(1)Remus John Lupin
(9)Firenze
Firenze is kinda cool, but Lupin is a lot more important. Being the first decent DADA teacher, turning out to be one of the Marauders and a friend of Harry's parents, and becoming a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he was pretty cool. I felt like he was pretty underused in later books sadly, and the relationship with Tonks pretty much came out of nowhere, I wish we'd seen more of him. But he was pretty cool when he was on screen, and one of the highlights of book 3.
(5)Arthur Weasley
(4)Dudley Dursley
I like Arthur. Meanwhile Dudley is an ass for most of the series. So why would I vote for Dudley? Well, I like his redemption storyline. It's not overly developed, but she (Rowling) gives us just enough to see that Dudley may turn out to be a decent guy. For the first four+ books he's basically a bully and a spoiled brat. We hate him and we laugh at him whenever he gets his comeuppance (like with the ton-tongue taffy). We don't really question it.
But in book 5, things start to change when Harry saves Dudley from a dementor. At first, Dudley seems to be his usual obnoxious self with blaming Harry and trying to get him in trouble. But it seems like it made him start to think. For the next two years he stops harassing Harry and leaves him alone. And finally when the Dursleys are saying goodbye to Harry for the last time, he shows some concern for Harry (which requires him to stand his ground, marginally, against his parents) and admits that Harry saved his life. Ultimately, Dudley was a jerk as a kid. But lots of people are jerks when they're kids, and look at who his parents are. I can forgive him for that, in a way I'll never forgive Snape for bullying kids as an adult. Dudley's half-assed apology is the best redemption story in the series.
Harry and Dudley are never going to become close. But, it's nice to think Harry will have one relative who came to respect him. And if he hadn't had Harry around as an example, maybe Dudley would have grown up to be just like his parents. Sometime down the road I hope Harry and Dudley go to a pub together, get smashed, and laugh about how awful Vernon and Petunia are.
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I made a living on time trial blowing myself off to cross the finish line at ludicrous speed. -transience