~Harry Potter~
Harry Potter is the central character of the Harry Potter books and their subsequent movie and game adaptations. Only child of the powerful wizards James and Lily Potter, he was orphaned shortly after his birth when the very evil wizard Voldemort killed both of Harry's parents. For some unknown reason Voldemort was unable to inflict upon the infant Harry the fate which befell his parents. The evil wizard's attempt on Harry's life not only failed, but also somehow reflected onto Voldemort, leaving him powerless and nearly dead. It is likely that had the wizard been less thoroughly embroiled in the Dark Arts, he would not have survived at all. After that night, most of the wizarding world believed Voldemort dead. No victim of Voldemort had ever escaped with their lives, and so Harry Potter became famous throughout the magical community as The Boy Who Lived. With both his parents dead, the orphaned Harry was sent to live with his utterly unmagical relatives the Dursleys. Brought up living in a cupboard under the stairs, Harry reached his eleventh birthday knowing nothing of his parent's magical background. The Dursleys never spoke of Mrs Dursley's sister Lily, or her abnormal abilities. At the age of eleven, however, Harry was to be sent to boarding school. Rather than the unpleasant school Mr Dursley had planned for him, Harry received a place at the world's premier school of wizardry, Hogwarts. The seven book Harry Potter series chronicles Harry's experiences at the school of magic, each book telling of one year in the life of this most magical boy.
~Ronald Weasly~
Apart from being Harry Potter's bumbling sidekick, Ron Weasley is also Harry's refuge from the world of number 4 Privet Drive. The Burrow, residence of the Weasley family, is like some kind of haven to which Harry is stolen away more than once. Ron is perhaps Harry's closest link to the wizarding world, and as such is an important source of general information on things magically mundane. Ron is arguably Harry's greatest friend, as shown by the Mermen taking him to the bottom of the lake in the second test of the Triwizard Tournament. Ron is a great Quidditch fan, and is very scared of spiders. Ron meets Harry on their first journey aboard the Hogwarts express, after Ron's mother shows Harry the way through to platform 9 3/4. The two end up sharing a carriage, and strike up a lasting friendship. Ron proves his worth at the end of the first year, when Harry, Hermione and Ron are trying to defend the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort as he sacrifices himself to win the giant chess match and get Harry and Hermione on to the next task. Other than flying himself and Harry to school in his father's car at the start of the year, Ron generally has little personal glory in the second year. As a loyal companion he follows Harry all over, looking for the Chamber of Secrets, but his only major contribution is to break his wand early on, allowing Lockhart's memory charm to backfire just before the final showdown. Fourth year sees the Triwizard Tournament come to Hogwarts, and Ron stops speaking to Harry out of jealousy, as once again Harry is the center of attention. With his jealousy of Hermione and Viktor Krum as well, it's a bad year for Ron. In the second Triwizard test he is taken to the bottom of the lake for Harry to rescue. Needless to say, by the end of the year all friendships are mended. In the fifth year Harry is the one to feel envious, as Ron is made Gryffindor prefect, an honour everyone expected to go to Harry and which nobody expected to be Ron's. He spends much of the year being harangued by Hermione about not doing his job properly. With Oliver Wood having left school, Gryffindor quidditch team is without a keeper and Ron takes the plunge and tries out for the position. He makes the grade, although perhaps because everyone else is unsuitable rather than on his own merits. He then becomes the target of a very well orchestrated Slytherin taunting campaign, which serves to put him way off his game. Eventually though, he gains enough confidence to ignore the chanting and helps keep the quidditch cup with Gryffindor house.
~Hermione Granger~
Hermione Granger is one of Harry's closest friends, and a valuable member of Gryffindor house. Top of almost every class, Hermione has few contemporary equals in terms of sheer magical knowledge. Since both of her parents are muggles, dentists in fact, her exceptional skill at spellcraft is interesting. It is probably due in most part to her extremely studious nature and natural academic brilliance. In any case, were it not for Hermione's ability to effectively recall exactly the right charm at the right time, and solve puzzles like the nature of the Basilisk, Harry would likely have been a goner long ago.
When Hermione first arrived at Hogwarts, and met Harry and Ron on the train, she was something of an insufferable know it all. Before long, however, she became drawn into the events surrounding the Philosopher's Stone and decided a little rulebending to be needed in order to fit in at school. She tends to feel that if they can battle Voldemort, and stay alive without breaking any school rules, then they should make their best efforts to do so.
In the second year, Hermione was petrified by the Basilisk, but not before working out what it was, and managing to warn Harry and Ron in a scribbled note. Without that help, who knows what might have happened.
Hermione attended the Yule ball in their fourth year with Viktor Krum, international quidditch player and student of Durmstrang, one of Hogwart's rivals in the Triwizard Tournament. This seemed to occasion not a little jealousy in Ron, although it's hard to say which of them he was jealous of.
Fifth year saw Hermione named Gryffindor prefect, unsurprisingly, and necessitated a running battle between her and the Weasley twins over their testing of experimental sweet recipes on innocent first years. Luckily no hostility arose and by the end of a year under Professor Umbridge's thumb, Hermione seemed positively enthusiastic about their troublemaking schemes
