Second Wizarding War

The Second Wizarding War refers to the conflicts stemming from the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort's second rise to power after his return in 1995. Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, waged violent chaos across both the wizard and Muggle communities, seeking to topple the Ministry of Magic and subjugate Muggle-borns, with the eventual goal of conquering the entire Wizarding World, and the Muggle world along with it. Harry Potter, prophesied as the "Chosen One" capable of bringing an end to Voldemort's power, took an active role in this war, alongside his peers in Dumbledore's Army and the members of the Order of the Phoenix. The Second War technically began in June of 1995, though was not officially announced by the Ministry until June of 1996, and ended on May 2, 1998, at the death of the Dark Lord.

Background
"Even my parents, they're Muggles, know something's going on."

- Hermione Granger

The First Wizarding War was fought for approximately eleven years, from 1970 to 1981. It included Lord Voldemort's rise to power, the induction of the Death Eaters, and the mass chaos that resulted in his reign of terror.

Several great wizards were murdered in this time - brothers Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Marlene McKinnon, the Bones family, and Harry Potter's parents, James and Lily Potter. Others, such as Frank and Alice Longbottom, were permanently injured, to the extent that they could no longer perform magic.

On October 31, 1981, Voldemort attacked the home of James and Lily Potter in hopes of preventing the prophecy regarding his downfall from ever coming to fruition. However, his Killing Curse on Harry backfired, due to the sacrifice Harry's mother made for him, and Voldemort, having lost his physical body and magical powers, fled to a forest in Albania as a wisp of a shattered soul. The fragments of his soul stored in his Horcruxes (see below) prevented his actual death, which should have occurred when the Killing Curse backfired. Death Eaters were arrested by the Ministry of Magic; others claimed they had been enslaved by the Imperius Curse. The First Wizarding War ended and peace was temporarily restored to the wizarding world.

There was much speculation afterwards concerning Voldemort's survival. Only Albus Dumbledore had any confirmation he was in Albania. However, some, including Rubeus Hagrid, believed he was still alive, as he "wasn't human enough to die." Because Dumbledore strongly suspected that the worst was not over, Harry Potter was taken into the care of his Muggle relatives, the Dursleys. Dumbledore placed a protective charm on their home which would expire on Harry's seventeenth birthday.

1991-1992
Lord Voldemort waited patiently for ten years in Albania for one of his servants to come to his aid. He inhabited the bodies of snakes and other animals to keep himself mobile, but it wasn't until 1991, when Hogwarts professor Quirinus Quirrell visited Albania and was taken in by Voldemort's charisma. Voldemort possessed Quirrell and lived on the back of his head like a parasite, forcing Quirrell to feed off unicorn blood to give him strength. Voldemort attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone from Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and later Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but was thwarted by the wit and courage of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Voldemort's soul then fled back to Albania, leaving a terribly weakened Quirrell to eventually die.

During that year, Ronan and Bane the Centaurs predicted through Astrology that since the planet Mars was shining directly above Scotland, war would come soon.

1992-1993
Before his first downfall, Voldemort had created numerous fragments of his soul which he embedded into Horcruxes. He did this out of his terror and paranoia of death. One such Horcrux was Tom Riddle's Diary, which Voldemort, through his servant Lucius Malfoy (who was ignorant of the diary's true form, not recognizing it as a horcrux but thinking it was some obscure Dark object his master had created), tried to use it to regain a physical form in 1992. This time his unsuspecting victim was Ginny Weasley, who unwittingly allowed the diary to siphon life from her to the preserved memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle. However once again this plot was foiled by Harry Potter and his friends.

1993-1994
In 1994, Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, was revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, longtime Death Eater and servant of Lord Voldemort. He had been hiding in his Animagus form of a rat since shortly after betraying the Potters' to their deaths in 1981. His disguise was discovered by the part-Kneazle Crookshanks, Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban in the Animagus form of a black dog named Padfoot, and Remus Lupin. Though not from lack of trying, Harry Potter failed to successfully turn Pettigrew over to the Ministry, and he escaped to return to service to Voldemort.

Return of the Dark Lord


"Don't you turn your back at me, Harry Potter! I want you to look at me when I kill you! I want to see the light leave your eyes!"

