Gryffindor, and the Elder Wand.
* LetterMotif: Marvolo, Morfin, and Merope Gaunt; Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana Dumbledore.
* LivingLabyrinth: Hogwarts is a labyrinthine castle said by some to be sentient. The most overt evidence is the staircases' tendency and alleged fondness for shifting around.
* LivingLegend: The Boy-Who-Lived. You-Know-Who/He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Names/Voldemort. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Seeing as it takes place at a boarding school and all. Let's see: The protagonist PowerTrio, about a baker's dozen worth of significant classmates, the entire Potter and Weasley families, about a dozen teachers (two of which are hardly ever shown, admittedly), another dozen guys from the Ministry of Magic, and about half a dozen on the antagonist side. And that's just for starters...
* LoopholeAbuse: There are certain things that magic simply cannot do, such as reawaken the dead (per the fourth book) or conjure money out of nothing. But with the help of magical artifacts such as the Resurrection Stone or the Philosopher's Stone, it is possible to summon the spirits of the dead (or something very similar to the spirits of the dead) or create gold out of lead or other cheap metals (which is practically the same thing as conjuring money out of nothing).
** In a more mundane example than fabulous wealth or defying mortality, when Ron complains that his mother can conjure fabulous feasts out of thin air, Henrmione tells him that food is one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration (presumably, currency is another). You can summon food if you know where it is, duplicate it if you have it, or transfigure food into different food, but not spontaneous generation. Oddly, this begs the question of whether only prepared food is subject to this, as it is presumably possible to create animals (like Hermione's birds in ''{{HBP}}'') or plants that are inedible unless prepared like cashew fruits (which have to be roasted extensively to get rid of the poison).
* LooseLips: You can trust Rubeus Hagrid with your life, you can even trust him with underage children, but you can't trust him with your secrets, through no malice of his own. ''Goblet of Fire'' has Bertha Jorkins, whose only known attribute is this due to her chronic tendency to gossip -- to her own cost.
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Filch loves torturing misbehaving children, and misses the old days when he could hang kids from the rafters and hear them scream. A lot of that talk is probably wishful thinking (not that this is a huge improvement); Dumbledore seems to have hired Filch, and Dumbledore most likely did not allow thumb screws, chains, or any of the other implements Filch claims to miss. His paraphernalia could easily be left over from well before his time.
%%* LoyalPhlebotinum: Magic wands.
* LuckySeven: Seven books, based on Harry's seven years in school. Seven Weasley children. Voldemort tries to split himself seven ways using himself + six horcruxes [[spoiler:(and doesn't quite succeed; the sixth one was accidental, in which he made Harry his sixth Horcrux)]]. This is {{foreshadow|ing}}ed in the ''Deathly Hallows'' film with the rock broken into seven pieces in young Tom's room. In-universe, seven is stated to be a very powerful magical number.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M]]
* MachiavelliWasWrong:
** Subverted by Voldemort. Despite having a legion of followers who seem utterly loyal, he is betrayed a few times by people who, despite being Slytherins, start to hate him for various reasons. [[spoiler:Snape, for example, betrayed him for over a decade; Regulus was willing to die to stop him; and Narcissa lied to him to protect her son]]. Not to mention that he [[spoiler:created his own worst enemy in Harry when he tried to kill him]]. Voldy clearly missed the part about "avoiding hatred".
** Played with by Dumbledore, whose philosophy of love and trust clashes with a number of his actions that are very manipulative indeed. His manipulation often does more harm than good, and Dumbledore acknowledges this, such as at the end of the fifth book.
* MacGuffinPersonReveal: Harry spends a book and a half looking for [[BigBad Voldermort]]'s [[SoulJar six Horcruxes]] before finding out [[spoiler:that Harry himself is the seventh]].
* MadeOfGood: A Patronus is a positive memory made manifest; unlike a person, it can't feel despair, so Dementors can't feed on it.
* MadeOfIndestructium: Implied of the Deathly Hallows. The [[spoiler:Invisibility Cloak's]] flawless state despite its ancient age is the first clue to its true nature, the fact that the same strike that destroyed [[spoiler:the Horcrux]] within the Resurrection Stone did nothing to impede its function as a Hallow, and the fact that the Elder Wand survived through the ages despite being constantly in the centre of violent conflicts all point to this.
** Any such implications are completely ignored in the films, where Harry [[spoiler: effortlessly snaps the Elder Wand in half]].
* MagicAIsMagicA: Followed fairly closely, mainly with the teleporting power; the reader is repeatedly told that it's impossible to teleport into or out of Hogwarts. In Book 7, we find out why this is perfectly in line with the rules. In Film 6, when Harry reminds him he's about to do something impossible, Dumbledore states "This is one of the benefits of being me."
** It's also explained, when they're doing their Apparition test, that the room in which they're practicing has temporarily had the blocking field suspended, but they're warned not to try it after the lesson's over.
* MagicalCamera: Photographs and paintings alike are animate and semi-sentient, due to some kind of special darkroom process.
* MagicalLibrary: The school library at Hogwarts.
* MagicCarpet: These are banned in Britain because they're defined as a {{Muggle}} artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Magical Objects, though they're apparently used by wizards in other countries.
* MagicHat: The Room of Requirement turns into whatever people need. For a more literal magic hat, there's the Sorting Hat, [[spoiler:from which the Sword of Gryffindor can be pulled by a true Gryffindor]].
* MagicMap: The Marauder's Map, showing everything and everyone on the Hogwarts grounds and giving insults to Severus Snape.
* MagicVersusScience: Electronics don't even work around Hogwarts, wizards are disdainful of Muggle technology, and most {{Muggles}} have no idea magic exists. Interestingly, although wizards can do most things much more quickly and efficiently with magic, there are a few cases where the wizard method just ''sucks'' compared to the Muggle method, most notably communication, where the wizards have nothing as effective as (albeit then-primitive) cell phones or Internet. They send letters by owl, which is better than the postal service, but nowhere near as good as an e-mail (and subject to getting owlnapped/eaten on the way). The closest thing they have to a phone is sticking your head in a magical fireplace, which is not portable like a cell phone. On the other hand, there are implications, primarily in ''Order of the Phoenix'', that owls can be teleported in emergencies.
** Subverted by one Arthur Weasley, who seems to be one of the few (along with Hermione, who was brought up in the Muggle world) who sees the usefulness of taking common Muggle inventions then enhancing them further with magic. Everyone else just thinks he's eccentric.
** Much of this is clearly intended to reflect the cultural differences between those who live entirely in Wizarding society and those who mingle in both. For example, by the end of the series Ron, [[spoiler: who is now married to Hermione, a Muggle-born]], has gotten a driver's license. However, a cultural bias can also develop in young wizards and witches because electronics do not work in Hogwarts, which is where they will spend a large chunk of their childhoods. Thus, even Muggle-borns who grow up in regular society may become distanced from it as they live for years with magic as the only "technology" available to them.
** There is also a legitimate question as to what is "magic" and what is "science". In the book ''Harry Potter and Philosophy'', one contributor, Gareth B. Matthews, observes:
--->'''Matthews:''' The natural assumption is that any subject that can be taught to students in such a way that their competence in this subject can be tested by examination is a science.
** This is further illustrated by the fact that it is frequently shown that magic, much like science, operates under comprehensible laws and that if performed correctly will produce a predictable result. If performed incorrectly (something often shown in the series) it will likewise produce an incorrect result. This is most explicitly demonstrated in the subject of Potions, where in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' Professor Snape states it unequivocally (emphasis added):
--->'''Snape:''' You are here to learn the subtle '''science''' and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic.
* MagicalSeventhSon: According to Creator/JKRowling, Ginny is the seventh child of a seventh child.
* MamaBear: Several, and they seem to be the bane of [[BigBad Voldemort's]] existence. Twice he's been undone by a mother trying to protect her son. [[spoiler:The first was Lily [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing]] herself for Harry, and the second is Narcissa Malfoy, who lies to him about Harry being dead for the chance to save Draco.]]
** Not to mention Molly Weasley:
--->[[PrecisionFStrike "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"]]
* {{Masquerade}}: The {{Muggle}} world is under the masquerade that magic does not exist.
* MasterApprenticeChain: Harry is given special lessons from Lupin, and uses it and more to train the DA.
* MasterRace: Many pureblood families of wizards view themselves this way; Voldemort, whose reasons for hating {{Muggles}} are much more personal in nature, [[ExploitedTrope plays on this]] to attract followers.
* MeaningfulName: There are many. Indeed, certain characters "just happen" to have names that relate to ''what'' they are, to the point of providing more astute readers with a possible {{spoiler}}.
** As an example, if you hated Dolores Umbridge, well, guess what? The author ''wanted'' you to feel that way. Dolores comes from Spanish, and it means "pains". Umbridge is pronounced just like the word "umbrage" (ˈʌm.brɪdʒ), and it means "feeling of anger or annoyance caused by something offensive". What an apt name!
** Remus Lupin: Romulus and Remus, twins who were raised by wolves; "lupine" = wolf-like. Asking for it.
*** As is Fenrir Greyback, who's named after a giant wolf of Myth/NorseMythology.
** Naturally, Sirius Black can turn into a black dog. His dog form is mistaken for a Grim, one of names for the Black Dog myth, which in some legends aids people (hint) but in many either brings or signals doom (i.e., they have a bad reputation). Similarly, "dog days" were named because the appearance of Sirius in Egypt coincided with the flooding of the Nile. Aaand "black dog" also refers to depression. He really didn't have a chance.
** Minerva is the Roman equivalent to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. Minerva [=McGonagall=] is pretty smart herself.
*** On the same note, Hermione is the female version of Hermes, the messenger of the gods of Olympus, and also the god of knowledge.
** The Gaunts were a once powerful magical family, now reduced to squalor; "gaunt" means lean and haggard.
** Salazar Slytherin is associated with snakes, as his last name might suggest. His first name may be a reference to Antonio Salazar, the Portuguese dictator.
** Rowena Ravenclaw, and the house named after her, is associated with intelligence. The raven is one of the smartest birds there is.
** Luna Lovegood is quite spacey and moony.
*** Arguably her last name as well, when you consider how much she values her friends.
** "Malfoy" means "bad faith" in French.
** "Alastor" roughly means "avenger" in Greek. Alastor Moody seeks and captures criminal wizards.
** And {{Nag|a}}ini, of course.
** Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father. His first name means Lover of Aliens, literally, but the Lovegoods are strange people who love strange things.
*** Aliens as in unknown things, rather than extraterrestrials, by the way.
** The ominous thestrals sound much like the Old English word for darkness, "theostru."
** Ignotus Peverell: "ignotus" is Latin for "pardoned". Makes sense when you consider that he was [[spoiler: essentially pardoned by Death]].
** The list of meaningful names is almost as long as the list of characters in the series. Ol' J.K., it seems, just couldn't help but throw in the kitchen sink when it came to puns.
* MemoryWipingCrew: Obliviators, employed by the Ministry of Magic.
* MemeticBadass: In-universe example. Rumours about the incredible (and possibly dark) powers that Harry possessed were circulating before he'd even arrived at Hogwarts. And the PowerTrio are absolutely on the receiving end of this during ''Deathly Hallows'', when the Wizarding World is hearing stories about three high school students who [[spoiler:rescued prisoners from the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic itself, escaped Malfoy Manor (Death Eater HQ) from under the nose of Bellatrix Lestrange, and broke ''into'' Gringotts and escaped ''by stealing a dragon(!!!)'', on top of regularly pwning Death Eaters and repeatedly escaping from right under Voldemort's... umm... slits.]]
* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:Sirius, Dumbledore, and Lupin. In that order.]]
* MindProbe: Legilimency is the art of probing into another person's head and reading their thoughts and emotions. It can be used in relatively harmless ways to detect lying and read surface thoughts, but deep searching can completely destroy the target's mind.
** The mental link between Harry and Voldemort potentially allows a two-way channel for either one to search the other's mind. However, whereas Harry can, if willing, look inside Voldemort's mind with relative ease and end up only a few nasty headaches worse for wear, Voldemort can't reach too deeply into Harry's mind without suffering unspeakable pain. Dumbledore theorizes that [[spoiler: Voldemort's unstable maimed soul is unable to come in contact with Harry's pure soul]].
* MindRape: Dementors are living embodiments of this, and it's why so many wizards are afraid of being sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison. This is also what will happen if you get on the wrong side of a Legilimens.
* MindYourStep: The staircases at Hogwarts have several stairs that your foot will sink through.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Implied to be the reason why Harry has more humility than his father had at the same age; growing up with his abusive Aunt and Uncle made him a better person. Though, this is carefully qualified because there are other cases where misery did not build character, namely the young Tom Riddle and Severus Snape who suffered bad childhoods and became jerkasses, with the latter undergoing HeelFaceTurn only after realizing he made a terrible mistake and even then not changing his genuinely unpleasant personality one bit.
** Dumbledore himself notes that Harry is exceptional for coming out of his childhood with the capacity to love that he imbibed from the memory and sacrifice of his GoodParents. And Harry himself mocks this concept when he tells Remus off for trying to abandon his family under the misplaced idea that his child is better off without his werewolf Dad.
** According to Creator/JKRowling, this trope is why Dumbledore lets Snape get away with being such an asshole to his students. ("Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life ... horrible teachers like Snape are one of them!"). Dumbledore is perhaps the biggest example; his [[spoiler:youthful relationship with Grindelwald and the resulting death of his sister]] made him a [[TheAtoner lifelong atoner]] for an action he never forgave himself for.
* MisfitMobilizationMoment:
** In ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', Kreacher leads the house-elves employed at Hogwarts into battle against the Death Eaters.
** In ''Order of the Phoenix'', Harry, Ron, and Hermione are already-mobilized misfits, but they're joined by Neville (who TookALevelInBadass); Ginny, who up to that point was nearly an extra and only Ron's little sister; and Luna, Hogwarts's own {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
** The whole final battle is this for the good guys: Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, teachers and staff of Hogwarts, Grawp-the-giant, thestrals and hippogriffs, centaurs, house-elves, and probably others. Even the non-Junior Death Eater Slytherins led by LovableCoward Slughorn.
*** Just think of a good guy who's still alive by this point in the story. Any good guy at all, no matter how obscure. ''They show up''. [[note]]Okay, not some other very minor characters who get the shaft.[[/note]]
* MistakenForGranite: The guardian statue at the entrance to Dumbledore's study.
* MoeCouplet: Harry and Luna. Luna is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who hardly seems troubled by anything and helps her father run the magical equivalent of a tabloid magazine, whereas Harry becomes more [[HurtingHero traumatized as increasing numbers of his friends and loved ones die. Some of them right in front of him.]] Yet, Luna understands what losing a loved one feels like, enabling her to empathise with his grief over Sirius -- and Harry knows what being picked on feels like, so he naturally wants to help her out when people hide Luna's things and mock her behind her back. They serve as two sides of the same coin, and [[FanPreferredCouple some fans prefer them as a couple to Harry/Ginny]].
* MonochromeApparition: The ghosts in the books are described as 'pearly white', with the exception of Peeves. In the movies they are merely desaturated.
* MoralDissonance:
** Harry and others are seen using the so-called Unforgivable Curses in the last book. This could be chalked up to [[WarIsHell being in a war]], and using Unforgivable curses against Death Eaters was perfectly legal until in the previous war, when Barty Crouch, Sr. published a [[{{Outlaw}} writ of Outlawry]] against them. However, the Cruciatus curse (which causes mind-destroying pain) is used, despite it being less practical than either a killing curse or a simple stun.
** The way even good wizards like Arthur Weasley regard {{Muggles}}. Most wizards and witches (if they aren't Muggleborn) range from outright violence (on the Death Eater end) to a sort of paternalistic condescension (such as Arthur's case). And you can't help but be a little disturbed by the willingness to use things like [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Memory Charms]] on them to uphold TheMasquerade (especially after seeing what a really strong one does to Lockhart). Not to mention there was a war going on where Muggles were the ''targets'' and even the Prime Minister was kept almost entirely in the dark.
* MoralGuardians: The seemingly endless parade of whackos who insist that the books entice children into the occult and devil worship. Particularly jarring, considering [[ThePowerOfLove the actual]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship moral messages]] of the books.
* MorallyBankruptBanker: The goblins at Gringots.
* MoustacheDePlume: "J.K. Rowling" is a pseudonym forced upon the author, Joanne Rowling, because her publisher feared that young boys (the target audience) wouldn't read books written by a woman. Rowling didn't even have a middle name by then, so she used her grandmother's name, "Kathleen", in the pseudonym.
* {{Muggles}}: The TropeNamer.
* MuggleBornOfMages: A person who was born to magical parents but has no magical abilities themselves is known as a Squib. Notable examples include Filch (whose animosity towards the Hogwarts students is probably due to being this) and Mrs. Figg. Neville isn't one, but it took so long for his magical abilities to manifest that his family almost thought he'd be one.
* MultipleDemographicAppeal: A major factor in the series' runaway success.
* MundaneObjectAmazement: Justified by the insular nature of the wizarding community.
--> Mr Weasley: ''[to Harry]'' You've lived among Muggles; can you tell me exactly what is the function of a rubber duck?
* MundaneUtility: Several spells like ''Alohamora'', ''Accio'', and ''Reparo'' were initially designed for opening doors sealed by non-magical locks, summoning objects from great distances, and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin repairing broken objects]] (like [[RunningGag glasses]]), respectively.
%%* MysticalPlague: Lycanthropy.
%%* MythicalMotifs
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N]]
* {{Narm}}: Plenty of it in-universe, as we see practically the whole series through Harry's point of view. It gets lampshaded whenever the Dursleys have an emotional moment, usually coupled with some variant of the phrase "Harry suppressed the urge to laugh."
* NarmCharm: WordOfGod confirms that InUniverse, the Quibbler is "appreciated for its unintentional humour."
* NarrativeProfanityFilter: At length. The books contain a great deal of profanity being uttered, more often than not by [[SirSwearsALot Ron]], just filtered through a fairly tongue-in-cheek narration. To quote a few:
** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]:
--->The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field.

