Harry Potter (novel)/Heartwarming

Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone

• Dumbledore:

"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection for ever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."
Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the window-sill, which gave Harry time to dry his eyes on the sheet.

• Also from the above, Hagrid's gift to Harry:

It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at him from every page were his mother and father.
"Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos... Knew yeh didn' have any... D'yeh like it?"
Harry couldn't speak, but Hagrid understood.

• After Harry rants about what will happen if Voldemort comes back and says he's going to go after the Stone, Ron and Hermione decide to go with him without a moment's hesitation, and without even telling him first:

Harry: I’ll use the invisibility cloak, It’s just lucky I got it back.
Ron: But will it cover all three of us?” said Ron.
Harry: All—all three of us?”
Ron: Oh, come off it, you don’t think we’d let you go alone?
Hermione: Of course not. How do you think you’d get to the Stone without us? I’d better go and look through my books, there might be something useful…

• • And later in the same chapter, Ron sacrifices himself in a game of chess so that Harry can go on to stop Voldemort. Keep in mind that these are eleven-year-olds.
  • Also, this becomes something of a Brick Joke when Dumbledore describes how the true magic of the Cloak is its ability to cover multiple people all the way in Deathly Hallows.
• In The Philosopher's Stone, when Neville comes back to the common room with a Leg-Locker Curse, Harry gives Neville a Chocolate Frog and tells him, "you're worth twelve of Malfoy." This is made more heartwarming as it was the last from a box he'd got for Christmas (he'd never had Christmas presents before), and shortly after, Neville stood up to Malfoy.

Neville: "I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy."

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

• There is also the ending of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Dumbledore finally learns that Harry has been Wangsting that he was only fit to be in the house of Slytherin, the so-called "house of villains." That moment, when Dumbledore proves to Harry that he is better than he gives himself credit for, is a truly magical one.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

• In Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry says that of course he wants to move in with Sirius, and Sirius beams.

"...for a moment, he was recognizable as the man who had laughed at Harry's parents' wedding."

• • In that same book, after they have rescued Sirius from the Ministry of Magic, he says goodbye to Harry and flies away on Buckbeak.

"You are...truly your father's son, Harry."

• • Also from the same book, Harry had believed that he had seen his father that night, when he had actually seen himself. He told Dumbledore that it was stupid of him. But then Dumbledore replied that his father did appear that night.

Dumbledore: "Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night."

• • And in the same book, when Ron and Hermione fling themselves onto Sirius unarmed to protect Harry from him, and Ron tells him that if he wants to kill Harry, he'll have to kill him and Hermione too. Made even more poignant in that Harry observes something flicker in Sirius's eyes at Ron's words, no doubt because they reminded Sirius of how he was willing to sacrifice himself for James.
• Also, Fred and George making Harry feel better with some expertly-placed humor when Malfoy is taunting him about fainting around the Dementors.
• In The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Sirius mailing Harry a Firebolt and signing his permission slip to go to Hogsmeade, which is accepted as even though Sirius is a wanted criminal, he's still Harry's godfather.
• The part in Prisoner of Azkaban when Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup. Why was this not mentioned yet? The way everyone is cheering for Harry, and Wood crying. If that isn't Heartwarming to you, you're a sociopath.
  • What's particularly heartwarming is the fact that they were doing pretty badly before then, and they would only win if they beat Slytherin by a certain number of points. Wood was half convinced that he would leave Hogwarts with no Quidditch Cup. And yet...they did it...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

• In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as the realization of Cedric's death is sinking in, and Harry is surrounded by people but doesn't want to be seen crying:

Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother.
Harry: I told him to take the cup with me. *eyes and throat burn*

