J.K. Rowling seems to have a talent for setting up false villains. In book one and book two she gave us reasons for believing beyond a reasonable doubt that the characters who treated Harry, and other people so poorly in general we behind all the unfortunate and terrible events. In book one Snape seems to be the obvious villain whereas Professor Quirrell seemed to be too cowardly to inflict harm to anyone let alone work so closely with you-know-who. In book two Malfoy seemed to be the villain, but disappointingly (at least for me) he was not. This keeps the reader intrigued and always wanting to read and find out more.
I can remember the first time that I read Harry Potter especially book one. Since this was only my second time reading the book but over 10 years later my reaction was still very similar. I was convinced that Snape was behind all of crimes and strange occurrences. It seemed clear that he was evil. Just by the way Snape was treating Harry, Rowling had set up the perfect "bad guy", but she wanted to shock the audience to prove not everything is always what it seems. Another reason she did this is because if the villain is always the person everyone thinks it is the book will be boring and predicable, you always need surprise your audience. After we are proven wrong she does a good job at leading us on for a while where we are unsure and basically drooling for the answer as to who is behind all the madness. For example in the second book after we figure out it wasn't Malfoy Rowling leads us to believe it's Hagrid, who is a beloved character. When I found out (even though deep down I knew) it wasn't Hagrid I felt so relieved. Rowling's ability to build a case against one character and give a completely shocking ending is what keeps so many of her readers coming back.
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