Most Shocking Moment in the Series

[occlumency713]

The death of Fred Weasley... although some argue it was forshadowed when George lost his ear, I never expected somebody like Fred to be lost; he was such an asset to the plot.

Also the "waste of space" comment was utterl brilliant, I was so proud of Dudley.

[Durmstrang_Swag]

Sirius dying
Pettigrew being the one to betray James & Lily
Barty Crouch Jr being Moody
Fudge and the Ministry turning on DD
And I was suprised and I hated Molly killing Bella, the worst way for Bella to die, I can't explain enough how I hate that bit.

[ArtyFishal]

There are just so many I will inevitably end up coming back and editing this post, but for now a shocking moment for me was in POA, when the fat lady was attacked, and she tells them all Sirius Black did it. Then they all panic, at the time I thought that was extremely shocking.

[mrsmalfoy96]

The most shocking moments in the series was the deaths of Sirius, Dobby, and Fred. When Fred died I honestly could've believe what I was reading. I was in shock for a couple of days. I still can't believe till this day!

[AccioSeverus]

SS:

- Voldemort telling Harry that Lily needn't have died, he only wanted to kill him.

COS:

- Harry being a Parselmouth.
- Tom Riddle being Voldy.

POA:

- Peter being the one to betray the Potter's. And Sirius being innocent.
- The fact that James saved Snape's life.
- Lupin being a Werewolf.

GOF:

- Voldemort returning
- Cedric's death

OOTP:

- Voldemort 'possessing' Harry. The scene where Harry listens with the Extendable Ears.
- Snape's Worst Memory.
- Sirius's death.
- Harry throwing a tantrum in DD's office.

HBP:

- Snape being appointed the DADA position.
- Snape being the one to give the prophecy to Voldemort.
- Snape apparently killing Dumbledore.

DH:

- Hedwig dying. Honestly, Jo.. the bloody bird! T__T
- Dobby and Fred's death. ;__;
- Snape being killed by Voldemort for something so simple as the Elder Wand's allegiance.. was truly appalled.
- Dumbledore setting Harry up. I think that shocked me more than it did Snape.
- Molly killing Bellatrix.
- Harry being the Master of the Elder Wand.

[Dobby138]

Some shocking moments for me:
-Dumbledore's Death
-Snape's Death
-Fred's Death
-The truth about Snape
-The truth about Barty Crouch Jr.
-Cedric's Death
-Dobby's Death
-Lots of other moments in DH

[pandapuff]

1. Dumbledore's death (I remember how shocked I was and actually I still am )
2. The truth about Snape at the end of DH
3. Sirius' death
4. Sirius being Harry's godfather

[ItsOnlyMe]

I definitely think that the most shocking thing for me was the Snape loves Lily revelation in DH. It totaly blew me away. To this day it's my favorite twist in any book I've ever read. It just... it makes so much sense. I was one of those people that constantly went back and forth on how I felt about Snape, and I figued we would learn why Dumbledore trusted him so much in DH but because he loved Lily... that was just pure genius in my mind. It took me completely by surprise and I loved it.

[lucky charms]

I, too, was among those who finally gave up my insistence that 'SNAPE IS GOOD!' after Dumbledore's death. Later, I read in Emerson's book the theory that Snape was in love with Lily, which took me to the MuggleNet forums where I learned about all the arguments in favor of him being good. After that, I believed again that Snape was good, but I thought the theory about being in love with Lily too far-fetched and unsupported by canon. It was a big shock to me when I found out this theory was right! Much respect to those who were able to come up with that

My other greatest shocks were:

Sirius dying - I was seriously waiting for Jo to 'take it back' all the way until the end of the book.

Dumbledore dying - Again, I thought he couldn't really be dead. I thought Harry wouldn't stand a chance without him. (Although I was able to accept Sirius' and DD's deaths once the books were finished, and never thought they'd come back in later books.)

Dobby dying - He was so innocent! Definitely my biggest tearjerker moment in DH.

Sirius is good, Lupin was helping him, Pettigrew was alive/evil/living as Ron's Rat! - Probably the best end-of-book twist ever, followed by...

Snape was the Half-Blood Prince - Both for the fact that he was the owner of the book, and for the fact that he wasn't a pureblood.

Draco stomping Harry's face and leaving him on the Hogwarts train - Who knew even Draco could go so low? I thought there was no way Harry would be found for sure.

Pretty much every time an Unforgivable Curse was used - By Moody on the spider, by Umbridge, the attempted Cruciatus Curse by Harry on Bellatrix, and especially the Imperius Curse by Harry at Gringott's.

The Death Eaters showing up on Tottenham Court Road - It was really unexpected; I was sure the trio were safe there.

[GryffindorZach]

A few shocking moments were Dumbledore's death. I always thought that he would be invincible and not die. Also after reading book six I was shocked that Snape turned ot to betray Dumbledore, however the good news is in book seven he was good all along.

[VickyLynnPotter]

Well, the whole almost everybody dying thing in the last book kind of shocked me, you know, Hedwig, Tonks and Lupin, Dobby-*sob*, Moody, and one of the twins... It's just shocking and sad, really.

[PrezLeefun]

When Wormtail cuts off his own hand and then cuts Harry. Everything about that chapter is just evil and shocking... frankly I was just stunned and very upset after reading it.


Ron leaving Harry and Hermione in DH. I didn't think it would come to that and I was devastated.... I had to cry it out before I could go forth reading.

Dumbledore's death... that Snape did it mostly. I was having a bit of a crisis because for the first time I questioned Snape's loyalty. I always thought he was a good guy and it took about two weeks after reading HBP for me to go back to being sure that Snape was good... I decided to trust my gut, and I was right.

