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"Well, I'll see ya in P.E"
―Harper
Harper Finkle
Harper-full
Character Statistics
Gender: Female
Age Group: 14-15 (season 1)

15-16 (season 2)
16-17 (season 3)
17-18 (season 4)

Birthday: c. 1993
Nickname: What's-Her-Face (by Dean)

Harpel (by Magdalena)

Lives In: New York City, NY
Relationships
Mother: Elaine Finkle
Father: Marty Finkle
Crushes: Jeremy from Science (former)
Justin Russo (former)
Dominic (former)
Boyfriend: Zeke Beakerman
Ex-Boyfriends: Vlad (video game)
Friends: Alex Russo (best friend)
Justin Russo
Max Russo
Jerry Russo
Theresa Russo
Nemesis: Stevie Nichols
Evil Alex
Gigi Hollingsworth
Production Info
Portrayed by: Jennifer Stone
Rachel Dratch
First Appearance: Crazy 10-Minute Sale
Last Appearance: The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex

Harper Finkle is one of the main characters in the Disney Channel Original Series Wizards of Waverly Place. She is Alex Russo's best friend. She is one of the three mortals along with Zeke Beakerman and Theresa Russo around the Russos that know that wizards exist. She previously has an obvious crush on Justin Russo (which was used for comedy on the show) that freaked Justin out. She would get jealous of every girl that he dated/had a crush on. However, she started dating Zeke in Season 3 and 4. She is portrayed by Jennifer Stone.

History

Early life

Harper was born backstage behind a nightclub to Marty and Elaine Finkle, a couple of not-so-successful entertainment artists. Their odd behavior shaped Harper and her fashion sense. She was raised in a circus, which is why things like real magic and supernatural creatures don't seem so amazing to her.

Later she would meet the Wizard Alex Russo in kindergarten and, along with her, would become nemeses of Gigi Hollingsworth.

Season 1

In the first season, Harper is Alex's best friend, although she doesn't know that she's a wizard. Despite this, the two appear to know each other very well as Harper seems to usually be around the Russo house and restaurant. It is shown that Harper harbors a strong crush on Justin, despite his disinterest in her.

Alex is shown that, despite appearing not to care for some people's humiliation, she does care for Harper, when she goes to Gigi's tea party at a hotel with an unspeakable name in order to stop her from humiliating Harper as Gigi planned. Unknowingly to Harper, her magical adventures with Alex would follow to a fashion magazine and a magically brought to life mannequin. Both times she's unaware of magic despite sometimes questioning some of the odd things happening.

Finkle

Season 2

In Smarty Pants, it is shown that Harper is a part of a Quiz Salad team. She is highly competitive and doesn't take losing competitions well, as seen when Alex uses the enchanted pants to make herself smarter than her. Harper supports Alex when Gigi exposes her magical diary secrets, although she doesn't approve of her crush on Dean because she doesn't like his reputation, as well as questions his age due to his facial hair. She also warns her about 'Dean's Corner' at the rolling ring. She even goes as far as to use her job as the chicken mascot at the ring to start the chicken dance to get Alex away from him.

WOWP25

 At a PopCon in New York City, Alex's misuse of magic would enchant a superhero costume which eventually would fall upon Harper's hands. After nearly exposing all of wizardry, Alex tells her that she's a wizard with magic powers, although Harper doesn't seem to really believe it until Alex gives her a cupcake in space.

For the remainder of the season, Harper takes position as Alex's partner in crime despite not actually approving of most of the magic she does, however she does seem to try to help Alex until it becomes too much or they are close to getting in trouble (in which she usually runs away with the cry of "See you in P.E!").

Together they go through things such as bringing a taxi cab back to life, summoning the modernized version of the Roman god Cupid, arranging a fashion parade with the help of a magical machine, reversing a curse that TJ cast upon his ex-girlfriend, and hiring a fairy to work at the schools Peter Pan play.

Wizards-place-future-harper

Jennifer Stone and Rachel Dratch

 In 'Future Harper', Alex finds out that Harper has become a famous author and is making money off of stories about their adventures together. This makes Alex upset with the present Harper, which Harper responds by being upset with her (although she seems mostly confused as to why). While Alex doesn't explain the situation or her anger, Harper is given permission to write stories based on their experiences. Harper briefly speaks with her future self and is given her hat, although she doesn't find out who she is.

Their adventures continue, as her brain briefly fuses with Alex's, and survives an alien invasion of the Waverly Place Substation. By the end of the season, Harper and Justin's relationship would grow from a one-sided obsession to a friendship, despite Alex's attempts to destroy it. Harper's crush on him dies down noticeably, but she still shows jealousy when she meets Juliet Van Heusen. However, her harshness subsides and she begins to grow kinder toward her.

The Movie

When the Russo family is preparing itself for a vacation on the Caribbean, Harper was reluctantly dragged into a skirmish in New York subway by Alex, which almost leads to their deaths. Grounded, Alex later tells Harper that she intends to win the Wizard Competition. She isn't seen again in the movie.

Season 3

Harper 2

In season 3 Harper survives an infestation of monsters in New York, a group of monster hunters trying to arrest her, and helping the Russo with their Halloween party. However, the arrival of Stevie puts a strain on Harper and Alex's relationship when Stevie bonds with Alex over their irresponsible use of magic, and Harper is continuously left out of their adventures. When Stevie tries to lead a revolution against the Wizard world, Harper's belief that Alex will do the good thing is unnerved.

Harper's relationship with Zeke grows gradually during the season from a friendship to a relationship.

