Where do you see Harry in comparison to an average wizarding teenager of the same year? I'm not just talking about magical ability here, though that's included (and has been discussed a number of times here), but in a number of different areas, such as:

Quidditch
Intellect
Raw magical ability
Charms
Leadership
Dark Arts/Defense Against
Emotion
Potions
History
Flying (as opposed to actual Quidditch)
Apparition
Strength of personality
Etc.

And a follow up question: was he just an average wizarding teenager thrust into extraordinary situations (and featured a good head on his shoulders), or was there something special about him from the beginning?

 

I think he was average to above average in most areas and subjects. But lacking in others.

It's the same with any student; if you are interested in a subject you will do better in it. Harry was interested in DADA, so he excelled in it(having to learn spells out of necessity also helps).

Subjects he is not interested, or where the teacher is a negative influence(Binns, Snape) in he will do badly in.

 

Well, it depends on if you're just comparing him with what we saw from his classmates vs what we heard about his parents' generation. Compared to his class, other than Hermione, he was pretty clearly superior in most aspects. That said, when compared with his parents, Lupin, Sirius, Snape, etc, he was... not particularly impressive.

 

We don't know the answer to this because Rowling never cared to tell us (for good reason) how Harry compared to others. It was set in a school, but being a good student was never really part of the plot, and it's simply easier to tell us less rather than more.

While Hermione was someone you could easily compare him to, it's an unfair comparison, because she's constantly pushed as being smarter than most Ravenclaws by Rowling, being Rowling's self-insert.

One good hint is that Ron was given the Prefect's badge. Ron... We know why Harry didn't get it, but why not Seamus, Neville, or Dean? The answer isn't that Ron was the pinnacle of rule regulation. Perhaps it's that Ron was actually doing rather well in school. If he was doing good enough to get prefect, and Harry is assumed to be doing all around better, then Harry might have been a solid student.

If you want to look to emotions/leadership/etc., then look no further than the DA versus Harry's childhood of neglect. Obviously Harry was something of a badass when it comes to withstanding the effects of verbal abuse. More than that, he was the undoubted leader of his cohort.

 

Average in some respects, but girthy. Nothing painful, but you could definitely tell he was there.

Skill-wise... I mean, what can I say: Nobody's born an expert, but attentiveness and consideration go a long way, and he was a very giving lov-

Wait, what's this thread about again?

 

Quidditch - I always got the impression that Ginny and Harry were comparable in quidditch. Seeing as she became a pro it fair to say Harry was pretty damn good.
Intellect - Difficult to say
Raw magical ability - High, he got incredible difficult magic like the Patronus charm very quickly. His only failing was that he wasn't very studious.
Charms - We hardly ever see him using charms even though he got an EE in his OWL. Personally I suspect that was a failing on JKRs part; she could have had Harry use charms in fights.
Leadership - Above average but not exceptional. I think most of his leadership ability in fights came from his fame and experience in fighting.
Dark Arts/Defense Against - Difficult to say because they had so many awful DADA teachers. We know in comparison to his classmates he's good but he might not be that spectacular compared to someone with a proper DADA education
Emotion - Piss poor. It was obvious people like Malfoy and Umbridge were trying to wind him up and he feel for it every time. Most people should have figure that out after a few years.
Potions - Good, skill is hampered by Snape breathing down his neck though.
History - Awful
Flying (as opposed to actual Quidditch) - Well he wasn't killed by the Horntail so I must say he's pretty good. We don't see much flying outside of quidditch though.
Apparition - We don't know enough about apparition to work that out. I know fanon likes 'silent' apparition and such but there is non of that in canon. At least he never splinches himself.
Strength of personality - Strong when you ignore how easily people wind him up.

 

Quidditch: Professional without a doubt. Prbaby the best during his whole term and before Charley, s definitely one of tthe best in the UK when he graduated. But not World Class just yet, Krum who was 3 years older outclassed him heavily.

Intellect: Smart, but not notably or didn't know how to use it. He is smarter than Ron, that is averagge.

Raw magical ability: I'm with Taure on this, mostly,.

Charms: Average, or just didn't like it.

Leadership: A natural leader, with charisma. He knows how to follow, but when he is forceful and wants to lead, he loses to Dumbledore on that department.

Dark Arts/Defense Against: A natura genious in Taure's canon.

Emotion: Worse than Dresden. Impulsive and naive. Hotheaded. Wangsty. Low self-steem. A normal young man thinks himself immortal, not Harry's case.

