User:Sir-Harry Epic PotterRp

Sir-Harry Epic PotterRp was born on 31 July, 1980, to James and Lily Potter, members of the first Order of the Phoenix at the height of the First Wizarding War. From birth, he lived in hiding with his parents after Lord Voldemort marked them for death. They lived in the village of Godric's Hollow in a home put under the Fidelius Charm to keep them hidden. As part of the charm, they had planned to ...make their Secret-Keeper Sirius Black, but acting on his advice, they changed this designation to Peter Pettigrew, as they thought he would be less suspicious. In a terrible turn of fate, it happened that Pettigrew was a spy for Voldemort. He betrayed James and Lily Potter, faked his own death, and framed Sirius Black for everything. At an unknown time, James and Lily had a short, quick Christen...ing...... for Harry, which Sirius attended. It was quiet and quick, and only James, Lily and Sirius were there.

On the evening of 31 October, 1981, Lord Voldemort arrived at Godric's Hollow and ended the lives of Harry's parents; he started with James, who tried to stand up to him; unfortunately he did not have his wand with him and was killed immediately. Voldemort then advanced on Lily Potter, who died protecting Harry. Her sacrifice prevented the Killing Curse from working. Her love for Harry became a barrier protecting her son; when Voldemort attempted the curse on the child, it backfired, and instead of killing Harry, Voldemort lost all his powers and physical form but was saved from death by his multiple Horcruxes. Harry became the only person known to have survived the Killing Curse. The failed curse left a lightning bolt-shape scar on his forehead. The scar would be a bane and a blessing to Harry in the years to come, as it opened a telepathic link between Lord Voldemort and himself. He became famous even at the age of one for defeating Lord Voldemort. Living with the Dursleys, Harry thought, was the worst thing in the world. As they were a Muggle family, they had no understanding of magic, and even though his aunt and uncle knew about his lineage, they wanted nothing to do with it. The Dursleys considered themselves a "proper" family and hated anything out of the ordinary. They lied to Harry about his parents, claiming they had died in a car wreck and that James was an unemployed drunk. They resented Harry for his magical talents, which were sporadic, but evident. They would not even let Harry say the word "magic." They discouraged any sort of imagination insisting upon "stamping that rubbish out" and screamed at or punished Harry whenever something "unusual" occurred. In his youth, Harry could make strange things happen without understanding why (as no one had bothered to tell him that he was a wizard). For instance, after his aunt Petunia sheared off all his messy hair in fury that it would not lay flat, it grew back to its untouched state by the next morning. Harry was punished, even though he had not done anything on purpose. Another time, Dedalus Diggle bowed to him in a shop, and his Aunt Petunia ferociously interrogated Harry as to how he knew the man before leaving the shop very quickly. he Dursleys spoiled and pampered their son Dudley and paid almost no attention to Harry. All his clothes were ill-fitting hand-me-downs from Dudley, far too large for Harry. He was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, while his cousin got two bedrooms to himself. They ordered Harry around like a slave. In time, Dudley became a terrible bully of Harry. The Dursleys took Dudley and a friend to spectacular places every year for his birthday, but they never threw Harry a party and gave him horrible presents like a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.

There were two benefits to Harry's virtual imprisonment at the Dursleys' home. First, Harry's neighbour, Arabella Figg, was a Squib working undercover for the Order of the Phoenix to keep tabs on Harry's well-being; however, to maintain favour with the Dursleys, she was forced to mistreat him whenever they sent him to her. And second, by returning to live with his mother's only living blood relative, the protection that Lily gave Harry would live on. While Harry could call that place home, there he could not be harmed. However, this charm would be broken when Harry turned 17 years old, or when he no longer called 4 Privet Drive his home. On Dudley's eleventh birthday, the Dursleys went to Zoo with Dudley's best friend Piers Polkiss. Unfortunately for the Dursleys they had to take Harry with them, as Yvonne, Petunia's best friend, was on holiday at Majorca, and Mrs. Figg broke her leg. At the Zoo, Harry accidentally made the glass into a boa enclosure disappear. Harry attended a normal Muggle school along with Dudley. He did not have any friends, since all the students were afraid of Dudley's gang. It is told that he was good at sports, even though he was the last picked for a team; this was more because no one wanted to admit to Dudley that they liked him, rather than because he was no good. Harry got decent, if not good, grades at school. Harry once accidentally turned his teacher's wig blue, and once somehow found himself on the school kitchen roof, when escaping from Dudley's gang. Harry had no birthday celebrations until the day he turned eleven, which was the same day that he discovered the exceptional reality about his identity. The week of Harry's birthday, hundreds of letters began arriving at the Dursley's home, addressed to him from a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When the Dursleys saw the first letter was addressed as "cupboard under the stairs," they panicked at the thought of Harry's ill treatment being observed and transferred him to Dudley's second bedroom, which soon appeared on letters as the "smallest bedroom." When Harry's Uncle Vernon first read the letter, he turned a pale, porridge grey out of fear that wizards were trying to contact Harry. Because of this, Vernon Dursley tried to destroy the letters in a futile attempt to keep Harry from his destiny. As the letters kept coming in increasingly larger quantities, the Dursleys saw no alternative but to flee from them. The owls carrying the letters followed them wherever they went. In a final desperate move, the Dursleys relocated themselves to a shack on a rocky island in the edge of the sea. At midnight on Harry's birthday, Rubeus Hagrid appeared in person to find out why Harry had not received his letter. He was infuriated by the Dursleys and explained to Harry, in spite of Vernon's obstinate protests, that he was a wizard, how his parents died, and that he was to be sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This would be Harry's first birthday celebration, and Hagrid gave him a small home made birthday cake and an owl, whom Harry named Hedwig. Hagrid took Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, where he learned that he was famous. He met Quirinus Quirrell, his soon-to-be Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, the Inn-keeper, Tom, a witch named Doris Crockford, and Dedalus Diggle, the man who had bowed to Harry several years earlier. Hagrid then took Harry to Diagon Alley, where he learned more about his fame in the Wizarding world and that his parents had left him a small fortune in a vault at Gringotts. Harry bought his first wand from the wandmaker Ollivander that day. His wand was eleven inches long and made of holly. The phoenix feather at the core came from Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes. It was crafted by Ollivander, who had also created a twin wand. This wand had been made from yew, and contained the only other feather supplied by Fawkes. This twin wand had long ago chosen Tom Marvolo Riddle as its wielder. Riddle, under the alias of Lord Voldemort, ended up using this wand to attack Harry and his parents. The two wands, sharing the same phoenix origin, had a unique connection which would prevent them from successfully duelling against each other. Harry Potter was further guided by destiny when he met his lifelong best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger while riding the Hogwarts Express. Initially, the Sorting Hat considered putting Harry into Slytherin, but changed its mind at Harry's insistence, as he had heard about the Dark Wizards who had been in the house. All three were Sorted into Gryffindor House on their first evening at school. While Harry immediately took to Ron, he did not immediately befriend Hermione, though he was nicer to her than Ron was. On Halloween, a Mountain Troll was let into the school. The students were sent back to their Common Rooms, but Harry realised that Hermione did not know about the Troll, since she was in the bathroom crying as Ron had made fun of her earlier in the day. Harry and Ron went to the girls bathroom and found the troll bearing down on Hermione. After Harry stuck his wand up its nose, Ron was able to knock the troll out with its own club. Hermione lied to the professors when they came to investigate to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble. From that point on, the three were best friends. Harry discovered at his first broomstick flying lesson that he was a natural flyer. When Draco Malfoy took Neville Longbottom's Remembrall, Harry retrieved it using his broom to fly up and catch it. He was so good that he was able to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team, becoming the youngest Seeker in a century, since first year students normally were not allowed to have their own broomsticks. Before Harry's first Quidditch match, he received the new Nimbus 2000, a top of the line racing broom. During that Quidditch match, Harry's broom was jinxed, and he had no control. Ron and Hermione saw Professor Severus Snape staring at Harry and mumbling an incantation. Hermione went to Snape's row and under his seat she cast Lacarnum Inflamarae causing the end of his robes to catch on fire. As soon as Snape stopped making eye contact with Harry, he regained control of his broom and zoomed toward the ground. On his way, he caught the snitch in his mouth, almost swallowing it, ending the match and leaving Gryffindor victorious. It was later revealed that Professor Quirrell was the one jinxing Harry's broom, and Snape was trying to perform a counter-jinx, much to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's surprise. Meanwhile, Lord Voldemort, long presumed dead, was secretly mounting a return. Using the new Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Quirinus Quirrell, as a host body, he was able to search for the Philosopher's Stone, which he believed would restore him to his body and grant him everlasting life. Voldemort was thwarted by Harry, with the help of Ron and Hermione. Harry, Ron and Hermione suffered a series of exhausting and difficult challenges down in the Philosopher's Stone chambers in an attempt to stop the Philosopher's Stone being stolen. Throughout the challenges the group was picked off and in the final task Harry was left on his own when Hermione was unable to pass through, this left Harry to face Voldemort alone. Harry and Quirrell (who had been harbouring Voldemort with him all year) fought one another and Harry killed Quirrell with the power of love than ran through him. Harry's second year started out badly, and gradually got worse. Throughout the preceding summer, Harry had not been in contact with any of his friends, had heard no news from the wizarding world, and had been mistreated by his family, as usual. The evening of his twelfth birthday, Harry learned that the reason his friends had not been in contact with him was that a house-elf named Dobby had been stopping letters from coming to Harry. When Harry questioned Dobby as to why, Dobby told him that Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts. Harry refused, saying the wizarding world was where he belonged, and Dobby set out to cause him trouble. During a business meeting between Vernon and Mr. Mason, who brought his wife with him, Dobby used his powers to ruin the party, and then shortly afterwards disappeared, framing Harry for the chaos. Dobby's act of magic caused Harry to receive a warning from the Ministry of Magic and to be imprisoned in his room by the Dursleys. Despite their efforts, Harry was rescued by Ron and his brothers, Fred and George. Harry had packed his bags and loaded the Weasleys' flying car. Harry and the brothers arrived at the Burrow in the early hours of the morning, hoping not to be noticed. However, they were, and Mrs. Weasley was furious. Dobby's first attempt at stopping Harry from returning had failed, so he continued trying. When Harry and the Weasleys arrived at King's Cross Station, Dobby sealed the entrance early and stopped Harry and Ron from passing through the wall to get on the Hogwarts Express. However, this did not stop Harry from returning to Hogwarts, he and Ron used the Weasleys' Flying Ford Anglia to follow the train to Hogwarts. They arrived later than they had hoped, but all in one piece; until Ron accidentally drove the flying car into the Whomping Willow and broke his wand.