• • And don't forget the whole "Remember Cedric Diggory" speech.
  • Also, after being named the Fourth Champion, nearly everyone - including Ron, Harry's best friend - believed that Harry had somehow found a way to sneak into the tournament, just to gain fame. However, the next morning, before demanding answers from Harry or even mentioning the whole fiasco, Hermione brought Harry a piece of toast, knowing he didn't want to eat in the Great Hall with all the attention he was getting, and asked him if he wanted to go for a walk. Harry later told her everything that happened and "to his immense relief, Hermione accepted his story without question," as quoted from the book.
• A rather minor one, but in Goblet of Fire, I always found the fact that Harry takes it upon himself to warn Cedric about the dragons in the First Task to be an immensely heartwarming simple gesture of genuine, selfless decency. It's moments like that just as much as—or more than—the huge battles which make Harry a worthwhile hero.
  • Likewise, the conversation leading up to Harry and Cedric grabbing the Cup was to this troper (and still is) among the most heartwarming moments of the series. Cedric, who was so popular during the tournament, giving up glory to Harry, who had been tormented all year long. Harry, who had held a serious grudge against Cedric because of his relationship with Cho, suggesting that they take it together. It was a beautiful moment—and it made what happened next that much more shocking and terrible.
• A very small, subtle one in The Goblet of Fire. Harry has rescued Ron and Gabrielle from the Lake when "[...]Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them. [...] Percy seized Ron and was dragging him back to the bank ("Gerroff, Percy, I'm all right!")" Percy, who has always been seen as pompous and annoying, caring more about his job than his family, was plainly terrified for his little brother despite knowing Dumbledore would never have let anything happen to him.
• While the entire scene where Dumbledore, Hermione, and Harry confront Hagrid after he is outed as Half-Giant by Rita Skeeter is this, the part where Dumbledore casually mentions that many parents have written letters in Hagrid's defense always gets to me. It's not just that his friends love him, it's that many people who have known him do so as well that just makes it that much more awesome.

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix

• At the end of The Order of the Phoenix, after Sirius's death and probably knowing how bad Harry was feeling, several of the Order, including Moody, Lupin, Mr. Weasley, and Tonks, go up to the Dursleys. They all speak in casual tones to them, but the threat is still there. If the Dursleys mistreat Harry in any way, the Order will find out.
• "Potter, I will assist you to become an Auror if it's the last thing I do!"
  • The fact that it's McGonagall saying that is what makes it a million times more heartwarming than if anyone else had said it. And right in front and in full defiance of Umbridge, no less.
    • And in the end, Harry does indeed become an Auror.
• Order of the Phoenix are full of little ones of these. Like, after Percy sends Ron a letter telling him to stop being Harry's friend because Harry's a nutcase and it might ruin Ron's future job opportunities, Ron tears up the letter in fury, apparently humiliated to be related to someone like Percy. Also, when Harry unfairly accuses Hermione of debating his sanity with Lavender, she calmly tells him that actually, she told Lavender to "keep her fat mouth shut".
  • Another little one comes in Umbridge's first class, where she refers to them being taught by "dangerous half-breeds," to which Dean Thomas immediately snaps "If you mean Professor Lupin, he was the best we ever..."; the fact that Dean says it as opposed to, say, Harry, shows that the whole class, not just the Power Trio, were willing to stand up for Lupin despite the fact that he was a werewolf.
  • And then there's Hermione kissing Ron on the cheek for the first time to encourage him for his first Quidditch match. It doesn't help much, but the description of Ron touching the spot she kissed him in amazement is extremely sweet.
• In Half-Blood Prince, Luna says, "I enjoyed the [Dumbledore's Army] meetings too. It was like having friends." Later in the same scene, Harry tells a rude girl that all the people in his compartment are his friends. Luna says, "People expect you to have cooler friends than us." And Harry replies, "You are cool." Pretty much any scene where anyone is nice to the optimistic yet sadly abused Luna is heartwarming because she deserves to have kind friends.
  • What makes it even better is that it's a Call Back to the previous book, when Harry had been resentful and humiliated by Cho seeing him sitting with people like Neville and Luna. It shows how much Harry had grown up since then.
• The Gryffindor remix of Weasley is Our King. For those who don't know:

Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in
Weasley is our King.

Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King.

