If Harry Potter Cared About His Friends, the Saga Would End with The Chamber of Secrets
If in The Chamber of Secrets, Harry actually helped Ron out — which he totally could — both the boys would’ve been as good as dead. Many other people, too!.
Summary:
- Harry Potter had a small fortune left by his parents in Gringotts which he had full access to.
- In The Chamber of Secrets, Harry could buy Ron a new wand, but he didn’t think of that.
- Thanks to Ron’s malfunctioning wand, Harry could defeat Tom Riddle and save the Wizarding World.
Though he often wanted to help his friends, young Harry Potter was pretty financially clueless: the Dursleys never gave him any money to spend. Thanks to their outstanding financial education, Harry always tried to go all-out on buying sweets for his best pal Ron Weasley but largely ignored the really important problems he had.
However, if Harry had been a little more attentive to his friends’ needs, we would not have had seven books and eight movies. The entire saga would have ended with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and that would’ve been it. Why?
Harry Potter and the Lack of Financial Education
As we learn pretty quickly at the start of the franchise, Harry Potter’s parents, Lily and James Potter, left him a small fortune in their Gringotts vault. This money is more than enough to keep Harry warm, fed, and fairly luxurious throughout his entire education at Hogwarts at the very least — and he has access to it as we see later.
Now, Ronald Weasley, on the other hand, has a different situation. His family is always broke, and Ron has to have every pass-me-down from his older brothers. Harry almost immediately realizes that and, being the kind soul that he is, tries to stuff Ron with as many sweet treats as humanly possible. But that is not it.
When the need arises in The Chamber of Secrets and Ron could really use some financial help from Harry, the boy doesn’t aid his friend. And good for him.
How Could Harry’s Charity Ruin the Wizarding World?
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ron encounters the first serious effect of his family’s financial state: when his wand gets broken, the Weasleys can’t afford a replacement. The poor kid has to go through the entire year with a malfunctioning wand — read, he doesn’t have the one instrument every wizard desperately needs!
Of course, for Harry, it would have been no issue to buy Ron a new wand, but this thought never crosses the mind of The Boy Who Lived. Harry sympathizes with Ron’s woes but makes no effort to fund his friend’s education in such a small and simple but absolutely crucial way… And it’s really a good thing that he doesn’t.
As you remember, in the finale of The Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron travel to the Chamber with Gilderoy Lockhart. The issue is that Lockhart has no desire to die to a giant snake and attempts to erase the boys ’ memories using Ron’s wand. The malfunctioning thing backfires, and the jerk professor ends up in Mungo’s for life.
Now imagine how the story would have played out if Ron had a functioning wand! Lockhart erases Harry and Ron’s memories, leaves them stranded, and escapes. Tom Riddle kills Ginny, fully comes to life, and feeds the boys to his Basilisk. And now, we have no Harry, no Ron, and no Ginny — but what we do have is one incredibly evil Dark Lord on the loose who no one even knows exists.
Harry Potter was literally one little charity away from dooming the entire Wizarding World. Thankfully, he didn’t even think of lending his friend a hand back then.