17 Scariest Moments From The Harry Potter Books

Fenrir Greyback, anyone?

It's fair to say that up until The Goblet Of Fire, the Harry Potter franchise was fairly light hearted and there weren't a lot of moments that were going to keep you awake at night. Unless of course you have a fear of spiders, villainous murderers, or getting your face burned off. Although Harry Potter is primarily aimed at families who can read the books together or share some popcorn watching the films, claiming that they're just for children is simply ridiculous. As Harry grows up into an adult and understands that life is going to be hard, it portrays and signifies that moment when you lose your innocence. You realise how dark a place the world is as it's filled with treachery, death and hopelessness. The plus side is that you don't need to fight off an evil, rampaging wizard. The Harry Potter series is full of dark and scary moments, right from The Philosopher's Stone to The Deathly Hallows, but you might have just forgotten about them with the whole hype of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child thing. Oh and by the way, the play is said to be unsuitable for children under the age of ten due to its mature content. Sorry, what were you saying about HP being "just for kids"?

17. The Forbidden Forest

Book: The Philosopher's Stone Has any of the characters ever had a pleasant experience when wandering through the darkest depths of the Forbidden forest? No, no they have not. But perhaps the most memorable scenes from the books is during The Philosopher's Stone when Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco have to spend their detention looking for an injured unicorn, at night. What could possibly go wrong? The forest is full of creatures and evils that would keep anyone away from there during the day, but at night time? No thank you. Especially when Voldemort is walking freely, sort of. As a child, reading the scene in which Malfoy and Fang run away from the hooded figure was terrifying, and even as an adult you know that that isn't a situation you'd ever want to find yourself in. Voldemort's vampiric tendencies were pretty scary, especially when his face was on the back of some guy's head...
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Lover of Tolkien's world, Harry Potter and baked goods. A camel once put his head on my shoulder and it was the best day ever. sara@whatculture.com