- Voldemort before the Duel in Little Hangleton

There were casualties which went unnoticed by most. Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry of Magic official at the Department of International Magical Cooperation, was captured by Peter Pettigrew during her vacation to Albania in summer of 1994. She was interrogated for information on the Triwizard Tournament and then murdered with the Killing Curse. Frank Bryce, Muggle caretaker of the Riddle family mansion, was murdered by Lord Voldemort with the Killing Curse on August 20th, 1994, after overhearing Voldemort's plans to murder Harry Potter.

Barty Crouch Sr., head of the Department of Magical Cooperation at the Ministry, was murdered by his son Barty Crouch, Jr in May of 1995. Barty had been previously incarcerated in Azkaban for the crime of torturing the aforementioned Longbottoms with the Cruciatus Curse. Later, his father smuggled him out of prison to fulfil the dying wish of Mrs Crouch. However, Barty broke free of his father's Imperius Curse, murdered him, and took up the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, with an elaborate scheme to take on the identity of Alastor Moody. When his scheme fell apart in the eleventh hour, his soul was destroyed with a Dementor's Kiss.

At that same time, Cedric Diggory was murdered by Peter Pettigrew, who used the Killing Curse on Voldemort's orders, with Voldemort's yew wand. Through a spell and potion, Voldemort regained physical form and attempted to duel Harry Potter. He failed, as the "echoes" of his previous victims, including James and Lily Potter, Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, and Frank Bryce came to the scene at the accidental summoning of Priori Incantatem. They held back Voldemort's spell's power, allowing Harry to escape using the Triwizard Cup as a portkey back to Hogwarts.

The Battle of the Department of Mysteries (1996)


"Things aren't going at all well with the Order...and these disappearances are just how it started before. Voldemort is on the move."

- Sirius Black to Harry Potter, pointed out the comparison of the First War and the events in 1996.

After the Death Eaters made two unsuccessful attempts to steal a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, it was realized that only those who were involved in the prophecy could remove them from the shelves in the Hall of Prophecy. Thus, in June 1996, Lord Voldemort used his connection to Harry Potter to send him a fake vision of his godfather, Sirius Black, being tortured.

Harry and fellow Dumbledore's Army members Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley, flew on Thestrals to the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry of Magic building to try to rescue Sirius. After obtaining the "Dark Lord's prophecy", they were confronted by Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Crabbe, Nott, Avery, Jr., Augustus Rookwood, Walden Macnair, Jugson, Antonin Dolohov, Mulciber, and the group leader Lucius Malfoy.

The D.A. students quickly distracted the Death Eaters, scattering throughout the Department of Mysteries, and frequently encountering and dueling with the dark wizards. Hermione, Luna, Ron and Ginny were all incapacitated as well as numerous Death Eaters, but there were no fatalities until five members from the Order of the Phoenix — Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, and Alastor Moody — arrived. They battled the Death Eaters before Bellatrix Lestrange suddenly blasted Sirius Black with her wand, causing him to fall and disappear through a mysterious veiled arch, killing him instantly. Soon afterwards, Albus Dumbledore appeared and captured all the Death Eaters except Bellatrix, through the use of an anti-disapparition jinx. He then came across Lord Voldemort himself. The two engaged in a duel of epic proportions which left the fountain of magical brethren in ruins. When an army of more Aurors arrived, Voldemort hastily fled, thus ending the battle.

The Battle of the Astronomy Tower (1997)


There were numerous casualties of war in 1996. When Minister Cornelius Fudge refused to surrender the Ministry, Voldemort destroyed both the Brockdale and the Millennium Bridge, drowning many Muggles. Florean Fortescue and Ollivander both went missing. Ollivander's shop was emptied, but there was no sign of struggle. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour showed evidence of a struggle or fight, but no sign of him was ever found. A man named Octavius Pepper disappeared in the early spring. Igor Karkaroff was found dead under a Dark Mark after he deserted Voldemort. Order of the Phoenix member Emmeline Vance, and Head of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Bones were murdered by unknown assailants. These events allowed Head of the Auror Office Rufus Scrimgeour to replace Fudge as the new Minister for Magic.

During this time, Voldemort also gathered the strengths of the Giants, Dementors, and werewolves to his cause.

At the close of the Hogwarts school year in June 1997, Albus Dumbledore was slain by Severus Snape's Killing Curse in the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower. He had been previously sickened to the brink of exhaustion by the Drink of Despair. After convincing Draco Malfoy to forgo his plans to murder him, Severus Snape and four other Death Eaters came to the scene. Snape took over the task of killing Dumbledore.