--->Ron told Malfoy to do something that Harry knew he would never have dared say in front of Mrs. Weasley.
** ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'':
--->Frustration was running high and there was a certain amount of ill-feeling towards Wilkie Twycross and his three Ds, which had inspired a number of nicknames for him, the politest of which were Dog-breath and Dung-head.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName:
** The Death Eaters believe in the superiority of [[WitchSpecies "pure blood"]], and will kill anyone they feel is inferior to them. Their leader, Voldemort, hates anyone not of pure wizard blood, yet he himself is not a pureblood; UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler viewed "Aryans," commonly portrayed as blonds with blue eyes, as the master race, yet he himself was brown-haired with brown eyes, and may have had a bit of Jewish ancestry. J.K. Rowling [[WordOfGod acknowledged]] the Death Eaters are supposed to represent the Nazis. In [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth movie]], they're also symbolized as Klansmen--check out the KKK-inspired headgear, torches and "burning signal".///
** And that's not even getting into the ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows seventh]]'' [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows book]], for most of which the PowerTrio are on the run in one of the most blatant parallels of Nazi-occupied Europe ever seen. The Ministry of Magic has become so corrupted from the inside by LesCollaborateurs that they essentially pass the Nuremberg Laws against Muggle-born wizards, and under the guidance of Umbridge are shown creating pamphlets touting purity of blood whose content and saccharine covers call to mind the publications of Julius Streicher. The various Death Eater minions inside the Ministry are dressed in khaki clothes, with red, white, and black armbands bearing the Dark Mark. The sign of [[spoiler:the Deathly Hallows]] has a history very similar to that of the swastika, as well--originally an innocent symbol, then used by wizard-supremacist Grindelwald, etched on walls by stupid pricks to get attention...
** Naturally, Grindelwald was defeated in 1945, of all years, and was banged up in a prison called Nurmengard (which sounds like Nuremberg, and has the very "Arbeit macht frei"-like slogan "For the Greater Good" carved over the gate). Fans have used this to speculate on [[{{Ghostapo}} whether Grindelwald actually had something to do with the rise of the Nazis themselves]]. Also, a lunatic, old loner as the last inmate of an incredibly guarded prison? That sounds like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Hess Rudolf Hess.]]
*** Regardless, the possibility of a task force of wizards and muggles contributing to the Allied victory over the Nazis is invoked in-universe.
** The FilmOfTheBook of ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' shows a snippet of [[spoiler:Hermione's torture from the book, except instead of just hearing her disembodied screams, we also see Belatrix doing... something with the dagger in her hand to Hermione's arm. When we see her arm, we can see that Lestrange carved "Mudblood" into the inside of Hermione's forearm, much like how the Nazis tattooed numbers into the forearms of the Jews in concentration camps]].
** Polish translation of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' explicitly calls those who hunt muggleborns and LaResistance for profit ''szmalcownicy''. RealLife ''szmalcownicy'' sold hiding Jews to the Nazis during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo The War]].
*** Said Snatchers can also be compared to the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsatzgruppen Einsatzgruppen]]'' that hunted Jews, ''inter alia'', in occupied Europe.
* NearDeathExperience:
** The effect of multiple magical curses/charms takes Harry about as near death as anyone can go without actually dying. Being the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse [[spoiler:twice]] is actually part of what makes him famous in the wizarding world, causing many to refer to him as "The Boy-Who-Lived".
** Voldemort also had a few, due to having a great magical insurance policy for awhile.
%%* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: The horcruxes.
%%* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The most prominent examples being Molly Weasley and Lily Evans, but Tonks and Fleur fall into this too later on.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** At one point in ''Half Blood Prince'', we see inside the memories of a Ministry official who was responsible for the arrest of a father and son who abused the daughter of the family, enabling her to go after the Muggle love of her life. All very well, right? Well, there's just one teensy-weensy problem -- said daughter happens to go on to become the mother of the most evil and maniacal wizard this century.
** Also in ''Half-Blood Prince'', we learn R.A.B. stole a PlotCoupon and replaced it with a fake and a taunting note, which forces the main characters to find it ''again'' later because R.A.B. didn't manage to destroy it. Especially annoying because of the circumstances of pointlessly gaining the fake.
* TheNineties: Excluding the opening chapter of the first book, various {{flashback}}s, and [[DistantFinale the epilogue at the end of book seven]], the entire series takes place over the course of this decade.
* NoEyeInMagic: Some of the spells in the series are like this.
** In [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Book 1]], the main villain puts a spell on Harry's broom during a Quidditch game in an attempt to make him fall off and drop to his death. Hermione stops the spell by creating a fire, which startles him into breaking eye contact with Harry.
** In ''Chamber of Secrets'', the basilisk can kill someone just by looking them in the eye -- fortunately, the only people we see who have encountered it manage to not quite look it in the eye: they see it in a reflection, or through a camera lens, or through a ghost, so it doesn't ''quite'' kill them.
** There is also Legilimency, the ability to extract emotions and memories from a person's mind, which usually works via eye-to-eye contact. Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort are expert Legilimens, and scattered through the series (even before we know what Legilimency is) we can find instances where Harry feels that they can "read his mind." Almost a "missed" example, but once or twice, Harry does look away from their gaze; initially, the reader would just assume he felt uncomfortable under scrutiny -- [[{{Foreshadowing}} now we know better]].
* NoMoreLies: Eventually, Dumbledore realizes that hiding the truth from Harry will only hurt him in the end and tells him about Voldemort, such as he knows.
* NoOntologicalInertia: Unless a spell is specified to be permanent, it will expire with the caster's death. (This apparently does not apply to permanent curse-caused physical or mental damage.)
* NoOSHACompliance:
** Hogwarts is a rather dangerous place for kids. You would think that the parents would protest more often, but the only protests we ever see are when the Chamber of Secrets is opened and after a WoundedGazelleGambit by Malfoy in ''Prisoner of Azkaban''.
** In the usual course of things, there is only a little bit of danger (like the third corridor in our PowerTrio's first year), but when it gets ''really'' bad (like when the Chamber of Secrets opens, or during book 6 when Voldy is back) parents yank their kids out of school. (Ironically, once Voldemort shows up in Hogwarts in person, he waxes philosophical about his love for the place and offers the students a chance to go unharmed.)
** The Hogwarts Potions class doesn't have fume hoods over the cauldrons, nor does it require that the students wear goggles or gloves while brewing.
** Lampshaded repeatedly by the Podcast/{{Rifftra|x}}ckers for the movies.
-->"A safety measure failing? At ''Hogwarts''? Will wonders never cease!"
-->'''Kevin:''' So for this test [''Goblet of Fire''] they drowned four of their students?\\
'''Mike:''' ''[chuckling]'' No no no. They simply tied them up and tossed them into the water, which breaks no laws ''I'' can think of.
%%** The Department of Mysteries.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Percy Weasley "wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cozy." He does have a bit of a harshly sarcastic moment in ''Deathly Hallows'', though, which is remarked upon with astonishment by his siblings.
* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Several InUniverse examples:
** In ''Chamber of Secrets'', Lockhart is very happy when a fight breaks out at a book signing for his latest book.
** And then averted later in the series when the ''Daily Prophet'', Wizarding England's primary newspaper, does a massive (and successful) smear campaign on Harry and Dumbledore.
** Played straight in the fifth book, wherein the Ministry of Magic's propaganda campaign against Harry's story that Voldemort has returned is reversed when Umbridge bans a copy of ''The Quibbler'' that tells Harry's story about his encounter with Voldemort. The issue is then sold out and must be reprinted due to curiosity about why it was banned.
* NoTrueScotsman: The pureblood bigots are of the opinion that anyone who isn't a pureblood is inferior. Those purebloods who disagree are "blood traitors," i.e. not "true" purebloods.
* TheNotSoHarmlessPunishment: Detentions at Hogwarts often involve dangerous tasks, such as searching for an injured unicorn (running into whatever hurt it, and possibly needing to deliver a MercyKill) in the Forbidden Forest. Then there's the Umbridge/Carrows version of detention, which involves ColdBloodedTorture.
* NotUsingTheZWord: Zigzagged - in the books, reanimated bodies are called ''Inferi''. However, according to [[AllThereInTheManual Pottermore]], zombies actually do exist in the Potterverse, the primary difference being that, while Inferi can be enchanted to do one's bidding, zombies are merely mindless, shambling corpses.
* TheNounWhoVerbed:
** Harry is often called "The Boy-Who-Lived" as he was the only one to ever survive the Killing Curse or Voldemort.
** [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] is often referred to as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or "You-Know-Who", as people are afraid that [[SpeakOfTheDevil speaking his name might summon him]]. In the last book, he puts a "taboo" on his name such that everyone who speaks it can be located and protections around them fail, [[ExploitedTrope exploiting]] the fear (because only his enemies would call him Voldemort) and also making it justified.
%%* NowOrNeverKiss: [[spoiler:Ron and Hermione.]]
* NumerologicalMotif
** Sevens: seven years, seven novels, seven subjects (to start with), seven Horcruxes, seven players on a Quidditch team, Harry [[spoiler:and Neville]] being born in the seventh month, seven Weasley children. The dedication for the seventh book is "split seven ways". The films take this further still; the number seven is on Harry's Quidditch robes.
** Nine and three-quarters: Kings Cross platform; length of school year in months (Sept 1-late June); Harry's exile from the wizarding world in years (1 Nov 1981-31 July 1991)
** Twelves: twelve subjects offered at Hogwarts (Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Defense Against Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Astronomy; Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies, Runes, Arithmancy), twelve-a-side in the Dept. of Mysteries. Twelve uses of dragon blood.
** Primes: 17 sickles to the galleon, 29 knuts to the sickle, and of course all the sevens above.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:O]]
* OddlyCommonRarity: Hermione says there were only seven Animagi registered with the Ministry during the entire century, but the trio encounters three unregistered Animagi within two years, which strongly implies that it is rather easy to conceal the ability, and the actual rarity is for the Animagi to be registered. Hermione is just law-obsessed and forgets that laws don't mean crap if they can't be enforced. It wouldn't be terribly surprising to find out it is the Wizarding equivalent of Speeding.
** They also hear about a fourth, although [[spoiler: he's been dead since the first chapter of the series]].
* OfficialCoupleOrdealSyndrome: PlayedForLaughs with [[spoiler: Ron and Hermione]] before they actually start going out. PlayedStraight with [[spoiler: Harry and Cho (a mild version), Lupin and Tonks, and Snape and Lily]].
* OffstageVillainy: We hear Neville's accounts of the abuse [[SadistTeacher the Carrows]] have been dishing out to students during his seventh year, but never actually see any of it.
** Speaking of {{Sadist Teacher}}s, Dolores Umbridge, arguably the most evil non-Death Eater villain in the series, is seen threatening a few characters with the [[AgonyBeam Cruciatus Curse]] and the [[FateWorseThanDeath Dementor's Kiss]], but whether she ever actually subjects anyone to these things remains unknown.
* OlderIsBetter: The series' best magics and artifacts can generally be assumed to be ancient.
* OldMoney:
** The Malfoys, being the series's most visible {{Blue Blood}}s, have also been fabulously rich for generations and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections have connections]] in the highest echelons of government, business, and high society.
* OneHitKill: The ''Avada Kedavra'' spell.
* OnlyICanKillHim: Far too much. Mainly Between Harry and Voldemort.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Until Dumbledore calls him "Alastor", it doesn't occur to Harry that "Mad-Eye" isn't Moody's first name.
* OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass: Gryffindors and Slytherins need a password to gain entry into their residences. Hufflepuff probably has similar security, we just never see it. Ravenclaw has a different arrangement, see the trope below.
