Harry Potter: Every Head Boy & Girl (That We Know Of), Ranked

Not everyone who attends Hogwarts is cut out for the difficulties of magical lessons. Some students don’t manage to keep up their grades while others excel. Muggles have things like “Principal’s List” and valedictorian while the magical world has Prefects and Head Girls and Boys.

The Harry Potter series commonly talked about Prefects frequently. However, the books didn’t speak about Head Boys and Girls as often. Only two girls were ever mentioned as being Head Girl, and only one was in the books. Still, we’re taking a look at all the official Head Boys and Head Girls so we can rank them.

8 Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall is one of the best professors in Harry Potter. Most people agree that she is not only one of the best members of the Hogwarts’ staff, but one of the greatest characters in the series. We don’t learn much about McGonagall’s past in the books or films, but J.K. Rowling did write about her history on Pottermore.

In her piece, she revealed that McGonagall was once Prefect and then eventually Head Girl. Given what we know about her teaching methods, we can assume she was probably one of the best Head Girls that Hogwarts ever had.

7 Albus Dumbledore

Not only is Dumbledore the headmaster of Hogwarts with an immense and impressive pedigree, but he was both Prefect and Head Boy during his years at the school of witchcraft and wizardry. It wasn’t always that way. Like most geniuses, Dumbledore has tragedies to contend with, including the death of his young sister Ariana.

However, as a professor and headmaster, Dumbledore is a mostly stable guy. While he has made his fair share of mistakes, most of them regarding Harry, many people believe he is the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. He had an excellent reputation as a professor and student at school, too, so we can assume he was an outstanding Head Boy.

6 Percy Weasley

Aside from Bill Weasley, his brother Percy is the only other member of the Weasley family to become a Head Boy. Some fans wonder if Ginny Weasley may have become a Prefect or Head Girl at one point, but it is never mentioned in the series. That said, almost no one was better-suited at being a Head Boy than Percy.

He was obsessed with following rules and his ambitions, to the point that he even alienated his own family in the fifth book of the series. Percy was willing to discipline and punish his friends and family members. He was not the type of guy to pick favorites, which made him a fair disciplinarian.

5 Lily Evans

It’s somewhat ironic, and maybe a little sad, that both of Harry’s parents were Prefects and Head Boy/Head Girl. Lily became Head Girl in her seventh year at Hogwarts. Although between Lily and James, Lily was by far the more responsible of the two. It took her a while before she eventually came around to the idea of being with James.

It wasn’t until he stopped being so arrogant that Lily began to date him. Whenever characters in the books talked about Lily, they always commented on both her astonishing green eyes and her gifted abilities as a witch, particularly at Charms. We know she took academia seriously as well as her reputation, meaning she probably made for a great Head Girl.

4 Teddy Lupin

We could have rated Teddy Lupin higher, or potentially lower, but it’s hard to do so when we don’t know much about his character. The only reason we know that Teddy was a Head Boy is that J.K. Rowling tweeted about it on her social media. We know that Teddy was the son of Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin.

His father was a Prefect and far more inclined to follow the rules than the other Marauders. That said, there is a good chance Teddy had a rebellious streak too due to the nature of his mother. Sadly, Teddy was left out of Cursed Child and didn’t get as much backstory as the other post-Deathly Hallows children.

3 Bill Weasley

Bill is the eldest and “coolest” Weasley brother out of the sizeable redheaded family. We don’t know very much about how Bill acted while he was at Hogwarts, but we do know that he achieved more than ten Outstanding O.W.L.s on his end-of-year exams. He managed to become a Prefect and eventually a Head Boy, which speaks to his character.

Plus, his devotion to caring for others and going on adventures helped make him into a skilled wizard after his graduation. Sadly, Bill was irreparably injured by the cruel werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, and received some brutal scarring across his face during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower in the sixth book. Although he persisted in fighting alongside the Order of the Phoenix, proving his nobility.

2 James Potter

James Potter has a massive presence in the Harry Potter series despite never appearing in the present. As the father of Harry, he died not long after Harry was born due to the evil agenda of Lord Voldemort. Everything Harry learns about James is secondhand, and therefore it is for us readers too, beyond a visit to the Pensieve.

Speaking of the Pensieve, it revealed that James could be unnecessarily cruel to people like Severus Snape. James bullied Snape frequently and was known for being arrogant. Eventually deflated his ego a bit and even managed to make Head Boy. But due to how mischevious he was with his friends Sirius, Lupin, and Peter, it’s hard to imagine he was as diligent as someone like Hermione Granger.

1 Tom Riddle

We know that Tom Marvolo Riddle eventually evolves into the most dangerous dark wizard of all time, aka Lord Voldemort. Before he took the final step into madness, Riddle was an excellent student at Hogwarts. All of his professors were fond of him, and he excelled in his studies.

It made sense for Riddle to become a Prefect and eventually a Head Boy. However, despite having all of his professors fooled, Tom always had an extremely devious heart. He was dabbling in the Dark Arts as a child and preparing his Horcrux plan for years before putting it into practice. Therefore we can’t exactly rank him high up the list.

About The Author

Madison Lennon
(211 Articles Published)

Horror Junkie. Blogger. Fiction Writer. The main things I care about in life can be found on a screen, film, television, video games, add horror into the mix and I’m in love. I write for several online sites and am currently working full-time as a freelance entertainment writer!

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