Would Harry Potter have been worse off raised by James and Lily Potter?

Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

Harry Potter had an awful, abusive upbringing, but the Dursleys made him the kind-hearted, friendly boy that he was. Could things have been different if he was raised by James and Lily Potter?

We all have dreams of Harry Potter being raised by his parents. There are fanfictions out there of James and Lily Potter never being killed by Voldemort and even stories of Sirius Black getting the chance to raise his godson. Unfortunately, the fanfictions never came to be and Harry Potter was put into the home with the Dursley family.

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The upbringing he had was abusive and terrible. There’s no doubt about that, but while at C2E2, a comment about Harry potentially being raised by his parents was made. Would Harry have been the kind-hearted soul had he been raised by two strong Gryffindor parents?

Note: I don’t condone anything the Dursley’s did and I’m not making any excuses for them. This is looking purely at Harry’s parents and what they were like based on the memories we saw.

James Potter was a bully

Let’s remember that James Potter was a bully. Sure, this was when he was in school so he might have grown out of that mean streak, but he was a bully. It was why Severus Snape wanted to hate Harry so much; there was that reminder of James and the bullying Severus went through. Sure, he may have been kind to Lupin, but there was still a bullying nature about him.

If Harry had been brought up with James in the fatherly role, there’s a chance that Harry would have developed some of the anti-Slytherin views too. While Harry was scared of being in Slytherin from everything he’d heard, he never quite hated the people in the house (just the bullies). That could have all changed with James’ views projecting onto Harry.

Because the Dursleys were abusive bullies, Harry learned how he didn’t want to be treated. He knew what hurt him, so didn’t want to be like that to anyone else. This helped him become the kind-hearted soul that he was, accepting of those around him. He didn’t want to mix with the other bullies, and instead supported and connected with those who were more like him—those who could be targets, such as Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

Lily Potter might have saved Harry from that

Of course, then there’s Lily. While James may have been a bully, Lily Potter definitely wasn’t. She was the sweet, beautiful soul that Severus Snape fell in love with; the reason why Severus would protect Harry, despite the reminder of James.

Even if James had a hatred for Slytherin, Lily never followed his thoughts. She hated evil, but she didn’t hate someone just because of the house they were in. All she wanted was goodness in the world. There’s a chance that she helped to smoothen James’ bullying ways and eased that hatred in time to raise Harry well. Even if she didn’t, she would have helped Harry see that there was more than a set of house colors and that people were more than what they appeared on the outside.

We’d seen that Sirius and Lupin weren’t as bad as they were in school. Sure, a lot had happened during the decade, but they weren’t the same people they were at Hogwarts. James could have grown up the same way.

Was James Potter really that bad?

It’s hard to imagine that Lily would have chosen James if he was really such a bully. All the memories of James and Lily were mostly Severus’, which could have been twisted with remorse, regret, and hatred. He had a view of what James was like when he was at Hogwarts and that’s what stuck. It didn’t matter what James did after that!

James may never have been as bad as he seemed in the flashbacks and storytelling. There’s a chance that actually he was a supportive young man. After all, he protected Lupin, who had been ostracized from the age of four because of his werewolf “disease.” If James was so bad, would he have given Lupin the time of day?

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By growing up with his parents, Harry would have grown up with Sirius and Lupin and known that differences weren’t something to be scared of or hated for. He would have still been just as accepting.

Next: 7 Severus Snape facts you might not be aware of

Do you think Harry Potter would have been a bully or worse off raised by his parents? Could he have grown up as a bully? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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