15 Times We Cried While Watching the Harry Potter Movies
By Buckie Wells
1. The Boy Under the Stairs
While Harry Potter is mostly known as “The Boy who Lived,” he’s also “The Boy who was Emotionally and Psychologically Abused by his Family for a Generous Period of Time.”
The first time we meet poor Harry, he’s in a closet under the stairs. It’s his cousin’s birthday and one of Dudley’s presents is to visit the zoo. To wake up Harry, Dudley stomps up and down the stairs. Of course, this is a lousy thing to do. Even worse, Dudley is a porker of a child and sawdust is falling into poor Harry’s face. Once they release Harry from his prison cell, they order him to cook their breakfast. Though Harry’s birthday is approaching as well, Dudley gets 36 presents and Harry Potter gets none. He’s like the magical version of Oliver Twist.
Since Harry’s parents died, he’s basically an orphan. He grows up in a house where he’s hated for eleven years. Plus, the Dursley’s withheld the fact that he’s a wizard. It’s not until Hagrid storms the joint to say those iconic words, “Yer a wizard, Harry!” that Harry learns there’s more to his life than serving the Dursley’s.
Further, once Harry understands the truth, Petunia speaks ill of his late mother. At this point, they could’ve apologized or made up some excuse as to why they treated him that way. But as we see through the rest of the series, they don’t really get any kinder.
And bullying is sad.
Movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone