Harry potter is a series created by J.

K Rowling where she takes us on a journey of a young boy

named Harry Potter whose parents (James and Lily Potter) died soon after he was born. They
were killed by Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who wanted to kill Harry potter but his mother
scarified her life for him giving harry a protective enchantment which rebounded the death
curse on Voldemort and marked his end, giving harry a lightning shaped scar and making him
the ‘boy who lived.’ The entire series is based on how harry grows up and discovers about
these hidden stories which ultimately leads to defeat the darkest wizard of all times – Lord
Voldemort. We shall now have glimpses of this young wizard and try to analyse his character.

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR’S STONE

Harry was left with his uncle and aunt after his family died. His uncle Vernon Dursley and aunt
Petunia Dursley treated him badly and used him like a personal servant. He used to live in the
‘cupboard under the staircase’. They never told him that his parents were wizards and that he
is also one of them. However, at the age of eleven he received his letter from the Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He eventually went with a wizard named Rubeus Hagrid
who later on became very close to him. This marks the beginning of Harry’s first year at
Hogwarts.

Encounter with the Troll

During the Halloween fest, professor Quirrell enters the dining hall informing headmaster
Dumbledore that a troll (a giant creature) has entered the grounds and is in the castle. All the
students are immediately asked to get back to their dormitories when harry and ron realise
that hermonie is not aware about this as she was not present there. they decide to go and get
her back safely to the Gryffindor common room by themselves. This was a knee-jerk reaction
from harry and Ron’s side without thinking about how bad the consequences can be. They find
her in the girl’s washroom along with the troll and even then instead of seeking help, they
decide to handle him by themselves. This is an error in decision-making which is the over-
confidence bias where an individual feels that he can handle the entire situation on his own
without any help. It also shows the displayed emotions that harry and Ron have for hermonie.
They consider her as their friend and their responsibility to save her from any sorts of danger.
When the teachers arrive they see harry ron and hermonie with the troll and are angry on
them because they could be in danger if they were not able to control him. Hermonie is
punished by deducting 10 points from her house which is a type of reinforcement to stop a
negative behaviour and ron and harry and given 5 points each which is a mark of positive
reinforcement to appreciate their attempt.
First Quidditch match
After the troll incident, harry faces his first quidditch match against slytherin. Harry was well
trained by Oliver Wood who was the captain of Gryffindor team. This marks the theory of
learning. Attention, Retention, motor reproduction and reinforcement. He learns how to play
quidditch. He pays attentions to what is being taught, he remembers how to play the games, he
repeats this thing several times and finally he strengthen his ability to play the game. To win
the game, the seeker needs to get hold of the golden snitch. Harry gets the golden snitch and
Gryffindor wins the first match. This also makes harry expand his zone of proximal
development because now he can increase the innermost zone of it which consists of things
people can do on their own. Looking at his command over the broomstick and his way of
playing his fellow mates were constantly giving him positive remarks and expressed their
expectations of him doing well him the game and knowing that his father was also a seeker
increased the expectations even more. These expectations also led him having a positive
outlook and winning the match. This is the Pygmalion effect. People’s expectations determine
your behaviour and actions.

Facing Voldemort for the first time

Harry, Ron and Hermonie knew that the three headed dog on the third floor was guiding
something which was not to be known by everyone. They were mistakenly told by
Hagrid that whatever the dog was guiding was strictly between Dumbledore and a guy
named Nicholas Flamel. The trio eventually found out that Flamel is the only known
maker of the Sorcerer’s stone which is a legendry substance with astonishing powers.
They somehow knew that someone was trying to steal it and thought it was Snape.
Since Snape had a different appearance and he was not as normal as all the other
teachers at school, he was suspected. This is called the ‘Halo Effect’ where you draw a
general impression about someone on the basis of a single characteristic. Since
Dumbledore was not in school at that time, they thought that they should do something
and protect the stone. One night they decided to sneak in and find out who the culprit
was. After a couple of difficulties and leaving his friends behind, Harry was finally able
to reach till the end hoping to see Snape stealing the stone but later on discovered that
it was professor Quirrell who was behind the stone. At the back of his turban, it was
Voldemort who was weak and living on Quirrell’s body and controlling him. Harry got
the sorcerer’s stone and Quirrell could not withstand Harry’s touch and so he died. Lord
Voldemort escaped.