* OnlySaneMan: Hermione tends to come across as this, sometimes due to ValuesDissonance between Muggles and wizards.
* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass:
** Ravenclaw Tower uses riddles instead of simple passwords before allowing students entry.
** In the first book, the safeguard that Snape creates for the Philosopher's Stone entails solving a logic puzzle.
* OnlyTheChosenMayRide: Hippogryphs choose whom they will allow to ride them. As Malfoy finds out, insulting one is a good way to get sent to the hospital.
* TheOrder: The Order of the Phoenix, introduced in... ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. The Death Eaters also count as an evil example.
%%* OurCentaursAreDifferent
%%* OurFairiesAreDifferent
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Only witches and wizards can become ghosts, and even then they have the choice to either "go on" (presumably this means to move on to the afterlife) or remain as ghosts in a "feeble imitation of life", as Nick puts it.
* OurLichesAreDifferent: Voldemort is a pretty straightforward example. He split his soul into [[LuckySeven 7 pieces]] with successive [[BloodMagic murders]], and stored each one inside a [[SoulJar Horcrux]]. When his Killing Curse backfired and killed him, he remained stuck in the mortal world as "less than a ghost," yet unable to die. Eventually, one of his followers helps him to create a new body (although whatever he then becomes, it is doubtful it can truly be called human), and he gets back in business.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: {{Justified|Trope}} because Inferi is taken from the Latin word for "Dead people".
* OutNumberedSibling: Ginny is the only girl in a family with seven children.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: According to their O.W.L. scores, both Harry and Ron are competent at their subjects (with several "Exceeds Expectations" in the core classes, plus one "Outstanding" for Harry in Defense Against the Dark Arts), but they're both overshadowed by Hermione (who got a lone "E" for Defense, and "Outstanding" for all the other classes she attended).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P]]
* {{Panacea}}: The bezoar is an imperfect one. Unicorn blood will fix you at the cost of being cursed. Phoenix [[SwissArmyTears tears]] seem to work on anything with no catch.
* ParentalSubstitute: The Dursleys are a bad version of this, even though [[spoiler:they are the only ones who can truly protect Harry from Voldemort, because living with Petunia and Dudley, his only relatives who share his mother's blood, renews Lily's protection spell every year until Harry comes of age.]] The Weasleys, Sirius, and Lupin do a better job.
* {{Patricide}}: Several instances in the series:
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', we learn that [[spoiler:Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents as soon as he discovered they were Muggles, and not the Wizards he imagined.]]
** At the end of the same book, we learn that [[spoiler:Barty Crouch, Jr.]] murdered his father. Then transfigured his body into a bone and buried it. [[spoiler:Barty]] makes much of how both he and [[spoiler:Voldemort]] had very disappointing fathers and the pleasure of killing those fathers. He also seems to regard Voldemort as a father substitute.
** Also, in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' we have a rare case of Matricide when it's revealed that [[spoiler:Ariana Dumbledore accidentally killed her mother Kendra]].
* PetMonstrosity: Hagrid kept a pet [[GiantSpider acromantula]] as a student, and hasn't really broken out of the habit by the time of the books (and probably never will).
* PinballProtagonist: Somewhat in the earlier books. This has been parodied to no end, with one work replacing Harry with a literal inanimate object.
** Some fans actually joke that Hermione should have been the protagonist, as for the first few novels she's the one who does the most stuff.
* PlotArmor: The trio has it in spades. The other characters [[AnyoneCanDie do not]], which is driven home quite strongly in the last book.
* ThePollyanna: Luna probably suffers more at the hands of her classmates than [[{{Wangst}} Harry]] does, but never complains or shows any signs of self-pity or even annoyance.
%%* PostVictoryCollapse: A lot.
* PlayfulOtter: Hermione's Patronus.
* PlotCoupons: Quite a few, most notably the Horcruxes.
* PlotInducedIllness: The Weasley twins develop a range of sweets that make one ill and test them on fellow students. Hermione is unamused and shuts them down. Well, [[RuleofFunny tries to]], [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption anyway]].
* PoliceAreUseless: The Ministry of Magic proves to be very ineffectual throughout the entire series, and often get in the way of the heroes. [[spoiler: This is exemplified best when Voldemort returns and they refuse to acknowledge that he's back, instead choosing to antagonize Harry and Hogwarts. Voldemort even keeps them around because they are more helpful than detrimental to him.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Umbridge and Voldemort (the latter being an {{Expy}} of '''''UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler''''' and the former an {{Expy}} of Margaret Thatcher). Indeed, all the villains.
%%* PopculturalOsmosis
* PortalCut: Apparition done poorly results in "splinching." This is where a person attempts to Apparate, but leaves a part of him- or herself behind. Not in a comical bloodless way, but in a "neatly sliced off" kind of way. Wizard healing is such that these kinds of injuries are curable within a day or two, but that leads to splinching being played almost as light comedy -- until it happens to one of the main characters.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Emphasized as extremely important throughout the series, which is one of the most strongly-played examples of this trope.
* PowerOfHate:
** The power of hate is explicitly said to be why Dumbledore is considered weaker (technically) than Voldemort. Voldemort, being fueled by hate, is willing to use BlackMagic like [[SoulJar horcruxes]] or curses. Dumbledore doesn't because he's still sane enough to realize [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity the cost of such power]].
** The first time Harry attempts an Unforgivable Curse against Bellatrix Lestrange, she brushes it off fairly quickly and tells him that righteous anger won't fuel an Unforgivable as well as genuine malice.
** This is also what drove Sirius Black out of Azkaban. Dementors could [[EmotionEater take out happiness]], but hate gave him direction while [[spoiler:knowing that he was innocent]] kept him sane.
* ThePowerOfLove: Alluded to throughout the series. It can protect a loved one from deadly curses and block mental magic.
* PowerTrio:
** Harry (ego), Ron (id), and Hermione (superego).
** And the secondary trio consisting of Neville (ego), Ginny (id), and Luna (superego).
* PragmaticVillain: Slytherins are repeatedly described as being cunning.
** An alternate interpretation of the declaration to hand Harry over to Voldemort in the last novel is that they are simply pointing out that there is no sense in ''everyone'' dying in order to protect Harry, when he's the only thing that Voldemort actually cares about.
** The Slytherins all left before the final battle. However, we later find out that a signifcant number of them lead by Slughorn actually did this in order to reach Hogsmeade and raise the alarm, before coming back ''with reinforcements''. There is debate as to whether this really counts, as Rowling only mentions it in an interview, and it is never hinted at in the books. In fact, Voldemort hints that many Slytherins joined him.
* PreMeeting: In the first five books, Harry always meets (or at least hears about) his new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher before school starts. And he already knew the sixth.
* PreviouslyOn: Chapter 1 (sometimes 2) is always a recap of "the story so far" for the benefit of new readers. Rowling stopped doing it after book five, figuring that [[TakeThat people stupid enough to start a book series in the middle deserved to get confused]].
* ProjectileSpell: Most spells seem to follow this trope. Even Avada Kedavra, which ignores any overtly magical shield, can be hindered by a suitably solid object.
* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: [[PlayingWithATrope Toyed with]] and {{inverted}} multiple times (see BecauseDestinySaysSo), but ultimately played straight. Although the Divination teacher Professor Trewlawney is usually portrayed as a massive fraud, shockingly, ''every genuine prophecy she makes throughout the series turns out to be (at least somewhat) correct.'' \\
\\
She only made two known real predictions in the books, though, which makes it hilarious when even her random mystical BS turns out to be true (like Lavender's rabbit dying, a student leaving her class, or Umbridge being in great danger). [[spoiler:She's also always predicting Harry's early demise. Nobody ever believes her. He dies in Book 7 at age 17. [[OnlyMostlyDead He does come back to life, of course.]]]]
* PropheticNames: Quite a few of the characters' names reflect some gained personality quirk or their adult job description, but no one ever remarks on this oddity. The allusions range from the blindingly obvious (a werewolf named Remus "lupine" Lupin) to the GeniusBonus-worthy (Voldemort's ruthless female fighter [[TheDragon and lieutenant]] is named Bellatrix "the Amazon warrior star" Lestrange).
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: The so-called "Unforgivable Curses" are introduced in Book Four, wherein it's said casting one of them even once is a life-sentence in Azkaban. By Book Seven even the heroes are casting them with abandon, including the Cruciatus Curse, where you need to ''enjoy inflicting pain'' in order for it to work.
* PsychicBlockDefense: Occlumency is a whole discipline dedicated to this.
* PutOnABus: The story is set at a boarding school and features students from every year, meaning that at the end of every book characters graduate and stop hanging around Hogwarts. With the exception of Percy, Fred and George, who Harry sees during summer and winter breaks, graduated characters usually aren't seen again outside of cameos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R]]
* RaisedByHumans: Hagrid tries to raise Norbert(a). It doesn't work.
* RandomlyGifted: Being a wizard can run in families but also sometimes manifests in {{muggles}}, and magicless squibs can be born to wizards.
* RapidHairGrowth: At one point during his childhood, Harry's aunt cut off his bangs, almost shaving him except for the part that hides his scar. It looked ridiculous, but magically grew back before Harry's next school day.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Wizards live longer than Muggles. (Although members of the Black family seem to die relatively young.)
** It's implied that there are so few pure-blood wizards left that keeping the pure-blood line alive might have required some inbreeding somewhere along the line. That might have shortened the lifespan a bit.
** Nicolas Flamel and his wife, through the use of the Philosopher's Stone, reached the ages of around 665 and 658, respectively.
* ReinventingTheTelephone: Floo powder, patronuses (patroni?)...
* RedHerring: The first four books each have one:
** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]: [[spoiler:Snape]]
** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]: [[spoiler:Hagrid]]
** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]: [[spoiler:Sirius Black]]
** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]: [[spoiler:Igor Karkaroff]]
* RedHerringMole: [[spoiler:Snape, who is actually a DoubleAgent and then a ReverseMole.]]
* RedIsHeroic: Red is one of the colors of Gryffindor, the Hogwarts House of the protagonists.
* {{Retcon}}: There are several details in the earlier books that were conspicuously changed for the later books; presumably, Rowling hadn't thought up certain events that far in advance. For example:
** The Weasly's pet rat familiar is, in fact, the cowardly Peter Pettigrew.
* RenownedSelectiveMentor: Harry has a much closer relationship with the headmaster, Dumbledore, than is usual for a student, to the point of the Professor being almost a surrogate (grand)father. In the sixth book Dumbledore even gives him special lessons.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: A snake is the motif for Slytherin House, the unpopular, "evil" house at Hogwarts, and for the Death Eaters. In [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Book 2]], Harry [[spoiler:fights a [[ScaledUp giant venomous snake]]]]. Voldemort has obvious reptilian features and a [[RightHandAttackDog Right Hand Attack Snake]] named Nagini, who goes out to do his dirty work and is [[spoiler:one of his spirit vessels]]. Speaking Parseltongue is considered a mark of the Dark Arts. The only time snakes are ever portrayed in a truly sympathetic light is the incident with the harassed boa constrictor in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Book 1]]. However, after [[spoiler:the fall of the Death Eaters]], the snake is no longer an evil motif and plays the same role of symbolism for Slytherin House as the lion, eagle and badger do for the other Houses.
* RevengeFic:
