Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter's Horcrux Hunt

"There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good..."

- Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort

The Horcrux hunt was a mission given to Harry Potter in June of 1997 to find all of Lord Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes and destroy them. Albus Dumbledore began this quest in August of 1996 when he sought out and destroyed Marvolo Gaunt's Ring in the Gaunt Shack. After his death at the hands of Severus Snape during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, the mission fell to Harry Potter to complete. He was joined by Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, and they set off in the aftermath of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding. They eventually destroyed all of the Horcruxes by 2 May 1998. The hunt ended with the death of Lord Voldemort at the hands of Harry Potter at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Background information
"Sir, I wondered what you know about. . . about Horcruxes?"

- Tom Riddle askes Horcruxes to his potions teacher, Horace Slughorn

Obsessed with immortality from a young age, Lord Voldemort created a series of Horcruxes in a effort to prevent his death. A Horcrux is a vessel into which one places a piece of one's soul to protect one from mortal death. Tom Riddle created his first Horcrux around the age of 16, and this became known as Tom Riddle's Diary. He used the death of a Muggle-born student named Myrtle to create it whom he had killed with Salazar Slytherin's basilisk. The following school year, Tom asked Horace Slughorn, his Potions professor, about Horcruxes and learned that it was indeed possible to create more than one. Over the ensuing years using the murders of Muggles and wizards alike, he created four more Horcruxes. These were Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, Salazar Slytherin's Locket, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, and Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. He believed seven to be a magically powerful number and wished to create a seven part soul, but he seemed to save the creation of Horcruxes for significant murders. As of Halloween 1981, he had a six part soul with five finished Horcruxes, but the process had rendered his remaining soul very unstable. That evening, Lord Voldemort went to destroy Harry Potter, whom he believed to be the subject of a prophecy. This prophecy predicted that Harry may be the one with the power to destroy him. When Voldemort's unstable soul was struck with his rebounding curse, a part of it shattered off, and attached itself to Harry. Sometime after his resurrection, Voldemort created a sixth intentional Horcrux by turning his snake familiar, Nagini, into a Horcrux. As of this point, he had an eight part soul.

Tom Riddle's Diary and Dumbledore's suspicions
"Funny the damage a silly, little book can do. Especially in the hands of a silly, little girl."

- Lord Voldemort

In 1993, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was under siege from an unseen terror. The Chamber of Secrets had been opened once more and the terror within unleashed upon the school's population. After several students had been petrified, Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger managed to solve the mystery. After discovering a few cryptic clues and a mysterious diary, they realised that the monster that had been petrifying the students was a basilisk and that the entrance to the Chamber was located in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Unfortunately, Hermione also became a victim of the basilisk before they could solve the mystery. When Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber by the monster, Harry and Ron went to find her. They attempted to give their information to Gilderoy Lockhart, who had been tasked with finding Ginny, only to find out that he was fraud and that he was about to flee the castle. At wand point, Harry and Ron took Lockhart to Myrtle's bathroom and discovered the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. After the three of them entered the Chamber, Lockhart attempted to erase the memories of Harry and Ron. The wand backfired, causing Lockhart permanent mental damage and a cave in. While Ron created an exit through the rocks, Harry ventured deeper into the Chamber.

Harry discovered Ginny laying on the ground and was informed by Tom Riddle, the boy from the mysterious diary, that she was almost dead. When Harry tried to warn Tom of the great danger, Tom explained that he was the great danger, being the boy who would become Lord Voldemort. He then summoned the basilisk from the depths of the Chamber. Harry was able to kill the basilisk with the aid of Fawkes, Dumbledore's magical familiar. However, Harry was badly injured by a basilisk fang. Fawkes healed Harry's wound, but Riddle was still about to kill Harry with his own wand. At that moment Fawkes swept Riddle's diary into Harry's hands, and Harry stabbed the diary with a fang. Riddle disappeared, and Ginny's vitality was restored. She explained to Harry that she had been setting the basilisk on the student population, because she had been possessed by Tom Riddle through the diary. When Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lockhart, and Fawkes triumphantly returned to Minerva McGonagall's office, Harry explained everything that had happened including the diary's possession of Ginny to Dumbledore.

