A/N: I know I am biased, but I've tried to be as neutral as possible. And please vote and leave a comment letting me know if you liked it!

1. HE WAS PROBABLY PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL'S FAVOURITE STUDENT

"Lily and James...I can't believe it...I didn't want to believe it...Oh, Albus..."

Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took out a golden watch from his pocket and examined it.

James Potter's death made Professor McGonagall cry, can you believe it? Can you imagine it? The severe, strict Head of the House, who never betrayed any sort of emotions; in the whole series we see her crying only twice I think, here, and after Professor Dumbledore's death.

And the reason, look....James was a marvelous Quidditch player. AND James' wand favoured Transfiguration. Two of the things Professor McGonagall loved best in the world, and James Potter aced them both.

Of course she loved James.

Of course even she, like a large part of the wizarding world, wanted to find James in Harry.

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2. HE HAD A HALF GIANT FOR A FRIEND

"—but it's that sad—knew yer mum and dad—and nicer people yeh couldn't find—"

Hagrid dissolved into tears the day he came to take Harry, 10 whole years since James and Lily died, because he still misses them.

He also seemed fonder of James than of Lily, because he very often casually puts in a good word about him to Harry, just like when Harry came back from the graveyard in the 4th book.

Hagrid's chest swelled as he looked at Harry.

"Yeh did as much as yer father would've done, an' I can' give yeh no higher praise than that."

Apparently, James was as close to Hagrid as Harry was. And that he was a half giant does not even seem worth pointing out, because James is so free from prejudice of any sort.

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3. HE RAN TO SAVE SNAPE, RISKING HIS OWN LIFE

"And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive."

"What's that?"

"He saved his life."

I know, I know, maybe he did it just to save Remus from having to spend his whole life in guilt, and probably in Azkaban.

At the same time, he probably also did not want Snape to die.

And whatever the reason, he did risk his life. If Snape glimpsed werewolf-Remus at the end of the corridor, it meant that he and James went pretty darn close to death.

James Potter was brave.

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4. HE TRIED TO TAKE ON VOLDEMORT WITHOUT A WAND

"Lily! Take Harry and run! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

Seriously. He just wanted to give his wife and son a little bit of extra time to escape. He knew he had absolutely no chance of holding Voldemort off without his wand, he knew he was going to die, and still he chose to shout a warning at Lily, and stand his ground instead of trying to flee.

James Potter was very, very brave. And selfless.

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5. HE WAS A VERY GIFTED WIZARD

"Both very bright, of course—exceptionally bright, in fact—"

This is not really the only proof we have that James was bright, but the most solid proof.

He also managed to become Animagus at 15, and overall it is assumed that he and Sirius were pretty much the cleverest students Hogwarts ever saw, with the possible exception of Dumbledore and Voldemort.

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6. HE TRUSTED SIRIUS WITH HIS LIFE...LITERALLY

"Potter trusted Black beyond all his friends. Nothing changed when they left Hogwarts. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry."

James and Sirius shared an extremely precious bond—the best thing in the series according to me (but then I told you I'm biased for the Marauders).

"Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were..."

Against the light of these statements, James' death seems sadder than ever.

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7. HE WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING FOR HIS FRIENDS

"I thought you'd come and help your friend. Your father would have done the same for me."

Look at Sirius saying this, probably the first words he spoke since getting out of Azkaban. He had so much faith in James' overwhelming nature to help his friends that he was prepared to bet that his son, Harry, would do the same.

Fierce loyalty was probably James Potter's clearest and most endearing trait.

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8. HE STOOD BY HIS WEREWOLF FRIEND IN A WAY FEW WOULD HAVE

"And they didn't desert me at all. Instead they did something that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

"My dad, too?" said Harry, astounded.

"Yes, indeed," said Lupin.

There is so much focus on the pureblood thing in Harry Potter and Harry himself being a Half-blood, we often tend to forget that James himself was Pureblood too. But did he care?

Not only was he a good friend (sticking by Remus even after discovering he was a werewolf would have been being a good friend), he was a great, once-in-a-lifetime friend (you can die if Animagus transformation goes wrong, and he was still willing to do that: just because Remus was his friend.)

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9. HE APPARENTLY TOOK RISKS JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

"You're less like your father than I thought. The risk in it was what would have made it fun for James."

I am not saying that being reckless and impulsive is necessarily a good characteristic—it is almost always a flaw, a dangerous one at that. But you have got to admit that it is one of the most lovable flaws that exist.