However, Harry's year at Hogwarts was not going to get any better. Throughout the year, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, humiliated Harry repeatedly by dragging Harry into the spotlight against Harry's will. During a duelling class led by Lockhart, Harry revealed himself to his fellow students and members of staff to be a Parselmouth, an uncommon skill that is normally associated with dark wizards. This brought on a great deal of trouble for Harry, since the Chamber of Secrets had been re-opened, and it was the "Heir of Slytherin" who was deemed responsible. Once the chamber had been unsealed, there were various attacks on Muggle-born pupils, including Harry's best friend Hermione Granger. These attacks were believed to have been carried out by the heir, who many believed to be Harry, but Harry believed that Draco Malfoy was responsible. In order to prove their hypothesis, Hermione cooked up a Polyjuice Potion that Harry and Ron used to change to look like Crabbe and Goyle, so they could try to get information from Malfoy. They learned that Malfoy was not the heir and that he had no idea who the attacker was. Hermione, however, did not join the boys in this adventure as she had accidentally used a cat hair in her potion, causing her to spend weeks in the hospital wing. Prior to Valentine's Day, Harry discovered a diary, and while writing in it, Harry learned that the Chamber had been opened fifty years ago and that Hagrid had been accused of the crime.

By this time, Hermione had a different theory. She believed that the monster responsible for these attacks was a basilisk and conducted research into her theory. The morning Hermione was attacked, she and Penelope Clearwater had been using a mirror to look around corners for any attacking predator. Hermione had done enough research to figure that the Basilisk had been moving around the school using the pipe system and scribbled her theory down on a scrap piece of paper torn out of a book. She was attacked the same day, and her paralysed body was taken to the school's hospital wing.

Still believing that if Hagrid were not responsible, he could at least point them in the right direction, Harry and Ron visited him after the attack on Hermione. From under the Cloak of Invisibility, they witnessed his arrest by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge and the suspension of Dumbledore. As Hagrid was being led away, he gave the pair a new clue. He told them to follow the spiders. Harry and Ron heeded this advice, even though Ron was deathly afraid of spiders. They met Aragog who told them that Hagrid was not responsible for opening the Chamber the first time and that the girl who died was killed in a bathroom, leading Harry to theorise that Moaning Myrtle was the victim. A few days later, Harry and Ron discovered the scrap of paper in Hermione's hand. Harry and Ron wondered how a big Basilisk would go around the school undetected, and then they saw the word "pipes."

Harry (and later Ron) would soon learn that the person responsible for opening the Chamber was in fact Ron's younger sister Ginny Weasley, under the control of a memory of Lord Voldemort by writing into his diary, forcing her to torment and vandalise the school. They also learned that she was being kept down in the Chamber and were told that her "skeleton would lie in the Chamber forever." Determined to rescue Ginny and hopefully catch the Heir and destroy the Basilisk, Harry, accompanied by Ron and Lockhart, was able to locate and open the Chamber using his Parseltongue abilities. Once they got down into the Chamber, it was not long before the cowardly Lockhart attempted to erase Harry and Ron's memories using Ron's broken wand; however, his spell backfired, and he erased his own memory. The Chamber roof caved in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.

Separated from Ron and a now deluded Lockhart, Harry ventured on alone. Harry soon found Ginny's unconscious body lying on the floor of the Chamber. As he hoped she was not dead, he was greeted by Tom Riddle, who had come to a simulation of life from the memories stored in the diary. Revealing his history and true nature, Riddle set the basilisk upon him. Harry defeated the Basilisk with the help of Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, and Godric Gryffindor's Sword. However, Harry was bitten by the Basilisk. Fawkes flew over to Harry and wept upon his wound. As Phoenix tears have healing powers, Harry survived. Harry then stabbed the diary with the Basilisk fang to rid himself of Riddle, not knowing that he had just destroyed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Once the emergency was over, Fawkes flew Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Lockhart to safety. Harry spoke with Dumbledore on the events that took place, and explained to him that Ginny was not to blame and that Lockhart was a fraud. Harry and Ron both received Awards for Special Services to the School and two-hundred points a piece for Gryffindor House.

After interpreting Dobby's strange actions in Dumbledore's office, Harry realised Lucius Malfoy was the ultimate culprit for opening the Chamber. Before term started, he had planted Tom Riddle's diary in Ginny's cauldron in the hope of indirectly opening the Chamber of Secrets. At this time, he did not know the diary was one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. Afterwards, Harry was able to trick Lucius into freeing his mistreated house-elf, Dobby, who had been attempting to protect Harry all year, by giving him one of his socks. Malfoy was subsequently sacked as a school governor. In the summer of 1993, Sirius Black—who had been wrongly imprisoned twelve years earlier for allegedly betraying James and Lily Potter to Voldemort and killing twelve Muggles—escaped from Azkaban. This created a tense climate in the wizarding world, and many believed that killing Harry was the object of Black's escape. As such, he was treated leniently when, late in the summer, he inadvertently engorged his "Aunt" Marge. That evening he ran away from the Dursleys, and after an enlightening journey aboard the Knight Bus, he arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, where Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge was awaiting him. After spending two happy weeks at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry met up with his friends Ron and Hermione along with the entire Weasley family, who had just returned from a holiday in Egypt. That night, Harry overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing and learned of the Ministry's fears that Harry was the target of Sirius Black.

Prior to their departure aboard the Hogwarts Express, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside and in no uncertain terms told Harry not to go looking for Black. Finding only one open compartment, Harry and his friends shared their ride with a new professor, Remus Lupin. The train suddenly stopped well before it should have and was searched by Dementors looking for Black. Harry reacted poorly to the appearance of the dementors, passing out, and beginning a pattern that would last most of the year. The following day, Harry and his classmates began their new classes. Among the first was Care of Magical Creatures in which, Hagrid, the new professor, taught them about hippogriffs. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy had not been listening when Hagrid lectured and was injured by the hippogriff, Buckbeak. In Harry's other new class, Divination, the professor, Sybill Trelawney made a habit of predicting Harry's demise. On the other hand, Professor Lupin soon proved to be an excellent teacher in Defence Against the Dark Arts, where he taught the students how to combat various dark creatures.

At Halloween, the third year students went on their first visit to Hogsmeade village. Harry was not allowed to go, as he had not had his permission form signed. In light of Harry's difficulties, Ron and Hermione, who had been fighting over Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, put aside their differences. While his friends were enjoying themselves in Hogsmeade, Harry visited with Professor Lupin. A few weeks later, Harry played in the first Quidditch match of the year versus Hufflepuff. In the pouring rain and storms, the teams played until the Dementors invaded the field. In their presence, Harry tumbled off his broom fifty feet to the ground. His Nimbus 2000 was destroyed in the process. Knowing that Gryffindor would not win the Quidditch Cup, if he continued to collapse in the presence of the dementors, Harry asked Lupin to help teach him how to combat them. Just before Christmas, the school had another Hogsmeade visit. This time Harry sneaked out of the castle using the Marauder's Map, which the Weasley twins presented to him in his time of need. During his illicit visit to Hogsmeade, Harry overheard a conversation between Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge and several of the Hogwarts teachers. Fudge told them that Black had betrayed the Potters and that he was still Harry's godfather. This revelation caused Harry great distress. To relieve Harry of some of his troubles the trio went to visit Hagrid, where they learned that Buckbeak was to be put on trial, and they promised to help his defence. Soon after, on Christmas day, Harry received a Firebolt from an anonymous benefactor. Believing it to be from Sirius Black, Hermione reported it to Professor McGonagall, causing Harry and Ron to stop talking to her. Following the break, Lupin began his lessons with Harry. While Harry made progress, he regretted his inability to create a true Patronus many lessons in. Soon after, Harry was given his Firebolt back by Professor McGonagall, and Harry decided it was high time to patch things up with Hermione. However, that same evening, Ron's rat, Scabbers, disappeared, and Crookshanks was blamed. The boys did not reconcile with her until after the next Hogsmeade visit, when Harry was almost caught. After receiving a stern talking to for sneaking out of the school, Harry and Ron emerged from Professor Lupin's office to find Hermione standing there looking distraught. She told them that Lucius Malfoy had used his influence and Buckbeak had been convicted and sentenced to execution.

