Top 10 Harry Potter Moments That Made Us Happy Cry

While the stakes may get higher as the series moves forward, in the first installment of Harry’s story, Gryffindor winning the house cup seems like the height of importance. After all of our trio’s misadventures trying to save the Philosopher’s Stone from Lord Voldemort, it didn’t seem like they’d have time to win back the house points that they had lost. In the end, though, it’s a dead tie between Gryffindor and Slytherin, until Dumbledore awards Neville ten points for standing up to his friends. The look on his face says it all!

Throughout the series, Harry is constantly mistreated by the Dursleys, and while J. K. Rowling creates a lot of complex characters, it didn’t look like these three would ever get any redemption. In the final book, however, there is a poignant moment when Harry and the Dursleys are parting ways for a final time where Dudley shows an unexpected moment of humanity. The scene may have been cut from the theatrical version of the first “Deathly Hallows” film, but luckily the deleted scene eventually surfaced.

The second book and movie take a decidedly darker turn when it is revealed that something within Hogwarts is trying to kill and petrify students. Not to mention, Harry is being ostracized by his peers because many think that he is the one who has opened the Chamber of Secrets. When the final battle takes place between Harry and the Basilisk, it seems that all is lost and that our hero will inevitably be defeated. The moment that Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes, shows up though, we couldn’t help but cheer when we realized it was all going to be okay.

In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” all of the romantic relationships that had been hinted at in earlier storylines finally started to become solidified. Though it was clear to fans that Ron and Hermione belonged together, he had to get a little experience first in the form of dating Lavender Brown. After he is unintentionally poisoned and ends up in the hospital wing, his true feelings are revealed when he asks for Hermione at his bedside instead of Lavender. You could practically hear the shippers sigh of relief!

One of the bleakest periods during the trio’s hunt for Horcruxes in “Deathly Hallows” is when Ron decides to leave Harry and Hermione behind. To be fair, the cursed locket was influencing his emotions, but it was still devastating for both the characters (and fans!) when he left. When Harry followed the silver doe to ultimately find the sword of Gryffindor, it seemed like all was lost when he was caught at the bottom of a lake. All he needed, though, was Ron’s helping hand, and when we realized who had saved him, we couldn’t help but shed a relieved tear. His subsequent reunion with Hermione wasn’t quite as simple though...

In “Chamber of Secrets,” readers and viewers were finally given some insight into Hagrid’s past, including the reason he was expelled from Hogwarts. It turns out that he was accused of unleashing the monster who attacked students the first time the Chamber was opened, and was kicked out of school for his involvement. So when the Chamber was reopened in Harry’s second year, Hagrid was ultimately sent to Azkaban despite fans’ knowledge that there was no way he could be guilty. When he is finally released and shows up at the end of year feast, we couldn’t hold in our elation.

Harry had already been through so much by the end of his first year at Hogwarts, so as we see him get ready to board the Hogwarts Express to go back to a dreadful summer with the Dursleys, it’s tough to realize that he’ll be spending months away from the wizarding world. Hagrid gives him a gift, however, to help him through that difficult time. We don’t know where he managed to find old Potter family photos, but we’re thankful that they finally made their way into the right hands.

In “Prisoner of Azkaban,” Harry learns much about his parents’ pasts, and the circumstances that led to them being killed by Lord Voldemort. He spends the whole story thinking that their friend, Sirius Black, contributed to their murders, but eventually Harry finds out the truth. When he realizes that his godfather can actually be a helpful figure in his life, Harry has a fleeting moment of being able to imagine a world where he never has to go back to the Dursleys. Of course, this is bittersweet, because they never manage to clear Sirius’ name, and that happy ending they dreamed of falls behind the Veil.

Throughout “Chamber of Secrets,” the house elf Dobby seems like more of a hindrance than a help, but his heart is in the right place. J. K. Rowling shines a light on one of the injustices of the wizarding world when we see the abuse that Dobby has to suffer under his masters, the Malfoys. At the end of this story, though, Harry uses his quick wit to save his new friend from a life of servitude by tricking Lucius Malfoy into granting Dobby his freedom. This moment is a triumphant one, and one we’ll never forget.

After all that our favorite characters had been through, bearing witness to their happy endings was just too much for most fans. Following along with their journey had been a roller coaster of emotions, and it all culminated with the epilogue, set 19 years after the events of the original series. The scene shows Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny on platform nine and three quarters sending their own children off to Hogwarts. We cried because everyone ended up exactly where they should be. We cried because after all these years it was really over. And of course we cried because “all was well.”