1997–1998 school year

The 1997–1998 school year was a highly significant one. It should have been Harry Potter's seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, however he did not attend as a pupil that year, so that he could find and destroy Horcruxes with his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (who likewise skipped the year, though the latter likely would have been unable to attend in any event due to rule changes). Many staff changes and significant events occurred during the year, mainly due to the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort having control over the school.

Teachers
The staff at Hogwarts during the 1997–1998 school year were as follows: Please note that some staff changes occurred during the year and not every member of staff can be confirmed as being at the school at the time.
 * Headmaster/Headmistress: Professor Severus Snape, later succeeded by Professor Minerva McGonagall.
 * Head of Slytherin House and Potions master: Professor Horace Slughorn.
 * Head of Ravenclaw House and Charms teacher: Professor Filius Flitwick.
 * Head of Hufflepuff House and Herbology teacher: Professor Pomona Sprout.
 * Head of Gryffindor House and Transfiguration teacher: Professor Minerva McGonagall.
 * Divination teacher(s): Professor Sybill Trelawney and Professor Firenze.
 * Muggle Studies teacher: Professor and Death Eater, Alecto Carrow.
 * Defence Against the Dark Arts (now effectively the Dark Arts) teacher: Professor and Death Eater, Amycus Carrow.
 * Ancient Runes teacher: Professor Bathsheda Babbling.
 * Astronomy teacher: Professor Aurora Sinistra.
 * Arithmancy teacher: Professor Septima Vector
 * Care of Magical Creatures teacher: Professor Rubeus Hagrid (also Gamekeeper).
 * History of Magic teacher: Professor Cuthbert Binns.

Significant events
The following are events occurring during the year were known to the average Hogwarts student.

Non-attendance
Although attendance to Hogwarts was now mandatory, many students did not return during this school year for various reasons, including:
 * Not being allowed because they were Muggle-borns.
 * Having spattergroit, a contagious illness caught by Ron Weasley (Ron was actually quite well, he disguised the Weasley family ghoul to look like him so that he could help Harry Potter search for Horcruxes, though this is the only known occurrence of this).
 * Harry Potter obviously could not return to Hogwarts, as he would have been given to Lord Voldemort before he entered the doors. Regardless, Harry chose not to return as he was searching out Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.

The Battle of Hogwarts
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger Apparated into the main street of the village of Hogsmeade while wearing Harry's Cloak of Invisibility and were immediately detected by a group of Death Eaters due to the fact that they had triggered a Caterwauling Charm. They all tried to Apparate but they had been trapped because they had been bound by an anti-Apparation charm. The Death Eaters tried to reveal their whereabouts by Summoning the Cloak of Invisibility. The cloak, however, refused to be moved due to the fact that it was the cloak of legend from The Tale of the Three Brothers. The Death Eaters then sent Dementors to locate Harry so he had to produce a Patronus to send them away. Aberforth Dumbledore then hid them in the Hog's Head while he told the Death Eaters that he had produced the Patronus and had set off the Caterwauling Charm by letting his cat out. Aberforth led Harry, Ron and Hermione to a secret passage from his pub to the Room of Requirement where members of Dumbledore's Army had been hiding all year. Neville Longbottom came out of the passage and took them to Hogwarts.

Arrival at Hogwarts
When Neville Longbottom arrived at the Room of Requirement with Harry, Hermione and Ron, all the members of Dumbledore's Army who were hiding from the Carrows and Snape thought they had come back to fight the Death Eaters and Voldemort so they sent messages to many other former Hogwarts students, including many original members of Dumbledore's Army. Harry however informed them that they had come to search Hogwarts for Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem and that Lord Voldemort was on the way to try and stop them.

Uprising
The trio split up once they had entered Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione travelled down into the Chamber of Secrets to obtain Basilisk venom filled fangs to destroy Helga Hufflepuff's Cup and any future Horcruxes that are found, while Harry went with Luna Lovegood to the Ravenclaw Common Room to have a look at a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw wearing her diadem. Alecto Carrow, the Muggle Studies teacher and Death Eater, appeared while the two were searching the room, but Luna Lovegood neutralised her. Minerva McGonagall arrived and summoned the other Heads of Houses. She then engaged in a fierce duel with Severus Snape and moments later Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout showed up, the three succeeded in driving Snape away. The students and staff gathered in the Great Hall as the rest of the Death Eaters arrived at the gates, accompanied by Voldemort himself.

Hogwarts was fortified for the coming attack. Order of the Phoenix members arrived, also summoned by Neville Longbottom. Students old enough to fight stayed and younger students were evacuated by Poppy Pomfrey and Argus Filch. Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout took groups of students to the tallest towers while Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt took others onto the Grounds. Fred and George Weasley defended Hogwarts' secret passages.