The Quidditch final was soon upon them, and Harry played in the dirtiest game of his career. He managed to catch the Golden Snitch after Gryffindor was sufficiently ahead, and Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. They could not celebrate for long as finals were right around the corner. Harry did well enough in the tests, and following his last final in Divination, Professor Trelawney went into a trance and predicted that the servant would return to Lord Voldemort and help him return to power. The same day, Buckbeak's appeal had taken place in the castle, where the hippogriff was, again, sentenced to death. Against the advice of Hagrid, the trio went down to his cabin to comfort him. While there, Scabbers resurfaced. When he discovered that the Ministry officials were on their way, Hagrid rushed Harry, Ron, and Hermione out the back. While they made their way back to the castle, the sound of a swishing blade rent the air, and Buckbeak was apparently executed.

Immediately afterwards, Scabbers bit Ron and attempted to escape, causing Ron to chase the rat into the shadow of the Whomping Willow. Once there, he was attacked by a large black dog who dragged Ron and Scabbers into a tunnel under the Willow. Harry and Hermione followed them into the tunnel, which led them to the Shrieking Shack. There, they followed the sound of Ron and discovered him in an upstairs bedroom, where they were ambushed by Sirius Black, who was a Animagus that turned into a dog. They were saved by Professor Lupin, but then the situation turned on its head when he embraced Black like a brother, and they began talking about the long dead Peter Pettigrew. When asked to explain, they revealed that Lupin, Black, and Pettigrew went to Hogwarts with Harry's father, James, that they had all become amimagi to help Lupin with his Lycanthropy, and that in fact Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters. This was proven when Black and Lupin forced Scabbers to become Pettigrew. After questioning he confessed, but Harry prevented Black and Lupin from killing him. Determined to turn Pettigrew over, the whole group set off for the castle. Along the way, the moon came out from behind the clouds, and Lupin transformed into a werewolf, since he had not drunk his Wolfsbane Potion. Seeing the danger, Black used his Animagus powers to protect Harry and his friends, but was badly injured. When Harry and Hermione went to look for him, hundreds of Dementors fell upon them, trying to perform the Dementor's Kiss both on Sirius and him. Sirius quickly passed out, as Harry tried casting Expecto Patronum(using the thought that he would leave the Dursleys and move with Sirius to try and conjure it) and tried to make Hermione think of something happy and cast it as well, but neither could do it. The Dementor's were quickly descending on, and as Harry finally conjured a fog Patronus, Hermione passed out leaving Harry to fight the Dementor's alone. After trying to hold them off, Harry was quickly overwhelmed. The dementor's descended on him, Sirius, and Hermione. Then one Dementor grabbed Harry by the throat and attempted to perform the kiss on him. Harry then heard his mother screaming in his ears, thinking that she would be the last thing he ever heard when a mysterious figure on the other side of the lake casted a powerful Patronus sending away all of the Dementors saving Harry, Sirius, and Hermione. Harry then began to think the mysterious stranger was his father when he passed out. Later Harry and Hermione awoke to find themselves in the infirmary and that Sirius was about to be subjected to the Dementor's Kiss. They pleaded with Dumbledore who instructed them that nothing could be done without more time. With this clue, Hermione grabbed Harry and used her Time-Turner to send them back in time. Once there, they hid out until the time was right to rescue Buckbeak, who they saved just prior to his execution. Afterwards, they waited for the appropriate moment to save Sirius. While they sat in the woods, Harry tried to tell Hermione that he thought that his father might have saved them. When she reminded him that his father was dead, Harry dropped the subject. They ran for safety to Hagrid's hut when the werewolf Lupin was on the loose, and Harry, desperate to see who saved him, left to observe the situation. Harry arrived at the lake watching the dementors attack his past self as he watched, until in a flash of clarity, Harry realised that he cast the Patronus Charm that saved his life and stepping forward, Harry cast the Patronus and produced a fully fledged stag Patronus that drove all of the dementors back saving his past self, Hermione, and Sirius. Once reunited with Hermione the pair rode Buckbeak to Sirius's window and rescued him.

Harry returned to the Dursleys feeling as if he had accomplished nothing, but his trip and future at Hogwarts was brightened when he received a letter from Sirius. Inside there was permission for him to go to Hogsmeade, and Harry was delighted to have a godfather. In 1994, Harry, the Weasley family (except Mrs. Weasley), and Hermione attended the Quidditch World Cup. At Stoatshead Hill, Cedric Diggory and his father, Amos, joined them. Once at the camp grounds, they met Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch Sr. and his house-elf Winky, and many other Hogwarts students and their families, including Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Oliver Wood, and Draco Malfoy. They were able to see the match between the Irish and Bulgarian national teams up close, because Harry, the Weasleys, and Hermione had seats in the top box, thanks to a favour Mr. Weasley had done for Ludo Bagman.

The night after the match, while the Irish team's supporters were still celebrating, a group of black-cloaked, hooded figures held terrifying celebrations of their own by suspending the Muggle camp site manager and his family in air like twisted marionettes. On Mr. Weasley's orders, Harry fled into the woods near the camp site, along with Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny. The group was separated in the woods, and in the chaos, Harry believed he had lost his wand. The trio ran into Draco Malfoy, and he all but told them that his father was among the cloaked wizards. Later, Harry learned that Barty Crouch Jr. had stolen his wand from his pocket. While in a clearing in the woods, Harry, Ron, and Hermione heard someone shout the incantation Morsmordre, casting the Dark Mark - a green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth like a tongue - into the sky. Although Harry did not immediately recognise its significance, he soon learned that the Dark Mark had evil implications. Then, Barty Crouch Sr., Amos Diggory, and other Ministry of Magic employees apparated into the clearing and began to question Harry, Ron, and Hermione about the Dark Mark. After Harry mentioned he had heard another voice conjure the Dark Mark, the Ministry employees searched the area and found the house-elf Winky unconscious in the bushes. Since Harry's wand was found in Winky's hand, Mr. Crouch fired her for shaming his family and disobeying his orders. At the Hogwarts start of term feast, Professor Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts would host the Triwizard Tournament, a recently-revived inter-school competition in which the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute would also participate. New rules stated that only students seventeen and older could compete. Also, during the start of term feast, Dumbledore introduced Alastor Moody, an ex-Auror, as the newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. This news was greeted with a mixture of responses, as Moody was known to be a great Auror, a little crazy, and to have a magical eye, earning him the nickname "Mad-Eye Moody." Around Halloween the students from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute arrived at the school, and Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and Cedric Diggory were all chosen to represent their respective schools in this tournament. However, Harry was mysteriously chosen as a fourth competitor, even though he was under-age and never entered his name into the Goblet of Fire during the selection process. Many people did not believe Harry's story, including Ron believing this to be nothing but another attempt to gain fame. This caused extreme tension between the two friends. Hermione, on the other hand, "accepted his story without question," and assisted Harry in preparing for the Tournament by teaching him useful spells, such as the Summoning Charm, which Harry used in the first task of the Tournament. The champions faced three dangerous challenges on their way to the Triwizard Cup. A few days after his name came out of the Goblet, Harry attended the Wand Weighing ceremony. There he was cornered by the notorious Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter who asked him many leading questions and wrote an inflammatory article about him. In the first task, each champion needed to get past a dragon to collect a golden egg. Harry received help from Hagrid who showed the dragons to Harry. Realising that every champion but Cedric had found out about the dragons, Harry told Cedric about the first task, trying to level the playing field. The newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody, witnessed Harry telling Cedric, but did not report him. Instead he advised Harry to play to his strengths, hinting that he should use his flying ability to get the golden egg. Four different dragons were chosen for each of the champions to face. Fleur ended up with the Common Welsh Green, Cedric with the Swedish Short-Snout, Viktor Krum with the Chinese Fireball, and Harry faced the Hungarian Horntail. Harry used a Summoning Charm to bring him his Firebolt and dodged the Hungarian Horntail to get the golden egg. Harry and Viktor Krum tied for first at the end of the task. After seeing how dangerous the task was, Ron, as well as the other students, made amends with Harry, with Ron telling him "I reckon someone is trying to do you in." Between the first and second tasks, the Yule Ball, a Triwizard Tournament tradition took place at Christmas. Ron, dismayed to discover that Viktor Krum had asked Hermione, called her out for "consorting with the enemy" though he and Hermione acted as if they had not fought the following day. Harry asked his long-time crush Cho Chang to attend the Yule Ball with him but was disappointed to learn that she had already accepted the invitation of Cedric Diggory. Harry and Ron ended up attending with Parvati and Padma Patil, respectively. They both ended up neglecting their dates, as Harry watched Cho with Cedric, and Ron was overcome with jealousy for Viktor Krum, who danced with Hermione. After the Yule Ball, Rita Skeeter struck again. She had overheard Hagrid telling Madame Maxime about his family. She then wrote an article exposing Hagrid as a Half-giant, and he was so ashamed that he stopped teaching. Only after Harry, Ron, and Hermione proved that they still liked him, did he return to work.

