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Harry Potter is filled with brilliant witches and wizards who play different roles -- whether as antagonists or heroes -- throughout the series. However, even though the series emphasizes the above-average intelligence of certain characters, their actions say otherwise.
While there are characters that prove their impressive intelligence time and time again, such as Hermione Granger or Remus Lupin, other characters make silly mistakes that are hard to justify. Dumbledore, for example, is supposed to be incredibly smart, but he fails to estimate the seriousness of certain situations, which ends up having terrible consequences.
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10 Percy Weasley
The Weasley family is filled with smart and talented people, but Percy Weasley is supposedly the most intelligent one, at least in the academic environment. Percy had outstanding grades during his time at Hogwarts, and he was very concerned with creating an impressive career for himself.
However, despite witnessing the terrible social and political dynamics in the Ministry of Magic for most of his life, Percy didn't find it suspicious that they would promote him so quickly after graduating from Hogwarts. He went as far as fighting his own family and actively working alongside Dolores Umbridge. Percy's intelligence is clearly limited to books and not real-life situations.
9 Rita Skeeter
Rita Skeeter is an unethical yet talented journalist who would publish sensationalist content for The Daily Prophet. Even though she was an antagonistic figure, the books describe her as highly intelligent since she was capable of finding information about everyone.
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However, while Rita was clearly an outstanding witch (she was even an animagus capable of turning into a fly, which the Harry Potter books describe as a formidable achievement), it makes no sense that she was caught by a 14-year-old student. If she was so smart, then she should have been able to avoid Hermione's attempts to find her, as she had way more experience than her.
8 Ron Weasley
In the first installment of the Harry Potter series, Ron is described as an impressive strategist. Ron is supposed to be an amazing chess player, to the point where he was able to defeat a huge magical chess set that Albus Dumbledore (the most brilliant wizard of his generation) had enchanted.
It seems that Ron's intelligence only applies to chess, which makes no sense. Someone who is capable of anticipating other people's strategies should have been able to help Harry figure out Voldemort's schemes. As it is, Ron played a minor role in the following installments of the series.
7 Sirius Black
As a member of the Marauders, Sirius Black was one of the most brilliant students to have attended Hogwarts. Sirius, James, and Remus were known for excelling in every class, and for Sirius and James, taking their O.W.L. exams was incredibly easy.
Maybe it's because Sirius spent 12 years in Azkaban, which can be debilitating, but he doesn't show signs of this intelligence. He often acts impulsively without a care for his own survival, forgets Harry is just a kid and eventually gets killed for over-confidently fighting Bellatrix Lestrange.
6 Draco Malfoy
Draco Malfoy is one of the most brilliant students at Hogwarts, only surpassed by Hermione Granger. He often manages to create above-average potions in Snape's class, and it's likely he received an Outstanding grade in his O.W.L exam. Furthermore, he's shown using advanced magic in several moments, such as conjuring a snake in only his second year at Hogwarts.
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Draco loves to pretend he's smarter than anyone else, but he makes very silly mistakes throughout the books because of his arrogance. For example, he ended up in detention trying to get Harry and Hermione in trouble in Sorcerer's Stone, he didn't realize Ron and Harry were using the Polyjuice Potion to enter the Slytherin Common Room, and he got hit by a Hippogriff for not paying attention to Hagrid's instructions.
5 Fleur Delacour
As Beauxbatons' Champion in the Triwizard Tournament, Fleur must be an exceptional witch. In fact, she's supposed to be the most talented and skillful witch in her school. However, she made very silly mistakes during the tournament, such as thinking Gabrielle, her sister, was truly in danger in the second task.
Even though the games were sabotaged by Barty Crouch Jr., Fleur didn't show the outstanding skills necessary to compete in such an advanced tournament. Fleur is one of the worst-written characters in the Harry Potter books because it makes no sense that she didn't show a higher level of magical proficiency.
4 Severus Snape
Severus Snape is described as one of the most brilliant wizards of his generation. When he was a student, he often invented ingenious and dangerous spells, such as sectumsempra. Furthermore, as an adult, he managed to fool the Dark Lord into believing he was working with him.
Funny enough, while Severus displayed great academic intelligence, he wasn't very smart in other areas. He couldn't figure out the Marauder's Map, he didn't catch the intruder taking ingredients from his cabinet, and he didn't defend the Sorcerer's Stone from Quirrell. It's hard to believe such a terrific wizard was outsmarted in all of these situations.
3 Albus Dumbledore
According to the wizarding world, Albus Dumbledore is the most brilliant wizard ever to exist (at least after Merlin). On the one hand, Dumbledore helped Nicholas Flamel with the Sorcerer's Stone, figured out Voldemort's plans, and even stopped Grindelwald's evil agenda.
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On the other hand, there are plenty of situations that make Dumbledore look less intelligent than he's supposed to be. For example, it doesn't seem that he understood Hogwarts very well. Dumbledore didn't know about the Room of the Requirements, nor did he find the Chamber of Secrets. However, the Marauders even created a map of this place, and it took Hermione a couple of months to figure out the hiding place of the Basilisk. Additionally, a wizard like Dumbledore should have known better than to wear a dangerous magical object (Slytherin's ring). This was incredibly mindless and almost killed him. All of this proves that he wasn't as smart as he's described by the narrative.
2 Lord Voldemort
After Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort is supposedly the most brilliant wizard to ever exist. Since he was a little kid, Tom Riddle has shown an amazing talent for magic. In fact, he was the most intelligent student at Hogwarts to the point where all the teachers loved him.
Such an astute person should have known better, though. Voldemort tried to kill Harry without considering the power of love. Even if Voldemort thought he was above such trivial things, he should have understood magic like that on a deeper level and researched how to stop it. Almost dying for ignoring this information isn't the kind of thing that would happen to one of the smartest people in the world.
1 Harry Potter
The hero of the story, Harry isn't a particularly great student. However, the books describe him as astoundingly smart. He's capable of thinking under pressure and performing very advanced spells, such as the Patronus Charm. Still, certain moments prove that Harry wasn't the brightest bulb in the Christmas tree.
Harry was easily fooled whenever someone wanted to hurt him. Lord Voldemort understood Harry's impulsive and heroic nature and used this to his advantage so Harry would go to the Ministry of Magic (despite Hermione's warnings). Additionally, Harry never planned in advance (even though he was constantly in life-and-death situations), and it's mainly thanks to Hermione that he was able to survive many dangerous situations, especially in The Deathly Hallows. In fact, if it weren't for Barty Crouch Jr. sabotaging the Triwizard Tournament, Harry wouldn't even have passed the second test.