• Hagrid's whole relationship with Grawp. That's all.
  • No, that's not all: "HERMY! WHERE HAGGER?!" He remembered Hermione's name.
  • To clarify, everyone, everyone, from the centaurs to his three best friends, thinks Hagrid is insane for dragging Grawp back and keeping him in the forest, while Hagrid just insists that he has to because he's his brother. He gets beaten up, risks being fired, even has Hermione briefly siding with Umbridge against him, but in the end, not only is he vindicated when Grawp grows more gentle and docile, but it was his devotion to his brother despite all odds that meant that Voldemort wasn't the only one fielding giants in the final battle, which gave the defenders much more of a fighting chance than they would have had otherwise.
• A rather small one in Order of the Phoenix, when Umbridge fires Professor Trelawny and gleefully tries to throw her out, Professor McGonagall, who has previously made no secret of her disapproval of Trelawny's talents and teaching methods, defies Umbridge to rush forward and comfort the despondent Trelawny.
• It's not specifically stated in The Order of the Phoenix, but this troper's heart was warmed when Dumbledore saw that the students' resistance group was called Dumbledore's Army and smiled. I imagine that he was very touched by this.
  • Gains extra resonance after the Book 7 revelations. Remember, in his youth, Albus Dumbledore was preparing to lead an army of wizards to do exactly what Fudge was accusing him of--Take Over the World. Since then he's been deliberately avoiding power because he knows it will cause him to turn to The Dark Side. Now here is an army of wizards, declaring their trust in his humility and wisdom.
• Two Mrs. Weasley moments in The Order of the Phoenix. The first is her boggart transforming into a dead Harry, whose death she is deathly afraid of, as indicated by the boggart, despite him not being part of her immediate family. Then, there is the other scene:

"He's not your son, Molly."
"He's as good as!"

• • Harry's reaction adds to this effect.
  • More so is Sirius's. He just comes in the room and stares at the place where Harry's body was before Lupin vanished it. Molly's collapsed, sobbing all over Lupin, and Sirius is just staring at the place where Harry was. You can totally imagine what he's thinking, how terrible and grief-stricken he would be if it happened, and it makes me want to just cry my heart out.

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

• Harry gets Dumbledore back in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He notes how Rufus Scrimgeour accused Harry of being "Dumbledore's man through and through." Dumbledore notes, amused, how very rude that was of him. Harry then says he effectively accepted it as a compliment... and suddenly notices how very damp Dumbledore's eyes seem.
  • What perhaps makes this moment even better is this exchange right at then end when Harry and Scrimgeour meet at Dumbledore's funeral:

Scrimgeour: I see you are -
Harry: Dumbledore's man through and through. That's right.

• In Half-Blood Prince, Harry asks Luna to accompany him to Slughorn's Christmas party, and Luna is thrilled. The scene is sad, funny, and heartwarming; it's very well done. And despite the various sideplots also being developed at the party, we still get to see Luna thoroughly enjoy herself.
• Throughout Half-Blood Prince, Molly Weasley, convinced that Fleur Delacour was a vain, shallow, and snobby girl, was dead-set against Fleur and Bill's wedding. At the end of the book, Bill is slashed by Fenrir Greyback, is horribly disfigured, and may have some werewolf-ish tendencies. Molly is devastated, upset that "he was going to be married." Fleur asks Molly what she meant by "was", and yells that she doesn't care if Bill looks different, all that it will prove is that her husband is brave. The scene ends with Molly offering Fleur her great-Aunt's tiara to wear in the wedding; Fleur thanks her coolly, and then the two collapse into a hug and cry hysterically.

Fleur (to Mrs. Weasley):' And what do you mean by zat? What do you mean 'he was going to be married?' . . . You theenk Bill will not wish to marry me anymore? You theenk, because of these bites, he will not love me? . . . Because 'e will! It would take more zan a werewolf to stop Bill loving me! . . . You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or per'aps, you hoped? What do I care how he looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave! And I shall do zat (she takes the medicine and starts treating Bill).