** [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Tread carefully here]], for some shipping wars never die, but merely sleep in [[CosmicHorrorStory their house at R'Lyeh until the stars align]]. As the canon pairings became apparent, shippers for other couples (most famously, Harry/Hermione) started making massive numbers of {{Revenge Fic}}s targeting anyone in the way of said preferred couples -- the most popular targets being Ginny Weasley, and [[RonTheDeathEater a certain inadvertently Trope-Naming sibling of hers]].
** Molly also gets it on occasion, frequently as the mastermind (or at least the potion dealer) behind her kids' "trangressions". In fact, with a fanfic community of that size, nobody is safe...
** ''Fanfic/InThisWorldAndTheNext'' is a RevengeFic for ''all'' the Weasleys, as well as Dumbledore, Snape, the Dursleys and almost everyone else who's not Harry or Hermione.
** ''Fanfic/KnowledgeIsPower'' is this for Dumbledore and the Weasleys, of course.
* TheRival: Harry vs. Draco; James vs. Snape. Sirius later takes up James's position after his death.
* RummageSaleReject: Wizards who are inexperienced in blending in with Muggles will often end up as this. One wizard is mentioned as wearing a kilt and a poncho together, of all things.
* RunningGag: A few which span most of the series.
** Harry and Ron never bothering to read ''Hogwarts: A History'' and Hermione's indignant responses.
** Hermione figuring something out and running off to deal with it without adequately explaining to Harry and Ron what's going on, and Ron's indignant response (usually a LampshadeHanging).
*** Hermione running off to the library in general, which gets tons of lampshades and humorous references in the later books even when she's not actually doing it.
** The Dursleys humorously coming off worst when interacting with wizards, not that they don't deserve it. Becomes not-so-funny in and after the fifth book, though Dumbledore has a bit of fun with them before getting serious in the sixth.
** Harry having incredibly ridiculous dreams, with different aspects of his life zanily mashed together in one absurd package, which he naturally never remembers when he wakes up. Leads to MoodWhiplash in the fifth book when one such dream suddenly segues into a terrifying vision.
** Ron unintentionally offending Nearly Headless Nick with some tactless remark during the feast at the beginning of every year. Nick lampshades it in ''Half Blood Prince.''
** When the discussion is about Snape, and it involves adults and Harry, expect Harry to call him Snape, and the adult to respond with "''Professor'' Snape."
** Tiny Professor Flitwick seems to get knocked down and/or tossed across a classroom by a student's miscast Charm roughly once per school year.
** After the introduction of Luna Lovegood, fictitious beasts called crumple-horned snorkacks become one. Luna really believes in the existence of these creatures because her dad is the publisher of The Quibbler, a satirical tabloid that regularly publishes stories about the non-existent creatures. Other characters regularly joke about this, and Luna herself gets defensive, claiming they actually do exist. Oddly enough, this actually gets subverted in the seventh book, when a character comments that there wasn't any mention of the creatures in the latest issue of the magazine, because Luna's dad is publishing real stories about the resistance now.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S]]
* SadistTeacher: Snape, Umbridge, and the Carrows, in order of severity.
* SaidBookism:
** To Rowling's credit, there's hardly any of this in the entire series. There is, however, one rather {{egregious}} example...
--->"We're not going to use magic?" Ron [[HaveAGayOldTime ejaculated]] loudly.
** Another time, ''Slughorn'' ejaculated.
* SchoolSavedMyLife: Hermione pulls one of these in nearly every book. The other characters do, too, to a lesser extent.
* TheScottishTrope: {{Subverted}} by Dumbledore and several other heroic characters who very determinedly say "Voldemort" despite the name's emotional baggage -- and by Harry, who just doesn't ''have'' that baggage. The seventh book simultaneously {{double subver|sion}}ts, {{deconstruct|ed trope}}s, and perhaps {{reconstruct|ion}}s it, as [[spoiler:He Who-Must-Not-Be-Named creates an enchantment that allows him to locate anyone who dares say his name and tears down any protections around them.]]
** Also, the Harry Potter Encyclopedia that JKR promised to eventually write is sometimes called "The Scottish Book."
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: It's the Harry Potter Drinking Game! Take a drink every time Harry breaks one of the Hogwarts school rules. You'll die of alcohol poisoning three books in!
** Hermione at first disapproves of Harry's and Ron's constant rule-breaking, but due to CharacterDevelopment she becomes as disregarding to the rules as the boys are.
** Fred and George usually break the rules because they just don't care, but one final (and spectacular) example of doing what's right is when they set off the fireworks and [[spoiler:leave the school on their broomsticks]] to oppose the horrible Umbridge. The teachers don't even try to stop them. On the contrary, they ''encourage'' it because they all hate that old hag so much. Professor Flitwick even keeps a magical bog the twins conjure in the castle as a roped-off area because it was such a brilliant piece of magic. [[SternTeacher Professor McGonagall]] very subtly does this when she mutters out of the corner of her mouth to Peeves that the chandelier he's messing with "unscrews the other way."
* SealedEvilInACan:
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' the titular chamber contains [[spoiler:Slytherin's monster, an enormous basilisk]].
*** Also in the same volume, Tom Riddle's diary has the "memory" of the teenage Voldemort sealed inside, which Ginny unknowingly awakens through her liberal use of the diary.
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' it's implied that Voldemort's [[FateWorseThanDeath final fate]] is to remain in a sort of limbo (specifically, [[spoiler:the netherworld where Harry met Dumbledore after he died]]) forever, incapable of harming anyone ever again.
* SecondLove: [[spoiler:Ginny.]]
* SeeTheInvisible: There are several ways in which Invisibility Cloaks can be thwarted. The ability of dementors to sense people is not impaired by invisibility cloaks. Moody's magical eye can see through invisibility cloaks. A person wearing an invisibility cloak still shows up on the Marauder's Map. The cloak's user also remains solid and the cloak doesn't muffle sound or disguise smell at all, meaning that anything with acute senses like cats or snakes, or even a normal human being that happens to be paying attention to such cues, can notice and locate the wearer.
%%* SelfFulfillingProphecy: More than one.
* SeverelySpecializedStore: Mr. Ollivander sells wands. Just... wands.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Harry says this about Hermione and means it. In [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Book 7]], Harry further says that he sees Hermione as a sibling but doesn't love her in the romantic sense.
* ShoutOut:
** There are a number of shout outs to ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'':
*** Cockroach clusters.
*** "Mary Whitehouse has taken umbrage, no surprise there," said JohnCleese. The last name of the Whitehouse caricature in ''Order of the Phoenix'' is "Umbridge".
*** The chocolate frogs are reminiscent of the chocolate-covered (real) frogs in the "Crunchy Frog" sketch.
** Voldemort's talking down to his minion (a traitor nicknamed Wormtail) is reminiscent of Saruman's abusive treatment of a henchman (a traitor nicknamed Worm''tongue'') in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
** The whole thing about [[Literature/TheSecretGarden Lily's eyes]].
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' Harry and Hermione notice the quotation [[Literature/TheBible "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"]] on Dumbledore's mother's tombstone, as well as [[Literature/TheBible "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"]] on the Potters' grave.
** The fact that the visitor's entrance to the Ministry is an old broken telephone booth with the phone that should not work being located in a garbage dump is one to the pilot of ''Series/DoctorWho'', wherein Ian and Barbara find an old, broken police telephone booth with a phone that should not work in the Foreman garbage dump.
** ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' has a line about a rat named Wormtail losing a paw. Possibly coincidental, as the resemblance of a rat's tail to a worm is easy to come up with.
** The final pre-epilogue scene of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', where [[spoiler: the deceased Dumbledore's portrait comes to life to congratulate Harry on triumphing against Voldemort]], is more than a little bit similar to the final scene of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', where [[spoiler: Obi-Wan and Yoda appear as Force Ghosts to congratulate Luke on triumphing against the Emperor]].
* ShoutOutToShakespeare:
** The most famous band in the Wizarding world is called the Weird Sisters.
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', the Weird Sisters provide live entertainment for the Yule Ball.
** Tonks is also a Weird Sisters fan.
%%* SideBet
* SignificantAnagram: "Tom Marvolo Riddle" <-> "I am Lord Voldemort". Other languages revise the anagram to make sense in their tongues -- or change his birth-name.
** For example, in French: Tom Elvis Jedusor <-> ''Je suis Voldemort''. "Jedusor" sounds like ''jeu de sort'', meaning "gamble" or "lottery" -- and Elvis is [[OnlyMostlyDead not really dead]].
** In Spanish: Tom Sorvolo Ryddle <-> ''Soy Lord Voldemort''.
** In German: Tom Vorlost Riddle <-> ''Ist Lord Voldemort'', which means not "I am Lord Voldemort" but "Is Lord Voldemort." Sounds rather meaningless at first, but when both are said/showed in succession(which is exactly how the revelation happens), it becomes "Tom Marvolo Riddle is Lord Voldemort".
** In the Greek translation: Άντον Μόρβολ Χέρτ <-> ''Άρχων Βόλντεμορτ'' (Anton Morvol Hert <-> ''Archon Voldemort''). "Anton" doesn't have any particular significance nor does "Hert," giving the impression that they were just made up out of the spare letters. "Archon," in case you're wondering, is an archaic word meaning "ruler" or "lord", though the term ''Λόρδος'', the more commonly used word for "lord", is used throughout the rest of the translated text. It's noteworthy that they messed up the anagram, even so. The greek alphabet has two forms of O, omikron (o) and omega (ω), and one of the omikrons apparently transforms into an omega during the switch.
** In Turkish the translators just added a "d" to Marvolo, turning the name into "Tom Marvoldo Riddle", so that the anagram could simply be "Adım Lord Voldemort", which means "My name is Lord Voldemort" in Turkish. Guess they were kinda lucky.
** The Danish translation is one of the few that doesn't keep his first name as Tom, initially translating his name into "Romeo G. Detlev Jr."�"jeg er Voldemort". Later, it's revealed that "G" stands for "Gåde" which means "riddle" so at least they got that part right. They do keep his father's name as Tom, though, and explains that Merope used to call Tom Riddle her "Romeo". Detlev is a variant of "Ditlev", a Danish boy's name. (Which also just happens to be the Danish version of "Dudley".)
** Dutch changes his name to Marten Asmodom Vilijn - no Tom here either - going to ''Mijn naam is Voldemort'' (My name is Voldemort) - no Lord title. The barman of the Leaky Cauldron is still called Tom, so when the same name issue comes up in book six, it is solved by Dumbledore telling the barman will be able to remember "Marten" because it is a common name.
** The Norwegian: Tom Dredolo Venster, of which the surname means "left," so it is still a meaningful name. The "translated" anagram is ''Voldemort den Store'', meaning "Voldemort the Great."
** The Swedish translation utilizes Latin for the anagram: Tom Gus Mervolo Dolder -> Ego Sum Lord Voldemort (I am Lord Voldemort). "Dold" means "hidden", in analogy with the orginal name. "Dolder" would be a incorrect word for "Hider" (Which actually is "Döljare")
** The Bulgarian version has his name changed to "Том Мерсволуко Риддъл" ("Tom Mersvoluco Riddle") and the anagram to "Тук съм и Лорд Волдемор" ("Here I am also Lord Voldemort"). This was necessary because the letter 'i' from Riddle could not be avoided and was left as "и" (meaning "and/also"). "Here" could either be referring to the Chamber of Secrets (related to creating his first horcrux) or to the horcrux itself, since he sealed a part of himself into the diary. "Also" likely refers to his transformation from Tom Riddle to Voldemort.
** Created a meta-text flurry during the sixth book, when a locket with a note signed by "R.A.B." became important to the plot. One of the first guesses on this mystery character's identity was [[spoiler:Sirius Black's brother Regulus]]. Those who read the books in foreign languages noticed that whatever [[spoiler:Sirius's]] surname was changed to (i.e., that language's word for [[spoiler:"black"]]), R.A.B's last initial had followed suit.
*** The translators allegedly had to figure this out for themselves.
** The Chinese translation made do with a footnote (as always).
* SillySpook: The ghosts are mainly there for comic relief, though they do become relevant to the plot occasionally.
* SilverHasMysticPowers: Goblin-wrought silver is nigh-invulnerable, and can absorb the properties of what it pierces in order to make itself stronger. It's unclear how the goblins make it this way, or whether it's truly silver or simply called so because the same colour. There are many other objects in the series which are made of silver (the Pensieve) or have the appearance of silver (unicorn blood).
