A common theme throughout the Harry Potter books and movies would undoubtedly be friendship and family. You simply cannot have one without the other. But what I enjoyed about the Harry Potter series is that these themes are not so cookie cutter. Every friendship and bond formed is not equal and it especially is not all peaches and cream. The friendships made in the series show an array of emotions. For example out dynamic trio Harry, Ron, and Hermione have their moments when they have disagreements and actual fights that drag could drag on for days. It was actually these moments that I found the books even more interesting.
The characters were not flat, they showed realistic emotions and acted like real friends were people don’t agree all the time but they still have each other’s back. This love and loyalty was admirable and made me feel at ease when things would get rough. Because I knew that despite them fighting at the moment that when the moment finally came they would put it aside and unity. The trio was not the only friendship in the series. We the readers were given glimpses’ of different relationships from the past before Harry’s birth to the present in which the readers are reading.
With these friendships that develop while the students are at Hogwarts they don’t simply end once school is over. These friendships become very close like family. The lines are blurred in a good way, these family like friendships help guide our heroes through their journey. Especially for the characters who might have actual blood relatives that are in the magical world. Our prime example would be Harry who has his aunt and uncle the Dursley’s but his blood relatives are far from family like. But once he in enrolled at Hogwarts he is engulfed in this other world where he meets people who will soon become his new family. He has his two best friends Ron and Hermione which become more like siblings as he goes through his school years. Along with his two friends he has the entire Weasley family almost adopt Harry into their home and lives. Educating him on how to navigate the wizardly world and just providing emotional support when he needs it. Harry also gains fatherly figures through the males he encounters throughout his journey to defeat Voldemort. One adult figure would be Sirius Black who Harry grows especially fond of during and after the Book Prisoner of Azkaban.
Sirius almost becomes a fatherly figure to him and actually provides a definition of family that I think is the epitome of family in Harry Potter. In Prisoner of Azkaban he defines family as “people that you sacrifice and even die for, knowing they would do the same for you”. This statement summarizes the overall tone and weight of family which J.K. Rowling made sure her audience understood throughout every book in Harry Potter. Friendships and the family you have and make will be anyone’s compass no matter the situation.