• The teachers all deciding, at the end of Half-Blood Prince, that Hogwarts must remain open.
• The scene where, after Fleur says she loves Bill despite being scarred, Tonks shakes Lupin yelling at him that Fleur loves Bill no matter what, and she loves him even if he's a werewolf.
• "It is high time your grandmother appreciated the grandson she has, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have."—Minerva McGonagall to Neville Longbottom. Professor, you rock.
• In Half-Blood Prince, after Harry saves Ron from being poisoned and the Weasleys are huddled around his (Ron's) sickbed, Mrs. Weasley remembers every time Harry has saved one of them and we get this golden line from Mr. Weasley:

"It was a very lucky day for the Weasley family when Ron decided to sit in your compartment in The Hogwarts Express that day."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

• When confronted with the possibility of owning the Elder Wand in Deathly Hallows, Harry instead repairs his own wand, which Hermione broke. Awww.
  • Especially heartwarming because Harry has essentially accepted Ollivander's assertions that a wand is sort of like a person, with feelings. To him, his old wand is like a brother or an old friend.
• In the epilogue of the final book, after spending 99% of the series hating Snape's guts, Harry names one of his children after him, even calling Snape "the bravest man I ever knew".
• These lines from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows:

But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here...

• And again, in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, after the Final Battle, when he saw Dumbledore's portrait...

But Harry had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster's chair. Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and gratitude emanating from him filled Harry with the same balm as phoenix song.

• • Reduces this troper to tears every time she reads it.
• The Graveyard scene in Deathly Hallows. After searching for a while, Hermione finds Harry's parents' grave. After seeing it, she calls Harry. Harry, seeing the grave, starts wishing for some flowers. Hermione, as if reading his mind, conjures flowers, and gives them to Harry so that he can put them on the grave. After that, Harry starts crying, and the book describes the tears falling on the snow and melting. Leaving the graveyard, Harry puts an arm around Hermione's waist and she wraps her arm around Harry's shoulder.

"Merry Christmas, Harry."

• • Also, Harry, at the start of the book, tells both Ron and Hermione that they shouldn't come with him. He says they'd be outcasts and hated, and tells them the trouble of going with him, that he isn't worth it, and that they could be killed. Hermione and Ron explain that: Hermione removed her parents' memories of her and sent them to Australia, so that if she dies they won't know, won't care, and will live happily without her; and Ron was tricking everyone (but his family) into thinking he had Dragon Pox, and they will stand with Harry, no matter what.
  • At the end of The Half-Blood Prince, Harry breaks up with Ginny because he knows that she'd be in constant danger otherwise. He intends to do essentially the same with Ron and Hermione, but:

Ron: We'll be with you, Harry. At your aunt and uncle's. And then we'll go with you.
Hermione: You said to us once before that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?
Ron: We're with you, whatever happens.

• Harry's kisses with Ginny. All of them.
  • Even more so Ron's kiss with Hermione.
• When at the end of book 7, Harry has to cast a Patronus. What does he think? About Ron and Hermione.
• In Deathly Hallows, Harry, on the run from Death Eaters and the Ministry of Magic, visits the house where his parents died, which still stood as a memorial to them. On the sign commemorating his parents, visitors had written graffiti, the latest of which are all messages of support for Harry in his struggle against Voldemort. The reminder that Harry is not as alone as he seems is a very nice moment in what is otherwise perhaps the darkest part of the entire series.
• In The Deathly Hallows, Snape's Pensieved memories of Lily Potter.
  • The significance of the doe Patronus was a biggie. It is an awe-inspiring moment when Harry sees it in the woods and senses a connection to it. No one would have thought in a million years that Snape was capable of making a Patronus or that his Patronus would be the very one that was once Lily Potter's. And Dumbledore's shock that after all those years, Snape's love for Lily did not die and remained the driving force behind protecting Harry...
  • All captured perfectly in the most simple of lines.

Dumbledore: After all this time, Severus?
Snape: Always.

