While the Harry Potter universe has many interesting and well-loved heroes, there are also some fascinating villains. Of course, some of these villains are evil through and through but others are more complex than that and aren’t always enemies to Harry or the other protagonists.
So, the range of “best” things on this list is rather wide. While some characters, like Voldemort, really don’t do anything good at all, others, like Snape, aren’t always villains, so they do make some rather good and moral choices. There are also some characters on this list who act more like antagonists for Harry than just straight-up villains.
10 Dudley Dursley: Worried about what would happen to Harry
While Dudley isn’t exactly a villain, he was one of the biggest bullies in the series and an enemy to Harry growing up. However, because he’s not evil, he’s a little lower on the list. Dudley might be a spoiled brat who was raised to not have good values by his parents, but he does grow to care about Harry more than his parents ever did.
He is even worried about what will happen to Harry when Harry sends the Dursleys away to protect them from Voldemort.
9 Rita Skeeter: Published truths about Dumbledore
While this might be a controversial pick given that Rita Skeeter’s journalistic ethics are completely lacking, there were some things about Dumbeldore that probably needed to be publicly known.
Dumbledore lied and manipulated to create an image of himself as a good person when he really had done some awful things in his youth especially as Grindelwald’s ally. Yes, Skeeter’s means aren’t justified, but she did many other worse things.
8 Professor Quirrell: Wasn’t the worst DADA professor
When it comes to Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, the bar is pretty low. Other than Lupin, who was actually a good teacher, most of the professors were actually evil or working with Voldemort.
However, Quirrel wasn’t the worst of them even though he did have Voldemort living on the back of his head. He was a mediocre professor, but he didn’t abuse students like Umbridge and wasn’t completely useless like Lockhart.
7 Barty Crouch Jr.: Taught Harry some useful spells
Barty Crouch Jr. is a horrible human being who did a lot of awful things, but no one knew who he really was for most of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He did a rather convincing job of impersonating Mad-Eye Moody, and at times, it did seem like he was really helping Harry.
He actually did teach him some useful defensive spells and how to fight the Unforgivable Curses, he just had horrible ulterior motives, and it was also unethical to use these curses on students even if Dumbledore allowed it.
6 Kreacher: Started to help the trio
Kreacher might have seemed like a villain at first because he was feeding information about Dumbledore’s Army to Bellatrix, but he was really more of a victim than anything else.
He was abused all of his life, and it’s no surprise he just wanted to help people who didn’t hurt him. However, when he was met with some kindness by the trio, he started to help them instead.
5 Narcissa Malfoy: Went to Snape to protect Draco
The Malfoys shouldn’t be excused for any of the disgusting things they did over the years. They were Death Eaters who were fine with the torture and murder of innocent people, and they only really started to not follow Voldemort when their own lives and security were at risk.
So, the most that can be said for Narcissa was that she did try to protect her own son from being killed by having Snape make an Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco.
4 Peter Pettigrew: Became an animagus
Peter Pettigrew is one of the most despicable characters in the series because of his cowardly ways and how he betrays the friends that looked out for him for years. But, he might not have been completely evil when he was young.
The best thing he did was when he learned to become an Animagus in order to help keep Lupin company while he was in his werewolf form. However, he then used this skill in the future for selfish and bad actions.
3 Voldemort: Took okay care of Nagini
It’s very difficult to find anything good that Voldemort did because he’s the most purely evil character, along with Umbridge, in the entire series. He has no compassion and was even cruel as a young child.
The only somewhat decent thing that can be said about him is he did seem to have some weird attachment to Nagini, but it’s not like he gave her the best life either.
2 Draco Malfoy: Didn’t reveal who Harry was to the Death Eaters
Draco wasn’t a complete villain, but he was one of Harry’s main enemies. He did become a Death Eater, too, and it’s up for debate as to how much he deserved to be redeemed.
However, one of the best things he does in the books is when he doesn’t reveal Harry’s identity to Bellatrix at Malfoy Manor and ends up saving Harry’s life because of this.
1 Severus Snape: Helped Harry get Gryffindor’s sword
Severus Snape is a character that Harry thought was a villain for years, but the truth is a lot more complicated. He was a villain who did many horrible things as a young adult, but he then left Voldemort and spent many years trying to help take him down.
However, he was still cruel to others, like his own students, and his reasons for leaving Voldemort weren’t exactly selfless. Still, one of the best things he ever did was to help Harry get the tools he needed to kill Voldemort.
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