Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The beginning
The book begins at a Death Eater meeting at the home of Lucius Malfoy, with Snape and a Ministry official, Yaxley, informing Lord Voldemort of the date Harry Potter will permanently leave the Dursleys' house. Voldemort plans to kill Harry while he is being moved to a new safe place, which must happen before he turns seventeen and his safety with the Dursleys expires.
After the Dursleys have been escorted to safety by a pair of wizards (and Dudley has expressed his surprising respect for Harry), the Order of the Phoenix arrives to sneak Harry out of his house. Despite an attempted decoy involving six younger members of the Order of the Phoenix taking Polyjuice Potion to make themselves look like Harry, the real Harry is correctly identified by his trademark disarming spell and is attacked by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Hedwig, Harry's owl, is killed by a stray Killing Curse. After a narrow escape from Voldemort, Harry and the rest of his companions eventually arrive at the Weasley residence, The Burrow, where they discover that George Weasley lost an ear to Snape, and Mad-Eye Moody had been killed by Voldemort.
A few days later, the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, arrives at The Burrow to give Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Dumbledore's will - Ron is given Dumbledore's Deluminator, with the power to capture lights; Hermione receives The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book of children's stories written in Ancient Runes; Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's sword and the Snitch that Harry caught in his first ever Quidditch match. The Ministry withholds the sword after investigating all the items, claiming that the sword was not Dumbledore's in the first place. The three try to discover the purpose of the bequests without success.
Near the end of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, news comes that Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic and killed the minister. The Death Eaters attack, so Harry, Ron and Hermione flee the wedding, first to a Muggle café in Tottenham Court Road, then to 12 Grimmauld Place. The trio realise that Regulus Black was the "R.A.B." who removed the locket from the lake, dying in the attempt. However, Kreacher informs them that Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket from the house. Fletcher, caught by Kreacher on Harry's orders, unwillingly reveals that Dolores Umbridge took it from him. Remus Lupin visits the trio, offering his help in their quest. When further questioned, he reveals that he has left his wife and unborn child. Harry drives him out of the house in rage.
The search for the HorcruxesAfter a month of spying on the Ministry of Magic, the trio attempt to infiltrate it using Polyjuice Potion. They eventually locate Umbridge as she is interrogating Muggleborns. They take the Horcrux and knock her out in the process, freeing a number of Muggle-born wizards and witches. However, the trio's hiding place at 12 Grimmauld Place is discovered and they are forced to flee to the countryside.
After several months, they overhear a conversation between a number of outlaws revealing that the Ministry has a mere replica of Gryffindor's sword; the location of the real sword is unknown. Harry questions the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, and discovers that Dumbledore had used the sword to destroy a Horcrux. Having been unable to destroy the locket, Harry suggests attempting to locate the real sword. Ron feels that this is yet another pointless quest, and leaves the group. Harry and Hermione decide to go to Godric's Hollow on the off-chance that Dumbledore left the sword for them there.
Arriving in Godric's Hollow, the two visit the graveyard where both Potter and Dumbledore's families are buried. They encounter the old woman Bathilda Bagshot, an old family friend of Dumbledore who wrote A History of Magic. Thinking she may have been entrusted with the sword, they follow her to her house. However, Bagshot was apparently murdered and her body is then inhabited by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. After battle with the snake, Harry and Hermione narrowly escape from Voldemort. During the battle at Bagshot's home, Hermione accidentally breaks Harry's wand by shooting a spell at Nagini.
Eventually a doe Patronus appears on the edge of their camp and leads Harry to the real Godric Gryffindor's sword, hidden in a frozen forest pool. Harry dives after the sword, but the locket Horcrux which Harry is carrying tries to strangle him. Ron returns to the camp and saves Harry from drowning, as well as retrieving the sword from the pool. Ron destroys the Horcrux with the sword. Back at camp, Ron informs Harry and Hermione that the Deluminator showed him the way back to them. Hermione is less than pleased with Ron, but has discovered their next step: to speak to Xenophilius Lovegood, the father of their friend Luna, and ask him about Grindelwald's mark, a symbol which has shown up in the book Dumbledore bequeathed to her, and several other times during their journey, including on a chain Mr Lovegood had been wearing at Bill and Fleur's wedding.
The Deathly HallowsThe trio reach Lovegood's house, and are told that the symbol is that of the Deathly Hallows, a trio of magical artifacts given long ago to three brothers by Death: the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak. Unfortunately, before any more can be told, Xenophilius betrays them to the Ministry in the hope that Luna, who had been held captive, would be released. But they manage to escape the Death Eaters with the help of the Invisibility Cloak.
