The Top Ten Most Magical Moments from the Harry Potter Franchise

Where would we be without the magical world of "Harry Potter"? Well, it's difficult to picture, what with how its characters, spells and magical items have all become familiar icons of modern-day popular culture, with words like "Quidditch" and "Hogwarts" now considered to be household phrases by many today. It's also difficult to imagine how the seven-book series began just in 1997, written by then-unknown British author J. K. Rowling, since becoming a behemoth of literature, inspiring youngsters the world over to read and to write, as well as garnering quite a vast amount of dedicated international fans of all sizes and all ages. The "Harry Potter" saga has introduced us to a world of witches and wizards, muggles and sorting hats, three-headed dogs and soul-sucking monsters, and candy that has the very distinctive taste of human earwax. Yummy.

But one of the primary reasons for the overwhelming popularity of this collection of fantasy novels is its series of big-screen adaptations, which started in 2001 with Chris Columbus' "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," with 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe cast as the bespectacled, scar-faced "Boy Who Lived." And every one of Rowling’s delightful bestsellers has been adapted onto the silver screen ever since, each film dominating the box office like a 40-year-old cougar does a lonely college student in a singles bar during happy hour. I apologise for that terrible simile.

Set for release on 15 July of this year is part two of the cinematic production of the epic final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," sadly marking the end of the colossal film franchise. And, to coincide with the climactic film's release, I have compiled a list of what I see as the top ten moments from the seven movies that came before it. Warning to non-Potter-Heads: there's be spoilers ahead.

10. First Day at Hogwarts ("Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone")

We start rather appropriately with a segment from the first instalment of the franchise, in which we are first introduced to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the gothic castle that is the primary setting for both the books and their film adaptations. We first catch a glimpse of the grand location when Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the first-years sail their way across a sea of water towards the castle on wooden canoes. How very advanced. Within our first moments inside the very traditional school we are taken to the Great Hall, floating candles and all, and are introduced to the plethora of teachers, from the ever-grumpy Professor Snape to the cheery grandfather figure Professor Dumbledore. And who could forget the disgruntled Sorting Hat, which thankfully places Harry in Gryffindor House, and not the evil Slytherin, nerdy Ravenclaw or rather lame Hufflepuff? Seriously, who cares about stupid Hufflepuff? These are wondrous moments which work as a perfect introduction to the world that we would soon experience and explore along with little Harry and his two best buds. Still, I'm concerned about the floating candles; aren't they a fire hazard?

9. I Must Not Tell Lies ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix")

We now jump to the fifth film in the saga, and a scene in which Harry is unrightfully punished for claiming in class that the evil Lord Voldemort is still alive (which he is). The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, takes Harry into her deceivingly effeminate office and has him write the sentence, "I must not tell lies" on a piece of paper. Sounds like an easy punishment, yes? Well, it turns out he is writing with a blood quill, which causes each letter he pens to be almost instantly scarred into the skin of his left hand. It's quite a nasty visual, and Imelda Staunton is extraordinarily menacing as Professor Umbridge, with the crazy looks she gives and the discomforting tone of her soft voice very unsettling. Umbridge really is an evil bitch of a witch, and Staunton captures her perfectly.

8. Down in the Chamber of Secrets ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets")

The second film now, and it's the thrilling climax where we finally get to see this dreaded chamber everyone's been talking about for the whole of the film. Within this watery chamber lies a gigantic snake called a Basilisk, which Harry must bravely battle without looking into its eyes, or he'll be instantly killed (and his head will explode if it gives him a stink eye). Luckily, Harry succeeds, using the sword of Godric Gryffindor (brought to him by a phoenix) to stab the slithering serpent, and then manages to kill the sinister Tom Riddle by piercing his diary with one of the Basilisk's fangs, causing Tom's body to spontaneously explode into bright rays of sunlight. Which is all very good, but what happened to just throwing the villain off a building or shooting him in the head? Also, there's the revelation that "Tom Marvolo Riddle" is an anagram of "I am Lord Voldemort," which caused everyone in the audience to run home from the cinema and double-check this with a pen and piece of paper. Oh, only me then? Okay, well, I was just making sure they didn't make a mistake with the anagram. It's easily done.

7. Breaking into the Ministry of Magic ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1")

This is a moment from the latest flick, a scene in which Harry, Ron and Hermione break into the corrupt Ministry of Magic to nab Salazar Slytherin's Locket off the neck of Dolores Umbridge. How do they do this without being spotted? They of course use a Polyjuice Potion and assume the forms of three Ministry of Magic workers, which leads to some lovely humour as they clumsily pretend that they are indeed these three individuals they've never met before. These scenes are also very tense, as the trio have no idea how long the potion will last, nor if they will get away with something so risky. Indeed, things do go a bit awry, and the soul-devouring Dementors are promptly set on them. Those buggers are scary.