Among the Death Eaters present were siblings Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Bellatrix Lestrange, Yaxley, Thorfinn Rowle and Gibbon, along with werewolf Fenrir Greyback. On the side of Hogwarts were siblings Ginny, Ron, and Bill Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Minerva McGonagall. Bill Weasley was attacked by werewolf Fenrir Greyback and received scars on his face. Because Greyback was not fully transformed at the time of the attack, Bill sustained minimal lycanthropic symptoms. On the Death Eaters' side, the only death was that of Gibbon, killed by a stray Killing Curse from a fellow Dark Wizard.

The Death Eaters were forced to retreat. Much of the luck of the Hogwarts' defenders can be attributed to Felix Felicis, liquid luck, which was used by the students who were present.

Flight from Little Whinging (1997)


Also known as the Battle of Seven Potters, this battle occurred after the Order of the Phoenix was ambushed while attempting to remove Harry Potter from the Dursley home at 4 Privet Drive just before Harry's seventeenth birthday. The "Seven Potters" included Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour, Ron, Fred and George Weasley, and Mundungus Fletcher, who all took Polyjuice Potion to take on the disguise of Harry Potter. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Bill and Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Rubeus Hagrid acted as escorts to various "Potters" to confuse any Death Eaters who might try to prevent them from reaching their destination of the Burrow. Immediately after takeoff, they were ambushed by at least thirty Death Eaters, including Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort. Fletcher Disapparated as soon as he sensed danger, and Hedwig and Moody were both slain by Killing Curses. All others safely arrived at the Burrow, with only George Weasley sustaining a great injury of the loss of his ear. Harry, however, was devastated by the death of his loyal pet owl.

Fall of the Ministry of Magic (1997)
On August 1, 1997, the Ministry of Magic fell under the control of Lord Voldemort. The coup was described as "swift and quiet," but as Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour and possibly Head Auror Gawain Robards were killed, this is disputable. Many of the Ministry's top officials were under the influence of the Imperius Curse when this battle took place, including head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Pius Thicknesse, who became Voldemort's puppet Minister after the take-over. Whether Death Eaters actually entered the Ministry and fought in person is not known. Regardless, some Death Eaters, such as Yaxley, Travers and Selwyn, became employees in the new regime. They also quickly placed the Taboo curse on Voldemort's name as a way of spreading fear and locating enemies.

The Order was informed of the switch by Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus, which arrived at the Burrow during the reception for Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding. Death Eaters arrived as Hermione Apparated herself, Harry and Ron to Tottenham Court Road. There, after unwittingly breaking the Taboo on Voldemort's name, they were ambushed by Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle. A brief but destructive fight followed, but the trio managed to subdue the Death Eaters and Hermione wiped their memories. Harry, Ron and Hermione then took to hiding in 12 Grimmauld Place.

Meanwhile, Death Eaters interrogated those at the Burrow as well as other locations affiliated with the Order. Dedalus Diggle's house was burned down, though he was not there at the time, and Ted and Andromeda Tonks were tortured for information. The Death Eater regime soon established the Muggle-Born Registration Commission to round up and imprison Muggle-borns, and asserted control over Hogwarts, attendance at which became mandatory.

Infiltration of the Ministry (1997)
On September 2, 1997, Harry, Ron and Hermione infiltrated the Death Eater-controlled Ministry under the disguise of the Polyjuice Potion. They disguised themselves as Albert Runcorn, Reginald Cattermole and Mafalda Hopkirk, respectively. They were looking for Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which they believed to be in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. Not only did they manage to reclaim the locket, but Harry Potter also liberated Alastor Moody's magic eye from the front of Umbridge's office door. In addition, they assisted several Muggle-born wizards in escaping interrogation. There were no known deaths or permanent injuries. However, they were forced to abandon 12 Grimmauld Place as a safe house after Yaxley forcibly Disapparated with them by grabbing Hermione's arm.

Attack at Godric's Hollow (1997)
On Christmas Eve of 1997, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger made their way to Godric's Hollow, both to visit the graves of the former's parents and to see if Bathilda Bagshot knew anything about the symbol on a book left to Hermione by Albus Dumbledore, and if she possibly had Godric Gryffindor's Sword. After visiting the graves of James and Lily Potter, Harry and Hermione were spotted by Bathilda, despite being under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. They followed her back to her home, where Harry saw a picture of a young wizard he later learned was Bathilda's nephew, Gellert Grindelwald. Bathilda beckoned Harry to follow her upstairs, and Hermione reluctantly remained on the lower floor.