Later, when they are camping, Harry accidentally says the word "Voldemort" - which has been tabooed - and a group of Snatchers suddenly appear around their camp, catching the lot. Hermione hits Harry with a spell that makes his face swell, obscuring his features to the point that he is unidentifiable. However, they do recognise Ron and Hermione. After seeing Harry's scar, they realise the truth, and that he is worth about 200,000 Galleons. So the Snatchers take them to Malfoy Manor - the new Death Eater headquarters.
Taken to the Malfoy residence, Harry and Ron are imprisoned in the dungeon, but Hermione is taken and tortured by Bellatrix. Dobby appears and frees Dean Thomas, Griphook, Mr. Ollivander, and Luna, who had been imprisoned there as well. But the sound of Dobby's apparating alerts the Death Eaters above and they send Pettigrew to check out what is going on. Peter's silver hand, created during Harry's fourth year, strangles Pettigrew to death after he does not kill Harry due to the blood debt he owes him from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Harry takes Peter's wand and rushes upstairs, where he fights the Death Eaters until Dobby drops a chandelier right next to where Bellatrix stood. In the ensuing chaos, Harry disarms Bellatrix and Draco and they free Hermione and escape with Dobby. They all apparate to Bill and Fleur's home, Shell Cottage, with the help of Dobby, who is killed by a knife thrown by Bellatrix.
Harry digs Dobby's grave alone and they have a small funeral, in which Harry etches the words "Here lies Dobby, a free elf" in a small stone. Over the next few weeks, Harry plots with Griphook to break into the Lestrange's vault at Gringott's. Griphook agrees on the condition that they give him Gryffindor's sword. Harry agrees, but does not say exactly when he will give him the sword.
Griphook, Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into the Lestrange vault, but they find that the contents of the vault have been charmed to multiply and become burning hot whenever they are touched. Harry manages to grab the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, which Voldemort had used to create a Horcrux, on the tip of the sword of Gryffindor. Griphook betrays them and grabs the sword, letting the cup fall to the ground. Harry grabs the cup, and they sail out on a mountain of multiplying gold. Harry lets the dragon free, and they fly out of Gringotts on its back, landing in a secluded mountain area.
In the aftermath, Voldemort realises they are destroying his Horcruxes and while checking the hiding spot of the two others destroyed, accidentally reveals through his telepathic link with Harry where they need to go to find the last Horcrux: Hogwarts.
The Battle of HogwartsAt Hogsmeade, the trio are rescued from Death Eaters by the Hog's Head bartender, Aberforth Dumbledore. Aberforth explains he sent Dobby to rescue them. He then opens a secret passageway to Hogwarts through a portrait of his sister Ariana. After Harry alerts the Heads of Houses at Hogwarts to Voldemort's imminent arrival, the younger students are evacuated and the Order of the Phoenix are called to help defend the school.
Harry learns about Ravenclaw's Diadem being used as the last Horcrux, and realises he had seen it the previous year in the Room of Requirement. Ron and Hermione return from the Chamber of Secrets, where they have retrieved basilisk fangs in order to destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Hermione has already stabbed Hufflepuff's cup. The trio go to the Room of Requirement, but are confronted by Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Crabbe mishandles a powerful spell and sets fire to the contents of the Room. Harry and his friends manage to escape on two broomsticks, retrieving the Diadem and rescuing Malfoy and Goyle. Crabbe does not escape and is killed. Harry holds up the Diadem only to see it fall to pieces, destroyed by the magical fire.
After having another vision of Voldemort, Harry leads his friends to the Shrieking Shack. There, they see Voldemort kill Snape to obtain proper control over the Elder Wand, which Snape had previously won ownership from Dumbledore. As he dies, Snape gives up his memories to Harry, who uses the Pensieve to find out that Snape was indeed on Dumbledore's side all along, motivated by his lifelong love for Lily Evans, Harry's mother. Snape has been acting to protect Harry all the while, and it was he who sent the doe Patronus, which is the same form that Lily's Patronus took, to lead Harry to Gryffindor's sword. However, Harry also discovers that he himself is a Horcrux, and that Voldemort cannot be killed while Harry remains alive.
Resigned to his fate, Harry makes his way towards the Forbidden Forest, where Voldemort is waiting for him. On his way out of the castle, he encounters Neville, and informs him that the snake Nagini must be destroyed. Harry also sees the bodies of Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Colin Creevey. Realising that his final meeting with Voldemort is "the close" referred to in the riddle on the Snitch, Harry puts it to his mouth saying, "I am about to die". The Snitch opens up to reveal the Resurrection Stone. Harry uses the Stone to summon the spirits of James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who glide along by his side while under the invisibility cloak, giving him support and protecting him from the army of Dementors roaming the forest.