To prepare for the second task, Harry had to open the egg he won from the dragon, but every time he did, it screeched. His rescue from that particular problem came when Cedric paid him back with the information that he would figure it out if he "takes a bath" with the egg. Harry followed this advice; while in the bathroom, he had an uncomfortable exchange with Moaning Myrtle, and on the way back to the Common Room, he ran into Professors Snape and Moody. The latter informed Harry of Barty Crouch Sr's obsession with catching Dark Wizards. Harry did learn that the second task was going into the Black Lake to rescue "the thing they would miss most" from the Merpeople. Harry's new problem was that he had no idea of how to survive underwater for an hour. He got his answer in the form of gillyweed from Dobby, who had come to work at Hogwarts. For this task, Harry had to save his best friend Ron. When Harry reached Ron, he was shocked to find Hermione, Cho, and Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur's sister, there as well. After Cedric and Viktor rescued Cho and Hermione, respectively, Harry hung around, and, concerned for Gabrielle ("An hour long you'll have to look..."), he saved her as well as Ron, landing him outside the hour allotted, but earning him points for "moral fibre." After the second task was finished, Harry and Cedric were tied for first.

A month before the final task, the Champions were shown the beginnings of the challenge. They were told the third and final task was going into a maze filled with obstacles to find the Triwizard Cup. On the way back to the castle Krum took Harry aside to ask him something. Thinking that this was something important, Harry went with him. Krum then asked Harry about his relationship with Hermione, in whom Krum was deeply interested. Harry told him that there was nothing between him and Hermione and that she was just a friend. He also told Krum not to believe anything Rita Skeeter, who had recently written in Witch Weekly that there was a Harry-Hermione-Krum love triangle, wrote about him. That moment, Barty Crouch Sr. appeared in the forest disoriented and asking for Dumbledore. He disappeared again, when Harry went to fetch Dumbledore.

To prepare for the final task, Harry, Ron, and Hermione used vacant classrooms to practise spells and jinxes. In Divination class between two of these study periods, Harry dozed off dreaming about Voldemort and left the classroom in a disturbing fashion. Rita Skeeter had witnessed this event, and she wrote on the day of the final task, that Harry was disturbed and dangerous. This did nothing to boost Harry's morale, but when he spent the day with Bill and Molly Weasley, they cheered him up when they also came to watch the final task as his substitute family. During this final event, Hogwarts champions Cedric Diggory and Harry both showed supreme sportsmanship and cooperation despite the tension brought on by the maze and agreed to touch the Triwizard Cup simultaneously, planning to tie for first place. They were unaware it was actually a Portkey and were transported to the graveyard in Little Hangleton, the Riddle family's final resting place, where Lord Voldemort was waiting. On Voldemort's order, his servant Peter Pettigrew (aka Wormtail) murdered Cedric with the Killing Curse. Harry was bound to Tom Riddle Sr.'s tombstone and forced to witness a ritual in which Pettigrew used some of Harry's blood to restore Voldemort's body. At which time, the Death Eaters were summoned to the cemetery. After Voldemort regained a full-size human form and explain his downfall and disappearance to his followers, he engaged Harry in a duel. Voldemort then tortured Harry with Cruciatus Curse and then tried to kill him with the Killing Curse. The nature of their wands' mystical connection caused their magical streams to interlock, which created an effect called Priori Incantatem. After a battle of wills with Voldemort, Harry was momentarily shielded by the echoes of Lord Voldemort's previous victims including Harry's parents and Cedric who asked Harry to return his body to his parents, which allowed him time to grab Cedric's body and the Portkey and escape back to Hogwarts.

It was uncovered that Barty Crouch Jr, who had willingly taken the Dark Mark as a young man, was throughout the school year disguised as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Alastor Moody. In a terrible turn of fate, Crouch's soul was destroyed by the Dementor's Kiss from the Dementor that accompanied Cornelius Fudge. As a result, he could not give testimony, and the Ministry of Magic began to dispute Harry and Dumbledore's insistence that Voldemort had returned insisting that Dumbledore was trying to stir up trouble and that Harry was insane. Witnessing Cedric Diggory's murder was very difficult for Harry, and it was not helpful that he was forced back to 4 Privet Drive on school holidays. To make things worse than they were already, in early August, Dolores Umbridge, then Senior Under-Secretary to the Minister for Magic, sent Dementors to attack Harry in the Muggle town of Little Whinging, in an attempt to neutralise him. He was forced to perform a Patronus charm to save Dudley and himself. Subsequently, Harry was formally accused of performing under-age magic in the presence of a Muggle and was expelled, but thanks to Albus Dumbledore's intervention, it was changed to a Wizengamot hearing at the Ministry of Magic. In a further attempt to discredit Harry, the Ministry changed the time and location of the hearing at the last minute, but Harry was able to make just minutes late. He was threatened with expulsion from Hogwarts, but was exonerated with help from Dumbledore, who had witnesses and legal loopholes to help him. In retaliation against Dumbledore, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge appointed Umbridge as the new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher so she could spy on the school. She was later appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor, empowered to arbitrarily change and impose school rules whenever she chose. More over, every time Harry spoke out of turn, or even mentioned Voldemort, Umbridge threw him into detention, forcing him to write with her quill, that scribed a message "I must not tell lies" onto the back of his hand. However, she presumed the message failed to sink in, as Harry spread the word through The Quibbler about the previous year's events, thus banning him from any more Hogsmeade visits. He was surprised when Ron and Hermione were chosen to be prefects, not him, as Fred always expected Harry to be one. It was later revealed that Ron was chosen instead of Harry, because Dumbledore thought that Harry had "enough responsibility to be going on with." Harry's jealousy threatened to affect his friendship with Ron, but he felt better when he discovered that his Dad was also not chosen as a prefect at school. This suggests that Harry's desire in becoming Prefect was to emulate his father who was Head Boy in his day with his mother as Head Girl respectively, not to inflate a sense of his own importance.

Because Fudge stubbornly believed that Dumbledore was training an army to overthrow him, Umbridge had the Defence Against the Dark Arts class reduced to reading textbooks. Urged by Hermione, Harry secretly trained students in practical defensive magic. In an attempt to make light of the Ministry's fears, the group called themselves Dumbledore's Army, or the D.A. Feeling highly anxious and frustrated most of the time, Harry found that the D.A. was now his chief source of happiness, and the thing to which he looked forward throughout his school day. This happiness was felt by most members, as all of them, particularly Neville Longbottom, gained a lot under Harry's tutelage. Cho Chang became a member, and before the Christmas holidays, she and Harry kissed under the mistletoe in the Room of Requirement. This moment was confusing to Harry, as Cho, clearly still suffering from Cedric Diggory's death, had been crying. Cho also had misplaced jealousy towards Hermione and defended her friend Marietta Edgecombe when the girl betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge, which caused things between her and Harry to just "fall apart."

However, Harry took on some much more pressing worries later that night. Lord Voldemort, wanting a "secret weapon" against Harry Potter, had heard of a prophecy hidden in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries concerning both of them. He had been obsessing over the door to the Hall of Prophecy for the past few months, and had been inadvertently allowing Harry to read his thoughts through Legilimency. The link had been growing stronger for quite awhile. As a result, after falling asleep on the night of his kiss with Cho, Harry witnessed Nagini attack Arthur Weasley in a dream, and felt almost as if he was the snake. Realising what could happen if the link grew more powerful, Dumbledore commissioned Snape to train Harry in Occlumency in an effort to prevent further problems. Unfortunately, Harry did not enjoy having his mind peered into and did not focus on using Occlumency, having indeed been extremely curious about the door. During a lesson in Occlumency, Snape stepped out of the room, and Harry's curiosity got he best of him. He looked into the pensieve which contained Snape's memories, and, to his dismay, found images of his father bullying Snape. Snape himself discovered Harry's spying and refused to give him any more Occlumency lessons.

As the second term progressed, Harry's relationship with Cho became more strained. While the two did like each other, Cho was mistakenly jealous of Hermione due to her closeness with Harry, and Harry still felt awkward about Cho's feelings over Cedric. When Cho's friend, Marietta Edgecombe, betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge, the members were all punished and forced to end their meetings. Harry was furious with Marietta, but Cho insisted on defending her friend. This was the final straw; at this point, Cho's and Harry's relationship "fell apart", and the two no longer saw each other romantically.

During the final Quidditch match of the year, in which Harry did not play (Umbridge had banned him for life), Hagrid, who had returned to the school months into the term and very badly beaten, decided to show Harry and Hermione why he was so badly injured. Hagrid had dragged a giant back with him from his mission over the summer. It transpired that Grawp was Hagrid's brother and that Hagrid had been attempting to civilise the giant, but with few results. He made Harry and Hermione promise that they would look after Grawp should Hagrid be forced to leave the school. Hagrid was attacked and left the school during OWL examinations, and Harry never had to go down to Grawp in the forest. Eventually, late in the OWL examinations, Harry dozed off and received a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius and ordering him to get the prophecy. Harry was full of mind to go to the Ministry immediately, but Hermione advised him to check Grimmauld Place first to see if Sirius was still there. Harry used the Floo Network in Umbridge's office to peer into Grimmauld Place, where Kreacher stated that Sirius was gone. Unfortunately, Umbridge caught him and his friends in the act. She attempted to extract information via Veritaserum, which Snape claimed to have used up, before resorting to the Cruciatus curse, revealing that it was she who set the Dementors loose on him. Hermione managed to save him by luring Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, where she was dragged off by centaurs for insulting them. Harry and Hermione escaped when Grawp stumbled into the centaur camp looking for Hagrid. The trio, along with D.A. members Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, who had assisted in Harry's attempt to contact Grimmauld Place, used Thestrals to fly to London. After reaching the Department of Mysteries, Harry led them through various rooms in search of Sirius, without finding him. The group became doubtful until they came across a room filled with crystal balls, later to be known as prophecies. One of the prophecies had Harry's name on it, and he picked it up, much to the displeasure of Hermione. Upon picking up the prophecy Death Eaters appeared, revealing that it was all a ruse to bring him there. Chaos ensued, and all but Harry and Neville were incapacitated in the fighting. Then reinforcements from the Order of the Phoenix, alerted by Snape, arrived to help aid in the battle. In the ensuing fighting, Sirius Black was pushed by a curse from his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, through a mysterious stone arch to his death. Harry, enraged, pursued Bellatrix, using the Cruciatus Curse, but he was unable to kill her.