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Hermione and Ron, most prominently, but it seems to be a trend for non-villainous female characters: Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Cho Chang, and resident babe Fleur Delacour are all very hot for good guys whereas the "bad boys" seem barely a blip on their radars. Lily Potter is [[InternetBackdraft debatable]], given that James Potter is remembered as a LoveableRogue by some people and a complete {{Jerkass}} by others, but all the characters note that James had to clean himself up considerably before Lily would condescend to so much as look at him.
* SixStudentClique: The D.A. group mostly pulls this off.
** The Head: Harry
** The Muscle: Ron
** The Smart One: Hermione
** The Quirk: Neville
** The Pretty One: Ginny
** The Wild One: Luna
* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: The first three books' storylines don't directly depend on the stories of the previous books; they each explain basic premises like the wizarding world, Voldemort, Harry's backstory, etc., Harry continues to live at the Dursleys', go to Hogwarts every year, have friends named Ron and Hermione, etc., and the actual events of the first two books don't matter by the third. The rest of the series, [[ContinuityCreep well...]]
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Even as the series gets DarkerAndEdgier, it still believes in its idealistic virtues such as ThePowerOfLove. [[spoiler:Also, as cheesy as the ending may be, it is undeniably a happy one.]]
* SnowballFight: Happens a few times during winter breaks at Hogwarts.
%%* TheSociopath: Voldemort himself, along with Bellatrix and possibly Umbridge.
* SorcerousOverlord: Voldemort's long-term goal was to become one of these, being an immortal dark wizard who would rule over a fascist magocracy. However, for most of the series he's more of an underground terrorist against the current rulers. Even after usurping control of the Ministry of Magic in the last book, he elected to control it behind the scenes through a puppet minister, as basically crowning himself would have been too blatant a move for the wizarding world to ignore.
* SoulFragment: What a Horcrux houses.
* SoulJar: The Horcruxes.
* SpannerInTheWorks:
** Voldemort and Dumbledore's decades-long GambitPileup often gets messed up thanks to an intricate series of decisions and minor hiccups that sends their Rube Goldberg-esque device careening. A theme in the series is choice, and ultimately, for better and worse, every major and minor choice made by characters ends up making a difference, in ways nobody can predict.
** The Elder Wand is apparently created to be this, as noted by Dumbledore in his notes in ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'', as despite being "an unbeatable wand" it is routinely defeated and passes over through the centuries. When Dumbledore acquired it, he hoped to die undefeated, which he would have had [[spoiler:Snape killed him as per their ThanatosGambit]]. Instead, Draco beats him without knowing what he's doing. Then, to top this, Harry simply [[TheSimpsons yoinks]] the wand out of Draco's hands and this ends up giving him the advantage to [[spoiler:defeat Voldemort.]]
** The backstory, specifically the night James and Lily were murdered and Harry survived the Killing Curse, is an even more tangled one, with tiny bits and pieces of information accumulated over the seven books. To sum it up, [[spoiler:Severus Snape asked Voldemort to [[PleaseSpareHimMyLiege spare Lily]],]] and Voldemort [[NobleDemon went along with it]]. He told Lily to "step aside" but she refused, which created a binding magical contract that essentially bartered Lily's sacrifice for Harry's life. When Voldemort went ahead and tried to kill Harry anyway, the curse backfired on him.
* SparseListOfRules: As early as the first book it's mentioned that there are 700 ways to commit a foul in Quidditch (and every single one happened in [[NoodleIncident the 1492 World Cup]]), but the series only shows a few of them. According to ''Literature/QuidditchThroughTheAges'', most of the rest are {{Obvious Rule Patch}}es such as, "It is illegal to attack your opponent with an axe."
** Actually addressed in-universe in a rather amusing way. The full list of rules for Quidditch is kept secret by the international leagues to prevent players from being tempted to break them.
* StalkingIsFunnyIfItIsFemaleAfterMale: Magical date rape drugs are sold out in the open [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19397_the-5-most-depraved-sex-scenes-implied-by-harry-potter.html]] and it's considered wacky hijinks when Ron gets dosed by a crazy fangirl. Harry, at least, ''doesn't'' find the prospect of love potions funny--at one point, he actually compares them to Dark magic.
* StandardEvilOrganizationSquad: Known in this series as the Death Eaters.
* StayingWithFriends: Harry often stays at the Weasleys' over the latter parts of his summer vacations.
* SteamNeverDies: The Hogwarts Express train that the characters ride to school each year is pulled by a bright red steam locomotive. Perhaps all that concentrated magic causes more modern diesel locomotives to malfunction?
* StealthPun:
** The entrance to the headmaster's office is disguised by a gryphon statue that splits open to allow passages or [[Film/HarryPotter rotates with the entrant inside]], thus making it a griffin door.
** A twofer from the previous example, actually--it's a golden griffin: or, in French, a ''griffin d'or''!
** The teacher of History of Magic is rubbish at teaching as he puts nearly all of his students to sleep each class. His name is Professor Binns.
* SternTeacher: [=McGonagall=] and Madame Hooch.
** Snape walks the line between SternTeacher and SadistTeacher.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Plenty -- for instance, Sirius Black [[spoiler:turns into a black dog; Sirius is the Dog Star.]]
* StrangeSecretEntrance:
** Platform 9¾, a secret entrance at King's Cross station through a pillar between platforms nine and ten.
** The door to the Room of Requirement only appears when someone focused on what kind of place they want crosses in front of it three times in succession (or, presumably, three people focused on wanting the same place). This usually means someone pacing in front of a blank stretch of wall across from a tapestry of a wizard trying to teach trolls to do ballet.
* StrictlyFormula: The first three books play this fairly straight: Dursleys, Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, Quidditch, Christmas, the big plot issue, end-of-year feast, everyone goes home. Some formula stays for the later books ([[spoiler: Harry always starts out at the Dursleys in the books, no matter what]]) but Rowling then breaks these down as the universe gets darker and more complicated -- and as Harry matures.
** In [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows ''Deathly Hallows'']] the fact that these youth are used to the formula of three large meals a day and adults looking over them gets yanked out from under their feet.
* StuffBlowingUp:
** This is the result if the Killing Curse (''Avada Kedavra'') hits an inanimate object instead of its intended target, [[MadeOfExplodium it will explode]]. Trees tend to [[KillItWithFire catch fire]].
** Played for laughs in the sports sections. Making fun at the fact that Americans generally aren't as enthusiastic about soccer/football as the rest of the world, American wizards have an alternate sport to the popular wizard-esque football Quidditch: Quodpot, in which the players try to catch an explosive quaffle and not let it fall down.
* StupidEvil: Voldemort, especially by the end.
** Bellatrix. She has KickTheDog moments everywhere.
* StopBeingStereotypical: Lupin has this attitude towards his fellow werewolf, Fenrir Greyback.
* SuddenNameChange:
** Up until Harry Potter finds out the actual name of the creatures that guard Azkaban, a wizarding prison, everyone refers to them as "the Azkaban Guards." After he experiences their happiness-draining power and is told their name, Dementors, in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' no one refers to them as the Azkaban Guards ever again.
** A meta-example: Creator/JKRowling had long established that Hermione's middle name was "Jane," which the fifth book also established as [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Umbridge]]'s middle name. Perhaps [[InvokedTrope invoking]] the OneSteveLimit, the final book makes Hermione's middle name "Jean" instead.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Magic is very much a science in-universe. Even minor deviations from magical procedures can produce undesired effects. Conversely, wizards and witches with the inclination can improve existing magics or devise new ones.
** Professor Snape states it outright at the beginning of his first year Potions class.
-->'''Snape:''' You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic.
** Hermione pedantically informs Ron that the reason he was having trouble with the levitation charm was because he was putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable of the incantation "Wingardium Leviosa". Meticulously precise, Hermione often masters new spells before any of her classmates because she knows that performing magic correctly is as important as intent.
* SummonToHand: The spell ''Accio''. Brooms also rise into a wizard's hand when commanded properly.
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Magical ability seems to be ''mostly'' inherited, though there are exceptions in both directions (meaning that, under the laws of Mendelian genetics, it can't be determined by a single gene; Rowling has also hinted that the gift of magic "preserves itself" somehow).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T]]
* TakeThat:
** Both Aunt Marge in Book 3 and Dolores Umbridge in Books 5-7 are thinly veiled expies of Margaret Thatcher, whom Creator/JKRowling had a dislike for.
** Many of the early memories of Voldemort viewed in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Book 6]] are meant to refute the assertions by some fans that Voldemort is really a [[TheWoobie woobie]] with a FreudianExcuse. In fact, he was an irredeemable CreepyChild who made everyone's lives miserable for no reason.
** An argument between Ginny and her older twin brothers about the grand total of two non-Harry boys she'd dated can be taken as a slight against the "Ginny is a slut" shippers.
*** But it doesn't stop there. [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Book 7]] features long, drawn-out makeout scenes between [[spoiler: Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione]] and having Harry firmly state that [[spoiler:he sees Hermione as a sister to him, but he never was in love with her]]. And then, of course, [[spoiler:[[BabiesEverAfter Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione are]] HappilyMarried [[BabiesEverAfter 19 years after everything is good and done with]]]].
*** The [=MuggleNet=] book ''Harry Potter Should Have Died'' pokes fun at the whole shipping issue by entertaining the idea that Hermione decides to leave Ron and have an affair with Harry after Ron reaches his mid-life crisis.
* TanksForTheMemories: The Pensieve is a memory receptacle that allows people to view the memories contained in it from a third-person view, even the owner of the memory, and displays events in the area surrounding the subject of the memory regardless of his/her awareness of them at the time.
* TeachMeHowToFight: Dumbledore's Army is born when Ron and Hermione ask Harry to teach them how to use advanced defensive magic.
* TeenGenius:
** Hermione and Luna. They have the same level of intelligence, but they think in different ways.
** It's implied that all of The Marauders, save for Peter Pettigrew, were brilliant students in their day. Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort and Grindelwald were all profoundly gifted students in their Hogwarts years as well.
*** According to Horace Slughorn, Lily Potter (Evans in the day) was very talented, although not as much as James. She was particularly adept at Potions.
** Harry is pretty smart, and he's competent in every field of magic, but he ''excels'' at Defensive magic. According to JKR, he's even better at it than Hermione is and he could beat her in a duel (reflected by their O.W.L. grades, where Harry got the highest possible score in D.A.D.A, while that class was Hermione's lone "[[TheBGrade Exceeds Expectations]]" in a sea of Outstandings). Not like they'd want to duel in the first place, anyway.
* TeleportersAndTransporters: There are three main methods of teleportation in the wizarding world:
** The first we are introduced to is the Floo network, which connects fireplaces magically.
** The second is Portkeys, where a seemingly innocuous object such as an old boot -- although it could be anything -- teleports anything that is touching it at the right moment. These are usually timed precisely so that a user has to reach it by a certain point, otherwise it teleports without them.
** The third is Apparition, which is mentioned by name long before the characters use it themselves -- this is where a wizard/witch teleports of their own volition to anywhere they wish. One has to pass an Apparition test at the age of 17, making it a close analogue of driving. There are also many places where one cannot Apparate, including Hogwarts.
** There are a small number of other methods; notably, the [[spoiler:Vanishing Cabinets, which allow access to Hogwarts by Death Eaters in Book Six]]. House-elves are also able to Apparate where wizards can't. Phoenixes can also take a wizard/witch with them when they teleport in a burst of flame.
* TeleportInterdiction:
** The Government can track and limit use of the Floo network; this becomes especially relevant [[spoiler:in ''Deathly Hallows'' after Voldemort takes control of it.]]
** Apparition can't be used in Hogwarts. It's also dangerous: you might leave body parts at your starting point or somewhere along the way.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: For both parents. The emphasis starts with Harry's father (except for his eyes; [[PhraseCatcher he has his mother's eyes]]). However, we later find that Harry's father was a bit of an idiot as a teenager (though he grew out of it), and the focus turns more and more to his mother. Dumbledore mentions that his true nature is much more like hers, though he's inherited his diehard loyalty to his friends from his father.
* TemptingFate: "If I'd died as many times as she said I would, I'd be a medical miracle." [[spoiler:Guess what happens in book seven.]]
* TerribleTrio: Draco Malfoy and his henchthugs Crabbe and Goyle. Their higher-up is Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, and later [[spoiler: Voldemort himself, although he gives Draco an important mission to make his parents squirm as much as anything else]]. Lucius is a legitimately nasty piece of work, [[spoiler:giving Ginny the diary that caused the events of the second book]], but prefers a life of luxury with the occasional Muggle-hunting party to being a full-time villain.
* TheFourLoves: most of the good side characters show, in one or the other way, this trope. Harry is an example of the four types of love.
** Storge: Towards most of the Weasleys and Hermione.
** Phileo: Towards Ron and Hermione.
** Eros: Towards [[spoiler:Ginny]].
** Agape: Towards everyone.
* ThemeNaming: Not just the characters (most notably, everyone in the Black family is named after a celestial object, with the exception of Narcissa; and even Narcissa's son and grandson are named after constellations); there's also Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, which are puns.
%%* TheyWalkAmongUs
* ThirdPersonFlashback: In movies ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', and ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Harry is often able to see things that Dumbledore couldn't possibly have in the Pensieve. According to Creator/JKRowling, Pensieves work like this even in the books; that's why Harry was able to hear [[spoiler:the Marauders' conversation when he went into Snape's memory]].
* ThirdPersonPerson:
** The house-elves refer to themselves this way.
** Due to his megalomania, Voldemort occasionally refers to himself in the third-person as "Lord Voldemort," though this may be done intentionally to scare his victims or to sound condescending to establish authority over them (in the same way that a parent would call themselves "mommy" or "daddy" when talking to a child).
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The Trio in the first couple books when they get busted and sometimes almost expelled for breaking various rules, such as being out of bed after hours or flying a car to Hogwarts.
* TooDumbToLive:
** [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Dolores Umbridge]]. Surrounded by centaurs aiming arrows at you... and you ''still'' insult them for being ''"[[FantasticRacism filthy half-breeds]]"''? Dumbledore has to personally bail her out of that one -- and she's not even grateful for it in the slightest!
** Harry himself [[DefiedTrope defies this]] in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban ''Prisoner Of Azkaban.'']]
--->'''Mr. Weasley:''' Harry, promise me that whatever you do, you will not go looking for him.\\
'''Harry:''' Mr. Weasley, why would I go looking for someone who wanted to kill me?
** Then played hilariously straight, as he feels an urge to go looking for Black after he finds out [[spoiler:some of]] the AwfulTruth. He ends up hating Sirius so much that, when they meet at the end of the book, Harry charges at him and tries to choke him with his bare hands, forgetting that he is unarmed, much weaker than Black, and that Black has several wands on him at that point. [[spoiler:Lucky for him, Black was there to ''protect'' Harry, not kill him.]]\\\
In all fairness, Harry's got so many people after him that if he wants to go looking for someone who wants to kill him, he doesn't have to go very far.
** Vincent Crabbe casting Fiendfyre, a jinx so deadly and unpredictable that even Hermione says she wouldn't dare try it. For most of the series, he and Goyle are portrayed as too stupid to think without Malfoy. In [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets the second book]], they choose to eat ''cakes left in a random location'' without showing the slightest suspicion. [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The film]] makes it even more jarring when they eat cakes that are floating in midair.
** Vernon Dursley. When [[HalfHumanHybrid Hagrid]] shows up Vernon spends the entire time acting like an abusive jerk to Harry and insulting his parents and [[TheMentor Dumbledore]], that after knowing Hagrid really cares for them both. For perspective: Hagrid is half-giant, has SuperStrength, and can use magic. Dudley ends up paying for it instead of his father in this case, but still...
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Literally everyone in the DA.
** ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' gets the ball rolling with Harry learning a complex piece of magic, then it gains momentum in ''Goblet of Fire'' when Harry uses his copious free time (and help from Hermione) to pick up a variety of offensive and defensive spells.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Percy and Cornelius Fudge.
** [[spoiler: They get better, though. After he's sacked as Minister, Fudge reverts to the kindly, feeble old man he used to be, and Percy redeems himself in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Book 7]].]]
* TomTheDarkLord: Voldemort is the TropeNamer, whose real name, despite being the most evil wizard in centuries, is Tom Riddle.
%%* TonightSomeoneDies
* TrainingTheGiftOfMagic: You're either a witch/wizard or a {{Muggle|s}}. However, witches and wizards can only perform minor and largely uncontrolled magic without training and the assistance of a wand; still, a Muggle can study all they like, they'll never be able to do it.
* TranslationConvention: In-universe example. Parseltongue sounds like any regular language to those with the innate talent to speak it. This becomes an important plot point in the second book, and facilitates [[spoiler: Nagini's ambush on Harry]] in the seventh.
* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: Most wizards first show their magic in such circumstances, well before [[PubertySuperpower puberty]], but don't learn to control it until they get a wand and some training.
* TrollFic: Unsurprisingly, examples abound.
** [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9540890/1/Harry-s-Destiny Harry's Destiny]], which features a PuritySue / JerkSue who ''Avada Kedavra''s Ginny, wins Harry's affection in five lines, and also did we mention that Voldemort and Hermione and married, and also Voldemort was NotEvilJustMisunderstood, and is now Harry's BFF?
** ''FanFic/MyImmortal'', which is surprisingly ''not'' an Music/{{Evanescence}} SongFic. It could very well be offensive if it wasn't so [[RefugeInAbsurdity over-the-top ridiculous]] in its execution. Some might argue that it CrossesTheLineTwice. [[PoesLaw If it's even a trollfic at all.]] Multiple supposedly-different Internet users have claimed to be the author and that the fic was written to play this straight, but others have claimed to know Tara and that the fic was sincere. [[RiddleForTheAges There's absolutely no way to know for certain]] -- Tara has [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/999831/XXXbloodyrists666XXX a FanFiction.net account]], but ''My Immortal'' was deleted from her account before thankfully being [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6200297/1/My-Immortal reuploaded]] to FanFiction.net by two girls on an account called [=TheJadedDolphin=].
*** There is also ''FanFic/MyMetal'', a {{Parody}} version of ''My Immortal.''
** Another example is ''FanFic/ImmaWiserd'' (also known as ''da magikal [N-word]''), a fanfic written in faux Ebonics and devoid of grammar, punctuation, and capitalization (aside from the warning, "IF U FLAM UR RASSIST").
** FanFic/SilverAndBronzeTheConspiracyOfTheShapeshifter quite possibly is this. It seems to follow every convention of the Mary Sue genre to the letter.
** Another example from the fandom is ''In Love's Name''. It includes Hermione being abducted by a Blue Spider Monkey, a part where the author's keyboard starts spelling "z" instead of "y", Hermione being DrivenToSuicide with her body "exploding in a veritable geyser of blood, guts and human limbs" and all forms of Squick. Also, some of the author's personal enemies make a cameo appearence.
** ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3081250/1/Kitsune_Chan Kitsune Chan]]'' was eventually revealed as a troll fic created by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/~rainejoybringer RaineJoybringer]].
** ''Fanfic/ThirtyHs'' seems to be advertised as one.
** ''FanFic/JoBekkeAtHugwrts'' and all other works by the same author are '''[[http://jo-bel.deviantart.com/journal/IEM-BAK-340584153 yet to be confirmed]]''' to be troll fics. It's claimed that someone committed suicide over this fic. Guest stars include the Duggars and Dance Moms. It's so bad that Tara Gilesbie (author of ''FanFic/MyImmortal'', so ''the'' big name in troll fics) has supposedly written a "commentary" on this. She even has a mental breakdown while writing this commentary. The fic appears to have been deleted now.
*** Though the original seems to be unavailable, there are at least [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7968849/1/jo_bekke_nd_darrrel_in_PANIM_1_da_hungr_gams two]] [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7985774/1/jo_bekke_nd_darrrel_in_PANIM_LOSE_da_hungr_gams commentaries]] on what appears to be an [[TooDumbToLive aborted sequel in progress]] called ''jo bekke nd darrrel [[Literature/TheHungerGames in panim]]'' [sic]. Thankfully, this thing hasn't run its course to the [[BrainBleach Brain Bleach-worthy]] end.
** ''Fanfic/TheLastWar'', possibly. The English usage is very good by fanfic standards, but the content reads like [[ClicheStorm every cliché]] of [[PortmanteauCoupleName Harmonian]] {{shipping}} turned UpToEleven and set to [[RobotUnicornAttack "Always"]] by {{Erasure}}. ''Wow.''
** ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6045105/1/The_Torment_of_Love The Torment of Love]]'' and other works by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2397440/yamigirl121 yamigirl121]] are almost certainly this. This is particularly clear to ''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged]]'' fans, as not only does she(?) write Téa's [[{{Shipping}} fanship]] Harry/Hedwig, but also has a profile page apparently written in character as Téa herself.
** The entire "Hogwrats" series, by [[http://thelunchbuddiez.deviantart.com/ "thelunchbuddiez"]] on deviantART, Tumblr, and FanFiction.net. It is ambiguous as to whether or not it is a troll fic, however. Evidence supports both sides.
** ''Fanfic/BecomingFemale'' is almost certainly the work of a troll. The spelling and grammar are good by fanfic standards, but the plot is at ''My Immortal'' levels of nonsensical. On the other hand, an author's note in the sequel claims that her fics are actually typed for her by the her blackmailed older sister, so that might account for the relatively good spelling and grammar.
** ''[[http://forum.mirriel.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=782&start=0 Harry Potter i plomien milosci]]'' (eng. Harry Potter and flame of love) tells a story of Jennifer, who was sixteen and went downstairs for breakfast. She receives a letter from Maggi Hogwarts telling her that she got overlooked by Dumledore five years ago and that she is invited for a new semester. There is also �lord Voldemop� running around. The main character is an obvious Mary Sue and fic itself is full of grammatical and orthographic mistakes.
** ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2172296/1/Genesis Genesis]]'' Vernon regularly gifted Harry with lashes and cigarette burns and the caretakers at Tom's orphanage regularly whipped, raped, and cannibalized their students. Dumbledore will never lift a finger to help abused children and he lets his students get [[RapeAsBackstory gangraped]] [[ButForMeItWasTuesday on a regular basis]]. He also bound Petunia's magic so she would remain a squib, (unknowingly or not) tried to brainwash Harry into killing himself, and tried to force Harry to marry (and be bound to) Ginny regardless of his wishes on the matter, neglecting the fact that he's already married [[spoiler: to Bellatrix, Tonks, and his own mother]]. Also due to a TimeyWimeyBall thing Harry is actually Voldemort, a [[ILoveTheDead necro]], and [[MyOwnGrandpa his own father]] but that's okay because James is kind of a dick what with forcing Lily to have sex with him under the imperious and all. Lily is the daughter of Grindelwald who was actually Hitler but that's cool because that means she's a pureblood and Harry/Voldemort is not related to the Dursleys.
* {{Trope 2000}}: There's a whole series of Nimbus Exty-Thousand broomsticks. Harry himself owns a Nimbus Two Thousand... [[spoiler:well, until it gets crushed by an animate tree]]. Magic is fun.
** Just a year after the ''2000'' was invented, the makers discovered a way to make the broom slightly faster and created a prototype new model called the ''Nimbus 2001''.
* TheTropeWithoutATitle: Voldemort is known casually as You-Know-Who, formally as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and by his followers as The Dark Lord.
** Harry is occasionally referred to as "The Boy-Who-Lived" and, after Voldemort's return is proven, "TheChosenOne."
* TragicDropout: Dumbledore was orphaned in his teens, and was forced to give up many of his ambitions in order to become the new patriarch of his family and care for his younger siblings.