• Ron, the person who has spent years mocking S.P.E.W., being the one to think of the House Elves' safety.
• Augusta, Neville's grandmother, gets one in Hallows when she says she's proud of Neville, for what's probably the first time in the series.
  • Solidifying the above is a moment at the end when it describes Neville, one of the most picked-on, maligned, laughed-at kids in the school, as being 'surrounded by a knot of fervent admirers'. And he earned it by being a total Badass.
• The names of Harry and Ginny's children, and the fact that Teddy has obviously been well cared for and loved by his godparents after both his parents died when he was less than three months old. So it's cheesy; so it's cliche; it's still lovely to know that things turn out for the better after all.
  • And discovering that Harry had given his son the middle name of Severus took my breath away.
  • Throughout the series, the Slytherin House was always filled with evil, horrible people who all became dark wizards, with few exceptions to the rule. In the epilogue, Young Albus wangsts about being put into Slytherin, and Harry assures him that there is nothing wrong with that house, that it is just as good as any other. It seemed, finally, after years of hearing only the worst parts of Slytherin, Harry (and JKR as well) pointed out that one house of people may not be solely bad or good, but then completely ruins it by basically telling the whiny little brat to just choose Gryffindor.
  • Not really; Harry told Albus that if he truly had a problem being sorted into Slytherin, the Sorting Hat would take his choice into account. It was a call-back to the first book.
  • On that same note about their naming, although lesser in terms of sheer dramatic impact; as a huge fan of Luna (she became my favorite character in the books upon her introduction)... there was just something oddly and simply heartwarming about her getting their daughter's middle name. Out of all the friends they had made, all of whom fought together and bled together, most of whom they had known for longer; it was Luna's they chose to pass onto their kid. A simple statement, but very, truly heartwarming nonetheless.
• When Ron comes back in Deathly Hallows:

Harry: You've sort of made up for it tonight. Getting the sword. Finishing off the Horcrux. Saving my life.
Ron: That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was.
Harry: Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was. I've been trying to tell you that for years.

• • The thought that Dumbledore gave Ron the Deluminator so he could always return to his friends is heartwarming in itself.

Ron: He'd known I'd leave, didn't he?
Harry: No, he knew you'd come back.

• In Deathly Hallows, when Harry speaks to his mother, father, Lupin, and Sirius about dying, right before he believes he is about to die.

Harry: Does it hurt?
Sirius: Dying? Not at all. Quicker and easier than falling asleep.

• • And then right after that: "Harry looked at his mother. 'Stay close to me.'" had me in tears.
• Luna Lovegood during the battle of Hogwarts:

Luna: "That's right. That's right, Harry... come on think of something happy..."
Harry: "Something happy?"
Luna: "We're all still here. We're still fighting. Come on, now..."

• • Also, in Deathly Hallows, Harry and the others go to her room at home and see their faces on the wall with the word "Friends"; it makes you want to cry. Here, for maybe the first time in her life, she has real friends.
    • What makes her mural especially beautiful is that although it isn't created with sorcery, Harry recognizes that there's "something magical" about it nonetheless.
  • After the Battle of Hogwarts, a crowd gathers around Harry, and Luna is refreshingly considerate of Harry's exhaustion. After everything that Harry went through, it was nice to read that someone was thinking of him.

Luna: I'd want some peace and quiet, if it were me.
Harry: I'd love some.
Luna: Use your cloak. *points out the window* Oooh, look! A Blibbering Humdinger!

• Deathly Hallows: Dudley, after years either making his cousin's life hell or being scared of him, thanks Harry for saving his life, thus proving himself more mature than both of his parents. The Word of God that Harry and Dudley keep in touch after the series ends makes it even better.
• Deathly Hallows - The Will of Albus Dumbledore: Molly gives Harry his traditional 17th Birthday present: a unique, gold watch. And Harry gets up and hugs her.
  • What makes the watch better isn't just that it's his 17th birthday watch, it's the fact that it belonged to her brother Fabian. She was effectively giving Harry a Weasley hand-me-down, as if to say "you're not just as good as family, you are family."
  • Made even better again considering an obscure line in Philosopher's Stone, when Harry is locked in the cupboard (after the zoo incident, I think) and he considers sneaking into the kitchen for food, but doesn't know if it's late enough that the Dursleys will be asleep. He stays put, wishing he had a watch. Think about that—if he had a watch, he also wouldn't be living with the Dursleys or sleeping under a staircase, he'd be with a family that loves him. Six freakin' books later, JK gives us the payoff for that microscopic scene: he has his watch and a family that truly loves him along with it. Yeah, I think there were a lot of unsaid things in that hug after all.
  • Fabian and Gideon, Molly's brothers, were killed by Death Eaters. She gave Harry one of the few mementos of her brother that she still had. Considering that their deaths are probably a major reason why she was so overprotective...
• Near the end of Deathly Hallows, when Harry and Dumbledore talk and Harry tells Dumbledore about Grindelwald protecting his grave.

"Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends... to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow..."
"...or maybe from breaking into your tomb?" suggested Harry, and Dumbledore dabbed his eyes.

• "Here lies Dobby, a free elf."
• As much as people may not like to admit it, even the Malfoys get one of these in Book 7. It's ridiculously obvious that both Lucius and Narcissa are way over their Fantastic Racism tendencies and just want to go back to a normal life. Narcissa, the mildest member of the family, is understandably terrified not only for own life, but also for her husband, and is blatantly sickened at the scarring Voldemort is inflicting on her son by making him party/privy to acts of torture and murder.
  • Draco is revealed to have some humanity when he is stricken by Crabbe's death, despite the fact that Crabbe was willing to kill him along with Harry at one point. All of this builds up to the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming when Narcissa checks Harry's "corpse", realizes he's alive, and totally escapes the Moral Event Horizon by asking him if Draco is in the castle (i.e. is he okay/alive). Lucius joins her in doing this when he and wife more or less refuse to care about any more bloodshed and simply look for their son. Later, once it was all over, all three sit down like shellshocked war refugees and consider themselves lucky they have each other.
  • The fact that Narcissa actually managed to lie to Voldemort, who was renowned as a master of Legilimency, earns her a Crowning Moment of Awesome as well. That's right, snake-boy, you better not mess with the mother protecting her child. (That's actually TWICE that he tried and TWICE that he got PWNED.)
  • The end of the line describing the last battle, where it says "...and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son," is a sure tear-up moment.
  • During the fire in the Room of Requirement, Draco also shows some humanity by attempting to drag an unconscious Goyle to safety instead of abandoning him to save his own skin.
  • It gets even better in the epilogue when Harry and his friends bear Draco no true lasting hatred.
• "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!"
• Snape's last words, "Look at me"—wanting to see Lily's eyes again before he died.
  • The film adaptation doesn't stop there. "You have your mother's eyes..."
• When Percy comes back at the end of Deathly Hallows, and that entire reunion scene.
  • Especially the moment between him and Mr. Weasley when Percy simply looks at him sadly and says 'Dad, I'm sorry.' It's just a small, quiet, but incredibly heartwarming father-son moment.
  • And the fact that out of all the people there, the one who reacted the worst to Fred's death was Percy. It just showed that he really did love his brothers, despite all the differences between them. Just the idea of him clinging to Fred's body made me sob like a baby. And that he was the one who wouldn't let go! Percy needs a hug!
• "He spat at you."
  • It's a testament to the quality of Rowling's characters that every reader who knew Harry and McGonagall could instantly feel why Harry performed the Cruciatus curse just for that - no descriptions of his anger were necessary.
  • Just the sheer love for the teachers and Hogwarts, and the hate for Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
• "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."
• Harry's return to Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows.
• No love for Kreacher? He's involved in two in Deathly Hallows. For as sad as his backstory with Regulus Black was, it's Harry's first act of genuine kindness towards him (and Kreacher's reaction to receiving his former beloved master's locket) proving Dumbledore's words that provoked more tears. Not only was Kreacher so moved that he stayed to help Harry despite technically being free, but he even gets his own Crowning Moment of Awesome by leading the Hogwarts house elves in counterattack against the Death Eaters... in Harry's name.

Kreacher: Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!

• All of Potterwatch. The whole thing. In a time of fear and chaos, a few brave people risk their lives to give hope to everyone via a regular radio broadcast. It's especially a Crowning Moment when they say that, if Harry is listening, they're all rooting for him.
• When Lupin travels to Shell Cottage to deliver the news of the birth of his son, and immediately seizes Harry in an embrace and asks him to be godfather, their previous argument forgotten.
  • The line "Lupin, who appeared dazed by his own happiness." It doesn't matter if you ship Lupin/Tonks, Lupin/Sirius, Lupin/Snape, Lupin/Hermione, or Lupin/Whomping Willow—you teared up at that line.
• Another gem from Deathly Hallows, Dudley says goodbye to Harry; it's not much, but considering their history...