Voldemort appeared, enraged by the failures of his Death Eaters. For the second time, he attempted to fatally curse Harry, who was too transfixed to even defend himself, but Dumbledore's sudden arrival saved him. Voldemort then possessed Harry, hoping that Dumbledore would sacrifice Harry in order to kill Voldemort. However, Voldemort was forced to leave Harry's body when Harry grieved for Sirius, which Voldemort failed to understand. Voldemort then grabbed Bellatrix and Disapparated, but the Minister and Ministry employees saw him first.

Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore explained to Harry the real reason why Voldemort tried to kill him as an infant. A prophecy stated that he was destined to defeat the Dark Lord, for he had powers Voldemort did not: the ability to love, something that the Department of Mysteries was trying to research in a locked room.

As a result of the battle, the Ministry of Magic realised that Lord Voldemort had returned, and Harry and Dumbledore were vindicated. Serious steps were taken following this change in policy such as the sacking of Dolores Umbridge. However, this was not a sea change as the Ministry still had a mistrust of Dumbledore. In the wake of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, in June, Harry was sent home to 4 Privet Drive for the summer holidays. There, he obsessed over his godfather's death, hardly leaving his room and refusing meals. As the battle had taken place in the famed "Hall of Prophecy," many in the wizarding community including the Daily Prophet began to speculate about the relationship between Harry and that place, leading to, accidentally correct, reports calling Harry "the Chosen One." Early in his summer, Dumbledore requested that Harry join him in some unknown adventure and arrived to pick Harry up on a Friday, late in the evening. However, they could not depart immediately, because there was a piece of business to attend to, Sirius's will. Much to his chagrin, Harry inherited his godfather Sirius Black's estate, including Grimmauld Place and the Black's melancholic and half-crazed house elf, Kreacher. They soon were off, and Dumbledore apparated Harry to the village of Budleigh Babberton, where Harry was introduced to Horace Slughorn. In their time together, Harry and Slughorn discussed some of the professor's old students and the improved security at Hogwarts. When Harry and Dumbledore made to leave, Slughorn agreed to return to the school if he got a raise and a larger office. Following their visit, Dumbledore dropped Harry off at the Burrow, where Harry spent the rest of the summer, but not before informing Harry that he was to be given special lessons by Dumbledore himself. Before the end of the summer, Harry received a surprise when he was made Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Having learned of Professor Slughorn's propensity for hand-picking favourites, Harry experienced this first hand when he was invited to join the Slug Club during the ride to Hogwarts aboard the Hogwarts Express, he did not enjoy the experience and made to leave as soon as possible. Instead of returning to his seat, Harry made to eavesdrop upon Draco Malfoy, who in a meeting weeks earlier led Harry to believe that he had taken the Dark Mark. What he heard did nothing to dispel his suspicions. Arriving late to the Welcoming Feast, due to an encounter with Malfoy, Harry learned that Severus Snape had been promoted to Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. While this disappointed Harry, his career as an Auror reopened, as Professor Slughorn would accept his "Exceeds Expectations" score in Potions. As Harry had not bothered to buy a text book, Slughorn allowed Harry to borrow an old one from the supply cabinet. When Harry examined it, he found that it once belonged to a student identified only as "The Half-Blood Prince." The book contained copious handwritten notes that helped Harry excel in Potions for once. In fact, his skills won him a prize from Slughorn — a small phial of Felix Felicis. Within the first week of school, Dumbledore made good on his promise of private lessons. He informed Harry that they would be viewing memories of Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort in order to learn his secrets and weaknesses. Dumbledore promised Harry that this information would help him survive and would prove crucial to the eventual defeat of Lord Voldemort. In their first lesson, the pair delved into the origin of the boy Tom Riddle in the Gaunt family around Little Hangleton. The Saturday following Harry's first lesson, he assumed his Captain's duties holding open try-outs. After an arduous morning, Harry found his three Chasers, including Ginny Weasley, two Beaters, and Ron had survived as Keeper, with Hermione's help. Throughout the fall, Harry used Quidditch to dodge Professor Slughorn's Slug Club events, doing this because he disliked the idea and because it was kinder than leaving Ron alone as Hermione had been invited as well.

Harry's lessons were quite sporadic that fall, and he did not have another one until after tragedy befell someone at Hogwarts. In October, during a Hogsmeade visit, Katie Bell was nearly killed after being bewitched to carry a curse necklace to Dumbledore. The following Monday, Harry shared his suspicions of Malfoy with Dumbledore during their lesson, only to be rebuffed. That evening, Dumbledore focused on Tom Riddle just as he was on the cusp of his Hogwarts years, and Harry discovered a troubled orphan who consciously used his magic to bully and intimidate the other children. Not long after that meeting, Quidditch season was upon them. In preparation for their first game, Harry replaced the injured Katie Bell with Dean Thomas. The change produced some results, both expected, the team excelled on the pitch, and unexpected, as Harry found himself in a jealous rage after seeing Dean kissing Ginny after practice. The teams only problem was Ron who was suffering from confidence issues. In an attempt to boost Ron's confidence, Harry blatantly acted as if he spiked Ron's pumpkin juice with Felix Felicis. Ron took the bait and played a flawless match; however, Hermione took the bait as well and acted unkindly toward Ron and Harry. While she made up with Harry when he told her of the ruse, Ron's sudden relationship with Lavender Brown led to continued strife. While Harry attempted to reconcile his best friends, the Christmas holidays were fast approaching and with them the Slug Club Christmas party out of which Harry could not wrangle. Since the "Chosen One" rumours had been printed Harry had received an unnatural amount of attention from the young ladies at Hogwarts, specifically a fourth year name Romilda Vane. As Harry could not ask Ginny to the party, he was left to ask Luna Lovegood to attend with him as a friend. This hugely disappointed the gaggles of giggling girls who awaited Harry below every doorway with mistletoe. At the party, Harry was surprised to learn that Hermione attended with Cormac McLaggen, a large Gryffindor seventh-year whom Ron despised and told her that it served her right when he was less than gentlemanly. Later, after Malfoy was apprehended "gate-crashing" the party, he learned that Malfoy was indeed up to something and that Professor Snape had made the Unbreakable Vow to protect him. Harry's Christmas was less than enjoyable, as he was cornered by the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour had been hoping to speak with Harry for months and used Percy Weasley as his in, interrupting the Weasley family Christmas. He tried pitching Harry on becoming the Ministry's mascot, an idea that Harry was not prepared to accept. Upon returning to Hogwarts, Harry's sporadic lessons with Dumbledore continued. Early in January, Harry delved into a memory that all but proved that Riddle killed his paternal family after his fifth year at Hogwarts. Then Dumbledore showed Harry a most curious memory, a memory that Professor Slughorn had apparently tampered with, and he gave Harry his first homework assignment: to get the real memory from Slughorn. After impressing Slughorn using a bezoar in class, Harry tried the direct approach only to be instantly shot down.

By 1 March, Harry had still not acquired Slughorn's true memory and had begun to grow more obsessed with Draco Malfoy. That morning he awoke to find Ron under the influence of a very powerful Love Potion, and he took him to Slughorn, only for Ron to end up poisoned. This was enough for Hermione to overcome her animosity toward Ron, and the three became friends again. Ron survived, but was not fit for the upcoming Quidditch match, so he was replaced by McLaggen. This turned out to be a bad choice as McLaggen accidentally knocked Harry unconscious mid-match. Upon recovery, Harry had yet another lesson with the Headmaster. In it, he was a upbraided by Dumbledore for not completing his assignment, witnessed the young Tom Riddle kill a woman for the famous artefacts she owned, and curse the Defence Against the Dark Arts post at Hogwarts. However, Harry still could not figure out how to obtain the memory and focused on Malfoy. His interest was bordering on obsession, when Ron came up with the solution to Harry's dilemma with Slughorn, Felix Felicis. In the evening, Harry took the potion and not only obtained the memory, but solved many of his and his friends problems, including breaking up Ginny and Dean and Ron and Lavender. Even though it was after midnight, Harry immediately went to Dumbledore with the new memory. It confirmed Dumbledore's theory that Lord Voldemort had created multiple Horcruxes to ensure his immortality. Together, they theorised that the Dark Lord had created horcruxes out of special objects such as Tom Riddle's Diary and Salazar Slytherin's Locket. Before Harry left, Dumbledore promised to let Harry join him if he found another Horcrux. With the memory found, Harry had only Quidditch and Malfoy on his mind. In the week prior to the final Quidditch match, Harry discovered Malfoy crying in the restroom, and a Duel ensued. With Malfoy on the verge of using an Unforgivable Curse, Harry cast Sectumsempra, a curse with unknown effects that he found in the Half-Blood Prince's book, nearly killing Malfoy and earning Harry indefinite Saturday detention. Unable to play, Harry waited with anticipation as he sat through his first detention. When he arrived back at Gryffindor Tower he was happy to discover that they had won the Quidditch Cup, and spontaneously kissed Ginny, about whom he had been think often, when she embraced him in the post match elation beginning their relationship. In June, Dumbledore led Harry out of the castle in search of a Horcrux. From Hogsmeade, they apparated to a sea-side cave, where Tom Riddle had traumatised two young children from his orphanage in his youth. The cave was difficult to enter with a toll paid in blood, and to get to the island in the centre of the cave there was only a small boat, only made to fit one. Once on the island, Dumbledore found a basin that he could not remove the Horcrux from without drinking its contents. Dumbledore extracted a promise from Harry that he would force him to drink, no matter how much he tried to persuade him not to. With this promise, Dumbledore drank, and Harry watched as he was driven out of his mind, but he upheld his promise. When the basin was empty, Dumbledore asked for water which Harry was forced to get from the lake, triggering the Inferi that were waiting there. Panicking, Harry was dragged below, but he was saved by an incredibly weakened Dumbledore.