This marks the end of Harry’s first year at Hogwarts and after a few warm celebrations, the kids
leave back to their houses for vacations.
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
The second year at Hogwarts begins when the trio meets in Diagon Alley to take their supplies
and leave for Hogwarts. Harry faces an unfortunate encounter with Professor
Lockhart who is very famous in the magical world. On their way back to
Hogwarts Ron and Harry are unable to get through the wall which leads to
Hogwarts express and so they fly the magical car which belonged to the
Weasley’s. The trio was however unaware that trouble awaits them at
Hogwarts.

Harry’s realisation and discovery of the Chamber of Secrets

Chamber of Secrets is a tunnel which was created by Salazar Slytherin who is one of the four
founders of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Salazar always
believed that only pure bloods i.e; people who truly belong to the wizard
families should be given admission at Hogwarts. This chamber according to
stories could be opened only by a true heir of Slytheirn. Professor Lockhart
joined as the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher and started a duelling
club where Harry realized that he was a parseltongue which means that he could
speak to snakes. When he realized that Salazar was also a parseltongue his fears
grew that he might be the heir of Slytherin. This can be associated with the
Johari Window which starts with things that one knows and does not know
about himself/herself. By realizing that Harry can speak to snakes he moved
from the fourth window which is the unknown self (things which I don’t know
and they don’t know) to the first window which is the Open Arena (things which
I know and they know). It soon became the talk of the town that Harry is the
reason behind all the incidents happening at Hogwarts.

Saving Ginny Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets

Students at Hogwarts were being petrified and everyone thought that somehow Harry was the
reason behind it. Soon it was known that Ginny weasley (Ron’s little sister) was
taken down to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron decide to go down in the
Chamber and save Ginny. They also take Professor Lockhart along with them.
Harry was self-determined and he knew that he can save Ginny. He was
motivated to go down and tackle the situation all by himself. Down in the
 chamber harry meets Tom Riddle and discovers that Tom Riddle is the actual
name of Lord Voldemort. What he saw in front of his eyes was a memory of
Riddle. He was the true heir of Slytherin. Tom called out the basilisk which was a
huge snake and was the monster of the Chamber. Harry knew that he is not
supposed to look directly in his eyes or else he would die. A few moments later
as the basilisk chased harry, Dumbledore’s phoenix approached and with his
claws blinded the basilisk making Harry’s task a bit easy. He then fought with
the giant basilisk and in the end killed him with the sword of Gryffindor which
presented itself to him in the hour of need proving him to be a true Gryffindor.
Tom was shocked to see the basilisk lifeless on the floor. This is also a sign of
harry proving that he has the ability to solve problems and also marks the
beginning of his journey to go on and kill Lord Voldemort. Harry then went
ahead to destroy the diary which was the reason behind all the attacks at
Hogwarts. By doing this, Harry also destroyed the first Horcrux which is
discovered in the later parts.

It was later known that it was Tom Riddle’s diary which had cursed Ginny and was making her
do all these things. This marks the end of Harry’s second year at Hogwarts and
the students board their train back to their homes for their vacations.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry is back to spent his vacation his only left family which is the Dursleys. He was all set for
his new year at Hogwarts and soon meets his friends Ron and Hermonie after an
unfortunate instance with the Dursleys. The trio then heads back to Hogwarts to
commence a new year of learning magic. However, nothing goes easy with Harry
as always.