Once upstairs, Bathilda asked if he was Harry Potter; he was not aware that she asked this in Parseltongue. When he confirmed that he was, he felt his scar burn — Bathilda had in fact been dead for some time, and Nagini was in her animated corpse. She signaled Voldemort and then attacked Harry, biting and coiling herself around him. Hermione came running upstairs and tried to curse the snake while Harry felt Voldemort approaching. Hermione repelled Nagini from Harry using a Blasting Curse that also ended up breaking Harry's wand. Both jumped out of the window and Disapparated just as Voldemort arrived. Hermione managed to heal Harry's bite, but they had to share her wand until Ron Weasley returned to them, with a spare wand taken from Snatchers.

Ambush at the Lovegood House (1997)
On December 30, 1997, shortly after Ron Weasley returned to his friends and destroyed the locket Horcrux, Hermione Granger expressed a desire to visit Xenophilius Lovegood in order to question him about a mysterious symbol somehow connected to The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and Godric's Hollow. It was also the symbol Xenophilius had worn to the wedding at the Burrow in the summer.

In spite of Harry Potter’s skepticism, the trio went to the Lovegood House. There, Xenophilius told them about the legend of the Deathly Hallows. They began to grow suspicious, however, when they saw a copy of The Quibbler that was no longer supportive of Harry and the Order of the Phoenix, and when they deduced that Luna Lovegood had not been home for a long time. Xenophilius admitted that Death Eaters had taken her hostage against his good behavior, and that he had alerted them to Harry’s presence in his home. He tried to hold them there, but ended up causing the Erumpent horn in his living room to explode. The trio hid as Selwyn and Travers arrived and started to beat and torture Xenophilius, thinking he had been lying to them. Hermione then engineered their escape so that the Death Eaters caught a glimpse of Harry but not of Ron, who was supposed to be home with spattergroit. That way, Ron’s alibi was preserved and the Death Eaters would not punish Xenophilius or Luna.

Battle of Malfoy Manor (1998)
The small but bloody skirmish of Malfoy Manor occurred after Fenrir Greyback captured Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Griphook and Dean Thomas after Harry spoke the Taboo phrase of "Lord Voldemort." Greyback and five Snatchers descended on their location around Easter of 1998.

Opting to take Harry directly to Voldemort for the large reward, they Apparated to his headquarters of Malfoy Manor. Though Voldemort was elsewhere, the Malfoy family, Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew were present. Bellatrix stunned the Snatchers for their "lack of respect" towards her, and ordered Draco Malfoy to take all the hostages to the basement, where they met with Luna Lovegood and Ollivander. Bellatrix kept Hermione back for a while, and tortured her with the Cruciatus Curse for information on how they were able to get Godric Gryffindor's Sword. In spite of her great suffering, Hermione was able to concoct a bogus story, claiming the sword was a fake.

Dobby the house-elf was sent to Harry from Aberforth Dumbledore, and Harry requested that he evacuate Dean, Ollivander and Luna using the elf's special brand of Apparition magic. The Apparition noise was overheard in the house above, and Peter Pettigrew was sent to investigate. He was ambushed in the basement when Harry and Ron took his wand and briefly battled him hand-to-hand. However, when Pettigrew hesitated to kill Harry, his Voldemort-made silver hand was made to turn against him and strangled him to death, in spite of Harry and Ron's efforts to stop it. The two boys then stormed the room where Bellatrix was holding Hermione. When Dobby reappeared, the group - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Griphook and Dobby - Disapparated to the cottage of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. It was only then that they discovered Bellatrix had thrown a blade and stabbed Dobby, who died soon afterwards. Dobby was buried in the garden of Shell Cottage with the epitaph of "Here lies Dobby, A Free Elf."



Gringotts Break-In (1998)
While staying at Shell Cottage, Harry, Ron and Hermione planned to break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank in order to steal an item from the Lestrange vault, as they suspected from Bellatrix’s earlier panic that it was one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Using hair that had fallen onto Hermione’s sweater when Bellatrix was holding her at Malfoy Manor, the trio brewed Polyjuice Potion so that Hermione could disguise herself as the Death Eater. She then transfigured various aspects of Ron’s appearance and he took on the alias of “Dragomir Despard”, a foreign wizard. Harry and Griphook followed under the Invisibility Cloak.

