J. K. Rowling
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SUMMARY
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The final book begins with Voldemort and his Death Eaters at the home of Lucius Malfoy. They are beginning to plan out how to kill Harry Potter before he can be hidden again. After borrowing Lucius's wand, Voldemort kills his captive, Professor Charity Burbage, teacher of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, for teaching the subject and suggesting that the end of pureblooded wizards was a good thing.
Harry, meanwhile, is getting ready for his trip and reading an obituary of Albus Dumbledore written by the latter's friend Elphias "Dogbreath" Doge; it is revealed that Dumbledore’s father, Percival, supposedly hated non-wizards and had killed several Muggles, and had died in Azkaban for his crimes. Harry regrets not having asked Dumbledore more about his past, but this is soon forgotten as he is leaving his home that night. He convinces his aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley that they need to leave as well to avoid being captured by the Death Eaters, and eventually they leave escorted by a pair of wizards, though not before Dudley admits that he cares about Harry.
Soon thereafter the Order of the Phoenix arrive with a plan to sneak Harry away from his house without Voldemort capturing him. Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, the Weasley twins, Fleur Delacour, and Mundungus Fletcher take a polyjuice potion to make themselves look like Harry, and each departs with a different member of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry departs with Hagrid and, after being chased by Death Eaters and Voldemort, narrowly escapes to the Burrow. There, the casualties are counted: Hedwig, Harry’s owl, was struck by a killing curse; George Weasley lost an ear; Mad-Eye Moody was killed by Voldemort himself. Harry later has a vision regarding his escape; his wand had reacted with Voldemort’s borrowed wand, destroying it, and he has a vision of Voldemort questioning Ollivander, the wand maker, about why it happened.
A few days later, the Minister of Magic arrives at the Weasley residence to give Harry, Ron, and Hermione what Dumbledore had willed to them: to Ron, a Deluminator (known as the "Put-Outer" in previous books), with the power to douse all the lights in a room; to Hermione, a book of children’s stories; and to Harry, Godric Gryffindor’s sword and the first snitch Harry had ever caught. The sword, however, was withheld because, the minister claimed it was not Dumbledore's to give. The three try to discover the purpose of the objects being given to them, but are unable to figure it out before the wedding between Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley the next day.
Harry disguises himself for the wedding, but during the wedding Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all flee the wedding, first fleeing to a Muggle café. Though they think themselves safe for the moment, two Death Eaters find them almost immediately and attack them. They manage to defeat the Death Eaters, but thinking themselves in danger in public, flee to 12 Grimmauld Place, where they hide themselves. The group realizes that Regulus Arcturus Black was the R.A.B. from the locket Harry found with Dumbledore, and begin searching the house for the Horcrux. Kreacher, after a bit of persuasion, tells the trio that he had helped Regulus in assisting Voldemort to place the locket horcrux in the cave. After Regulus became disenchanted, however, he ordered him to return to the cave such that he could substitute a fake locket for the real one, however, he is killed in the act. Eventually they realize that Mundungus Fletcher stole the amulet and send Kreacher to find Fletcher and bring back the amulet. Kreacher finds Fletcher, but he has already given the amulet away to Dolores Umbridge.
After a month of spying on the Ministry of Magic, the trio try to infiltrate it in order to retrieve the Horcrux from Dolores Umbridge. They ambush three wizards and use Polyjuice Potion to impersonate them. They discover the Ministry of Magic has changed considerably; Muggle-born wizards and witches are being rounded up openly and the Ministry itself is demonstrating its superiority over the Muggle-borns. The three take Mad-Eye Moody's eye back from Umbridge, knocking her out in the process, taking the Horcrux with them. The free a number of Muggle-born wizards and witches, encouraging them to flee the country. However, their hiding place is discovered and they are forced to flee to the countryside, moving from place to place, never staying anywhere too long.