I don't think you're a waste of space... You saved my life.

• • Made all the more heartwarming when you find out that Dudley and Harry kept in touch in the future.
• During the Battle of Hogwarts, after Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange (do we actually need spoilers?) Voldemort attempts to kill her, but Harry protects her and reveals himself. Why is that important? Because Harry has, for most of his life, lost many loved ones and mentors, several times right in front of him, and with him unable to do anything. His parents, James and Lily? Dead when he was one. His godfather Sirius? Fell through the Veil of Death and a few meters from Harry, who later realised he could have prevented it. Dumbledore? He has been immobilized by Dumbledore and can only watch as Snape kills him (of course, it was a Mercy Kill, but still...). Alastor Moody? Dead at Voldemort's hand, while he tried to distract him from finding Harry. Remus Lupin, his last connection to his parents? Killed by Dolohov while he looked for Voldemort's last Horcrux? Nymphadora Tonks, Remus' wife? Killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in the same circumstances as Remus. Fred Weasley? Killed by Augustus Rookwood just a few minutes after Percy appeared and reconciled with his family. Severus Snape, who had been protecting him out of love towards Lily Potter? Killed by Voldemort, right in front of his eyes. Molly Weasley is probably one of the few adults with whom he still has a connection based in love, she has been his sort of adoptive mother ever since they met, they love each other like mother and son... and finally, finally, Harry can do something to prevent someone from being killed, and Harry eventually manages to do what he hasn't been able to do for nearly seventeen years.
• Just the very nature of the relationship between Regulus Black and Kreacher.
• It's a small one, but when you discover that Rufus Scrimgeour died to protect Harry, you realise that even the ultimately dislikable characters can be amongst some of the bravest.

Unsorted

• Two Harry-Dumbledore moments that positively ache occur in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows:

"I am not worried, Harry. I am with you."
"Of course this is all in your head, Harry, but why on Earth should that mean it isn't real?"

• Two words: Alice Longbottom.
  • Just to expand this, Alice and her husband were tortured to madness so the Death Eaters would know where Voldemort was hiding. In Order of the Phoenix, the gang visit St. Mungo's Hospital after Ron's dad Arthur is bitten by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. Inside, they come in a room where they meet Neville (who did not come with them) and his grandmother. They meet Neville's parents, (whose minds are damaged beyond repair), and Alice, Neville's mother, gives her son a candy wrapper, meaning that after all these years and despite her madness, she still remembers her son and still loves him.
    • Furthered when Neville's grandmother tells him to throw the candy wrapper away ("She must have given you enough to paper your bedroom with,"), but Harry catches Neville slipping the wrapper in his pocket.
• Snape's worst memory is his falling out with his best friend. Nothing in all 38 years of his life was as bad as that to him.
  • Not just his best friend, the girl he had been in love with from childhood. Think about it - up until that point, Snape stood as much a chance as James did of ending up with Lily, if not a better chance. That would be anyone's worst memory, I think.
• Going back to the first book, there's the beginning of Harry and Ron's friendship with Hermione, when they go back to save her and she winds up lying to protect them. It's really all summed up with the classic line, "There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
• One of the best things in the series is the friendship of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I can't really think of any moments involving Hermione that haven't been mentioned, but there's two with Harry and Ron that make me "aww" every time. The first is in The Goblet of Fire, right after Harry wins the first task. Ron and Harry have been fighting, but Ron comes back after this, and immediately starts complaining that Harry should have gotten more points for fighting the dragon. Harry thinks to himself that Ron's friendship is worth all the points in the world. The second is in The Deathly Hallows when Ron returns after running off, telling the story of how the Deluminator led him back. He says, "I guess Dumbledore always knew I'd leave." Harry says, "No, he knew you'd always want to come back."
• To finish off the series, Jo writes in her dedication: "...and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end." A touching nod to all the HP fans—many of whom did start the series as children right around Harry's age and finished it as adults. Personally, as eager as I was to dive headfirst into the final book, that little acknowledgment gave me pause to reflect that after all this time it really was the end, guys!