Harry's description of the events and the diary's part in said events piqued Dumbledore's interest. He had been suspicious of Voldemort's experiments with dark magic for years. After years of careful consideration, Dumbledore had come to the conclusion that Voldemort had created Horcruxes to ensure his immortality, but he had no proof. When Harry brought the diary to Dumbledore, he thought he finally had the evidence to confirm his theory. What troubled Dumbledore most of all was the lax nature of the diary's security. As it contained a part of Voldemort's soul, Dumbledore thought that it should have been hidden and not recklessly thrown into danger, risking its destruction. He came to the conclusion that Voldemort must have created more than one Horcrux, but once again he had no proof.

Marvolo Gaunt's Ring
"I was tempted."

- Albus Dumbledore on why he put on Gaunt's ring

Having researched Lord Voldemort's life and heritage, Albus Dumbledore noted a ring worn by Lord Voldemort's maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt. Through the many memories he had collected concerning Voldemort, he discovered that the ring passed to Morfin Gaunt. When he sought out Morfin, he retrieved a memory showing Tom Riddle's discovery of his Gaunt and Muggle heritage. Dumbledore noted that the ring was missing after Morfin's encounter with his nephew. From further research of Tom Riddle's childhood, Dumbledore knew that Riddle liked to collect trophies and surmised that he had likely stolen the ring. As an object of particular meaning to Riddle, Dumbledore thought that Voldemort had likely turned it into a Horcrux.

In the summer of 1996, Albus Dumbledore searched for the ring. He discovered it concealed in the Gaunt Shack. In the ring was set a stone that Marvolo Gaunt stated bore the "Peverell coat of arms." The stone set in the ring was, in fact, the Resurrection Stone of Deathly Hallows fame. Upon seeing the stone, Dumbledore put on the ring in hopes of once again seeing his dead family. However, the ring carried a curse, because it was a Horcrux. When Dumbledore put the ring on, he was affected by this curse. He barely survived with the help of Severus Snape, but had only a year to live. He managed to stab the ring with the basilisk-venom-impregnated sword of Godric Gryffindor destroying the Horcrux within.

Salazar Slytherin's Locket
"You'll go wrong, boy, mark my words."

- Horace Slughorn to Tom Riddle in his falsified memory

During the 1996–1997 school year, Dumbledore began to share his findings regarding Voldemort's Horcruxes with Harry Potter. Using the Pensieve, he showed Harry a series of memories about the boy who was Tom Riddle and the man who was Voldemort. During these lessons, Dumbledore taught Harry about the behaviours and psychology of Voldemort hoping to impart a thorough understanding of the man upon Harry. In January of 1997, Dumbledore showed Harry a memory of Tom Riddle meeting with the his Potions master, Horace Slughorn who had recently returned to Hogwarts from retirement. The memory became cloudy, and Slughorn's voice boomed out of nowhere. When they returned from the Pensieve, Dumbledore told Harry that the memory had been falsified and gave Harry the mission of obtaining the true memory. Months later when Harry did obtain the real memory, he and Dumbledore had an impromptu lesson well after midnight. They discovered that Riddle asked Slughorn if it were possible to split one's soul into seven pieces. Following this shocking revelation, Harry and Dumbledore discussed some of the objects that may be Horcruxes. From the memories they had watched, they deduced that in addition to the two Horcruxes already destroyed there were four more. They also thought that they possibly were Salazar Slytherin's Locket, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, an object that belonged to either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, and Nagini.

In June, Dumbledore and Harry ventured to a cave by the sea searching for a Horcrux. Dumbledore thought that this cave was a likely place to hide a Horcrux, since it was remote, hard to reach, and a scene where Tom Riddle had committed some atrocity. Once inside, the defences set by Voldemort began to act against them. First, a payment of blood was expected to gain entrance to the cave. Upon entering, they noted that the cave had a vast, black lake and that there was an eerie green light shining from the other side. Then Dumbledore raised a boat out of the water, and he and Harry set out across the lake. When they reached the island in the center, Harry saw that the green glow was emanating from a potion in a basin. After trying countless magical methods of removing the potion, Dumbeldore decided that the only way to get rid of the potion was to drink it. He began drinking, but he could not finish it as the potion was causing him great pain. As agreed, Harry forced the rest of the potion down his Headmaster's throat. Once the basin was empty, Dumbledore asked for water, and Harry attempted to conjure some, but he was unable to give it to Dumbledore as it kept disappearing. Realising that the only way to get water would be from the lake, Harry ran down to the edge and filled the goblet with water. He returned to Dumbledore and splashed it all over his face and mouth, but noted that that he felt a cold grip on his arm. Disturbing the water woke an army of Inferi. They attempted to pull Harry into the lake, but he was saved by a weakened Dumbledore. They took the locket from the basin and proceeded out of the cave.