After several months of moving around they overhear a conversation wherein it is revealed that Godric Gryffindor’s sword in possession of the Ministry is actually a fake. Harry hears this and is heartened, and after questioning the portrait of Phineas Black, he discovers that the sword had last been used by Dumbledore to destroy another Horcrux, the Gaunt’s ring. However, Ron feels this is just another thing for them to do and, having been injured in their escape from the Ministry of Magic, he gets in an argument with Harry and leaves, leaving Harry and Hermione together. The two are greatly saddened, but eventually realize they have to go to Godric's Hollow on the off-chance Dumbledore left the sword there for them.
Arriving in Godric's Hollow, the two first visit the memorial to Harry’s family, then the graveyard, where both Harry and Dumbledore’s families are buried. After laying a wreath on Harry’s parents’ grave, they encounter the old woman Bathilda Bagshot, an old family friend of Dumbledore’s who authored The History of Magic. Thinking she may have been entrusted with the sword, they follow her to her house, where they find a picture of the dark wizard Grindelwald, Bagshot’s relative and once, long ago, Dumbledore’s childhood friend. However, it is actually a trap; “Bagshot” is actually Nagini, Voldemort’s snake familiar, and Harry and Hermione only narrowly escape from Voldemort, accidentally destroying Harry’s wand.
On the run for a few more days, eventually a doe patronus appears on the edge of their camp and leads Harry to Godric Gryffindor’s sword, hidden in a frozen forest pool. Harry strips down and dives down after the sword but the locket Horcrux responds poorly and tries to strangle Harry. Ron returns and saves Harry from drowning, and also retrieving the sword from the pool. The two then destroy the Horcrux with the sword and return to camp. Hermione is less than pleased with Ron and his return, but had discovered their next step: to speak to Xenophilius Lovegood and ask him about Grindelwald's mark, a symbol which has shown up time and again during their journey.
At Lovegood’s home, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are told an old wizard story about three brothers who bested death, and each had received a magical item for it, the three Deathly Hallows – an unbeatable wand (called the Elder Wand), a stone which could bring back the dead (the Resurrection Stone), and an Invisibility Cloak that never failed with age. Harry believes that his own cloak is the Invisibility Cloak, and is very excited, but soon discovers that Lovegood has betrayed them to the Ministry; Luna, his daughter, has been taken captive and he believes that giving them Harry Potter would cause them to free her. The trio barely escape from the wizards sent to fetch them, but Harry is emboldened and believes that they need to collect all the Deathly Hallows, these artifacts given by Death, to defeat Voldemort.
A few weeks later, the three are still no closer to finding the Deathly Hallows or more Horcruxes. They finally manage to tune into a rogue wizard radio broadcast, run by people they know which gives news on what is really happening. However, Hermione accidentally says Voldemort’s name and Voldemort’s followers, having jinxed the name, find Harry, Ron, and Hermione and capture them, taking them to Lucius Malfoy’s home. There, Hermione is tortured and interrogated by Bellatrix Lestrange to find how she acquired Godric Griffindor’s sword, believing it to have been stolen from her vault, while Harry and Ron are imprisoned in the basement with Dean Thomas, Griphook the goblin, Ollivander the wand maker, and Luna Lovegood. Harry asks the broken fragment of mirror he has for help and Dobby appears to help him, freeing them. Dobby saves Dean and Ollivander, but they have made too much noise and Wormtail is sent to check on the prisoners. Harry and Ron subdue him, and Wormtail resists strangling Harry. Ron takes away Wormtail’s wand and Wormtail’s artificial hand, made by Voldemort, strangles its owner to death for the mercy he’s shown. Ron and Harry, helpless to aid him, rush upstairs to save Hermione with the help of Dobby. They escape as Voldemort is close to arriving, but Dobby is slain by Bellatrix Lestrange as they flee.
After burying Dobby, Harry and his friends begin planning anew. Harry questions Ollivander about the Elder Wand, and chooses not to try and prevent Voldemort from acquiring it from the tomb of its last owner, Dumbledore. Instead, he questions Griphook about how to break into Gringotts, and in exchange offers him the goblin made sword of Godric Griffindor. After extensive planning, the group goes to Gringotts to see if they can find one of the horcruxes in the Lestrange vault; Hermione poses as Bellatrix Lestrange, Ron is disguised, and Griphook and Harry go in under the Invisibility Cloak. They manage to penetrate the traps and find the horcrux, Hufflepuff’s cup, but Griphook betrays their presence and flees with the sword. Harry, Ron, and Hermione narrowly escape on the back of a captive dragon, but Voldemort discovers at long last that they are seeking out his Horcruxes.