* TrappedInVillainy: Draco Malfoy, who for the first five books is just [[StarterVillain a nuisance for Harry to deal with at school]]. Once he joins the Death Eaters, however, things change. He's given the job to [[spoiler:kill Dumbledore]], which seems simple enough in theory, but once Draco realizes that [[spoiler:he can't follow through with murder]] he remains hesitant throughout the next book, and only stays in Voldemort's service because he's ''terrified'' of the man.
* {{Tsundere}}:
** Hermione is a type B, as demonstrated to Ron after the Yule ball (note: she was just asked out by a Quidditch star):
--->Hermione: "Next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask me out before someone else does! And not as a last resort!"
** Lily whenever James is around. She's nice to almost literally everyone else.
* TwoActStructure: With ''Goblet of Fire'' as the turning point where things start going to hell.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Professor Umbridge's horrible misrule, so much so that she was the former TropeNamer.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:U]]
* UltimateJobSecurity: Ignoring the fact that Hogwarts remains in operation despite having a running body count, Argus Filch is an exceedingly bitter man who explicitly enjoys causing students pain because he's jealous that they're learning magic while he's incapable of using it. At no point is the idea of firing him ever entertained. It's even a matter of public record that he actively co-operated and supported Umbridge with the ''explicit intent'' of getting permission to ''brutally torture'' students. Water under the bridge.
* UnexpectedInheritance: Harry's inheritance from his dead parents, not to mention the various {{Anonymous Benefactor}}s he's had.
* UnicornsAreSacred: Killing a unicorn is seen as a particularly heinous thing to do; Firenze refers to it as a "monsterous thing". The only person known to have done it in the series is [[spoiler: Voldemort/Quirrel]], further emphasising this. Drinking unicorn blood can prolong one's life, but the drinker will be cursed from the moment the blood touches their lips for having slain "something so pure and defenceless".
* UnnecessaryRoughness: Quidditch has this built into the rules. ''It has two iron balls which are magically enchanted to bash people senseless.''
* UnreliableNarrator: Harry, to a certain extent. Although he presents events as they happened and objective facts aren't hidden, he also has a habit of viewing everything through his particular biases, which is a big reason the series is so heavy with AlternateCharacterInterpretation.
* UnstoppableMailman: The owls ''will'' find you to deliver a letter, no matter where you are. Even if you don't ''want'' the letters. And they ''know'' if you've destroyed them without reading them (as the Dursleys are ''very'' displeased to find out.)
* UnusualEuphemism: Several, most notably the term Mudblood, which, in the wizarding world, is just as bad as saying the "n-word" in RealLife.
** Blood Traitor = a pure-blood wizard who supports {{Muggles}}.
* UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople:
** All of the allowed pets at Hogwarts are animals associated with magic, which fall into this (aside from cats, which are just as popular with {{Muggles}}[[note]]Although at least some students' cats are magical cat-like creatures called kneasles[[/note]]). In particular Neville's toad Trevor marks him out as a ButtMonkey, (since he was given it as a gift even though they "went out of fashion years ago", according to Hagrid) and Ron's rat, Scabbers (who's a hand-me-down, like everything else of Ron's [[spoiler: but turns out to be more than he seems in the third book]]).
** There's also features Hagrid, the brave but not that bright half-giant FluffyTamer. Over the course of the series, he kept many dangerous magical creatures as pets, including a GiantSpider, a three-headed HellHound, a baby [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]] and a bizarre and deadly HybridMonster called Blast-Ended Skrewt.
* UnwittingPawn: The entire wizarding population other than Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort.
** Snape may be a knowing pawn, but even then, there are things he is kept in the dark about.
* TheUsualAdversaries: Slytherin House.
* UtilityMagic: Wizards have roughly the same standards of living as Muggles did in the '50s (radio but no TV or Internet) except they use magic for everything beyond medieval technology.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Lucius Malfoy and Dolores Umbridge.
** To a lesser extent, Gilderoy Lockhart, who has good publicity because he [[spoiler:took credit for the accomplishments of others]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:W]]
* WainscotSociety: The "wizarding world" is largely self-contained and self-reliant, and hence is almost too detached from the mainstream world to qualify as a wainscot, but contact between the two worlds does continue.
* WhamEpisode: Each book gets its fair share, but Book 6 especially. However, ItWasHisSled.
* {{Whatevermancy}}:
** Arithmancy. Although, seeing as we never learn anything about arithmancy, it's entirely possible that it could be an accurate use of the "-mancy" suffix (if numbers are being used to divine the future, for example). Traditional divination is treated like the magical equivalent of a psuedoscience in-universe, so arithmancy might be a more "scientific," if less fun, alternative.
** Played straight in the Spanish translation. Occlumency is translated as "Oclumancia", which would implicate some kind of... hidden divination? It should have been Oclum'''e'''ncia instead (the ''-mens, -mency'' suffix implying "mind" is correctly used in English and should have been carried on in the translation as ''-mencia'').
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Other than his lightning-shaped scar, one of Harry's most notable and most frequently commented on trait is his green eyes, which he inherited from Lily.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids[=/=]WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Seems to fall into both because of [[InvokedTrope author intent]]. Rowling did indeed conceive the books as a children's series, despite the protestations of many older fans that it's not ''really'' for kids; however, she admitted that she made the books "grow" with the original fanbase, and the last three or four aren't appropriate for the books' original elementary-school-age audience. This is evidenced by the fact that the ratings of the Harry Potter [[TheFilmOfTheBook movies]] increase with each sequel.
** The seventh movie has some nudity and rather scary nightmare-inducing scenes, like Bellatrix torturing Hermione. It has a PG-13 rating. It even got a "G" rating in the Province of Quebec! (Though this can be explained by the fact Canada usually is more lenient with movie ratings, often lowering them from what is found in other countries.)
** The first novel in particular is very innocent and child-friendly in its presentation of the Wizarding World. Most people tend to overlook that Harry is in mortal peril on numerous occasions throughout the tale and there are active attempts on his life, and even begins with the brutal murder of Harry's parents by Voldemort. This is popularly read as a [[MoralDissonance bedtime story]].
*** Rowling herself liked to point out to people who complained that later books became too dark that book one had ''a man with a face on the back of his head''.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** The Hogwarts Song. Remember that one? Rowling has stated that Dumbledore only asked people to sing when he was in an exceptionally good mood. We miss the second book's feast, and by the time of the third book, Voldemort has attacked twice and there's a mass murderer running around. And given their reaction the first time around, it seems highly unusual that any of the other teachers would start singing.
** What Happened to the Rat? Or at least, how did Scabbers end up in the Weasleys' possession?
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Plenty of Dumbledore's decisions have a helping of this, chronologically starting with his refusal to confront Grindelwald during the pillaging of Europe and ending with the metric ton of secrets kept from Harry, often for no good reason. [[spoiler:(Due to esoteric rules of magic, not telling Harry in advance that he would have to die and that he might [[BackFromTheDead get better]] is one of the few justified cases.)]] He gets called out on this by Snape, by Harry in book five, and [[spoiler:post-mortem]] by Aberforth and ''Rita Skeeter''.
** The Prime Minister in ''Half-Blood Prince'' calls out Scrimgeour and Fudge that they neglected to warn the Muggles that Dark Wizards are traipsing around the British countryside committing random acts of terrorism and murder. This is despite the Ministry planting Kingsley and various Aurors in his staff to bodyguard him, which means they ''could'' have warned him.
** Professor [=McGonagall=] calls out Harry in ''Deathly Hallows'' when he uses [[AgonyBeam the Cruciatus curse]] on one of the Death Eaters occupying the school [[DisproportionateRetribution in response to the Death Eater spitting on her.]]
* WhenItAllBegan: Voldemort's first downfall.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Harry only survives through books 4 on because the revived Voldemort demands a grandiose and wand-induced death. When Voldemort actually does this in Book 7, [[spoiler:it doesn't stick.]] Voldemort actually tries this near the end of Book 5 when he shows up unexpectedly after Harry had thwarted the Death Eaters' plan. Luckily for Harry, Dumbledore intervenes just in time.
* WillOTheWisp: There's a creature called the Hinkypunk that floats around bogs and marshes and glows. While InUniverse, it's not really a Will O The Wisp, but possibly the 'real' explanation for the muggle phenomenon.
* WitchSpecies: Capacity for magic is carried in the genes; see ArtisticLicenseBiology above.
* WizardClassic: Several characters, Dumbledore being by far the most archetypical.
* WizardingSchool: TropeCodifier.
* WizardsLiveLonger: Witches and wizards have longer lifespans than {{Muggles}}.
* WordsDoNotMakeTheMagic: You have to be a wizard and usually possess a wand to do magic. Even then, it takes skill, [[MagicalGesture correct gestures]], and intent (especially for the Unforgivable Curses) to cast the spells.
%%* WorldOfBadass
* WorldOfSnark: Almost everyone shows the inclination at some point or another.
** Amongst the Gryffindors: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, and Romilda Vane all go for it.
** The other student snarkers include Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Zacharias Smith, Pavarti (when pushed) and Padma Patil (particularly at the Yule Ball), and on occasion even Luna Lovegood. Moaning Myrtle and Diary!Riddle also have a few choice lines, proving this is not limited to living students.
** The adults have no shortage either: Severus Snape, Minerva [=McGonagall=], Alastor Moody, Lucius Malfoy, Sirius Black, Bellatrix Lestrange, Molly Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks... In flashback, Lily Evans, James Potter, and Remus Lupin all prove themselves, too. Even Minister Fudge gets a few chances to indulge his inner snarker. The portrait of Phineas Nigellus, too.
** Finally, even [[RunningGag Percy Weasley the perfect Prefect]] gets a few moments of snark, notably "I hope [Ron's] not in ''another'' girls' bathroom" in ''Chamber of Secrets'' and [[spoiler:"Consider this my notice of resignation"]] in ''Deathly Hallows''. No wonder so many interactions between our heroes end up degenerating into SnarkToSnarkCombat...
* WritersCannotDoMath: Rowling even said that math was not her strongest suit. Solid gold coins are worth about five British pound in TheNineties.
* WeDidntStartTheBillyJoelParodies: The Harry Potter fandom has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTYadVjuvlo its own dedicated parody.]] Which was posted by Zsenya, one of the two founders of [[http://www.sugarquill.net/ The Sugar Quill]] fanfic site and co-author of ''Fanfic/AfterTheEnd'', which famously promoted R/Hr and H/G ships back when Harry was crushing on Cho and Ron and Hermione were trying to kill each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:X]]
* TheXOfY: Most of the book titles. ''The Philosopher's Stone'' and ''The Deathly Hallows'' too, in some translations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Y]]
* YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForEvil: What Voldemort hates about Dumbledore.
* YouRemindMeOfX: ''Everyone'' goes out of their way to tell Harry how much he reminds them of James. Later, rather ominously, the trend slides closer to comparing him to Voldemort.
* YourSoulIsMine: The result of the Dementor's Kiss.
* YourVampiresSuck: A mild case of this. The one vampire encountered in the books seems none too frightening, though ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' alludes to the Ministry seeing them as a sufficiently serious problem to be worth employing vampire hunters. J.K. Rowling does poke fun of a vampire who [[TheVampireChronicles hypnotizes its victims with a boring]] {{Doorstopper}} [[TheVampireChronicles of a book]]. It's also mentioned in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'' that Quirrell was supposed to have cracked after meeting real vampires (and a hag) when he decided to get hands-on experience with dark creatures instead of merely reading about them; seeing as [[spoiler:his stuttering, scared-of-his-own-shadow persona was all an act and what actually happened was him encountering and being corrupted by Voldemort]], this story isn't conclusive, but it does suggest at least some wizards believe vampires to be truly dangerous, or else no one would have accepted this as an explanation for Quirrell's behavior.
[[/folder]]

