Despite everyone marveling at how much Harry Potter resembled his father, the fact is that he was nothing like James and was all of Lily in personality. Perhaps why people likened him to James so much was because Harry’s company reminded quite a lot of the Marauders – who were James’ most cherished friends.
When stacking up the attributes and achievements of Harry’s friends against the Marauders, it does form a very similar picture, making the assertion that Harry’s pals were successors to the Marauders a viable one. In case you still don’t see it that way, here are 10 things Harry’s friends had in common with James’ friends.
Rule-Breaking
No matter how much Hermione liked to harp about breaking the rules, she broke them more than any other student in history – that is, perhaps other than Harry’s father and his friends. Like Hermione, Remus Lupin used to be the voice of reason, but would still be dragged into breaking the rules.
Ron would gladly overlook school rules if it meant helping Harry, and Harry himself didn’t care much about the law, let alone school regulations. He was motivated by his friends, though, such as when Ron and Hermione devised the Dumbledore’s Army. James Potter’s friends also motivated him into creating the Marauders.
Knowledge Of the Shrieking Shack
Of course, the Marauders would know about the Shrieking Shack (considering it was made to keep Lupin’s werewolf form at bay), but that still qualifies it as being something in common with Harry’s friends, who were with Lupin inside the Shrieking Shack in Prisoners of Azkaban.
The funny thing is, people would’ve still thought the Shrieking Shack was haunted even after Deathly Hallows, as we never saw Harry or his friends tell anyone about it. Now that James’ gang members are all dead, it appears only the Golden Trio are knowledgeable about the Shrieking Shack. At one point, though, the people who knew about it included James’ friends as well.
They're In Gryffindor
Sure, Harry, Ron and Hermione were friendly with kids from other houses, but those were only cordial relationships, and only Luna Lovegood was something of a stable friend. In the same way, James and his pals were popular in the school, but their friend group seems to have been only comprised of Gryffindors.
It even appears that the Marauders were exclusively friends with each other, seeing as we never heard about any other firm friend of James. Similarly, Ron and Hermione – both Gryffindors – were pretty much Harry’s exclusive friends, with the extended group of Neville, Fred, George, and Ginny from the same house as well.
Friendship With Hagrid
Clearly, James wasn’t as firm friends with Hagrid as Harry was, since Hagrid could be called as Harry’s third best friend, but it’s also apparent that at the very least Sirius Black was quite close to Hagrid. This was proven when Hagrid confirmed Sirius had honored the former’s wishes to keep Harry with him and send him to Dumbledore after James and Lily’s deaths, and when Sirius had been shown to be in contact with Hagrid in the fifth book.
As we know, Ron and Hermione were just as close with Hagrid as Harry was, and they remained in touch with Hagrid after leaving Hogwarts as well. There’s no doubt they would’ve known of his whereabouts at all times like Sirius had.
Usage Of The Marauders Map
Being the Marauders themselves, it’s obvious James’ friends used the map during their time at Hogwarts, but what makes this point valid is that they were able to recognize the map decades after they’d abandoned it. This showed a thorough knowledge of the map’s secrets and identity, something only Harry’s friends can claim to know of in the world as well.
Fred and George were perhaps far more educated about the Marauders Map than the creators, and Ron and Hermione were shown to use the map, too. Hermione took the map with them in Deathly Hallows, in order to keep an eye on Hogwarts.
Legendary Status
Sirius, Remus, Peter all achieved status as legends, but for the wrong reasons. Peter achieved this reputation for being a supposed martyr; Remus gained notoriety for being a former student and teacher who was a werewolf; Sirius as the greatest prisoner in Azkaban.
The Marauders' legacies must have been reversed after the Battle of Hogwarts, which would’ve made two of them legendary heroes. Ron and Hermione accomplished this image, too, as they received their own versions of Chocolate Frog cards that detailed their lives. In the epilogue of Deathly Hallows, they were so popular that everyone was staring at them for their famed status at the train station.
Usage Of The Invisibility Cloak
It’s a wonder how James managed to fit three of his buddies under this cloak, considering we always saw Harry and his friends struggle to remain hidden when they were using it. Regardless, only these guys knew about the Invisibility Cloak for the time Harry possessed it.
Lupin admitted James had made use of the cloak hundreds of times with his friends at Hogwarts, while we saw multiple instances where Harry and his friends did the same. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry was shown to have told Neville about the cloak as well, making it the Deathly Hallow that seemed to bring friends together – James and Harry’s friends sure did show us that.
Fighting Voldemort And Death Eaters
Narration across the series makes it clear that James and his friends weren’t just brave people, and that they tangoed with Voldy and his followers. If you’re still a skeptic, then you can easily look to Order of the Phoenix’s climax to see them fight the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries.
If you can recall that, then you’ll also recall Harry’s pals being involved in said skirmish, which made this another thing in common with James’ friends. Harry’s friends would then add Voldemort on their fought list as well in Deathly Hallows, where they directly confronted the Dark Lord; in the same manner Sirius and Lupin had.
Having Hated Rivals
The parallel between Snape and Malfoy was on the nose from Philosopher’s Stone itself, and the succession of having a hated rival was confirmed in Order of the Phoenix, where we saw James and Sirius bully Snape.
While Harry didn’t bully Malfoy, the latter sure did try to do that to him. Snape was also said to have taken his chance to attack Sirius and James whenever he could, which was a sentiment shared by Malfoy and his friends against Ron and Harry. Like Lupin tried to remain out of this animosity, Hermione played the same role by largely trying to ignore Malfoy.
The Smart One And The Lazy One
James had three main friends compared to Harry’s two, but you can consider Ron as a mixture of Sirius and Peter, while Remus and Sirius can be considered the same for Hermione. That’s because Ron was always lazy like Peter was, and would try to mooch off Hermione’s work; but he was the firm best friend of Harry like Sirius had been for James.
As for Hermione, she was easily smart like Sirius had been, but was responsible and level-headed in personality like Remus. Fortunately, neither of the two had backstabbing in common as with Pettigrew, but the other attributes were qualities that were strikingly similar.