I was of course upset that Dumbledore died, I was kind of in denial about it. I had to read his funeral with a box of tissues.

Peter living as a rat 100% of the time for 12 years. I mean wow. How does one stop being a man and start being a rat?

The horcrux was a fake. I mean how disappointing was that. All that trouble, Hogwarts infiltrated, and
Dumbledore dead for a fake horcrux!


Dobby. I didn't realize how attached I was to him until he died.
And Fred. Indeed the world had ended. He was my second favorite Weasley.

[PeverellWand]

I have to say, I didn't read the series utill all the books had come out and my family had basically spoiled the whole series for me (Dumbledore's death, Harry survives, Harry's the master of the Elder Wand, Harry marries Ginny, Harry was protected by his mother's love... I knew a lot before I read the series). However, I was shocked to find out that Sirius Black was good and that Peter Pettigrew had spent 12 years living as Ron's rat, but I found it out when I was telling my parents that I was reading the part of POA where they meet Sirius Black and my mom says "Have you found out that he's good yet?" totally ruined it for me. It was still good to read though.

Other shocking thing for me was Harry's use of Crucio at the end of DH. I thought that he would never be able to cast that curse because he had failed in both OoTP and HBP. It seemed so unjustified that he would crucio Carrow just for spitting on McGonagall. I was really dissappointed at that.

[Potter_fan]

I would kill my mother for ruining any part of Harry Potter lol

[Honeyduke]

the end culmination in the POA was intense. the scene when Wormtail transforms back into a human, Sirius Lupin and JAmes all best buds and wormtails betrayal, yada yada...

but i gotta say that one of the more shocking moments for me was Harry's first detention with Unmbridge. the "i must not tell lies" being carved onto the back of his hand... so intense.

[Knightskykyte]

The thing that shocked me the most out of the entire series was the description of those disgusting things that Sirius and James did to Snape in SWM. That kind of gang behaviour... to utterly humiliate a person... to take complete control of a person, in an intimidating group when the person is alone and rendered helpless, especially in public... and then threatening the person about taking off their underwear after having revealed said underwear...and actually ENJOYING the whole thing from the start... felt to me like I was watching someone being raped, or just about to be. I can easily imagine that kind of nightmare beginning exactly the same way... that Severus is male makes no difference to me, those acts done to him were shocking, I can't even bring myself to quote the relevant passages.

[taliell]

I would say for me, the most shockings were in POA when we find out Ron's rat it wormtail and sirius black is in fact good. Another shocking moment for me was in DH the chaper "The Prince's Tale". I was NOT expecting that at all. There were a bunch of things that shocked me.
PS- this is my first post on this board & i am really excited!!

[MsBinns]

To risk sounding repetitive, every death in the series (except for Dumbledore for some reason) shocked me. Cedric's death was just so abrupt and they just moved on from it so quickly that you almost "forgot" about poor Cedric 'cos you were so caught up in what was happening to Harry. I found that really shocking. Sirius' death was shocking. I thought he was going to be around until the end! I kept turning the pages and waiting for some big reveal that he wasn't dead. I actually had to go back and reread his death before continuing with the story. Hedwig's death was pretty shocking. I just couldn't believe Jo would go for Harry's beloved pet.

The Dursleys provided some shocking moments throughout the series. "Remember my last, Petunia!" had my head spinning for a long time speculating about what it meant.

Dudley's handshake was shocking in a completely awesome way. I never expected I would like Big D by the end of the movie. Makes me wonder if he and Harry ever reunited...

Ron leaving was pretty shocking, though you could see his anger, resentment and jealousy building for a while. I just couldn't believe our trio were split up for as long as they were. The line where Harry looks at Ron and "something broke between them" made me so depressed. I love the friendship of the trio so much that reading chapters were they were all isolated made me so depressed. Their friendship, which to me is the core of the story, was shattered and it was really shocking to me that it was broken for so long in the final book.

I'm sure there are more shocking moments that I could think of, but my lunch break is running out and those are the first that come to mind!

[SiriusBlackX]

Originally Posted by Demonikka

^ Discussing the infiri (sp?) in DADA...

Sirius' death (I mourned his death for two weeks!)
The graphic detail of DD's death
Afterwards finding out DD was gay
Scabbers actually being peter
Dobby's death
Mrs. Figg being a squib
The Aunt Marge 'incident'
Molly Weasley swearing and killing Bellatrix
Hermione hitting Draco

1. You're lucky. I watched it like when it first came out, and whenever I think about I'm like.... OMG SIRIUS Waaaaaa.

2. Wow, I know. I didn't read/watch it to find out, I saw it on Youtube Video: "Harry Potter stars reacts to Dumbledore's gay twist". I'm sure Michael Gambon wasn't thrilled to hear it either!

3. Wow... Just... Wow. I couldn't believe Dobby died. I'd always thought that Kreacher would perhaps turn to the good side and help Harry and die for it, but Dobby? No way!

[Shaun_MT]

There is a bit in Goblet of Fire when the Death Eaters are for all intents and purposes torturing the Muggle family that own the campsite where the Quidditch world cup is taking place. I remember that the family have been hoisted into the air, thrown painfully about and the mother's undergarments are exposed. All the while a crowd of people actually find it funny.

When I re-read GoF this caught me completely by surprise. I don't know how but I must have missed it when I first read it.

It was shocking plotwise but it was a shock to read something so disturbing in a children's book, which Harry Potter was still considered at that point. Obviously after GoF everybody realised the first books weren't children's books either, they were a part of a bildungsroman. But I read it when I was 10 and to me it was still a children's book and whenever I read GoF now, I still get that shock and repulsion from that moment.