R.A.B.
"It was I that discovered your secret."

- Regulus Black on Voldemort's Horcruxes

After the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and Dumbledore's death, Harry discovered the locket was a fake. The real Horcrux had been taken by a mysterious person who called himself "R.A.B." He was distraught at this news, believing that Dumbledore had weakened himself for nothing and that he had died in vain. Harry decided that he had been taught about the Horcruxes for a reason and resolved to continue Dumbledore's work. When he told Ron and Hermione, with whom he had shared everything Dumbledore had taught him, that he was going to drop out of Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione volunteered to join him on his mission. They spent time during the summer of 1997 researching R.A.B., but they could find no leads. After the Ministry had fallen, Harry, Ron, and Hermione escaped to 12 Grimmauld Place. On their first morning there, Harry discovered the identity of R.A.B.

He had been Regulus Black, Sirius Black's younger brother. He had joined the Death Eaters, but backed out and was killed. After searching the house, Hermione realised that the locket had been amongst the items they trashed two summers previous. Harry remembered that Kreacher had throughout that summer been stealing family heirlooms to protect them. He summoned Kreacher and asked about the locket. Kreacher told them the tale of Regulus's break from the Death Eaters. He told them that he had tried to destroy the locket, but could not and that it had been stolen from the house by Mundungus Fletcher. Harry dispatched Kreacher to find Mundungus. Three days later, Kreacher returned with Fletcher in tow. Fletcher told them that the locket had been taken from him by "some Ministry hag." After he described her, Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew that Dolores Umbridge was in possession of the locket.

Infiltration of the Ministry of Magic
After coming to this chilling realisation, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set to planning. They decided to break into the Ministry of Magic and retrieve the locket from Umbridge in person. After a month of planning and careful observation underneath the Invisibility cloak, they decided the time was right. On 2 September, Harry (disguised as Albert Runcorn), Ron (disguised as Reginald Cattermole), and Hermione (disguised as Mafalda Hopkirk) infiltrated the Ministry of Magic. They soon became separated as Cattermole was needed to stop the rain in Yaxley's office, and Mafalda was dispatched to the Muggle-Born Registration Commission as the stenographer. Harry, now on his own, came to the realisation that their plan had been quite ill conceived, because they had made no contingency for being separated or in fact planned anything once they were inside. Under the Cloak of Invisibility, he ventured to Umbridge's office to search it. He did not find the Horcrux, but he did find Alastor Moody's magical eye on her door. He stole the eye and set off to find Umbridge and Hermione.

In the courtrooms downstairs, Hermione was witnessing, in fact participating in, the oppression of Muggle-born wizards and witches, who were being stripped of their wands and rights. Once she had been joined by Harry, who remained underneath the Invisibility cloak, she convinced Umbridge to reveal the locket. When Harry was enraged by Umbridge's comments about her "pure-blood" heritage, he attacked her and Yaxley. In the fracas, Hermione pocketed the Horcrux and replaced it with a copy. He and Hermione used Patronuses to drive the Dementors back and ushered the Muggle-borns awaiting trial out to the Atrium, where they were instructed to flee with their families. Out in the Atrium, Harry and Hermione met up with Ron and made their escape, but only after revealing the location of 12 Grimmauld Place to Yaxley.

