The first name that comes to mind is of course, Harry Potter, the hero of the series. But isn’t he the most obvious choice? He is brave, loyal, resourceful, humble and has realized his destiny and slowly going towards it. My problem is, he is too good, and there is just no grey in his character, and he is the obvious choice, hence he is not the most interesting.

            Hermione – very clever, would have an IQ which will get her easily into the magical world’s equivalent of MENSA, thinks all the solutions to the world’s problems can be found in a library (and surprisingly, she does find sometimes!) and she can shame Freud with all her psycho-analysis! But she doesn’t have enough funny lines, and at times seems too bookish and theoretical.

            Ron – He strikes me as a typical ‘normal’ guy, has a decent sense of humor, very loyal to his friends, very helpful, and like all ‘normal’ guys doesn’t understand anything that goes on in a girl’s mind! Still, there is something missing for him to be the most interesting character in the series.

            With the main three characters eliminated, with all the bad guys like Snape and Voldermort not even in the contention (I don’t want to be those kind of psychos who like the villain of the piece better than the good ones!), with characters like Dumbledore and Hagrid (very well etched characters, I should say!) evoking a lot of respect and admiration, but not making the cut.

            That leaves the clowns of the series (the mischief mongers actually) in serious contention – Fred and George Weasley. It is pretty obvious from the way she describes their antics, that Rowling had as much fun writing about them as we have reading about them! Agreed, minor characters though they are, they always bring a smile to our faces both with their words and action! They are far from being Mr. Perfect, causing enough mayhem wherever they go, but not crossing to the dark side and so hovering somewhere in the grey area. And boy, are they interesting!

            The movies will always be below par as compared to the books, mainly because of these guys. Their characters remain the most under-developed in the movies, but not so in the books. They are shown as someone who doesn’t walk on the well-trodden path, causing their parents enough worry on where they would end up, ditch school to become drop outs, but make it big in their chosen business. Their ‘inventions’ are always a laugh riot, and they sincerely believe school rules are there to be broken! They can be every parent’s or teacher’s nightmare, but they never cross that invisible line to the other side. (In fact in some of the so-called ‘spoilers’ for the final book there is speculation that they join the death eaters, and this broke my heart more than the buzz that Harry may die!)

They are the kind of pranksters who drive people around them mad, but the same people cannot help but smile inwardly at their pranks or admire their creativity. They exhibit the common qualities of twins – finishing each other’s sentences and seemingly communicate without words. Who can forget their ‘innovative’ products like Weasley’s wizard wheezes or their famous get away right under Umbridge’s nose causing enough mayhem to last for a long time, or their Christmas tree ‘decoration’ stunning garden gnomes and painting them as Christmas fairies? If Peeves the poltergeist who doesn’t take orders from anybody actually salutes them as they leave and promises that it’ll keep their legacy inside Hogwarts, then that is something! Minor, or not, I think their character(s) is arguably the most interesting in the series.