James Potter

**James Potter**  is a character in the *Harry Potter book series*. James is the father of Harry Potter and the husband of Lily Potter. He fights in the First Wizarding War for the Order of the Phoenix. He is killed by Voldemort trying to protect Lily and their son.

## Biography

### Early life

James was born to Mr Potter and Mrs Potter in March 1960. He was their only child because he was born later in their lives when they were elderly even by wizarding standards. He was treasured and indulged when he was growing up. A family heirloom, a Cloak of Invisibility, which belonged to their ancestor, Ignotus Peverell was passed down to James on an unknown date.

### Hogwarts years

In September 1971, James began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He befriended Sirius Black when they were on the train. Lily Evans and Severus Snape slso sat in their compartment but they started bullying Snape when they found out he wanted to be in Slytherin. James wanted to be in Gryffindor and he was Sorted into the House by the Sorting Hat. He and Sirius later befriended Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

James was a smart and popular student and talented at Quidditch. He was the Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Professor McGonagall considered James excellent. Even though he was popular, he loved breaking the school rules and pranking and bullying other students. James and Sirius developed a brotherly bond and used to go to the Three Broomsticks Inn where their antics tended to leave Rosmerta laughing.

When he found out in their second-year that Remus was a werewolf, he began the process of training to be an Animagus to support him during his transformations. He trained for three years until he was able to transform into a stag. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter spent a lot of time exploring the school and grounds and invented the Marauder's Map to help them get around unnoticed. James was given the nickname "Prongs".

James was arrogant to the point that "criticism bounced right off him". He hexed students for the fun of it, arrogantly ruffled his hair so it looked untidier than it actually was and took a Golden Snitch around with him. He had a crush on Lily Evans but she was immune to James's charms because she considered the bullying and arrogance very unattractive.

James and Sirius had continued bullying a Slytherin student, Severus Snape since their first-year. Lupin knew he should have stopped it but he felt too indebted to James and Sirius for giving him their friendship. James and Sirius tormented Snape for years, attacking and taunting him whenever they could and calling him "Snivellus". James thought Snape loved Lily and was annoyed with their friendship because he also had a crush on her. Snape developed an interest in the Dark Arts which James also didn't like.

In an Ordinary Wizarding Level examination, he wrote Lily's name on his paper in a love heart. When the examination was over, he saw that Sirius was bored so he decided to taunt and hex Snape for the fun of it. Snape was used to their taunting so he jumped up at the sound of their voices. He grabbed his wand but James used the Disarming Charm and Impedimenta on him first. They taunted Snape until Lily asked James to stop and he said he would if Lily agreed to go out with him. Lily told him she would not date him "even if it was a choice between [him] and the Giant Squid".

Snape broke free of the hex and started fighting back. James further humiliated Snape by hanging him upside-down and planned to strip him of his underwear. Lily begged James to stop and demanded he let Snape down. After she held her out at James, he gave up and let him down. However, he kept taunting him by calling him Snivellus and telling him he was lucky that Lily helped. Snape was very embarrased of her help because he didn't want her to fight for him. When he called her "a Mudblood" while telling stop helping, James demanded he say sorry to her. Lily told Snape that she wouldn't help anymore and their friendship was over. James told her he would never call her that but she told him he was also bad because he was an arrogant bully who sickened her. James turned back on Snape when she was gone.

James and his fellow Marauders continued to go to the Shrieking Shack in Animagus form to keep Lupin company. They started to get very confident that they could keep a werewolf in check. Lupin's mind turned into less of a beast in their company and because James and Sirius were large creatures, they felt they could stand up to a werewolf if needed. They let Lupin loose and started wandering around the school grounds and Hogsmeade instead of staying in the Shack. Lupin nearly got away a few times but they thought it very funny even though it was incredibly dangerous.

One evening, Snape saw Lupin being taken to the Whomping Willow and was curious to know why. Sirius started to get annoyed at how curious he was. He decided to tell Snape how to tap the knot in the tree to get into it. Snape entered the passageway to the Shrieking Shack, not knowing he was headed straight towards a werewolf and into danger. James found out and saved Snape's life by pulling him back. Snape thought James had intended to kill him too and just had cold feet. Snape found his debt to James hard to bear.

By their seventh-year, James had started to change and Lily changed her opinion of him. Both she and James were Head Boy and Head Girl. She finally agreed to date him.

In 1977, he and Sirius were pursued by Muggle police in a motorbike chase. It was intended to be fun but they were suddenly pursued by three people on broomsticks who were likely Death Eaters. James and Sirius raised the police car with their wands and caused their broomstick pursuers to crash into it. The police trapped them in a corner but they shocked the police by using their flying motorbike to escape.

### First Wizarding War

James graduated in June 1978 and at the age of 18, he married Lily Evans in a small service. Sirius was best man at the wedding. He, Lily and the other Marauders joined the Order of the Phoenix to combat Voldemort and the Death Eaters when the First Wizarding War was in full swing and Voldemort was at the height of power. James and Lily escaped Voldemort three times.

In 1979, Lily fell pregnant with their first child and they spent less time being actively involved in the First Wizarding War. James had lost both parents to a wizarding illness and inherited their fortune. He didn't need a job to support Lily and he was able use it to support Remus, who was unemployable because he was a werewolf.

### In hiding

In 1980, Harry was born and he and Lily held a Christening and chose Sirius to be godfather.

In 1981, Voldemort began searching for Harry afer he had heard a prophecy that he could one day have a power to defeat him. James and Lily had to go into hiding for Harry's safety and Dumbledore advised them to choose a Secret Keeper for a Fidelius Charm. They had to choose wisely because he suspected a person close to them to be a spy for Voldemort. Dumbledore offered to be their Secret Keeper but James declined.

James wanted Sirius to be their Secret Keeper. Sirius thought others could easily guess they would choose their closest friend, so instead suggested they use Peter. They suspected Lupin was the spy. He agreed and they had the Fidelius Charm put upon them. Peter was entrusted with knowing their hiding place in Godric's Hollow. However, they had put their trust in the wrong person. Peter was the spy and he told Voldemort their secret less than seven days later.

### Death

James was killed by Voldemort first when he got to Godric's Hollow. James was fighting Voldemort when he shouted for Lily to take Harry and run. He fought bravely but died shortly after. Lily was killed that same night but Harry lived because of her sacrifice.

The family were celebrated the next day in the wizarding world. Harry was taken by Rubeus Hagrid to be raised by Petunia. Petunia was unhappy because she didn't want to be involved with the wizarding world. She thought James was Lily's "good-for-nothing husband", and she and Vernon raised Harry to have no knowledge about the wizarding world. Petunia lied to Harry that Lily and James died in a car accident and he would only find out the truth on his eleventh birthday.
At one point before his death, he put the Cloak of Invisibility in the care of Dumbledore for safe-keeping. He kept it until he could give it to Harry ten years later.

## Appearance

James is tall and thin. He has untidy, black hair which stands up at the back. He has to wear glasses.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 16
2. ↑ The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Three
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 18
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 33
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 9
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 28
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 10
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 17
9. ↑ J.K. Rowling Bloomsbury Web Chat Transcript
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 29
11. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 20
12. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 17
13. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 14
14. ↑ The Harry Potter Prequel by J.K. Rowling
15. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 9
16. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 37
17. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 19
18. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 12
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 1
20. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 2
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 12