Destruction of the locket


After escaping the Ministry of Magic, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had the Horcrux, but no means with which to destroy it. They spent months on the run and passed the locket between them in order to keep it safe. As they were good people, the locket had a visibly bad effect on the trio. This was the opposite of what Harry witnessed with Umbridge. The locket caused them to become moody and bicker over petty things like cooking. Some time in the fall, the trio overheard another group of fugitives talking. It was revealed by the goblins Griphook and Gornuk that the sword in the Lestrange Vault was in fact a fake. At this, Harry and Hermione surmised that Gryffindor's sword was impregnated with Basilisk venom and that it could destroy Horcruxes. Hearing their excitement drove Ron, who was wearing the locket, over the edge. Ron exclaimed that they had discovered yet another object that they would have to search for and he abandoned his friends in a rage of fury and jealousy.

After Harry and Hermione's disastrous journey to Godric's Hollow, they camped in the Forest of Dean. They discussed Harry's broken wand, and Ron heard his named through the Deluminator bequeathed to him by Dumbledore. Using the deluminator, he returned in time to save Harry from drowning in a frozen pond. Harry had followed a mysterious Patronus into the night and found the Sword of Gryffindor. When he tried to retrieve the sword, the locket which he was still wearing attempted to kill him. Ron pulled him and the sword out of the pond. Harry understood that Ron must destroy the locket since he had retrieved the sword. After a battle with the locket's energy in which Ron's greatest fears were played upon by the locket, Ron destroyed the locket with the sword and returned to his friends.

Helga Hufflepuff's Cup


When the locket had been destroyed Harry, Ron, and Hermione were once again lost for new leads. They spent the next few months listlessly journeying through the countryside in a vain search for more clues. It was not until around Easter that they found anything substantive. After listening to a pirate radio broadcast, Potterwatch, Harry broke the Taboo on Voldemort's name. The trio were captured by Snatchers and brought to Malfoy Manor. Their identities were confirmed, and Lucius Malfoy was about to summon the Dark Lord to the residence, but he was stopped by Bellatrix Lestrange. She saw Gryffindor's sword and assumed that the trio had broken into her Gringotts vault. She separated Hermione for interrogation while the others were locked in the cellar with the other prisoners. In a blind panic, Harry scrambled in his bag for the shard of mirror and called out for help, and Dobby soon appeared in the cellar. With Dobby's help, Harry managed to orchestrate their escape. In the ensuing skirmish, Ron saved Hermione while Harry defeated Draco Malfoy and took many wands from him. Unfortunately, Dobby was killed in the escape. While overcome with grief for Dobby, Harry dug his grave and thought about the events of the day. He came to the conclusion that Voldemort had asked Bellatrix to store one of his Horcruxes at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

Harry negotiated with the goblin Griphook to break into the Lestrange vault. Griphook agreed, but only if Harry would give him Gryffindor's sword. Harry, reluctantly, conceded. The next month was spent planning the heist. They decided to use what was left of their store of Polyjuice Potion to transform Hermione into Bellatrix. Since they had her real wand, Harry thought the disguise would be pretty convincing. Ron was to be transfigured into a foreign wizard they called "Dragomir Despard." Harry and Griphook went under the Cloak of Invisibility. Arriving on Diagon Alley, they were promptly joined by Travers, another Death Eater, who began asking too many questions to be comfortable with. However, they managed to escape Travers and get inside the Lestrange vault, but Harry had to perform the Imperius Curse multiple times to ensure their access without being noticed. Unfortunately, they were detected, and their covers blown. Once inside they discovered that the treasure had been protected with Geminio and Flagrante spells. Harry found Hufflepuff's cup in the vault and was able to obtain it, but they had to escape on a dragon, when Griphook took the sword and abandoned them.

The cup was destroyed the following day during the Battle of Hogwarts. While Harry was searching for an unknown third Horcrux, Ron and Hermione decided to get rid of the cup. They had the inspiration to get basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets. Ron was able to imitate Parseltongue, and he and Hermione found some fangs. Hermione destroyed the cup, and they reunited with Harry, who was on his way to the Room of Requirement.

Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem
"Like it hot, scum?"

- Vincent Crabbe, just before destroying the diadem

Harry had a vision soon after the Gringotts break-in. He saw the locations of all the Horcruxes. He was vindicated in the eyes of Ron and Hermione when he discovered that Hogwarts was the home of one of the Horcruxes. This was an idea he had been pushing for months. They decided to go to Hogsmeade immediately to gain entrance to the castle. They found a passage from the Hog's Head to the Room of Requirement.