-->''All was well.''

----

* HarryPotterTropesAToI
* HarryPotterTropesJToR
* HarryPotterTropesSToY

[[foldercontrol]]

* ChekhovsGun: More accurately, Chekhov's Wand. We learn that Harry and Voldemort's wands share a common source for their magical cores; it takes on plot significance from book 4 onward. Also, the Vanishing Cabinet, and Godric Gryffindor's Sword. Along with a fair laundry list of other objects. [[spoiler:Of the six Horcruxes, we actually see four of them before they are recognized for what they are.]]

** Lampshaded repeatedly by the {{Rifftra|x}}ckers for the movies.

** Though they're on the same side in ''Order of the Phoenix'', Sirius and Snape can be interpreted this way as well. They started out as Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, then they joined opposite sides of the war. Sirius was James's best friend, and Snape had been best friends and had a crush on [[spoiler:Lily]], and despite the falling out that Snape and [[spoiler:Lily]] had, he and Sirius are incredibly loyal to their said best friends. Both of them even did something ''really'' terrible to a close friend of theirs, Sirius's being sending Snape to be torn apart by Remus on the full moon and Snape's being [[spoiler:calling Lily a Mudblood]]. Snape hated his father, and Sirius hated his family.

** A [[TrueCompanions tightly-knit]] group of Gryffindors consisting of a [[TheHero a heroic, adventurous natural leader]] with disregard for the rules (Harry/James), a [[TheLancer more impulsive sidekick]] (Ron/Sirius), [[TheSmartGuy a studious]], member reluctant to break the rules (Hermione/Remus),[[TheSmartGirl a talented Muggle-born girl]] (Hermione/Lily) and a more loosely associated follower who is inept at magic (Peter/Neville[[spoiler: at the beginning, at least)]])

** The way even good wizards like Arthur Weasley regard {{Muggles}}. Most wizards and witches (if they aren't Muggleborn) range from outright violence (on the Death Eater end) to a sort of paternalistic condescension (such as Arthur's case). And you can't help but be a little disturbed by the willingness to use things like [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Memory Charms]] on them to uphold TheMasquerade (especially after seeing what a really strong one does to Lockhart). Not to mention there was a war going on where Miggles were the ''targets'' and even the Prime Minister was kept almost entirely in the dark.

** WordOfGod gives us an Auror trio in Ron (id), Harry (ego), and Neville (superego) directly after the end of the books.

** It's never revealed in-story exactly where the fortune that Harry inherits from his parents in the first book comes from; WordOfGod states that his father James comes from Old Money.

* YourVampiresSuck: A mild case of this. The one vampire encountered in the books seems none too frightening, though ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' alludes to the Ministry seeing them as a sufficiently serious problem to be worth employing vampire hunters. J.K. Rowling does poke fun of a vampire who [[TheVampireChronicles hypnotizes its victims with a boring]] {{Doorstopper}} [[TheVampireChronicles of a book]]. It's also mentioned in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'' that Quirrell was supposed to have cracked after meeting real vampires (and a hag) when he decided to get hands-on experience with dark creatures instead of merely reading about them; seeing as [[spoiler:his stuttering, scared-of-his-own-shadow persona was an all act and what actually happened was him encountering and being corrupted by Voldemort]], this story isn't conclusive, but it does suggest at least some wizards believe vampires to be truly dangerous, or else no one would have accepted this as an explanation for Quirrell's behavior.

** Rowena Ravenclaw, and the house named after her, is associated with intelligence. The raven is one the smartest birds there is.
** Luna Lovegood is a quite spacey and moony.

** Weasleys: Names connected to medieval royalty

** Naturally, Grindelwald was defeated in 1945, of all years, and holed up in a prison called Nurmengard (which sounds like Nuremberg, and has the very "Arbeit macht frei"-like slogan "For the Greater Good" carved over the gate). Fans have used this to speculate on [[{{Ghostapo}} whether Grindelwald actually had something to do with the rise of the Nazis themselves]]. Also, a lunatic, old loner as the last inmate of an incredibly guarded prison? That sounds like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Hess Rudolf Hess.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: Not so much in the earlier books, but after ''Goblet of Fire'', all bets are off. By the time book seven was announced, and Rowling herself stoked the fires by claiming that more people ''would die'', entire websites were devoted to betting on which major characters were going to bite the big one, including the three main characters.

** It is interesting when people who haven't read ''Harry Potter'' mention things like "[[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt It's not like she's going to kill Harry in the last book]]" [[spoiler: The answer to that is complicated.]]

* ArcNumber: And [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Seven how!]]
* ArchEnemy: Harry vs. Voldemort.

** Creator/JKRowling [[WordOfGod says that]] "[[http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-wilkins01.shtml magic is a dominant and resilient gene.]]" Given the number of wizards born to Muggle parents (and the extreme rarity of the reverse), this blatantly flies in the face of middle school genetics. You could say that AWizardDidIt (it ''is'' magic, after all), but a better explanation would perhaps be that magic is ''recessive'' and that squibs have mutations that block or repress the magic gene. This may be a whole class of subtrope: treating "dominant" and "recessive" as synonyms for "awesome" and "lame", rather than their proper meaning in genetics, which are "works even if you only get one" and "only works if you get two".
---> '''Rowling:''' “It's the same as two black-haired people producing a redheaded child. Sometimes these things just happen, and no one really knows why!” (– Online chat transcript, Scholastic.com, 3 February 2000)
*** Mendel figured out the "reason why" in the 19th century. The answer is: both those black-haired people carried recessive genes for red hair, resulting in a 25% chance of having a red-headed kid. (Br X Br). Two people who are homozygous for black hair (BB X BB) can never produce a red-head. Conversely, Mr and Mrs Weasly appear to be homozygous for red-headedness (rr X rr), meaning they will always have red-headed kids. Way to save an endangered human geneset, Weasleys! Keep having kids and encouraging your kids to marry redheads.
** Though on another hand, it seems that whenever a wizard has a child with a muggle, the child is magical, which, unless they were all just really lucky, would mean magic IS dominant. Either way it just doesn't add up.
*** It may be that such genetic failures are not worth mentioning, story-wise. Probably more Muggle/Squib hybrids are produced than Magical ones.

* {{Asshole Victim}}s: The Riddles.
* AudienceShift: Rowling [[WordOfGod has said]] that as Harry and the original audience grew older, the maturity level of the books would "grow" as well, making it so that whereas the early books are straight children's literature, the later ones fall more into the YA genre. Though it will be tricky for future generations of Potter fans, it makes sense when you realize the series took over a decade to be released in full; the 10-year olds who were reading ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' in 1997 would be 20-year olds by the time they were reading ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' in 2007.

** Possibly, Neville is an example of FridgeBrilliance as well, since [[spoiler: he was ''also'' Voldemort's potential nemesis, had Voldemort gone after his parents instead of Harry's.]]

* CannotCrossRunningWater: Per WordOfGod, belief in this principle is why the Dursleys take Harry to a shack in the middle of the sea in their attempt to escape the wizarding world.

** Florean Fortescue was kidnapped at the beginning of the sixth book yet we never learn about what happened to him. WordOfGod says that he was originally going to have an expanded role in the last book.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The series gradually gets darker and darker as it moves forward.
** [[http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/original/000/156/899/OaA6X.jpg?1318992465 Quite literally too.]]
** Although [[WordOfGod Rowling herself]] points out that the first book starts in the aftermath of a ''double homicide''...
* DeadGuyJunior: Lots of examples from the epilogue, including [[spoiler: James Sirius Potter, Lily Luna Potter (even though Luna Lovegood doesn't die), Albus Severus Potter, and according to WordOfGod, Fred Weasley II.]]

* EnforcedColdWar: The House rivalries, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin. According to the history of Hogwarts's founders, it's actually closer to Slytherin versus everyone else; according to WordOfGod, it goes down a ''lot'' after [[spoiler:Voldemort is defeated.]]

** Bill and Fleur. Harry and [[spoiler: Ginny]] and Ron and [[spoiler: Hermione]] end up as happy marriages, too.
** WordOfGod has it that Luna, Neville, George, Percy, and Dudley all had/will have this as well.

* LoopholeAbuse: There are certain things that magic simply cannot do, such as reawaken the dead (per the fourth book) or conjure money out of nothing (per WordOfGod). But with the help of magical artifacts such as the Resurrection Stone or the Philosopher's Stone, it is possible to summon the spirits of the dead (or something very similar to the spirits of the dead) or create gold out of lead or other cheap metals (which is practically the same thing as conjuring money out of nothing).

** Played straight in the fifth book, wherein the Ministry of Magic's propaganda campaign against Harry's story that Voldemort has returned is reversed when Umbridge bans a copy of ''The Quibbler'' that tells Harry's story about his encounter with Voldemort. [[StreisandEffect The issue is then sold out and must be reprinted due to curiosity about why it was banned]].

* {{Expy}}: Several examples:
** James Potter and Sirius Black's young, teenage selves as seen in the 800-word prequel JK Rowling wrote for charity are completely interchangeable with Fred and George Weasley, who also go on to use the Marauder's Map (invented by James and Sirius and their friends), as well as [[spoiler: one of them dying and leaving the other scarred for life]]. If you changed the names in the 800-word prequel, the story would fit exactly to Fred and George with the exception of physical descriptions; their dialogue has exactly the same patterns and brand of humour, making James and Sirius seem very shallow in development (at least, them in their youth).
** In the first book, there's a member of Dudley's gang named Piers Polkiss. From his description and what little we see of his personality, he's essentially an early version of Peter Pettigrew.
*** This is deliberate, if you look at his name. "Piers" is another form of Peter. "Polkiss" is Finnish; if you plug it into a translator, the meaning that comes up is "cycled around." Piers Polkiss is literally "Peter recycled."
** Harry and Dumbledore are expies of Wart and Merlin, respectively, from ''Literature/TheSwordInTheStone''.
** Voldemort has shades of Adolf Hitler and Darth Sidious.
*** Probably of Dorian Gray, too; young Tom Riddle's attractiveness is very much emphasized by the characters and the narration; the more evil he commits, the uglier he becomes, and he has multiple soul jars, whereas Dorian had, well, a beauty jar.
** Harry has been thought of as being one of Jesus Christ with Lily being one of the Virgin Mary.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Snape. He's a deeply unpleasant fellow with an extremely transparent bias in favor of the Slytherin house (a House which is ''not'' seen in a positive light, see AmbitionIsEvil below.) He also has an intense dislike of Harry Potter (which turns out to be not only for somewhat complicated reasons, but [[spoiler: is also tempered with an odd sense of loyalty and protectiveness]]) This results in Harry and friends swiftly jumping to the conclusion that Snape is one of the bad guys, ''especially'' in ''The Sorceror's Stone'', ''The Chamber of Secrets'', ''The Half-Blood Prince'', and ''The Deathly Hallows'' (and they don't really trust him in the slightest in ''The Prisoner of Azkaban'' or ''The Order of the Phoenix'', either.) ''The Goblet of Fire'' is the only book in the series that ''doesn't'' seem to go out of its way to villify Snape in some fashion, at least in Harry's eyes. It doesn't help that the events of the books have a knack for making you think that Harry's suspicions might be well-founded, at least until TheReveal at the very end. [[spoiler:This comes to a head in ''The Deathly Hallows'', in which Snape has pulled an apparent full-blown FaceHeelTurn by returning to the service of the Death Eaters. However, in the very end of the book, as he lies dying, he gives Harry his memories, revealing that his murder of Dumbledore was in fact a MercyKill, and [[ReverseMole he's been on Dumbledore's side the entire time]].]]

** Ron's aptitude for wizard chess becomes important in getting the group past [[spoiler:the defenses for the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone]].

** Harry's Quidditch playing. He's good at flying and good at spotting and getting ahold of small golden objects. This comes in handy when he has to catch a flying key in The Sorcerer's Stone, and when he has to get the dragon's egg in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Lord Voldemort is the consistent BigBad, but each individual book also has its own secondary antagonist whose nature and motivations often say much about the themes and conflict at the heart of each installment. ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheSorcerersStone The Sorcerer's Stone]]'' has [[TheRenfield Quirinus Quirrel]], the frail and cowardly servant of the crippled Voldemort; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The Chamber of Secrets]]'' has "[[FromNobodyToNightmare Tom Riddle]]", the ghostly echo of Voldemort's former self; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban The Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' has [[spoiler: [[EvilFormerFriend Peter Pettigrew]]]], the confidant of the Potters who betrayed his friends out of cowardice; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The Goblet of Fire]]'' has [[spoiler: [[WellDoneSonGuy Barty Crouch, Jr.]]]], the troubled young Death Eater initiate who remains faithful to Voldemort in the wake of his downfall; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix The Order of the Phoenix]]'' has [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Dolores Umbridge]], the corrupt Ministry bureaucrat who denies Voldemort's return; and ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The Half-Blood Prince]]'' has [[TheRival Draco Malfoy]] and [[spoiler: [[TheAtoner Severus Snape]]]], who finally openly join Voldemort after six years of lurking in the background at Hogwarts.

* ExoticEntree: Voldemort dines on unicorn blood in ''The Philosopher's[=/=]Sorcerer's Stone'' (though there is a magical justification for this).