They landed atop the Astronomy Tower to discover that Hogwarts had been invaded by Death Eaters, but Harry's friends Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Ginny, who had been ordered to watch the school lest Malfoy accomplish his nefarious goal, battled alongside members of the Order of the Phoenix on the floor below Harry and Dumbledore, with some help from the remainder of Harry's vial of Felix Felicis. Dumbledore had stopped Harry from fighting and froze him against a wall, hidden underneath his invisibility cloak, so all he could do was watch. Harry witnessed the death of Albus Dumbledore at the hands of Severus Snape, and Dumbledore's body then plummeted from the tallest tower at Hogwarts. With Dumbledore dead, Harry was free of the spell that petrified him. He immediately set off after Snape, petrifying a Death Eater and seeking revenge. As the Death Eaters made their way out of Hogwarts Castle and on to the grounds, trying to reach the border where they would be able to Apparate again, Harry pursued and faced off against Snape. Harry tried many times to defeat Snape, even attempting weakly the Cruciatus Curse and Snape's own hand crafted spells, all with no effect. In the process, Snape identified himself to Harry as the Half-Blood Prince and escaped Hogwarts with Draco Malfoy and the other Death Eaters. Harry returned to the castle to find Dumbledore's crippled and lifeless body where he was comforted by Ginny. Harry took the locket from Dumbledore's robes and was beside himself when he learned it was just a plain bit of jewellery, a decoy; there was a note inside the locket that revealed the real Horcrux was taken by someone called R.A.B.. It appeared to him that Dumbledore had died in vain and that they had achieved nothing that night. Following the death of Albus Dumbledore, his funeral was carried out. Harry was disgusted to see that Dolores Umbridge and Rita Skeeter had the nerve to attend his funeral, but he did not want to make a scene at Dumbledore's funeral and bit his tongue.

Knowing that he would have to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes and fearing for her safety, Harry took Ginny aside, and broke off their romance. Ginny told him that she did not care about the danger of being his girlfriend, but Harry still thought it was best if the two stopped seeing each other. He then spoke to Ron and Hermione, who committed to forgoing their final year at Hogwarts in order to accompany him, despite his protests. Harry, Hermione, and Ron all remained committed to their goal to locate and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. To protect their families, Hermione altered her parents' memories so they forgot they had a daughter, and with some help from Fred, George, and their father, Ron transfigured the family ghoul to resemble himself with spattergroit. Harry stayed at 4 Privet Drive for a time, but the Order of the Phoenix needed to evacuate him to the Burrow before he turned seventeen. They sent the Dursleys into hiding first; Harry was surprised by Dudley's gratitude and goodbye. Six out of thirteen of Harry's escorts took Polyjuice Potion to take on Harry's appearance in order to be diversions if they were attacked, despite Harry's protests. Harry also secretly thought that he wished they would respect his body more. Upon leaving, the group was attacked by over thirty Death Eaters. Harry rode with Hagrid on his godfather Sirius' old motorbike, and they were attacked by multiple Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. Harry's owl Hedwig was hit by a stray Killing Curse an unnamed Death Eater sent his way. When Voldemort caught up with them, Harry thought this was the end, but his wand acted on its own to strike out at the man who was both kin and mortal enemy, destroying Voldemort's borrowed wand. The chaos ended when Harry and Hagrid passed the protective enchantments placed over the house of Nymphadora Tonks' parents; Harry had broken several bones and was bleeding heavily. Taken inside by the Tonkses, Harry's bones were mended and his wounds were healed, although he was still completely grief-stricken over the death of his beloved owl. After finding Hagrid safe and sound, the pair took a Portkey to the Burrow, where he found a worried Molly and Ginny Weasley. Harry was relieved to see that Hermione and Ron were fine, but was shocked when Remus Lupin arrived with George Weasley, who had lost an ear. Everyone else arrived safely but Alastor Moody, who had been killed, and Mundungus Fletcher, who had Disapparated as soon as the fight started. Many amongst those gathered at the Burrow believed that they had been betrayed, but Harry refused to believe any of those he loved would sell him to Voldemort, much to the chagrin of Remus Lupin. Harry then stormed outside, where he was struck by a vision of Voldemort torturing Ollivander. Once settled in at the Burrow, Harry, Ron and Hermione helped prepare the wedding ceremony of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The day before the wedding, the group celebrated Harry's seventeenth birthday. Harry received a watch from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, a traditional coming-of-age gift, and Ginny gave him a kiss to remember her by in case he "meet[s] some veela" during the Horcrux hunt. At the party that night, Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrived to release the contents of Albus Dumbledore's will. Harry was left the first Snitch he had ever caught in a Quidditch match and Godric Gryffindor's Sword; Scrimgeour withheld this second gift, claiming that it was a historical magical item and was not exclusively Harry's property. Noting that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only students mentioned by name in the will, he asked the trio why this was; the three were unable to give him an answer.

On 1 August, Harry attended Bill and Fleur's wedding disguised as a distant Weasley cousin, Barny Weasley. They used polyjuice potion and the hairs of a Red-haired Muggle boy from the village to disguise him. The reception was interrupted when the Patronus of Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived and announced the Fall of the Ministry of Magic and the death of Rufus Scrimgeour. Chaos erupted and guests started to flee, while Harry and Hermione drew their wands and grabbed Ron before Disapparating to Tottenham Court Road. There, Hermione revealed that she had planned ahead, packing supplies in her bag, which had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. Ron changed, and Harry put on his Invisibility cloak, and the three then entered a nearby café to hang low for a while. Whilst at the café, Ron and Hermione discussed the events of the wedding and Voldemort's coup. They unwittingly broke the Taboo curse that had been placed on Voldemort's name when the Death Eaters overthrew the Ministry of Magic, alerting Death Eaters Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle to their location. After a brief skirmish, the trio defeated the Death Eaters, whose memories Hermione wiped at Harry's suggestion. Harry, Ron, and Hermione then found refuge at 12 Grimmauld Place. Having found no leads regarding the Horcruxes over the summer, Harry discovered R.A.B. during the trio's first morning at 12 Grimmauld Place. Once Hermione remembered that Salazar Slytherin's Locket had been in the house during its occupation by the Order of the Phoenix, Harry summoned Kreacher, and they learned that it had been stolen by Mundungus Fletcher. When the trio questioned him about it, he revealed that it was now in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. On the same day, Remus Lupin had been to visit. He asked Harry if he could join them, but once Harry found out that Tonks was pregnant, he refused. This caused a temporary rift between the two of them. For the following month, the trio would take turns under the Invisibility Cloak to watch the Ministry entrance. Formulating their plans, they managed to infiltrate the Ministry. Using Polyjuice Potion Harry transformed into Albert Runcorn. He searched Umbridge's office but did not find the locket. He did, however, take Moody's eye from her door. Finding Umbridge trying Muggle-borns for "stealing" magic, Hermione managed to trick Umbridge into revealing the locket, and she lied about how she obtained it.

