We all know he lazed around and didn't put any effort in learning. But what if he had? How good could he have become? Good as Dumbledore and Voldemort?

 

Definetely no chance to compete with Dumbledore and Voldemort even if he had 500 years to train.

Snape, Mcgonagall, Flitwick, Bellatrix also seem to be out of his league they were straight up A students who never seemed to struggle with any magic in school, created own spells in school and improved textbooks eg. Snape and seem to be more intelligent and dillegent in general.

With the Maurauders and Lily it seems hard to tell since we have not many feats but from what we know I would say almost all of them are more talented than Harry they became animagi and created the map, Lily could somewhat control accidental magic and Slughorn loved her they also were amazing students from what we know of the books.

I do thing they are in genral better in magic than Harry but duelling wise Harry could probably beat or atleast be equal to them since he seems to have a talent for it.

The power scale in HP is not particulary well established beyond Dumbledore and Voldemort just being straight up leagues above everyone and Snape and a few others generally being able to wipe the floor with 4 or 5 average people there isn't that much of a difference between others.

I do think he could beat charcters like Kingsley and other aurors without to much problems as a adult even people like Hermione who are more intelligent but not that good at duelling.

 

About this good.

 

I have no doubt Harry would've achieved more if not for the genocidal (?) maniac after his life, year after year. Considering that, it seems to me he would've easily lived up to the level of the cream of the crop of the previous generation.

 

I mean, he got good enough grades to qualify as an Auror. The only barrier was his EE in Potions, and that was due to Snape's rigid standards; the fact that McGonagall encourages him to do Potions specifically because of his Auror ambition implies they'd be happy with EE.

He's no prodigy though, so even without the time/experience gap, he'd struggle to match Dumbledore and Voldemort.

 

There is no scenario possible in which Harry beats Voldemort or Dumbledore in regular combat even if he puts in lots of effort at Hogwarts.

The entire point of the books is that love and good conquer hate and evil, regardless of skill and knowledge. Harry is simply destined to win through The Power of Love Deus Ex Machina, anything else just isn't Harry Potter.

 

I feel that Harry could have done anything he wanted if he put effort into it. my reasoning being that the world mechanics shown in the book place no real limits on things such as transfiguration. the whole system of Harry Potter seems to whisper of limitless untapped potential lying in every casual spell. Had he put a lot of effort into figuring out how to tap all this potential, he could have done great things

 

I think Harry had the potential to be great. But, never reached that potential for multiple different reasons.

He should have, could have and would have, but didn't because of; The Dursleys, Hermione, Dumbledore, Voldemort and the many other dangers that he had to deal with over his tenure at Hogwarts.

Post-time skip Harry. I see him as basically, thanks to a natural aptitude for battle that may have actually come from the horcrux in him, and probably alot of raw power - the best of the best. He stands above everyone else, and is basically the greatest of that time.

But, 'that time' isn't a time with either Dumbledore or Voldemort. Harry is now the best of the best, but they were and will always be 'those who curb stomped the best of the best'.

If Harry managed to reach his full potential, he probably would be on that level.

 

Harry was a legit prodigy at DADA - but other than that he was intelligent but not exceptional. So he could probably have been an "upper tier" fighter by the later books if he had devoted an unreasonable amount of time and effort into it.

 

I'll keep repeating everyone else. Harry is a 90th percentile wizard, he can stand with the best of 'normal' wizards when it comes to a fight, but he'll never be an academic type. Obviously he can't contest Dumbledore and Voldemort who are prodigies and on a different level entirely.

 

First of all, I agree with most of my predecessors in this threat in that Harry will never be able to match Dumbledore & Voldemort in terms of raw power and/or pure magical talent, depending on how one defines these terms. He is, however, very good at DADA, and the books make a point out of him besting Hermione in this particular OWL. Since it stands to reason that the DMLE doesn't just take anyone, I would imagine that Harry – by my estimate – is still among the upper third in his year group.


Now, to the point of his reply. I present a little scenario I have just cooked up in my head:

From canon, we only get a fragmented and vastly incomplete account of Harry's future jobs. According to JKR, Harry, after a roughly decade-long tenure as Head Auror, becomes the head of the DMLE. I see several points of interest arising from this with regard to our question. First of all, is the position of Head Auror ever defined in greater detail than "above the regular auror, stepping stone to DMLE headship?" I would argue that it is one of the greater problems in the whole canonical Ministry of Magic malarkey that the role of the Head Auror is left so… blank, for lack of a better word. Personally, In my imagination, I would argue that the role of the Head Auror is more or less that of a glorified bureaucrat, concerned with navigating the intraministerial political landscape rather than classical auror work.

Secondly, if that is the case, it would stand to reason that, from everything we know of canon Harry Potter, he is not exactly cut out for the position. Harry, for better or worse, is portrayed as a boy/teenager/man of action, prone to leaping to conclusions even in the absence of any kind of ironclad evidence, and in most cases with Hermione and Ron by his side as his brain and brawn, respectively.

Thirdly, it is entirely possible that Harry grew out of these less favourable traits as time (and his career in the Auror Office) went on, nevertheless it would be rather a sharp turn to perform. Rufus Scrimgeour was promoted from Head Auror to Minister, a step that, I believe, the Wizengamot would not have undertaken had Scrimgeour not had at least some sort of prior political experience, war or not. This would imply a certain adaptability on Harry's part.