Harry blows up his aunt

It was the night before Harry’s thirteenth birthday when Aunt Marge came to stay with the
Dursleys. While having dinner, she constantly spoke ill about Harry’s parents and
his upbringing. Harry could not take it anymore and he accidently blew up his
aunt. She went flying in the air with the Dursleys behind her. This was Harry’s
burn out which is an emotional outburst. It happens when a person can no
 longer control his anger and frustration. In such a situation he/she ends up doing
things which might otherwise not happen under normal circumstances. He did
not have his parents with him anymore and listening bad things about them
constantly brought him to the saturation point after which he could no longer
hear anything about them. Though blowing Aunt Marge was an accident, it was
a sign of his anger and a way to show that he will no longer listen to bad things
about his parents anymore.

The escaped prisoner ‘Sirius Black’

While on his way back to Hogwarts, Harry is told about Sirius Black who escaped from the
prison of Azkaban and that the dementors who guide the prison are looking for
Black everywhere. Arthur Weasley (Ron’s father) tells Harry that Black might try
to find and kill him. He is introduced as a loyal follower of Lord Voldemort. This
is the new threat which awaits Harry at Hogwarts. He is constantly being warned
and told to take care of himself because Black is on a hunt for Harry. This can be
related to the concept of Operant Conditioning where Harry’s behaviour was
being constantly modified according to the consequences which he might face in
the future. He was warned so that he behaves in a certain way and keeps
trouble at a distance from him.

Harry is ready to face Sirius Black

Hogsmade is a small town near Hogwarts and Harry was eager to go and see that place. During
their Christmas break, harry goes to Hogsmade in his invisibility cloak where he
finds some people talking about Black. He follows them and finds out that it was
Black who betrayed his parents and told Voldemort where they were hiding. He
was the reason why Harry is an orphan right now. Hearing this, he was taken a
back and he stepped out from that shop. Harry told Ron and Hermonie what he
heard and says that now when Black finds him he will be ready to face him. He
wants to kill Black. Here, Harry is emotionally driven at this point. All he knows is
that Black was the reason why his parents died and he wants to face him. He is
high on emotions and ignores all the danger which accompanies his encounter
with Black.

Final encounter in the Shrieking Shack

Harry finally meets Sirius Black in the Shrieking shack while chasing Ron’s rat named Scabbers.
As harry talks to Black professor Lupin appears and both of them try to explain
Harry that is was not Black but Peter Pettigrew who told Voldemort where his
parents were hiding. Harry at this point refused to listen and believe them for
Peter is known to be dead. Black tells harry that Ron’s rat is Peter and that he is
still alive. Harry still cannot believe Sirius. Harry is bounded by Anchoring Bias
which is an error in decision making which happens when you fixate yourself on
the initial information as a starting point and fail to adjust according to the
subsequent information. Here Harry is fixating himself on what he heard about
Black initially in Hogsmade. He is unable to change his mind about things even
after Sirius telling him the truth. He refuses to believe every word that Lupin and
Sirius tell him. It is only when the rat turns itself into Peter Pettigrew the truth
reveals itself. Harry now knows what exactly happened and decided to save
Sirius from the dementors. He along with hermonie take the help of the time
turner and save Sirius allowing him to escape and free himself. Sirius tells Harry
that he is his godfather and one day would love to stay with him. Harry feels a
sense of belonging and reunites with a family member. He no longer feels alone.

Finally after the ups and downs faced by Harry and a thrilled experience of learning to tackle his
fear of dementors with the help of Professor Lupin, third year at Hogwarts
comes to an end and the students return to their homes.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire, the students begin their fourth year at Hogwarts when
Dumbledore announces about the Triwizard Tournament which will be held at
Hogwarts this year. This is a competition in the magical world where each school
sends one student to compete in a series of three tasks. However, students who
are below the age of seventeen years are not allowed to be a part of this
competition. Interested students are required to put their name in the Goblet
and decision will be taken. Once your name is called out by the Goblet you
cannot step back. To participate is mandatory. However, someone put Harry’s
name in the Goblet and he along with Cedric Diggory is chosen from Hogwarts to
compete in the tournament.