Over 20 years after the release of the first movie and 25 years since the first book, people all over the world are still obsessing over, rereading—and even discovering for the first time—one of the most magical franchises in the world.
For those of you who are just getting involved, or for anyone who needs a recap, here we will look at Harry and some of his relationships to get you started. For those who are already hooked, here are a few reasons to fall in love with the story all over again.
How old is Harry Potter in the movies?
We begin our journey in the first movie, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (or Sorcerer’s Stone in some countries) in the few days preceding Harry’s 11th birthday. We get to watch him receive his Hogwarts letter, discover that magic is real, and go on a journey into the wizarding world.
Each following book and movie deals with one school year, beginning in the summer holidays with Harry’s birthday on the 31st of July and carrying on until the end of the summer term. We get to watch Harry, Ron and Hermione grow up, find their passions, discover romance and, of course, save the world.
You can see a real progression in the characters through their early teen years and right the way up until 17, the age of adulthood in J.K Rowling’s universe.
For those that grew up alongside the characters, the books and movies were something to be wildly awaited with each birthday, and many still have the complete collections even in this age of e-books and online streaming.
The presents and merchandise you can get continue to be massively popular, and everything from themed mugs and notebooks to stylish Harry Potter handbags make a fantastic choice for a Christmas or birthday gift.
When did Harry Potter fall in love?
While we were all falling in love with Harry Potter, he was falling in love too. First with the idea of being a wizard and escaping his old life, then with the many friends he made, and finally with girls.
It was as early as the third book that we saw his first crush, Cho Chang, Harry’s counterpart in the Hufflepuff quidditch team, though we saw much more of her in the fourth and fifth books and movies.
Whether this relationship counts as love is pretty unlikely though, and it is generally known that Harry only really loved one girl – Ginny Weasley.
Harry saw Ginny the very first time he went to Platform 9 ¾ and met her properly at the Burrow, her home, at the beginning of the second movie in which she plays a key role. Ginny had a crush on Harry that seemed to embarrass the young wizard, but over time this was no longer the case.
They became friends, and then finally in his sixth year, Harry noticed her as more than that. We got to read and watch along as he experienced the feeling of watching her with another and worrying about how Ron would react to his dating Ron’s sister.
The exact moment he fell in love could is hard to pinpoint as it happened gradually, but it certainly seemed to happen during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Who is Harry Potter’s girlfriend?
The biggest focus throughout the series was on Harry’s relationships with his closest friends Ron and Hermione and all that they went through and achieved together, but he did have two love interests in his teen years.
First, there was Cho Chang, the pretty Hufflepuff fourth year he met in his third year, asked to the ball in the fourth book and movie, and finally went on a date with in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Whether she was really his girlfriend is debatable, and since they didn’t properly break up but rather fizzled out, many tend to say that she was not.
Ginny Weasley, on the other hand, most certainly was his girlfriend in the sixth book and movie, and later became much more than that. In the book especially, Harry spent as much time as he could with her and described it as like living out someone else’s life where he was truly happy.
Despite ending the relationship in order to pursue Voldemort and attempt to defeat him, Harry still remained true to Ginny and expressed those feelings in the seventh book as well.
The end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the book, and part 2 in the movies, shows all the characters 19 years later on, taking their own children to Platform 9 ¾, the same spot where Harry first saw Ginny.
We see that they are happily married with three children and that although their relationship had its ups and downs, they managed to make it work in the end.
Who is Harry Potter’s first kiss?
Ginny Weasley was undoubtedly Harry’s girlfriend, wife and true love, but she was not his first kiss. Though they were friends during his fifth year when it occurred, it was Cho Chang that Harry kissed first.
Rebelling against the awful Dolores Umbridge, Harry began teaching defence against the dark arts to his fellow students during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He was thrilled when Cho came along to class, and it presented them with the chance to be alone together and kiss for the first time.
Conclusion
The Harry Potter books and movies are remembered for introducing a whole generation of children to reading and are sure to be read for generations to come. The themes of magic and heroism, of mythic creatures and learning new spells are all exciting and fun, but it is really the everyday themes that run throughout the series that made us fall in love with them over and over.
Harry’s relationships, first with Ron and Hermione, the Weasleys, Hagrid and so many others, and then finally with Ginny, told the story of a lonely sad child in a cupboard growing up to be happy, loved, and triumphant in the end.