With Griphook’s help, and Harry using Confundus Charms and the Imperius Curse on Death Eater Travers and various bank employees, the trio got into the Lestrange vault. There, they struggled to get Helga Hufflepuff's Cup as the treasure turned hot enough to burn them and multiplied when touched. Just as they obtained the Cup, Griphook took Godric Gryffindor's Sword from Harry and deserted them. Harry, Hermione and Ron escaped by flying the half-blind dragon that had been guarding the vault out of the bank.

The Battle of Hogwarts (1998)
After learning his Horcruxes were being systematically hunted and destroyed, Lord Voldemort ordered a massive attack on Hogwarts Castle, where his Horcrux was hidden as Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. Hogwarts fortified itself for the attack. Voldemort demanded that Hogwarts hand over Harry Potter but, despite his threats, they remained in support of Harry and refused. Eventually, having been convinced to hand himself over by Snape's memories, Harry surrendered himself to Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest convinced that his death would destroy Voldemort as well, for a piece of Voldemort's soul attached itself to Harry's soul when the Killing Curse backfired, turning Harry into an accidental Horcrux.

Voldemort's use of the Killing Curse on Harry merely knocked him unconscious. To maintain his safety, Potter feigned his death. Ordered by Voldemort to confirm Harry's demise, Narcissa Malfoy discovered that Potter was in fact alive, but kept it secret in exchange for information from Harry concerning the welfare of her child Draco (she no longer cared who won, she just cared whether or not Draco was alive and well). Rubeus Hagrid was forced to carry Harry back to the Castle, where the Hogwarts community believed he had been killed. In the ensuing commotion, Harry concealed himself with the Invisibility Cloak, and witnessed Neville beheading Nagini, Voldemort's last remaining Horcrux.

Morale renewed by Longbottom's bravery, the final battle included the house-elves, the residents of Hogsmeade; the friends and families of every remaining student, a few returning Slytherins, a flock of Thestrals, a herd of Centaurs and the outlaw Hippogriff Buckbeak. Death Eaters were either cut down or forced to surrender. In the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the crowd congregated around Voldemort battling Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minerva McGonagall and Horace Slughorn all at once, and "his last, best lieutenant", Bellatrix Lestrange, fighting Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood. After Bellatrix nearly killed Ginny, Molly Weasley stepped in, killing the Death Eater. Voldemort blasted his three opponents away from him and turned on Molly, but Harry Potter revealed himself at that moment.

The Duel in the Great Hall (1998)
The crowd retreated and watched then as the two great enemies, Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter, bantered and circled each other. Harry dared Voldemort to feel remorse, to which Voldemort responded by shooting a Killing Curse from the Elder Wand. Harry simultaneously fired his own signature spell, the Expelliarmus charm, using Draco Malfoy's wand. However, because the Elder Wand rightfully belonged to Harry, the Killing Curse rebounded and ended Voldemort's life once and for all, restoring peace to the Wizarding world.

The Second Wizarding War was over with a decisive victory for the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army.

Aftermath
After the defeat of Voldemort, the remaining Death Eaters were killed or imprisoned in Azkaban for their crimes, with the exception of the Malfoys. Approximately 54 soldiers of the Order and the D.A. were killed in the final battle. Kingsley Shacklebolt was named interim Minister for Magic, and later took the position on permanently. Celebrations were held in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

In the years following the Second Wizarding War, the Ministry of Magic was massively reformed in order to put an end to prejudice based on blood status and to better combat Dark Wizards in the future. In addition to the reforms of Minister Shacklebolt, Harry Potter revolutionized the Auror Office with Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger advanced the rights of magical creatures and eradicated the old pro-pure-blood laws from high up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Behind the scenes

 * Although the deaths of Quirinus Quirrell, Bertha Jorkins, Frank Bryce, and Barty Crouch Sr. can all be directly attributed to either Lord Voldemort himself or his Death Eaters, they all died before the Second Wizarding War officially began with Voldemort's rebirth.
 * In the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Millennium Bridge was destroyed instead of the Brockdale Bridge. This is an anachronism, as the events of the story occur in 1996, and the Millennium Bridge was not built until 1998.