Furious, Harry stunned both her and Yaxley. He and Hermione freed the Muggle-borns who were being held by the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and Hermione conjured a copy of the locket while they took the real thing. They met up with Ron again and escaped, though Yaxley grabbed Hermione’s arm while they were Disapparating. She evaded him with a Revulsion Jinx, but the location of 12 Grimmauld Place was revealed to him, and they were forced to abandon it as a hide-out. But instead Hermione took them to the Forest of Dean, the location of the Quidditch World Cup. After securing the locket, the three friends took turns wearing it, to ensure it was not lost. The locket had a negative influence on all of them, straining relations and causing them to all act moodily and inclined to get into petty arguments.They overheard a goblin saying that the sword protected by Snape is a fake. After learning that the Sword of Gryffindor in Snape's office was a copy of the real sword, and that they would have to trace the location of the real sword, the locket's negative energy pushed Ron over the edge. Harry during the Horcrux hunt after Ron's departure. He and Harry got into a horrible row, in which Ron accused Harry of not knowing what he was doing and not being very concerned when they learned that Ginny had been punished for attempting to steal Gryffindor’s Sword for them, along with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Ron then abandoned his friends accusing Hermione of preferring Harry than himself. Ron’s departure left both Harry and Hermione depressed. After some listless time in which they accomplished nothing, they decided to head to Godric's Hollow, as Harry wanted to visit his parents’ graves, and Hermione had convinced herself that Dumbledore might have entrusted the Sword of Gryffindor to Bathilda Bagshot, a magical historian who lived there and who had been friendly with the Potters and the Dumbledores. They arrived on Christmas Eve. After seeing the memorial dedicated to his parents, Harry and Hermione searched the graveyard for the Potters' grave and came across the grave of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore and that of Ignotus Peverell. Harry was filled with regret that Dumbledore had not shared this connection with him. Upon discovering Harry's parents' grave Hermione called out to Harry and comforted him when he reached the grave. After placing a wreath on his parents’ graves, the two then met Bathilda, who motioned for them to follow her into her home. Believing Bathilda wanted to give him the Sword, Harry accompanied her upstairs alone when she indicated that Hermione should stay downstairs. Once there, she questioned Harry in what he did not realise was Parseltongue, revealing herself to in fact be Nagini, Voldemort’s snake familiar. Voldemort had killed Bathilda and animated her corpse to hide Nagini, who attacked Harry,Nagini attacking Harry in Bathilda Bagshot's house,biting and coiling herself around Harry. Hermione raced upstairs and repelled the snake, while Harry’s scar burned, alerting him to Voldemort’s approach. The pair managed to escape, but Harry was knocked unconscious and such a close call with Voldemort caused the connection to re-open and Harry had a vision of his parents' demise. And in the scuffle, Harry's wand was accidentally broken by Hermione's Blasting Curse. After escaping Voldemort, Harry and Hermione camped out in the Forest of Dean, where Hermione healed Nagini’s bite with Dittany. When they were camped out there, Harry and Hermione read parts of Rita Skeeter's biography of Dumbledore, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore which Hermione had stolen from the home of Bathilda Bagshot. Upon reading, Harry felt betrayed, because Dumbledore had not shared this information with Harry. Hermione tried to convince Harry that Dumbledore had his best interests at heart, but Harry became quite disillusioned. A couple nights later, while standing guard outside the tent, Harry was lead by a silver doe Patronus to a frozen pool into which someone had placed the Sword of Gryffindor. While trying to acquire the sword, the locket attempted to strangle him, but he was rescued by Ron, who had returned through the use of his Deluminator. After a brief skirmish with the locket's energy, Ron destroyed the Horcrux with the sword. As Ron had Harry using Diffindo to crack the ice, saved his life, Harry forgave him for leaving, and after seeing the horcrux torture Ron, explained that he had no feelings for Hermione, who had been inside the tent during the destruction of the Horcrux, was angry with Ron for a longer period. At Hermione's request, the three friends travelled to Luna Lovegood’s home to question Xenophilius Lovegood. They asked about a triangular symbol Dumbledore had left them to decipher in the book he bequeathed to Hermione. After learning of the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discovered that Xenophilius summoned Death Eaters in an attempt to persuade them to return his abducted daughter. The trio escaped the Death Eaters when Hermione blasted the floor open to show them Harry, but managed to keep Ron's alibi intact by using the Cloak of Invisibility. Harry soon became obsessed by the Deathly Hallows. He spent hours each day brooding over the possibilities forgetting about his responsibilities. He came to believe that the Resurrection Stone was enclosed within the Golden Snitch bequeathed to him by Dumbledore. He also surmised that Lord Voldemort was abroad in a search for the Elder Wand. This obsession troubled his friends, and with the drop in Harry's attentiveness, Ron's leadership qualities flourished. After listening to a broadcast of Potterwatch around Easter 1998, Harry determined that Voldemort was seeking the Elder Wand, and accidentally broke the Taboo on Voldemort's name. Captured by a gang of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback, the trio was questioned as to their identities. Hermione had hit Harry's face with a Stinging Hex, attempting to conceal their true identities. After Greyback and Scabior realised that they had caught Harry Potter, the trio was taken to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, England. When Bellatrix Lestrange learned that Harry had been caught, she sought to summon Voldemort, until she noticed one of the Snatchers had the Sword of Gryffindor, which was supposed to be in her vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. From her drastic change in tone of voice and her worries that they would all perish, Harry determined that another Horcrux was hidden there, as well. Bellatrix isolated Hermione for interrogation and torture with the Cruciatus Curse, but Hermione lied, claiming that the Sword was just a copy. Harry convinced Griphook, a goblin prisoner, to support this story.

In panic as one friend screamed in pain upstairs, and the other sobbed at hearing her, Harry called out for help — a cry heard by Aberforth Dumbledore through a fragment of a two-way mirror in the cellar. He sent Dobby the house-elf to rescue the prisoners. Harry had him take Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, and Dean Thomas to Shell Cottage, while he and Ron went to rescue Hermione. On the way, they had to fight Peter Pettigrew, whose silver hand strangled him to death when he hesitated to hurt Harry, who reminded him that he had once saved his life. A skirmish ensued upstairs, during which Harry took Draco Malfoy's wand from him, and he and Ron saved Hermione and Griphook with Dobby's assistance. As they escaped Malfoy Manor by Apparition, Bellatrix Lestrange threw a silver knife to where they were disapparating. Harry was initially relieved to realise he had managed to apparate to Shell Cottage with Ron, Hermione, and Dobby in tow, but was horrified to see the knife protruding from Dobby's chest before Dobby collapsed and died in Harry's arms. Harry decided that he would not build the grave of Dobby with magic, opting instead to manually do so using a shovel; a way of both repaying Dobby's bravery and ebbing Harry's grief. Harry, his scar now burning temptingly, seemed to acknowledge his now learnt control of denying Voldemort's entry into his mind, something he attributed to his grief and love for Dobby. While digging the grave, more understanding came to Harry. He realised that though the Deathly Hallows were tempting objects, Dumbledore had tasked him with destroying Horcruxes. He decided to trust Dumbledore, reaffirming his faith in his mentor. During the funeral, Luna Lovegood gave a short eulogy to Dobby, and Harry managed to say his final goodbye to one of his most loyal friends. Following the death of Dobby, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed at Shell Cottage for some time. During their stay, the trio formed a plan to break into the Lestrange Vault to obtain the Horcrux within, with the help of Griphook. Due to the fact that Griphook would only help in exchange for Godric Gryffindor's Sword, Harry decided to word his request so that the handover would not take place until after Harry had used it to dispose of the remaining Horcruxes. Although feeling guilty for the deception, Harry knew that the sword was their only known weapon against the Horcruxes. The other residents of Shell Cottage could not fail to notice the trio's behaviour. Bill Weasley took Harry aside and advised Harry to be cautious when making deals with Griphook who Harry was increasingly disliking. Around the same time, Remus Lupin came to Shell Cottage bearing tidings of new birth. He asked Harry to be the godfather of his newborn child, Ted Lupin. It seemed as if the incident between them at 12 Grimmauld Place had never occurred. The trio along with Griphook, entered Gringotts with Hermione disguised as Bellatrix by way of Polyjuice Potion, Ron transfigured to look like a foreign wizard, and Harry and Griphook under the Invisibility Cloak. Harry had to use the Confundus Charm and Imperius Curse to facilitate their entrance into the vault, but not before their cover was blown. Upon reaching the vault, they found the Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sustained many injuries in the vault as the contents had Flagrante and Geminio charms on them. As they were securing the Cup, Griphook, believing that they would betray him, grabbed the Sword and ran away, screaming that there were thieves in Gringotts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione fought off the guards and managed to escape on the back of a dragon. A vision from Voldemort helped Harry realise that the third Horcrux, whilst unbeknown to him at the time, Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, remained at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their final mission to return to the school and obtain the diadem, inadvertently tripping the Caterwauling Charm upon apparating to Hogsmeade and thereby alerting the waiting Death Eaters to their presence. Due to the trio being under the Invisibility cloak, however, the Death Eaters resorted to unleashing Dementors into the streets to try to force the intruders out of hiding. Having no choice, Harry conjured his Patronus to protect himself and his friends, automatically giving away their position and confirming their identities (the Death Eaters having been pre-warned that Harry Potter's patronus took the form of a stag). As Death Eaters began to close in on the still invisible trio, Aberforth Dumbledore emerged from the Hog's Head, hurriedly telling the three to enter his pub. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione did so, Aberforth remained outside, proclaiming to the Death Eaters that it was he who tripped the alarm (by letting his cat out) and conjured the Patronus to ward off the Dementor threat; mockingly contradicting a Death Eater, saying that what he had seen was a goat Patronus rather than a stag. The incensed Death Eaters believed this and retreated.Harry talking to Snape in the Great Hall about killing Albus Dumbledore. After Aberforth re-entered his pub and home, he scolded them for coming to Hogsmeade advising them to leave the country. After Harry engaged in a fierce argument with him, he led the grateful trio directly into Hogwarts through a secret entrance behind the portrait of his deceased sister, Ariana Dumbledore. Neville Longbottom, acting as their escort, then guided them into the Room of Requirement, where they were greeted by the reconstituted Dumbledore's Army; most of which were beaten and bruised yet ready to fight the Death Eaters controlling the school. Harry tried to tell them that he, Ron, and Hermione only returned to find something, but Neville contacted other allies with a call to arms. Harry was initially reluctant to allow the others to help, but in an attempt to be a better man than Dumbledore whom he feared he was turning into and some discussion with Ron and Hermione, he allowed it. Harry hesitantly asked the room at large if they had ever heard of any sort of legendary artefact belonging to one of the Founders of Hogwarts. Luna Lovegood then elaborated on the fabled Diadem of Ravenclaw, pronouncing that a statue in Ravenclaw Tower depicted Rowena Ravenclaw wearing a diadem. Harry, having no idea of what the diadem looked like, was led by Luna to the Ravenclaw Common Room to observe the statue. Here the pair were ambushed by Alecto Carrow who pressed her Dark Mark immediately upon noticing Harry (summoning Voldemort), before Luna stunned her from under the Invisibility Cloak. Amycus Carrow, attempting to force his way through the common room door (designed only to open after the door-knocker's question is correctly answered) sought the help of Minerva McGonagall who easily allowed him entry by solving the door's riddle herself; by which time, Harry managed to rejoin Luna under the Invisibility Cloak. Amycus, in fear of his master's wrath suggested framing Alecto's apparently mistaken summoning of the former on the Ravenclaw students; spontaneously devising a lie that made it seem as though the students forced Alecto to touch her Dark Mark at wand-point. In her outrage, McGonagall strongly insinuated that Amycus was a coward for proposing such an idea. Carrow spat in McGonagall's face in retaliation, utterly enraging Harry who suddenly revealed himself while momentarily casting the Cruciatus Curse on the surprised Carrow, sending him flying backwards into the wall where he crumpled and fell unconscious. Harry then told McGonagall about the mission Dumbledore had left him, and she offered to hold Voldemort and his invading forces off, buying him the time he needed to search for the Horcrux. All students of age, the D.A., and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight prepared themselves for the impending siege. The Battle of Hogwarts began as Voldemort and his army approached the outer boundaries of the school. Lord Voldemort, upon arrival at Hogwarts, demanded that the school turn over Harry, and the Battle of Hogwarts began. Harry realised that the positioning of Alecto Carrow in Ravenclaw Tower confirmed the Horcrux's identity. It was the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. After thinking on it for some seconds, he went to ask the Grey Lady about the diadem. From her information, Harry surmised that the Horcrux had been hidden in the Room of Requirement. Harry, in the meantime, was worried about Hermione and Ron who seemed to have disappeared. They had gone into the Chamber of Secrets, where Hermione destroyed Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup with basilisk fangs which were one of the few weapons able to destroy Horcruxes. The trio quickly headed for the Room of Requirement where Harry remembered seeing the Diadem the previous year. However, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle ambushed them. After a skirmish, the entire room was destroyed by the cursed fire Crabbe unleashed but could not control. Harry managed to fly himself and Malfoy out, while Ron and Hermione grabbed Goyle, but Crabbe perished in the flames that also destroyed the diadem.The Trio escaping from the Fiendfyre that was cast by Gregory Goyle. With one Horcrux remaining, Harry, Ron, and Hermione continued their pursuit of Nagini, but before they could go search for it, they witnessed the death of Fred Weasley. This incensed Ron and Harry, but Hermione reminded them that only they could finish Voldemort and that to obtain the final Horcrux they would have to do their share of fighting. They fought their way to the Shrieking Shack. Along the way, Harry witnessed many scenes of horror. On the grounds, Voldemort's Dementors were waiting. After having seen so much pain and death, Harry could not summon the happiness required to conjure a Patronus. Neither could Hermione or Ron. In fact, Harry welcomed the oblivion that would come with the Dementor's Kiss. After seeing the patronuses conjured by Luna Lovegood, Ernie Macmillan, and Seamus Finnigan, Harry summoned the will to conjure his and managed to drive the dementors away. Once the trio arrived at the Shrieking Shack, they witnessed Voldemort order Nagini to kill Severus Snape, as he believed that Snape was preventing him from being the true owner of the Elder Wand. Before he died, Snape gave Harry memories to view in the Pensieve and asked him to look into his eyes.