First part of the battle
Voldemort magically magnified his voice so it was heard throughout Hogwarts and Hogsmeade to give those inside the castle the chance to hand Harry over to him or his Death Eaters and dark creatures would attack. When Pansy Parkinson suggested that they take the deal, practically every student, excluding the Slytherin students, in the hall threatened to curse her, and she was instructed to leave by Minerva McGonagall. Those not willing to fight or not of age (older than 17 years) were sent out of the school through the Hog's Head, particularly the students of Slytherin (who were sent out first).

Hogwarts was able to fend off the Death Eaters using an array of tactics, including mandrakes and other magical plants, bewitched armoured suits, and wand duels. The Death Eaters stormed Hogwarts, however, with the aid of the Acromantulas, Giants, Aurors and Ministry of Magic officials. It was in this part of the battle that Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were killed by Death Eaters.

Room of Requirement
Harry, Ron, and Hermione found Ravenclaw's Diadem in the Room of Hidden Things transformation of the Room of Requirement. But before they could remove or destroy it, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle arrived. Crabbe tried to kill Ron and Hermione with Killing Curses and accidentally destroyed Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem with Fiendfyre, also killing himself in the process.

Sacrifice
"If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste... I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour... I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you... I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

- Voldemort orders the one-hour ceasefire and retreat



Using his connection with Voldemort's mind, Harry uncovered Voldemort's whereabouts in the Shrieking Shack. It was there that Harry witnessed Voldemort order Nagini to murder Severus Snape, believing that unless Snape was killed by him, he would not gain mastery over the Elder Wand. Snape's dying act was to pass on several of his memories to Harry. At this point, Voldemort ordered an hour-long ceasefire, with the request that Harry be turned over to his custody. If they did not turn him over, Voldemort declared he would personally enter the battle.

After viewing Snape's memories which revealed that Harry himself was, in fact, a Horcrux and that he needed to be killed for Lord Voldemort to die, Harry went into the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice himself. Before doing so, he used the Resurrection Stone to bring back his parents, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin for emotional support. Due to Voldemort's use of Harry's blood in the process of creating himself a new body in 1995 in the Little Hangleton graveyard, Harry survived the Killing Curse from Voldemort although he was briefly knocked unconscious.

In those unconscious moments, Harry spoke to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore, who explained that the bit of Voldemort's soul inside of Harry was gone, and he could choose to go back to the world of the living or go on into the world of the dead. Harry accepted the choice to return, and feigned death while Voldemort's forces cheered in assumed victory.

Fall of the Dark Lord
After waking, Harry discovered that Voldemort had also been unconscious during those brief moments. Voldemort suffered an additional betrayal when Narcissa Malfoy volunteered to confirm that Harry was dead, when she truly only wanted to get close enough to him to ask if her son, Draco Malfoy was still alive. Upon learning of Draco's survival, Narcissa lied to the Dark Lord, saying that Harry Potter was in fact dead. After Rubeus Hagrid carried Harry's "corpse" back to Hogwarts, guided by the Death Eaters walking in a victory march, Neville Longbottom openly defied Lord Voldemort. The Dark Lord placed a spell on Neville, freezing him to the spot, placed the Sorting Hat atop his head, and set it aflame.

The centaurs and Grawp then attacked the Death Eaters, giving Harry time to disappear under his Invisibility Cloak in the confusion. Neville broke free of Voldemort's curse and pulled Godric Gryffindor's Sword from the Sorting Hat. In one stroke, Neville used the blade to behead Nagini, thus destroying the last of Voldemort's Horcruxes and rendering him mortal. Voldemort, alongside his now weakened army, forced his way into Hogwarts.

Additional Hogwarts allies arrived at this time: legions of knife-wielding house-elves led by Kreacher; the residents of Hogsmeade and the friends and families of every remaining student, all led by Charlie Weasley and Professor Slughorn. A flock of Thestrals led by Buckbeak, and the centaurs also threw themselves into the battle.

In the midst of all the chaos, Harry, hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, was buffeted into the Great Hall. Outnumbered and surrounded by people and creatures from both sides, the Death Eaters were cut down or run off by the forces of Hogwarts until only Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort remained. Bellatrix was killed by Molly Weasley, with whom she briefly dueled. Voldemort was furious at the loss of his best and last lieutenant, but Harry cast a Shield Charm between Molly and Voldemort before the latter could raise his wand. Harry then revealed himself to the survivors, giving them hope again.

The cheering crowd retreated to the walls of the hall and watched then as the two great enemies, Voldemort and Harry, bantered and circled each other. Harry revealed to Voldemort that Snape had always been a spy for Dumbledore, ever since Voldemort threatened Lily Potter's life. Harry also revealed that Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. It had been Draco Malfoy that was the rightful master, and that Harry had defeated Malfoy weeks ago, thereby gaining the allegiance of the Elder Wand.

Harry dared Voldemort to feel remorse, to which Voldemort instantly responded by casting a Killing Curse with the Elder Wand. Harry simultaneously cast his own Expelliarmus spell using Draco Malfoy's wand. However, because the Elder Wand rightfully belonged to Harry, the Killing Curse rebounded at Voldemort and ended his life once and for all. The Second Wizarding War had ended with a decisive victory for the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army.