The Harry Potter series is based around the titular protagonist’s experiences in the Wizarding World. Harry is noted to be a kind, goodhearted person whose greatest strength is his ability to love and forgive. Still, Harry is human and he has a number of flaws that have made him act like a villain.
At times, Harry displayed behavior comparable to villains like Voldemort, Draco Malfoy, and others who had done him wrong. While there were generally reasons for Harry to act out of character, it’s worth noting where Harry let his moralities go or simply was wrong to behave a certain way.
Harry's Torture Of Amycus Carrow
Driven by his emotions, Harry’s happy and sad moments defined his decisions and the times he was angry could be comparable to Voldemort’s wrath. During Deathly Hallows, Harry was angered when Amycus Carrow spat at Professor McGonagall, for which he used the torture curse on Carrow.
Harry even held the curse long enough for Carrow to writhe into unconsciousness and admitted he enjoyed the sensation. While Carrow was no doubt a villain, Harry wasn’t far off in this moment considering he delivered intense pain to another person right in front of others in the Ravenclaw common room.
Harry's Enjoyment Of Fred & George's Mocking Toward Ron For Becoming A Prefect
Draco Malfoy was the primary villain for Harry and his friends in school and he used to prey on Ron Weasley’s greatest fears to mock him. Harry acted much like Malfoy when Fred and George made fun of Ron for being elected as Gryffindor house’s prefect, going so far as to enjoy their shots at Harry’s best friend.
Harry even felt disgusted by himself later on when he realized how out of character he was behaving to be envious of Ron’s achievement. As Ron’s friend, Harry should have defended the former and praised him, but the satisfaction he gained from Ron being belittled was quite like how Malfoy behaved.
Harry's Original Mistreatment Of Kreacher
Where the matter of Kreacher is concerned, just about everyone apart from Hermione was a villain. Harry did nothing when he saw the abuse Kreacher suffered at the hands of Sirius; he even found it funny when the others mocked the house-elf. Harry himself was horrible to Kreacher when he became the latter’s master and ultimately regretted his past behavior.
It was when Hermione made him realize that Kreacher’s betrayal of Sirius was only because he was never shown any kindness that Harry acknowledged he had been in the wrong. Prior to that, he was a willing party to the lack of respect Kreacher had frequently received.
Harry's Shunning Of Hermione During Her Falling Out With Ron
While the fandom loves to consider Harry and Ron as true soulmates, they could be mean toward Hermione at times. During Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry shunned Hermione when she and Ron had a falling out over Crookshanks’ supposed killing of Scabbers, with Harry not talking to Hermione for weeks.
Hermione had never done anything to Harry, so there was no reason for him to cancel her out that way. He flirted with the idea of being a villain toward Hermione when he learned from Hagrid that she had been crying over her loneliness, yet did absolutely nothing to console her or reconcile; he opted to leave Hermione in her emotional turmoil.
Harry's Lack Of Remorse In Nearly Killing Malfoy
There are more than a few memes dedicated to Harry and Draco Malfoy because of fandom shipping, but they loathed each other in canon. Harry nearly killed Malfoy when he cast the Sectumpsempra curse at his enemy, resulting in massive internal injuries that only Snape’s timely intervention cured.
Malfoy is to blame for the confrontation since he tried to use the Cruciatius Curse on Harry, but Harry’s antagonistic streak comes from the fact that he didn’t really feel any remorse for almost taking a life. Harry was more concerned about where to hide the Half-Blood Prince’s book and how he would retrieve it.
Harry's Underhanded Manner Of Beating Slytherin At Quidditch
The Slytherin Quidditch team were always portrayed as villainous brutes who used underhanded tactics to win while the Gryffindor team were supposed to be the good guys. Malfoy’s verbal harassment on the Quidditch pitch was frequently used to establish his villainy as well. However, Harry was the one who used the same attitude in Half-Blood Prince to snatch an undeserved victory.
During the match against Slytherin, Harry realized their replacement Seeker, Harper, was about to win and taunted the latter by claiming Malfoy had paid him to take his place. The taunt worked and Harry bested Harper, but it was by no means an honorable victory since Harry resorted to the same means that the villains did.
Harry's Endorsement Of The Curse On Marietta Edgecombe
All things considered, Marietta Edgecombe didn’t deserve to be left with the “SNEAK” scar on her face for life. While she did betray Dumbledore’s Army, Marietta only did so because of her fear that her mother, who worked at the Ministry, would be fired if she learned of her involvement.
Harry didn’t see things that way and defended Hermione when Cho claimed the curse took things too far. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry spotted Marietta on the Hogwarts Express and noted she’d tried to hide her scars with makeup but was unsuccessful, which actually gave him a rather twisted sense of amusement.
Harry's Justification To Assault People For His Own Needs
The magical nature of the series masks moments where people are outright assaulted. This includes the time when Harry and Ron place sedatives in Crabbe and Goyle’s food to knock them out and claim their identities, which all sounds very messed up.
Harry’s justification was that he needed to learn about the Heir of Slytherin, but there’s no denying the fact that he assaulted his classmates, stowed them away in a cupboard, and didn’t bother to check up on them later. He and his friends did so again when they infiltrated the Ministry, which can be seen as even sketchier considering they were adults by then.
Harry's Bullying Of Dudley For His Enjoyment
Dudley was Harry’s personal villain as a child because he had mistreated him all of his youth. He was under a lot of stress by Order of the Phoenix and chose to take it out on Dudley by harassing him, as he knew Dudley was scared that Harry would harm him with magic.
In this situation, Harry was needlessly mean to Dudley since he had nothing to gain; he only bullied Dudley because it was fun to dish out his frustrations. There was little to separate Dudley from Harry here, seeing as both of them bullied people who couldn’t retaliate against them.
Harry's Changed Psyche Under The Influence Of The Locket Horcrux
In this instance, the story deliberately made Harry out to act as a villain due to the Horcrux’s influence. As Voldemort’s soul was constantly around his neck, Harry began to behave erratically, such as shouting at Hermione and leaving her to sob in despair over Ron’s departure.
Harry’s tensions with Ron were great at the time and he would occasionally mull over violent thoughts like attacking his best friend. It went to show that Voldemort’s soul was so evil that it could even make the series’ protagonist just like the villain, and Harry acknowledged it after he took the locket off.