Books Harry Potter and the Most Normal School Year he ever Had

[Greninjaman]

I thought of this just randomly. After some looking around, I got different answers. What do you guys think was the most normal school year that Harry had, and why?
Note: I am purposefully ignoring "The Deathly Hallows" (and both parts of the movie version) due to the fact that the vast majority of the book and the Movie (both parts combined) take place outside Hogwarts.

In my eyes, I would say book/Movie 1. Here is why:
Aside from Quirrell and his quest to get the Stone for Voldemort, nothing happened that directly and intentionally threatened Harry, his friends, and/or Hogwarts.
Chamber of Secrets: Had the Basalisk running around, threatening to force the school to close its doors by turning people (including one of Harry's friends) into stone
Prisoner of Azkaban: Had the Dementors and a serial killer on the loose, seemingly intending to kill Harry
Goblet of Fire: Had the Tri-Wazard Tournament (which had its own dangers) and the return of Voldemort
Order of the Phoenix: Had Voldemort seeking to kill Harry and take over the world
Half-Blood Prince: Same as Order of the Phoenix

The only reason the trio looked into the stone and sought to protect it from someone trying to steal it, was because they became interested in what it is and what it can do after learning about it (albeit accidentally from Hagrid if I recall), which would be normal for 11-year-olds. The troll incident could still happen without being involved in a plan in distracting people so that one can go steal the stone (or at least try to). Remove the stone and Quirrell/Voldemort, and you got a normal school year. At least, that is my opinion about it.

 

[Zexy]

Since the original post mentions books more than movies, I am going to add a Books tag to this thread.

I agree that Philosopher's Stone was more tame in the nature of the threat, which is fair enough considering it was the introduction to the series and had to set up most concepts and how school life works. It was more about the freshman year and getting used to the setting than the endgame itself with the stone. The following years only progressively got crazier.

 

[Greninjaman]

Since the original post mentions books more than movies, I am going to add a Books tag to this thread.

I agree that Philosopher's Stone was more tame in the nature of the threat, which is fair enough considering it was the introduction to the series and had to set up most concepts and how school life works. It was more about the freshman year and getting used to the setting than the endgame itself with the stone. The following years only progressively got crazier.

It was more tame in terms of the danger/threat level (as well as the nature of the danger/threat) in comparison to Chamber of Secrets and onward, I agree. Also, why did you add a book tag? I feel I mention the movies and the books the same amount of times.

 

[Zexy]

In my eyes, I would say book 1.

Because of this, and also because the movie tag also includes TV, and the original work was the books. I feel like that tag is more true to the nature of the thread, but if you rather want movies instead you can always change it, being the original poster. We can always see how discussion goes and change accordingly later on.

Really nice thread idea by the way, thank you!

 

[Greninjaman]

Because of this, and also because the movie tag also includes TV, and the original work was the books. I feel like that tag is more true to the nature of the thread, but if you rather want movies instead you can always change it, being the original poster. We can always see how discussion goes and change accordingly later on.

Eh, I don't care, I was just curious. Make no difference to me.

 

[Zexy]

Although I feel like no school year is normal enough when Dumbledore ends up assigning extra points to Gryffindor just before the end of the House Cup every single time. It has almost become a meme at this point

 

[Greninjaman]

Although I feel like no school year is normal enough when Dumbledore ends up assigning extra points to Gryffindor just before the end of the House Cup every single time. It has almost become a meme at this point

I only recall him doing that in Sorcerer's Stone.

 

[Zexy]

I only recall him doing that in Sorcerer's Stone.

Yeah that is my point, we do consider it the most "normal" year Harry and co. had but it was the only time (at least on screen) that they have been given special treatment. Which means it might not be that normal after all?

 

[Greninjaman]

Yeah that is my point, we do consider it the most "normal" year Harry and co. had but it was the only time (at least on screen) that they have been given special treatment. Which means it might not be that normal after all?

Might not have been the first time Dumbledore did that.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

Definately Book 1. In the others he gets caught up doing too much other stuff related to plot/Voldemort. At a certain point(Goblet of Fire) onwards he just really CANT focus on school anymore at least entirely.