There are seven wizarding schools revealed so far in the world of Harry Potter, but the one that stands above all the rest is easily Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. The fact that the person who is considered the most powerful wizard in Harry Potter served as its heaster should tell fans all they need to know about the prestige of the institute.
Throughout the years, there have been many amazing students at Hogwarts -- from the aforementioned heaster Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter, the chosen one, and the most legendary wizard of them all, Merlin. Mixed in are many students who were contemporaries of Harry Potter, others who taught Dumbledore, and many others who ended up turning to the dark side, including the most powerful practitioner of black magic in history.
Updated on March 21st, 2022, by Shawn S. Lealos: The Harry Potter world lives on, with a new movie hitting theaters in 2022 in the spin-off Fantastic Beasts series. A recent anniversary special also reminded people of why this movie franchise was so popular to begin with.
While Harry Potter has dropped in popularity in recent years due to things outside the movie franchise's control, it has never diminished the quality of the movies and the great work by the actors involved. With the franchise continuing, there are more great wizards showing up in the world of Hogwarts, proving that there have been some very powerful wizards who attended that prestigious wizarding school.
Gilderoy Lockhart
If you ask Gilderoy Lockhart, there are few wizards in the world as powerful and accomplished as he is. Don't believe him? Read his book. In it, he reveals all of the exploits and adventures that he set out on and all of the dark and magical creatures he encountered along the way.
The problem is that the book was all lies and exaggerations. It was revealed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that Lockhart mastered a Memory Charm that forced people to forget what really happened so that he could take credit for various events. However, the former Ravenclaw student ended up on the receiving end of the Memory Charm and was later institutionalized.
Albus Potter
Maybe one day, Albus Potter might rank higher on the list of the most powerful Hogwarts students, but at the moment, he is still young. As the son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, Albus was sorted into the Slytherin House when he enrolled at Hogwarts, much to everyone's shock (especially his brother James', who was sorted into Gryffindor).
He spent his first three years at Hogwarts struggling at even the most basic spells and felt like he wasn't living up to his dad's legacy. As a result, his powers were nowhere near the level of his dad's, although he did have basic skills at casting charms.
Rubeus Hagrid
Hagrid could have been a formidable wizard. He proved over time that he was very powerful -- especially when someone hurt someone whom he loved. However, he was not consistent in his spells, which was evident when he gave Dudley Dursley a pig's tale when he meant to turn him into a pig completely.
Sadly, what hurt Hagrid the most was that he was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year for a crime that he did not commit. The Ministry of Magic then destroyed his wand and forbade Hagrid from practicing magic, although he secretly continued by using an umbrella.
Cho Chang
Cho Chang was sorted into Ravenclaw and was a dedicated student and a member of their Quidditch team. While she started out as a minor character, it was the fate of her boyfriend that pushed her into a larger role. Cho was dating Cedric Diggory, and when he fell in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew, she decided to take a stand and ed Dumbledore's Army.
She then began dating Harry Potter for a short time, but it ended after her friend betrayed Dumbledore's Army. Despite this, Cho remained strong and stood with Hogwarts against Voldemort.
Luna Lovegood
How powerful is Luna Lovegood? That is a hard question to answer. Though the Ravenclaw student was a great help to Harry Potter, she mostly kept to herself and zoned out when others were socializing. She usually kept to herself unless she was really needed.
However, Luna Lovegood is extremely talented. She conjured a corporeal Patronus at the age of 14 and has competed in duels since the age of 15. She also took part in the Battle of Hogwarts and held her own against the Death Eaters. As a co-leader of Dumbledore's Army, she often proved herself, though she preferred to keep to herself rather than fight.
Ron Weasley
Though Ron Weasley was one of the three main protagonists from the main Harry Potter franchise, he might have been the weakest member of his own family. Bill was a head boy, Percy a Prefect, and both Fred and George received great marks in school. This gave Ron a little too much to live up to when he arrived at Hogwarts.
By the time Ron reached his seventh year at Hogwarts, he was excelling with seven O.W.L.s. He also proved himself in the final Battle of Hogwarts, standing by his friends. He was very insecure at the beginning of the series, but once he trusted in himself, he become a solid wizard.
Neville Longbottom
At one point in the Harry Potter books, there was a question about who the chosen one really was. Since both Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter were born on the same day, it was unclear who would be the one to bring down Voldemort one day. However, since Voldemort chose to pursue Harry, the chosen one then became the son of the Potters. Regardless, Neville showed off his still, especially during the Battle of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
He had low self-esteem and needed a lot of help from others when he first arrived at Hogwarts. However, once he stood up to the bullying that he encountered and developed courage and a sense of worth, his standing up to Voldemort at the end of the series proved that he was a hero in his own right.
* Leta Lestrange
Leta Lestrange was a pure-blood witch born into the infamous Lestrange family. While her family developed a bad name in later years thanks to Bellatrix, who married into the family, Leta was a decent witch, although one who had a dark past herself.
Leta inadvertently killed her baby brother when she switched himself out on a boat due to his crying and the ship sunk, her real brother died. She ended up bullied relentlessly at Hogwarts due to her brother's death and her status as an abandoned child. This pushed her to work harder than most other students and she ended up a powerful witch and went to work for the British Ministry of Magic.
Weasley Twins
Fred and George Weasley are, in fact, two different people. However, both the books and the movies made them almost interchangeable and never really distinguished between them, so they get one spot in this list of the most powerful Hogwarts students. Though the twins received good grades in school, they preferred jokes and pranks and eventually opened up their own wizarding joke shop that instantly became a success.
Both Fred and George were very talented wizards. While they liked to have fun, they both were loyal to Harry and ended up going back to Hogwarts to take part in the Battle of Hogwarts, which unfortunately proved fatal for Fred in the end.
Newt Scamander
Though we see him in the U.S. in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Newt Scamander was a student at Hogwarts. He was into the Hufflepuff House, but he was expelled after taking responsibility for an incident with a magical creature. He was allowed to keep his wand and continued to practice magic. He proved over time to be a very capable wizard and soon got a job with the Ministry of Magic.
Newt was a Magiczoologist, someone who studies magical creatures, and wrote the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that students of future generations at Hogwarts studied. While his skills mostly deal with caring for creatures, he was also a strong duelist.