Upon entrance to the castle, Harry set off with Luna Lovegood to see what Ravenclaw's diadem looked like, while Ron and Hermione, unbeknownst to Harry, went to the Chamber of Secrets. There was a bust of the diadem in the common room of Ravenclaw Tower. They went under the Invisibility cloak, and when they reached the door, Harry found out that a riddle had to be answered to gain entrance to the common room. Thankfully, Luna was able to answer the riddle and Harry left the safety of the cloak to get a better look at the diadem. He was surprised by Alecto Carrow, who pressed her Dark Mark. Luna then stunned Carrow, and Harry hid back underneath the cloak. Amycus Carrow and Minerva McGonagall entered the common room and found Alecto passed out on the ground. They argued about what to do. When Amycus spat in McGonagall's face, Harry used the Cruciatus Curse on him until he passed out. Harry then left with McGonagall as she prepared the castle for the coming seige.

In his search for Ron and Hermione, Harry ran into Nearly Headless Nick. At this, he realised that the Grey Lady might know about the diadem. When he found her, she was initially reluctant to give him information, but in the end she told him that she had stolen the diadem from her mother and that it was left in Albania where she died. She revealed that only once did she tell this story to someone. Harry thought that Riddle had charmed the story out of her. When Harry saw a pair of fallen gargoyles, he had a brain wave. The diadem had been hidden in the Room of Requirement in the same place Harry had hidden the Half-Blood Prince's book. When he reached the Room of Requirement, he found Ron and Hermione and was told that they destroyed the cup.

When they all entered the Room of Requirement, they split up to search for the diadem. Harry found it, but before he could get it, he was ambushed by Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe. During a brief skirmish in which Crabbe and Goyle had aimed to kill, Crabbe used Fiendfyre, but he could not control it. While the trio tried to escape, they found two old brooms. Harry mounted one and Ron and Hermione took the other. As they were flying away, they saw Malfoy and a hurt Goyle standing in the fire. Harry saved Malfoy and grabbed the diadem as it was falling. They escaped the room and examined the diadem which had been destroyed by the cursed fire.

Harry Potter
"You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make."

- Dumbledore talking to Harry in King's Cross

While the battle was still in full swing, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ventured down to the Shrieking Shack. They knew that was where Voldemort was located and believed that Nagini would be with him. After witnessing Nagini kill Severus Snape, Harry collected a string of memories from the dying man. During a one hour ceasefire, Harry discovered that he was an unintended Horcrux from Snape's memories. In order to destroy Voldemort, he had to allow the Dark Lord to kill him. Harry also found out that Severus Snape was loyal to Dumbledore after all, because he had been in love with Harry's mother.

Harry left the castle under his Cloak of Invisibility. Along the way he entrusted Neville Longbottom to kill Nagini. He followed two Death Eaters back to their camp. There, he willing let Voldemort kill him, fully intending to die. Fortunately, the blood from Harry in Voldemort allowed Harry to survive, while the piece of Voldemort's soul inside him was destroyed.

Nagini
With Harry feigning death, the Death Eaters marched back to the castle and demanded its surrender. The defenders of the castle filed out onto the grounds to face the approaching army. Believing Harry to be dead, Neville Longbottom lunged at Voldemort and swore that he would only join him when "hell freezes over." In response, Voldemort cast a Full Body-Bind Curse on Neville, then placed the Sorting Hat on his head and set it ablaze.

At the same time, the centaurs and other creatures from the Forbidden Forest attacked the Death Eaters. In the chaos, Neville withdrew Gryffindor's sword from the hat and decapitated Nagini, who had been set free of the protection that she had been under earlier. With Nagini dead, all of the Horcruxes had been destroyed.

The death of Tom Marvolo Riddle
"Avada Kedavra!"

- Voldemort's final words.

A few minutes later, Harry revealed himself and faced Voldemort. He explained everything - Snape's true loyalty, Dumbledore's plan, and the Elder Wand's true master (first Draco, now Harry himself). Finally, Voldemort tried to kill Harry, but Harry's mastery of the Elder Wand and the destruction of all of the Horcruxes resulted in Voldemort's demise by his own rebounded Killing Curse.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2