Potions: Good. Maybe Very good.

History: No fair way to judge it. I can sympathise with him on this, a shitty teacher makes you hate anything. We don't know how he sees history past his novelty interest in book 1.

Flying (as opposed to actual Quidditch): What we could see, really really good. Again, a natural genius.

Apparition: no fucking way to know, buuut I think apparition is just that.

Strength of personality: He is charismatic, but at the same time withrawn and not social at all. His lack of socia skills is evident, as his lack of interest in pat basic socialisation. He isn't friends with most of his classmates, anyone outside his house until 5th, and just one person at that, and not friends with anyone in the Quidditch team that played with him for 5 years. Even with the Weasleys he is friandly with Fred and George, maybe friends, and Gfinny, again, only in 5th year. And that's only cemented after the Department. The boy needs life or death situation to become friends with someone.

 

I have to admit, I'm surprised at how many people think he's good at Potions. Granted, he had a bad teacher throughout most of his education, but he still passed that part of his OWL exams.

However, what we get in HBP seems to be more of Harry getting a fortuitous set of circumstances falling his way. We're not told how much Snape's hand-written notes increased the margin of error for Harry. So, it could likely be that he was still average at Potions, but because he had a better set of notes than everyone else, his potions ended up at the top of the class.

As for the Patronus, though we're told not everyone can cast one, on the other side—if I remember correctly—everyone in the D.A. could cast one by the end of OotP. That, then, speaks as much or more to a desire to learn how, than to the ability. Just like his father and learning how to be an Animagus.

 

I always assumed the reason most people couldn't cast a patronus is because
1. Dementors aren't considered a threat, the ministry claims to have perfect control over them.
2. Lethifolds aren't native to Britain.
3. Only the order knows it can be used to send messages.
4. Fear of consumption by maggots.

 

Only the Order is weird enough to use a magical flame-thrower to send Morse Code.

 

In canon, Lupin seems to suggest the Patronus Charm is inherently difficult to perform, not just that it has limited utility/is mostly useful under extreme duress.

 

To be fair, the Patronus Charm seemed to be less a way of sending messages than a magical Caller ID. Voldemort's crowd were all over intercepting mail, just like the anti-Dumbledore magical government before it.

Anyone could fake a letter. A patronus is highly individual, and could not be replicated by the same simple spells which could, say, mimic someone's handwriting or voice.

And I partly disagree with Harry's leadership skills. Because of who he was, the leadership role was pushed upon him. He was pro-active and assertive enough to fill the role, but that was more a compatible personality than any predisposition towards leadership. Harry tends to do his own thing and others gather around him. Maybe this is splitting hairs, though.

I haven't read the books in a while, so my memories are a bit slushed up by fanfiction, but one of Harry's strongest characteristics is his wit. Particularly in the early books. He didn't cower from Dudley. He snapped off a quip, then legged it so he wouldn't get hit. Or sat on. I'm not sure if this dwindled later on, or I just don't remember it so much. There were definitely some gems in later books, mind you.

"You don't have to call me sir, professor." is one of my favourites. Quoted it at an oppressive bigjobs once, back when I was a ragtag schoolboy who refused to shut up, sit down, and obey my alleged betters.

"Quotation is an acceptable substitute for wit." - Oscar Wilde and a fuckload of other writers

 

Seeing how one Greek Wizard could turn his Patronus into a giant and smash buildings apart and uproot trees with it, I doubt the spell is in uncommon use because of limited utility.

The Patronus falls into the same category as being an Animagius. It's a really difficult piece of magic to get down properly, and though it has a lot of potential utility, most wizards can't be bothered to learn it, because they simply don't see it as a worthwhile investment of their time.

 

I'm sure that's Fanon and not Canon, you might be mixing up the lexicon with the wiki with the movies

 

Well, Snape when he was Harry's age invented a shit ton of spells, as evidenced by HBP, after all. Then there's the Marauder's Map, which seems like something pretty well beyond Harry's ability. Also, we have evidence of Lily and James defying Voldemort over and over again (thrice defied, etc) without the benefit of brother wands - granted, we don't know those exact circumstances, but still, there's enough evidence that of the Marauders + Lily + Snape, the only one of them who doesn't seem to have been demonstrably superior magically to Harry is Peter, and even then we can't be sure - throughout the books Peter actually pulls of a crazy amount of impressive things.

 

It's canon.

 

It's fake/bullshit canon, really.