Harry has a vision shortly after the escape; he can see from Voldemort’s eyes and hear his thoughts. Voldemort lists off all the locations of the horcruxes, realizing now they are being sought after and destroyed. Voldemort inadvertently reveals that the final horcrux, which Harry suspects to be a relic of the founder of Ravenclaw, is safe within Hogwarts. Harry realizes that if they want to get the Horcrux within Hogwarts, they need to do so immediately, before Voldemort finds his other horcruxes missing.
At Hogsmeade, Harry and friends are cornered by Death Eaters and saved by Aberforth Dumbledore. Aberforth opens a secret passageway to Hogwarts, where Neville Longbottom greets them. Harry alerts the Heads of Houses at Hogwarts to Voldemort's imminent arrival and evacuation measures are implemented to ensure the younger students' safety, with the older ones able to stay and fight. After saving Draco Malfoy's life, Harry finds Ravenclaw's diadem in the room of requirement and it is destroyed. Harry, Hermione and Ron go to the Shrieking Shack, where they see Voldemort kill Snape, believing this will transfer the Elder wand's power to him. As he dies, Snape gives up memories to Harry, which reveal that Snape was on Dumbledore's side, motivated by his lifelong love of Lily Potter. Snape was asked by Dumbledore to kill him if the situation demands it; the curse placed on the horcrux ring limited Dumbledore's life, regardless. Resigned to his fate, Harry sacrifices himself to Voldemort, and is seemingly killed.
However, Harry awakens and meets the deceased Albus Dumbledore in what appears to be a deserted King's Cross station. Here, it is explained he cannot die whilst Voldemort lives since he used Harry's blood to recreate his body, and Lily's protection binds the two. It is unclear if he actually dies, or it is merely a dream. He discovers he was the final Horcrux and needed to die before Voldemort can be killed, finding that the spell destroyed the part of Voldemort's soul he had inside himself represented by a wounded dying creature. He also discovers Dumbledore himself sought the Hallows, with Grindlewald, for less than noble reasons - resulting in the death of his sister Ariana from neglect. Only Harry is worthy of possessing the Hallows. Harry is given the choice of returning to try and stop Voldemort, which he decides to do.
Back in the forest, on Voldemort's orders, Hagrid carries Harry (seemingly dead) back to Hogwarts to much dismay and shock to those there. Bravely, Voldemort is faced down by Neville, who rejects his offer to join him and become a Death Eater. Voldemort then proceeds to torture Neville using the burning sorting hat - at that moment, the Centaurs attack. In the confusion, Harry covers himself with the invisibility cloak and Nagini, the last horcrux, is killed by Neville using Gryffindor's sword pulled from the sorting hat. In the ensuing battle, Bellatrix is killed by Molly Weasley and Harry reveals himself to prevent Voldemort from killing her in retaliation. Coming face to face with Voldemort in the Great Hall, Harry is seemingly faced with impossible odds - with Voldemort possessing the Elder wand, he cannot be beaten in a duel. However, Harry gambles correctly that Draco Malfoy was the true master of the Elder Wand, not Snape - by Disarming Malfoy, the mastership of the wand has passed to Harry, not Voldemort. When Voldemort strikes Harry with the killing curse from the Elder wand it rebounds on him, due to Harry's mastership of the wand, killing himself once and for all.
Epilogue
In the story's epilogue, taking place 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny Weasley are married and have three children named James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Ron and Hermione have two children named Rose and Hugo. Draco Malfoy has a child named Scorpius. Lupin and Tonks' orphan son Teddy is apparently in love with Victoire, Bill and Fleur's daughter. They all meet at King's Cross, about to send their children to Hogwarts at the beginning of term. Neville Longbottom has become the Herbology Professor at Hogwarts. It is revealed that Harry's scar has not hurt since the Dark Lord's defeat, and there, the story ends.
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