The Harry Potter series is noted for bringing us a protagonist who was never played out to be all-powerful and had to rely on luck and outside factors to overcome Voldemort. Had the smallest of things gone another way, then Deathly Hallows wouldn’t have been possible.

RELATED: 10 Things About Severus Snape That Have Not Aged Well

While we know most of the major moments, such as Voldemort choosing Harry instead of Neville to kill as a baby, there were relatively minor moments that turned out to have huge impacts in the lead-up to the final book. Here are 10 moments that were crucial for the events of Deathly Hallows to take place.

Ron Failing To Get A Date

Rob and Harry look in the mirror at Ron's robes at the Yule Ball

Ron being in love with Hermione was the main part of his characterization by the time Deathly Hallows started, and it came about at the moment when Ron was ruing over his total failure at getting any girl interested in him for the Yule Ball.

RELATED: Harry Potter: The Darkest Moment From Every Movie

Ron was described to have seen Hermione in “a new light” as he noted her presence as a female for the first time. While the scene was played for laughs, it ultimately meant everything as Ron would develop jealous tendencies whenever anyone else would notice Hermione as well. This eventually led to Ron realizing he’d fallen in love with her.

Harry Ignoring Sirius' Gift

The two-way mirror turned out to be the lifesaver for Harry and his friends when they were locked up in Malfoy Manor, but this would never have come about had Harry unpacked it when Sirius handed it to him in Order of the Phoenix.

Harry had figured it was one of Sirius’ plans for rule breaking and decided against opening it at the time, but had found out after Sirius’ death that he could’ve simply used the mirror and confirmed Sirius hadn’t been abducted by Voldemort. It was a harsh realization that Sirius’ death could’ve been averted, but then Harry wouldn’t have been rescued by Dobby later on.

Albus Lying To Harry About The Mirror Of Erised

Mirror of Erised

Harry spent quite a bit of Deathly Hallows trying to find out more about Albus Dumbledore’s past, with the only time he’d asked Albus anything personal when he inquired what the latter saw in the Mirror of Erised, to which Albus lied to conceal the fact that he saw his sister Ariana.

Had the Headmaster trusted Harry enough to share his deepest secret, then Harry would’ve been much closer to Albus. This would have definitely led to Dumbledore sharing Harry’s fated death at the hands of Voldemort earlier on, thereby changing up Harry and Albus’s entire relationship before Deathly Hallows.

Harry Not Listening To Professor Trelawney's Ramblings

Only eagle-eyed readers caught this part in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where Professor Trelawney came across our protagonist before he went on the doomed trip with Dumbledore in the cave.

In this scene, Trelawney rambled over her many predictions, with Harry ignoring her since he saw her as a fraud. However, one of these was the dire warning that the “lightning-struck tower” would spell calamity. Dumbledore would then meet his death on this very tower mere hours later. Had Harry taken Trelawney seriously, then we’d have had an alive and well Albus in the last part.

Fleur Delacour Working At Gringotts Leading To Tonks And Remus' Marriage

Tonks standing ready to fight in Harry Potter

Had Fleur not wanted to “improve her English” by working at Gringotts, we’d never have seen Harry become godfather to Remus’ son. As it happened, working at Gringotts led to Fleur meeting and marrying Bill Weasley, whose attack at the hands of Fenrir Greyback gave Tonks the push she needed to convince Remus to reciprocate her feelings.

RELATED: Harry Potter: 5 Times Snape Was A Hero (& 5 Times He Was A Complete Villain)

Seeing how Fleur didn’t care if Bill became a werewolf, Tonks confessed the same to Remus in the closing moments of Half-Blood Prince. It was this union that brought about their child, and Harry became a guardian to their son all because Fleur wanted to get better at speaking another language.

Neville Getting Spotted At St. Mungo's

Neville Longbottom inside of Hogwarts

Neville had done his best to conceal the truth about his parents’ mental health (although nobody had bothered to ask him before either), but he’d been found when Harry and company came across him at St. Mungo’s.

This would be the best thing that happened to him, though, as Neville realized he should focus on making his parents proud rather than hide them away. For this reason, Neville began excelling in the Dumbledore’s Army meetings where he'd previously failed, which we all know led to him being the badass leader of the resistance he was in Deathly Hallows.

Luna Telling Harry She Could See Thestrals Too

Luna Lovegood with her glasses on and a magazine in her hands in Harry Potter

Harry wouldn’t have trusted Luna the way he did had he not had validation through her that Thestrals were real. It was due to this bond that he understood about Thestrals enough to mount them and head over to the Department of Mysteries. Sure, this came back, biting him in the worst ways as Sirius ended up dying because of Harry’s actions, but the connection between Harry and Luna also led to the former overcoming his depression of his godfather’s death. 

Since Luna made him feel better about his sadness before the end of Harry’s fifth year, he stopped mourning and began trusting Albus Dumbledore once again. It was this renewed faith in his headmaster that Albus started sharing knowledge about Voldemort’s horcruxes with him.

Harry Deciding To Taunt Dudley

We saw a reformed Dudley by the time the last book began, but it didn’t specify as to why Dudley had a sudden change of heart. The truth is that Dudley saw himself for the horrible person he really was when the dementors attacked him, after which he resolved to change his ways.

This turn for the better wouldn’t have happened had Harry not spent his time taunting Dudley back in Order of the Phoenix, as he took to making fun of “Big D” for being scared of his magic. It was because of this taunting session that Harry and Dudley were together at the time, leading to Dudley being confronted by the dementors. So, looks like bullying and dementors were good for something as these two cousins became a real family in the last book.

Voldemort Retrieving Bellatrix

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child retconned Bellatrix’s time at Malfoy Manor as her being pregnant with Voldemort’s child, which puts some context over why Voldemort took the time to grab onto her and disapparate. However, this also paved the way for Deathly Hallows and Voldermort being witnessed by Ministry officials.

RELATED: Harry Potter: The Worst Teacher From Every Movie

Had Voldemort left Bellatrix to be arrested, then the wizarding world would’ve been none the wiser about his return to a fully functioning body. The good guys in Deathly Hallows gained a lot of ground because of their knowledge of Voldemort’s status, which wouldn’t have been possible if Voldemort hadn’t wasted time to retrieve Bellatrix.

Snape Looking At Harry's Eyes

Severus Snape in Harry Potter.

This guy made it his mission to keep Harry safe, not because he gave two hoots about him, but because he was the only way Severus could still see Lily’s eyes. Snape loathed Harry the moment he saw him as the boy was the spitting image of his father, but it was upon looking into Harry’s eyes that he found it in him to keep Lily’s memory alive.

Snape acted in Harry’s best interest by being a spy for Voldemort in the times leading up to Deathly Hallows, during which he would overlook his impulse to hate Harry through the eyes he'd inherited from his mother. Everything from attempting to teach Harry Occlumency to making the Unbreakable Vow had been part of fate the moment Snape first looked into Harry’s eyes.

NEXT: MCU: 10 Things You Didn’t Realize Led To Avengers: Endgame