Fourthly, the conondrum worsens once again when Harry is promoted again, only that this time, he becomes the Head of the DMLE. Which, building on the previously established model, presumably involves even more politics, and even less action. There is canonical evidence that the only known head of the DMLE was an above-average fighter, as seen in Amelia Bones's heroic fight to the death with the Dark Lord. Since there was no news of her promotion prior to her demise ever since Harry became aware of the wider Wizarding World in PoA, it stands to reason that Bones has held the post for quite some time, which in this case I would like to think implies competence rather than 'generosity' towards certain parties with influence.

So, following Harry's future career path we can somewhat determine that he will have to acquire at least some sort of political sense, which would play to his intelligence we sometimes get to see in canon, but significantly less to the much more prominent impulsive side. Following that, it is very much possible that a knack for DADA only gets one so far in the DMLE.

Thus, to finally answer the question, I come to the conclusion that Harry would be able to develop his skill set significantly over the course of his career, not all of which is necessarily combat-related. It is impossible to determine to which degree that would be the case, but I would bet a Hungarian Horntail's horned tail that neither Minister Shacklebolt nor, following *shudder* CC canon Minister Hermione, would accept a rambunctous political virgin in a position of authority over one of the most important institutions of Magical Britain and its employees, Man-Who-Won and best friend or not.



Now, I think this is the longest thing I've ever written on the interwebs and it is quite late, so feel free to point out any flaws you find in my theory or to otherwise comment on it.

 

I'll actually go with Harry being capable of being a dumbledore/voldemort level if he had gone a different route.

As others mentioned, his DADA is exceptional... and he's already doing some impressive feats in that area (hell considering he is 15 the fight in year five is impressive. Plus essentially training the DA). Honestly, I think in the canon universe I suspect he actually already achieved a 'snape/belatrix' level. He's not just an auror but a head auror, and we see impressive examples of skill in dada/dueling mentioned in canon.

For voldemort/Dumbledore... I dont think he'll ever have their expertise in *magic* because as others mentioned while not stupid his skills dont lie with research near I can tell or brilliant one in a generation intelligence. I think Harry isn't stupid and could probably do a lot better with focus, but prob not dumble/volde levels no matter how hard he tries. But if the question isnt can he know as much magic, but could he ever (if he had made different choices and focuses) equal them in a fight it might be more up in the air.

I imagine research and deep magical knowledge is definitely a huge advantage in a magical fight. But its not the end all be all. Especially if you were 'good' in those areas or had a hermoine to help you learn what you needed to. When it comes to HP magic, it seems for example like will power, emotions, determination can play a huge role. Likewise reflexes and ingenuity and intuition in how you use spells (which harry seems to have). Occlumancy seems big too which obviously canon HP cant do, but I dont think is actually beyond his ability to master if we assume different motivations and desires.

Honestly, if harry had taken different paths with his life, I wouldnt find it shocking that he could hold his own with a dumbledore or a voldemort in a duel. Not be their equal in magic say, but in a fight? Its not outside the realm of possibility to me.

 

I once tried writing a fic based on a dismayed 40 something Harry who is unhappy with his life. Boring office job, annoying ministry politics, kids are all out of the house, he hasn't been in any real danger in years. So Harry, for his midlife crisis, becomes a thief. The fic never went anywhere though.

 

I think Harry would have the advantage of speed and reflex compared to Dumbledore and Voldemort, if they are all in their prime; however, he probably would not have the same level of understanding of magic like the other two.

 

Harry could have become better than he was canonically, but only marginally so. Like Jon said, I see him as being rather average. Definitely nowhere near Dumbledore's or Voldemort's level.

 

No doubt he could have be powerfull for a wizard of his age and, in the long terme, maybe equal Dumbledore.

 

Harry is according to canon a pretty good fighter, but not an amazing duelist. He's got a lot of emotion to throw into his spells, but he's not particularly smart or gifted. He excelled on the practical DADA OWL test, and did alright everywhere except Divination and History of Magic (IIRC). I'd say he's got good instincts for survival in dangerous situations, and he's got solid enough fundamentals to be a threat on a battlefield, but he's not comparable to Flitwick, Snape, or even someone like McGonagall. Becoming as skilled as Dumbledore or Voldemort is far outside his reach.

Could he become a more effective combatant? Yeah, definitely. If he made a concerted effort to learn how to use magic to fight, he could probably even become a serious threat to someone like Dumbledore or Voldemort, but he'd need a mentor that he respects to keep him on track. The one thing we see about Harry, time and again, is that he's happy to settle on "good enough," and if he really was to improve his mentor would have to be able to motivate him to push beyond that. He'd also need more time, like a decade or so, of dedicated learning and combat experience.

At the end of it, he'd barely be recognizable as the Harry we know and love to torture. Forging the Sword by Mystshadow was an attempt to make a believable transition between Harry Potter, Boy Who Gets Lucky, and Harry Potter, Badass. It's quite dated, but it does give a pretty decent picture of how his character would need to change.

TLDR: Without some radical character changes, Harry isn't interested in becoming a superhero. That's why does just enough to get by.

 

If you think Harry is an average Wizard, you're an idiot. He's far above average.

 

If you think far above average is even close to Snape you're an idiot. Doubly so if you think he is close to Voldemort and Dumbledore tier.