Season 4

After Alex gives up the Wizard Competition, Harper tries to help Alex to live without relying on magic. Harper and Alex would later go to an Angel-only club in Los Angeles (disguised as angels) with Rosie and Justin, but their lack of flying abilities causes suspicion over what they truly are. They manage to convince the others at the club that they are angels, but this only lasts for a short amount of time, and they are believed to be Angels of Darkness.

Harperella

Alex giving Harper her princess dress.

 After graduating from Tribeca Prep, Alex and Harper decide to move into an apartment but have to earn money to pay for it. They mount a puppet show but Alex's usual laziness leads to Harper doing everything alone. The two fall out, and so Alex shrinks Zeke and Justin to create her own puppet show. This initially upsets Harper, as she's been upstaged by Alex, but Alex tells her that she's earned enough money to move into an apartment and wouldn't want to move out without Harper. Harper warns her that she can't always wait for things to go wrong before Alex does the right thing, but agrees to move out with her.

They plan to move into a secret magic floor which is run by Gorog in disguise, but Harper has to pretend she is a wizard in order to live there. She is given a training wand by Justin (that can only open things), and openly enjoys having magic, however limited. While there, they hold a party which is overrun by banshees, help a ghost, and tries to reverse Mr. Laritate's zombie transformation. When Felix joins the dark side and casts a powerful spell that can't be reversed, Harper is the only one who can escape (since the spell is intended for use on magical creatures only). She manages to get to the Russo Lair where she uses the Abracadooler to contact Max, who helps her rescue Alex and Justin (who are both still trapped in the apartment building).

In the episode Harpella, Harper gets transformed into Cinderella. The story merges with the Three Little Pigs, but she eventually gets out of the spell when the story ends.

In the final episode, Harper and Zeke are captured by a griffin during the family wizard competition. Alex, Justin, and Max manage to save them but are disqualified and lose their powers. Harper briefly tries to get them to make up after they argue about whose fault it is but doesn't succeed. After the three are back in the competition, Harper is seen cheering them on.

Personality

Harper is regarded as an obedient and smart student, contrasting with her best friend. She always tells her what's right and what's wrong, and is sometimes considered her conscience. She gets very nervous when in trouble or in fear, often panicking or yelling away screaming. Also, her famous line is, "See you in PE!" After finding out about Russo's magical abilities, she would see magic and wizardry with suspicion. As the series progressed, Harper develops some sense of rebellion under Alex's influence, such as when she helped Alex trick Rosie (who they believed was a Guardian Angel) to take them to the Angels' Club, and when she tricked Professor Crumbs into thinking that she knows about wizardry because of him to avoid Alex getting into trouble for exposing the secret.

Abilities

Despite being an ordinary human, Harper has won various temporary magic powers due to the Russo influence. Some of the most famous include:

  • Superhero powers of flight, super-strength, super-hearing and heat vision
  • Wielding a training wand that allows opening things (even if the wielder doesn't have magic)
  • Werewolf powers when she transformed into one by Alex.

She also has various human abilities that are some-what amazing, such as:

  • Being able to make 40 outfits (at the most) in one day.

Appearances

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Movies

Relationships

Justin Russo

Ever since the beginning of the series, Harper has had a very noticeable crush on Justin and gets jealous of every girl that he has either dated or had a crush on. Due to this, she has shown obvious hatred towards girls such as Miranda and Juliet van Heusen. Somewhere along the lines, however, she has grown out of her long-time crush on him, and is officially a close friend of his in "Justin's New Girlfriend". At first, Alex strongly dislikes their friendship, which she thinks of as a relationship, and tries to break them up. However, she fails and they both get back at her by making their life a silent movie (which Alex hates). Her crush dies down completely and was introduced to Zeke through Justin.

Zeke Beakerman

Harper and Zeke about to kiss

Harper and Zeke are about to kiss

Her crush on Zeke might have been spurred on by his similarity to Justin, and she has shown to have a similar crush on Zeke, joining the Alien language league for him and the two have gone on one official date in Zombie Prom. In 'Alex Russo, Matchmaker' Alex puts a spell on them to make them fall in love, which doesn't work in the way Alex had planned. However, it does bring the two closer and they begin spending more time together. In 'Wizards vs Finkles', it is said by Justin that Harper and Zeke are currently dating. In the episode Wizards Unleashed, Harper and Zeke shared their first kiss. In Moving On, while disguised as Juliet, she tells Justin that she loves Zeke.

Jeremy from Science

He is first mentioned in "Harper Knows" when a goblin guard shows up and Alex has to convince Harper that he's just Jeremy from Science class in a goblin costume. Alex adds that Jeremy likes Harper. Jeremy is mentioned again in season 3 when Stevie casts a spell that opens up a hole in the school and an unsuspecting student falls into it. Harper claims that was Jeremy and he was going to ask her out. In "Night at the Lazerama", Harper takes Max's conscience to a planet show at the museum, saying it's not a date, but if they see Jeremy from Science, Max's conscience has to act like he's totally into Harper. She mentioned him one last time in Ghost Roommate when Alex yelled "I found him!" in the middle of the night, and Harper jumped up in her bed and replied, "Jeremy from Science?! This is bad timing, I'm with Zeke now."

Behind the Scenes

  • She is portrayed by Jennifer Stone.

Trivia

  • Season 4 is the only Season where Harper is present for all episodes.
  • She is the only non-Russo to be a main character throughout all Seasons.
  • Her name, Harper Finkle, may be a reference to another mortal companion of a wizard - Harvey Kinkle from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
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