I believe that he was a good character that they scrapped far to early. If that's what you mean by a "wasted character" then, yes, I agree. He was a strong character, one many of us had high hopes for, but his ROLE wasn't wasted. He was there long enough for Harry to get attatched. Then, for him to die... well, that gave Harry the push he needed to start thinking about the war against
Voldemort ...