Having reached Voldemort, Harry drops the Stone and reveals himself. Prepared for death, he allows Voldemort to hit him with the Avada Kedavra curse. However, Harry awakens in what appears to be King's Cross railway station. A wounded and dying creature lies on the floor, representing the part of Voldemort's soul which resided within Harry but has now been removed. He meets the deceased Albus Dumbledore, who explains that by using Harry's blood to recreate his body, Voldemort transferred part of Lily's spell to himself and part of his soul into Harry which negated the curse. He further explains that only Harry is worthy of possessing the Hallows, because Harry wants to possess them for noble reasons. Harry is given the choice of "going on", or continuing with life and stopping Voldemort; he chooses the latter. It is unclear whether Harry actually dies, or is merely being visited by Dumbledore in a dream.
Back in the forest, on Voldemort's orders, a captured Hagrid carries Harry (seemingly dead) back to Hogwarts as a trophy. Neville Longbottom bravely faces down Voldemort, and refuses to join him. As punishment, Voldemort puts the Sorting Hat upon his head, and sets it ablaze. At that moment, reinforcements charge in and the battle resumes. Amidst the confusion, Harry covers himself with the Invisibility Cloak and Neville pulls Godric Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and beheads Nagini, destroying the final Horcrux.
After Bellatrix Lestrange is killed by Molly Weasley, Harry confronts Voldemort. However, Harry guesses correctly that Draco Malfoy is the true master of the Elder Wand, for it was Draco who had disarmed Dumbledore and thus beaten him in battle, while Snape was acting according to Dumbledore's wishes. Because Harry had himself disarmed Malfoy earlier in the book, mastery of the wand has passed to him. When Voldemort strikes Harry with the killing curse from the Elder Wand, Harry responds by casting his "trademark" Expelliarmus spell. The Elder Wand refuses to kill its master, and the curse rebounds to kill Voldemort.
A massive celebration erupts, during which Harry seeks solitude with Ron and Hermione in Dumbledore's office, where he receives a standing ovation from the portraits of the old Headmasters. Harry uses the immense power of the Elder Wand to repair his own, choosing to return the former to Dumbledore's grave instead of keeping it for himself. If he dies a natural death, the ownership of the Elder Wand will die with him. He also confirms to the Dumbledore portrait that, despite proving himself the only worthy possessor of all the Deathly Hallows, he will not seek out the Stone in the forest. He decides, though, to keep the Invisibility Cloak; in the children's story, the cloak was the wisest choice.
The book says that 54 died opposing Voldemort in this battle: "Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Colin Creevey, and fifty others".
epliogue---
In the story's epilogue, set nineteen years later, Ginny Weasley and Harry are married and have three children named James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Ron and Hermione are also married. They have two children named Rose and Hugo. The two families meet at King's Cross Station when they are taking their children to Platform Nine and Three Quarters for their departure to Hogwarts. Lily is too young to attend Hogwarts just yet, Albus is entering his first year at the school, and James is already an experienced Gryffindor. James finds Teddy Lupin (named after Ted Tonks, Nymphadora's father), the son of Lupin and Tonks, kissing a girl named Victoire, who James says is his cousin and so can be assumed to be the daughter of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Neville Longbottom is now the Herbology professor at the school. At the station, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione spot Draco Malfoy across the platform with his unnamed wife and their son Scorpius; Malfoy gives them a curt nod. After Harry absentmindedly touches his scar, the book ends with the line, "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."


And here is the summary of the story about who lives and who dies---

DEATHS:
VoldemortLupinTonksFredMad-Eye MoodyBellatrix LestrangeDobbyHedwigSnapeWormtailColin CreeveyCrabbe
MARRIAGES:Harry and Ginny (Kids: Albus Severus, James, and Lily)Ron and Hermione (Kids: Rose and Hugo)
Neville becomes the Herbology teacher
Lupin and Tonks have a kid before they die and Harry is the godfather.
Harry dies but cannot fully die so comes back after a chat with Dumbledore.
The last Horcrux is Ravenclaw's Diadem.
Snape loved Lily Potter.
Snape is a good guy and helps Harry out a lot.
Snape is eaten by Nagini.
Nagini (a horcrux) is killed by Neville.
Dumbledores brother Aberworth is a big help.
Snape gives his memories to Harry, to explain everything.
Snape killing Dumbledore was PLANNED. Dumbledore was dying anyway.
Malfoy isnt particularly bad anymore.
Harry saves Malfoy's life TWICE.
Percy reconciles with his family.
AND THATS ABOUT IT.
Source(s):
Reading the book.

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