The problem with good, fun book series is that they are full of problems. Especially long book series that don't appear to have been thought out all the way through before the first book was published. Harry Potter is a good example. I have heard from several very indignant fans that Rowling had the whole series plotted out in her head before she wrote the first book, and that may be true. But there's more to writing a book or series than getting the plot put down.
In Harry Potter, there's a system of magic. There is a social structure, and a relationship between the magic world and the muggle world. There are schools, and magical towns and villages and hidden places in major cities, and a magical railroad. There are schools in other countries. There are sports, and newspapers, and competitions, and politics. I'm less certain that Rowling thought all these through prior to writing the first book, because she spends a lot of time in later books trying to prove that it all makes sense.
I really enjoyed reading these books, and I liked some of the movies a lot as well. But here are some things that I think would have made the series more interesting and nuanced without losing the key elements of the plot.
Hogwarts has four houses. Each house is full of students that exemplify certain characteristics, in the spirit of that house's founder. Gryffindor - brave and bold. Ravenclaw - Clever and curious. Hufflepuff - Kind and caring. Slytherin - Cunning and proud. And lots of other traits, I'm sure.
Between Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, you have four friends who could exemplify the best qualities of all four houses. What a rich source of material to mine for incidents and events over the course of 7 books! First of all, certainly friendship between the houses seems frowned upon - you want to fit in with your house and do things that wins that house points. So having four friends, one from each house, would create automatic tension for each person, as they deal with the conflict of fitting in with their house and maintaining friendships with the people they are drawn to.
By putting all four of these characters in the same house, it made it really easy to always want Gryffindor to win at everything. On top of that, in the first book Gryffindor does win at everything, after all the last minute points are awarded. Wow. Lame. As if winning the house cup means anything at all to the friends after defeating an incarnation of evil in the basement of the school. Oh, thanks Dumbledor, now members of all three houses can hate us.
Harry is worried at the start of the series that he will get put into Slytherin. He's worried because he doesn't like the kids he met who will probably be in Slytherin. Rowling has a series bias against Slytherin as a house, making it pretty much a training ground for evil wizards. They're all thugs, jerks, and sociopaths. What a great idea to put them all together in the same place. Implying, too, that people who are cunning or proud or interested in power are inherently evil and should be mistrusted and feared. All Slytherins are one-dimensional cariciatures, at least until the sixth book when Draco Malfoy starts to feel conflicted.
Dumbledor drops Harry off as a baby to be raised by his aunt and uncle, because having him grow up around other wizards would surely turn him into a pompous ass or something. But his aunt and uncle treat him like garbage and make him live under the stairs. I would think that most kids, living in that environment, would begin to develop some deep psychological pain, and anger toward those who they perceive as having power over them. He does lash out at times, and jokes about using his magic on his relatives if they give him grief. But he grew up living in a closet. That's like "A Child Called It" or something.
So I could easily see Harry being drawn to power initially. I could see him trying to be friends with Malfoy, a kid who has all the things Harry doesn't. I could see him looking down initially on kids who don't want the same things he wants. But then I could see Harry learning to appreciate these different kids and also losing his interest in Draco and other Slytherins as friends.
Ron is a Gryffindor - brave...ish. Not too bright. In Harry's shadow all the time, and in the shadow of his older brothers, it takes him a long time to find his feet. In Gryffindor, but without Harry there, he would be more likely, I think, to try the be like each of his older brothers at times. So, sometimes he'd rush in ready for anything, like his brother Charlie that works with dragons, but other times he'd try and play pranks like the twins, or get up on his high horse like Percy. In the end he'd just be himself - ready to do what's right, even if he isn't excited about how much it could hurt.
Hermione is a Ravenclaw, of course, the "cleverest witch or wizard of her age," and always interested in learning more. She prefers to use cleverness to solve problems, rather than confronting them head on, at least until the third book when she punches Malfoy. She wouldn't have to change anything to be a great Ravenclaw, and wrestle with feeling smarter than her pals all the time, as she struggles to set herself apart scholastically from other Ravenclaws, all of which would be smart, clever, and curious about everything.
Neville doesn't get much play in the early books, except as a comic relief type character. Later he is key in defeating the dark lord. He's a ringer for a Hufflepuff, as we can see in book four with his intense interest in Herbology. He struggles to stand up to his friends in book one, earning ten whole points for the house. His kindness and caring for others would be a great early way to help Harry temper his desire for power, choosing perhaps to be kind to Neville in return rather than cruel or uncaring. For example, when Malfoy steals Neville's Remembrall (sp?) and tosses it, after Neville breaks his arm.
Making this one change would be major, and would completely alter many aspects of the books. But I don't think it would affect the overall plot. In fact I think it would enhance it. Harry always struggles with the dark side - this would make that struggle more intense. It would also make it hard to vilify one house entirely, or praise another house entirely. Each house would have it's good and bad elements. Gryffindors rush to adventure, but they get other people hurt. Ravenclaws let their curiousity trump empathy, preferring to watch something happen rather than intervene. Hufflepuffs avoid conflict altogether and shut themselves away from the world. Slytherins can be bullies, but they can also be leaders.
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