Most Harry Potter lists have the same ten characters or so: Harry, Dumbledore, Snape, Hermione, etc. However, the brilliant J.K. Rowling wrote and personalized literally hundreds of characters that all have incredible merit. I personally believe that these seven characters, some featured more than others, all have traits that we can all learn from and that we should all aspire to emulate. From confidence to quirkiness, character strength to incredible real-life strength, these characters all have love in their hearts to ultimately help Harry defeat Voldemort.

1. Luna Lovegood

Luna makes the list because of her confident quirkiness. She's brave enough to be a Gryffindor and loyal enough to be a Hufflepuff, but her true strength lies in her quest for knowledge. Despite her odd habits and belief in imaginary animals such as Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Nargles, and Blibbering Humdingers, Luna is determined to stand up for her beliefs and has a burning desire to know the truth. (Side note, the actress who plays Luna, Evanna Lynch, struggled with anorexia nervosa during her younger years and, with some encouragement from J.K. Rowling herself, recovered.)

2. Minerva McGonagall

Professor McGonagall is one of the biggest BAMFs in "Harry Potter," hands down. Not only does she help defend Hogwarts, but she doesn't let anything stand in her way. She was hit with six Stunning spells to the chest in "Order of the Phoenix;" "in Goblet of Fire," we see that it only takes six or seven to take down a fully-grown dragon. She has dealt with the Marauders in her House, as well as the Weasley twins. Her Patronus is herself. I have a theory that she retired after calculating the date in which Harry and Ginny's eldest son would begin Hogwarts and realizing that James Potter's and the Weasley twins' bloodlines were to converge in a child named after Sirius Black. I could easily (and probably will) write an entire article on how amazing she is. For some cool information about the actress, Dame Maggie Smith, she freaking filmed the last few movies while battling breast cancer. At one point she developed shingles, which is excruciatingly painful, but fought through it because she wanted to complete the movie.

3. Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin

Now Nymphadora (never call her by her first name) is one of the coolest characters of all time. Not only was she only 17 and fresh out of Hogwarts when she was accepted to the Auror Corps (essentially the super-elite Police Academy of the Wizarding World), she was also a Metamorphagus, meaning she could change her appearance at will. See this pink/purple hair? She could make it blonde or blue any time. She could change her nose to look like a duck or a pig, too. This made her a master of disguise, and a talented one, too. She never let being a young female in a male-dominated field get her down; she proved herself and wound up apprenticed to one of the most well-known Aurors of the time: Mad-Eye Moody.

4. Remus Lupin

Nymphadora eventually married this man, the man I would grow to compare every teacher to. Remus was a werewolf, which Rowling admitted was a bit of a metaphor for AIDS. Remus was forced to hide his affliction from everyone: employers, peers, students, etc. People were allowed to deny him a job due to this, and it was quite the scandal when parents discovered a werewolf was teaching at Hogwarts. Remus had a difficult life; since he was bitten while sleeping in his bedroom as a young child, he was unable to go to school before Hogwarts, and, in young adulthood, lost all of his friends in one night. Despite all of this, Remus was widely known as the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Hogwarts had ever seen. He had a hands-on teaching style that allowed every student to succeed. He tutored Harry between classes, teacher duty, papers, and transformations so Harry could defend himself against dementors. He went above and beyond and ultimately (with his wife) was killed in the final battle defending Harry, allowing his now-orphaned son to grow up in a safe world.

5. Natalie McDonald

Natalie McDonald is an unknown character from the books. She started Hogwarts in "Goblet of Fire" and was sorted into Gryffindor House, the house of the courageous, valiant, and chivalrous. However, Natalie was a real person -- specifically a 9-year-old Canadian girl who loved Harry Potter and had spent most of her young life battling leukemia. Natalie and her mother wrote to Rowling, begging to know the ending of "Goblet of Fire" -- something they knew Natalie would not live to read. Rowling received the letter and wrote back telling her the fates of the three main characters, but Natalie had passed away. Rowling and McDonald's mother continued to write back and forth for years and McDonald did not tell her two living children the contents of the letter. In memory of the little girl, Rowling placed her in the same house as Harry and his friends, the house of the brave and the strong.

6. Neville Longbottom

One of my personal favorite characters and someone I think we should all aspire to be: Neville Longbottom. While growing up in a situation arguably as bad as Harry's, Neville transitioned from a clumsy, bumbling little boy to a strong young man who was willing to put his life on the line for a cause. Looking back at his younger days, Neville frequently injured himself, lost his belongings, and made an easy target for Malfoy. By his final year, he was beaten by Death Eaters running the school for actions such as refusing to torture the other students, standing up to the Death Eaters, and running a haven for other students who were afraid for their lives in school. He willingly faced the woman who tortured his parents to insanity with fear, but without hatred. Neville embodies the best traits of all four houses -- the ambition of a Slytherin, the courage of a Gryffindor, the desire for knowledge of a Ravenclaw, and the loyalty of a Hufflepuff - without representing the bad traits. (Also, his transition through puberty has become a verb - Neville Longbottom-ing).

7. Arthur Weasley

Mr. Weasley constantly worked, underpaid, at an unappreciated job at the Ministry of Magic. He brought home little money for his family of nine, meaning the children frequently had hand-me-downs for even basic things like wands (which can severely hinder a wizard's ability). Despite all of this, the family constantly welcomed Harry and Hermione into their home every summer, no matter the extra costs for feeding them. They never blamed Harry for anything; not George's injury, not Fred's death (I am not over that), or Percy's estrangement. He's truly an amazing person who is willing to see beyond blood status to know a person's worth.