Upon returning to the castle, Harry saw the corpses of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks near Fred's, and he felt devastated. He left his friends behind to use Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve, welcoming the time in another's head. During a one-hour ceasefire, Harry viewed the memories, which showed him that he had inadvertently been turned into a Horcrux himself and that Voldemort had to kill him in order to be rendered mortal himself. Harry also learned that Snape was Dumbledore's man, because he loved Lily Evans, since before they started school. Heavy of heart, Harry courageously slipped off on his own to carry out this dreadful task. He feels ghostly as he strides through the castle's empty walls, feeling as if he already died. As Harry passes the Great Hall, he could not see Hermione, Ron, or the other Weasleys, and no Luna. He felt he would have given anything for one last look at them, but then he thought he would never be able to stop looking. During his way to Voldemort, he saw the corpse of Colin Creevey and told Neville to kill Nagini, if he could. He passes Ginny, who is comforting a small girl, and almost wishes she could sense him, but under the Invisibility Cloak, this is impossible. As he passes Hagrid's hut on the Grounds, and emotionally remembers trips there, particularly rock cakes, Ron vomiting slugs, and Norbert. Harry then enters the Forbidden Forest, where he managed to get the Golden Snitch open which said on it "I open at the close" and the words to open it were "I'm about to die" revealing the Resurrection Stone within. Harry used it to speak to the spirits of his parents, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who offered him comfort before he met Voldemort and shielded him from the Dementors. As Harry approached the Death Eater camp, he dropped the Resurrection Stone. Harry offered no resistance as Voldemort struck him with the Killing Curse, thinking of Ginny before he died. However, the "death" he met was not permanent: the blood Voldemort had taken from Harry to restore his physical form in 1995 created a deep bond between them, protecting Harry from Voldemort's curse, and his willingness to die triggered protections on the people of Hogwarts similar to the protections he received from his mother's sacrifice. Also, since he had part of Voldemort's soul in him, Voldemort's killing curse unknowingly destroyed the part of Voldemort's soul, leaving one Horcrux left. Harry entered a state of limbo, where he met the spirit of Albus Dumbledore and the piece of Voldemort's soul that had just been destroyed. Dumbledore explained everything to Harry saying that he had "no more secrets from [Harry]." After reconciling with his mentor, Harry made the choice to return to the physical world rather than go on to the afterlife with Dumbledore. Harry woke up, but feigned death. He was assisted in this by Narcissa Malfoy, who had secretly turned against Voldemort by telling him Harry was dead in order to protect her son, because she knew the only way she would be permitted to enter Hogwarts was with the rest of the Death Eaters in their victory march. Voldemort then triumphantly disgraced Harry's "dead" body with the Cruciatus Curse then forced Hagrid to carry Harry's body back to Hogwarts, proclaiming Harry dead and demanding surrender. At first, the surviving fighters were heartbroken, especially Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Professor McGonagall. They screamed at the the Death Eaters in anger but remained defiant. Neville Longbottom courageously stood up to Voldemort, and when the latter offered Neville a rank in his Death Eater society, Neville proudly refused and screamed "Dumbledore's Army!" to the high heavens. Voldemort then summoned the Sorting Hat and placed it upon Neville's head. After he announced only Slytherin house would remain at Hogwarts, he place the Full-Body Bind curse upon Neville, and burst the hat into flames. As Neville cried in pain, a distant uproar came from the direction of the school boundaries. Centaurs, thestrals, Buckbeak the Hippogriff, and the families of the Hogwarts students who remained to fight, plus the shop and home keepers of Hogsmeade joined the fight with a flourish. This distracted Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and Neville able to pull off the Sorting Hat, and from its depths he received the Sword of Godric Gryffindor and sliced off Nagini's head in one swift, fluid motion. Harry slipped away in the ensuing melee under the Invisibility Cloak. Death Eaters started to fold under sheer weight of numbers as the house-elves in the kitchens joined the battle, with Kreacher at its front, declaring war against the Dark Lord in the name of brave Regulus Black. Using his Invisibility Cloak, Harry protected the defenders of Hogwarts from attack. Soon, only Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange were the only two remaining and fighting, Voldemort duelling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley at once, and Bellatrix duelling Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. Harry was torn between the two until he saw a Killing Curse shot beside Ginny's ear, the latter missing death by an inch. Harry redirected his path to Bellatrix, until being roughly knocked aside by Molly Weasley, crying "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" As Bellatrix turned to her new opponent with glee, Molly duelled so fierce that Bellatrix's sneer become a snarl and the floor around their feet became hot and cracked. Bellatrix taunts Mrs. Weasley, before having an insane laugh, permitting Molly's deadly curse to soar beneath Bellatrix's outstretched arm and hit her right over her heart. Bellatrix froze for a heart stopping moment, and then toppled, lifeless. Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last, best lieutenant exploded with the force of a bomb, and Harry turned in slow motion to see McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley blasted backwards in pain, and Voldemort directing is wand at Molly. Harry then cast a shield charm to protect her from Voldemort's wrath, revealing himself for the final duel. Unbeknownst to Voldemort, mastery of the Elder Wand, which he had stolen from Dumbledore's grave, had not been taken from Dumbledore by Snape, but by Draco Malfoy. Thus, when Harry disarmed Malfoy in Malfoy Manor weeks earlier, he became the true master of the Elder Wand. When Harry and Voldemort faced off for the last time, Harry tried to tell him this and about the other mistakes he had made. Harry also asked him to feel some remorse, which Voldemort rejected. Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, and Harry cast Expelliarmus. The Elder Wand refused to attack its master, and the Killing Curse rebounded, killing Voldemort once and for all. Immediately, Harry was surrounded by overjoyed fellow fighters; Hermione and Ron reached him first, and then Ginny and his other friends. Victory celebrations began, but Harry soon grew weary, and Luna created a distraction so that he could slip away to find Ron and Hermione. They visited Albus Dumbledore’s portrait, along the way he explained everything to his two best friends. Harry decided to prevent the Deathly Hallows from ever being reunited again by keeping the Cloak of Invisibility, leaving the Resurrection Stone where it lay in the Forbidden Forest, and returning the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's grave, but not before using it to fix his wand.

When Voldemort destroyed the Horcrux that was Harry, Harry Potter lost the ability to speak Parseltongue, much to his relief. In addition, the scar on Harry's forehead no longer held magical powers, nor did it ever cause Harry pain again.