6. Lord Voldemort vs. Professor Dumbledore ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix")

This is another scene set in the Ministry of Magic, which is here the victim of a stampede of very angry bulls. Either that, or shit just got pretty damn real between Lord Voldemort and Professor Dumbledore. Here, a beardy pensioner and a no-nosed snake-face go head-to-head in a duel of wands, while Harry, eager to join in, is forced by Dumbledore to watch from the side. It's a very cool, very destructive and quite intense scene, the first in which we get to see Dumbledore in proper action mode. There's no real winner in the end, as Voldemort vanishes in a puff of smoke, but not before Cornelius Fudge sees He Who Must Not Be Named with his own two eyes, and realises that he was wrong about Voldemort being dead. Ha! In your face, Cornelius!

5. The Tale of the Three Brothers ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1")

The Tale of the Three Brothers is one of the most interesting aspects of "Deathly Hallows: Part 1," mostly due to its incredibly striking visual style. Presented in the form of shadow puppetry, the eye-pleasing sequence is narrated by Hermione as she tells of the origins of the Deathly Hallows. We learn of the three brothers who came upon Death himself when they conjured up a bridge for them to cross a treacherous river. Impressed by their evasion of death, the hooded figure grants each of the brothers a wish, with which he claims the lives of two of the brothers (one asked for a powerful wand, the other for a rock that can resurrect loved ones). The third brother, however, is never found, as he asked for an invisibility cloak, and thus Death could never find him until the brother died of old age. Well, I trust that taught you something about life and death and morals and the such. Mm-hmm.

4. Werewolf on the Loose ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban")

Having just discovered that the man he has recently been desperate to kill is in fact his friendly godfather, as well as the fact that Ron's pet rat Scabbers is a fully grown man, Harry has another surprise in store for him when he steps outside the Whomping Willow. It turns out that Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Lupin is in fact a lycanthrope, causing him to transform into a not-so-nice werewolf at the sight of the full moon in the night sky. And from this, "Prisoner of Azkaban" turns into a bit of a horror film, as Harry and Hermione attempt to help Sirius Black while trying to evade a sharp-toothed wolf-man lurking in the woods. An English werewolf in Hogwarts, eh?

3. Follow the Spiders ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets")

We go from werewolves to spiders now, as Harry and Ron stumble upon a horde of fearsome eight-legged freaks in the Forbidden Forest one eerie creepy night. Told by groundskeeper Hagrid to "follow the spiders," the wizarding duo reluctantly oblige, and follow a trail of small arachnids into the dark and dangerous woods, where the spiders noticeably begin to increase in size. Soon enough, they're face-to-face with a tarantula the size of an overweight elephant, and their meeting doesn't go as Harry or Ron presumably would have hoped. While head spider Aragog gives them the information they require, he orders for his fanged, hairy family to feast on the frightened four-eyes and terrified redhead. Thankfully, Ron's flying car comes to the rescue, and he and Harry escape the attacking arachnids before they're made into spider poop. "Why couldn't it be follow the butterflies?" Ron questions. Indeed.

2. The Resurrection of Lord Voldemort ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire")

In this scene, we are finally shown a proper walking, talking, adult Lord Voldemort (he was previously a face on the back of another bloke's head, and a mopey teenage schoolboy). Towards the final moments of the film, we watch along with a trapped Harry as The Dark Lord is practically reborn inside a steaming cauldron in a spooky graveyard. And thus we first see the wonderful Ralph Fiennes under all that make-up, rotten teeth and with his nose digitally removed, and boy is he as scary as a dentist appointment on a Friday afternoon. Soon enough, Harry and his arch-nemesis are skilfully duelling, though the spirits of Voldemort's most recent victims hold Voldemort long enough for Harry to escape using a Portkey. This scene is made even better by the fact that we have also just witnessed Edward off "Twilight" kicking the bucket at the hands of Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew. Thanks, Wormtail!

1. The Death of Professor Dumbledore ("Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince")

Now, I don't want to look like a Dumbledore hater here. The reason this moment is number one on the list is because of how poignant and emotional the death of the wise old chap is. It is of course a very sad moment in the franchise, possibly the saddest of all the moments out of all the films, and was certainly a shock for me, as I was yet to read the book when I saw the film. Professor Dumbledore falls to his death after Professor Snape (who's turned into an evil git) performs the Killing Curse on him in the Astronomy Tower of Hogwarts when Draco Malfoy fails to do so. After a minor battle with some fleeing Death Eaters, Harry goes to Dumbledore's body along with the rest of the school, who raise their wands in the air and together rid the sky of the Dark Mark that Bellatrix Lestrange previously cast. It's a very beautiful and moving moment that had many fans and general moviegoers welling up in the movie theatres, showing how beloved a character Dumbledore really was to us all. And he was so young...

Honourable Mentions

Half-asleep Ron waking up and informing Harry that spiders are telling him to tap-dance ("Prisoner of Azkaban"). Harry, Ron and Hermione taking down a troll that has been let loose in Hogwarts and has found its way to the girls' bathroom ("Philosopher's Stone"). Poor Charity Burbage being devoured by Voldemort's pet snake Nagini in Malfoy Manor ("Deathly Hallows: Part 1"). Also, when we learn that Hermione has a time-travelling necklace in "Prisoner of Azkaban," though for some reason she never uses it again in any of their future adventures. Some brain box she is, huh?