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10. HE ADOPTED SIRIUS AS A BROTHER WHEN HE RAN AWAY

"Where did you go?"

"Your father's place. Your grandparents sort of adopted me as a second son."

Imagine the rebellious 16-year-old Sirius, constantly fighting a losing battle against his own family, never having known a parent's love.

But he had James. And he had Euphemia and Fleamont Potter.

They were his real family.

James clearly always tried his best to make up the absence of a proper family to Sirius, being his best friend...being his brother.

"You'd have thought Potter and Black were brothers! Inseparable!"

They were brothers.

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11. HE WAS EXTREMELY POPULAR

"Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best on the school at whatever they did—everyone thought they were the height of cool—"

This was Remus, trying to justify James' behavior to his son. Even in the actual memory in 'Snape's Worst Memory', we see the general crowd cheering for the Marauders. They were undoubtedly insanely popular.

Now, people do NOT become popular without good reason. Draco Malfoy was a bully, but he was not popular, except inside his Slytherin gang, if that. Fred and George Weasley were popular. And not without reason.

Hagrid had also compared them directly to the Weasley twins once.

"Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money."

We have seen only one scene of James Potter in the books, and it unfortunately happens to be one where he had the upper hand on Snape. If that was how he behaved towards everyone, he would not have been spoken about in such high terms by literally everyone who knew him (except Snape, of course).

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12. WHICH PROBABLY LED TO HIM BEING A BULLY

"Right," said James, who looked furious now. "Right."

There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging in the air upside-down.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

I can't really justify this part. He was being a bully at that moment, there's no denying that.

However, Remus had very clearly told Harry, "Snape never lost a chance of hexing James either, so you wouldn't expect your dad to take it lying down, would you?"

Which suggests that there is a possibility that James was not a bully in general; just one with Snape.

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13. HE HATED THE DARK ARTS

"And James—whatever he appeared to you, Harry, always hated the Dark Arts."

James appears to be exactly the sort of person Harry would have been if he was not forced into the whole battle with Lord Voldemort.

He did not stand for prejudice, killing of innocent lives, or causing any real harm to the so-called victims of his bullying. Most of it seems like harmless fun; even Lily admits that to Snape, even though she hated James during that time.

"They don't use Dark magic, though..."

James had a clear distinction in his head about right and wrong, and he had always appeared to me as a good person. In Sirius' words:

"Your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it."

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14. HE WAS ALSO EXTREMELY PROTECTIVE; JUST LIKE HARRY

"But you are normal!" said Harry fiercely. "You've just got a—a problem—"

Lupin burst out laughing.

"Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit."

Making a light hearted joke of the issue which obviously haunted Remus all the time only reveals James' protective and supportive nature.

Since James clearly knew how much Remus valued their friendship, James artfully made it seem like an inside joke, a secret belonging to all four of them—not just Remus—maybe almost making Remus feel proud of their secret.

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15. HE WAS A TRUSTING PERSON

"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin. "who would have regarded it the height of dishonour to mistrust his friends."

That was a definite flaw (again, a very lovable one), one that finally led to his and his wife's death. Even when it was known that there was a spy in their midst, and Sirius went as far as suspecting Remus, James Potter refused to believe that any of his friends could sell him to Voldemort.

Dumbledore himself offered to be their Secret Keeper, but James insisted on using Sirius, and later, Peter.

If only you knew the ways of the world, James. If only you knew how cruel it can be.

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16. HE WAS PROUD OF HIS FATHER, AND CAME FROM A HAPPY FAMILY

Harry, whose attention had been focused entirely on the two beside the window, saw his father: slight, black-haired like Snape, but with that undefinable air of having been well cared for, even adored, that Snape so conspicuously lacked.

Apparently the Potters had James at a greater age than normal, and they spoilt him rotten. And honestly who can blame them? Not only was James about as adorable a son as you can want, he was also very loving, which is clear from this:

James lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

Which also proves his fierce streak of pride at being a Gryffindor.

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17. HE WAS ALWAYS THERE WITH HARRY, UNTIL THE VERY END

"Your father is alive within you, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night."

James was always alive within Harry. Always.

"You'll stay with me?"

"Until the very end," said James.

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And as for the awesome people who judge James Potter by just watching the movies, I am almost sorry for you.

The movies showed none of James' good traits, and only casted an exceptionally jerk-looking boy as the young James Potter for 'Snape's Worst Memory.'

On second thoughts, if someone judges James Potter on the basis of the movies alone, I'm sure they'll have a great black bear sized dog and a not-tame werewolf to answer to.