Everything You Need to Know About the Harry Potter Series
Page 6
Harry, Ron and Hermione break into Bellatrix’s vault and grab the cup, but are betrayed by the goblin, who steals the sword of Gryffindor. They escape by taking mercy on a blind, chained dragon imprisoned at the heart of the bank and desperately cling to its back as it flies north—toward Hogwarts. That’s exactly where Voldemort thinks they won’t go, since his loyal servant Snape is now headmaster. Harry’s scar sears with pain as he has a vision of Voldemort finally realizing that Harry, and Dumbledore before him, have been hunting down and destroying his horcruxes. The Dark Lord focuses on each of his horcruxes, and Harry sees that the hiding place of the last horcrux is Hogwarts. If they can just get to it before Voldemort, then kill his snake, the evil wizard will be mortal once more.
With help from allies, the trio sneaks into Hogwarts, arriving back at a school they thought they’d never see again. But it’s a school they barely recognize. Neville Longbottom greets them at the entrance to one of the secret tunnels into the school, his clothes ragged and his face purpled with bruises. Since Harry’s been off hunting horcruxes, Neville has taken over the D.A., and the group of brave students has been standing up to the Death Eaters that have infiltrated the school. Neville is ready to fight, and the secret headquarters is soon filled students and ex-students ready to go to war. They’re anxious to fight, to defend Hogwarts, but Harry doesn’t want them in more trouble because of him. It’s Neville this time that shakes some sense into him: They want to fight, they’re prepared to fight, and Harry isn’t going to stop them. Finally, Harry asks for their help—and they give it. Because of his friends, Harry learns the last horcrux is the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.
Students and professors band together to oust Snape and the rest of the Death Eaters from Hogwarts, but now that they’ve made their move and Harry has shown himself, Voldemort is coming. The school flies into chaos as the Order and those still loyal to Dumbledore arrive to defend Hogwarts and finally face Voldemort. As Death Eaters, dementors, giants and more amass outside the protective barrier surrounding the school, Harry desperately tries to find Ravenclaw’s diadem. In a stroke of brilliance, Ron helps Hermione destroy the horcrux cup with fangs from the long-dead basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. But it’s Ron’s concern for the school’s house elves that finally gets Hermione running into his arms. After years of tension, the two share their first kiss.
As the battle of Hogwarts descends around them, Harry, Ron and Hermione frantically search for the diadem. But they’re not alone. As Death Eaters do battle against brave men, women and children, Harry faces Draco for the final time. Draco and his minions attack the trio, but it’s Draco’s own friend who causes a horrible cursed fire that threatens them all. The friend dies, and Harry once again proves his character by going back for Draco and rescuing him. The two may never be friends, but they’ve reached an understanding, and the Malfoy family, from here on out, are neither good nor evil.
The recovered diadem is destroyed by the cursed fire, leaving only the snake. Harry, Ron and Hermione rush into battle, but Voldemort’s followers are many and strong. Fred Weasley dies before their eyes. Remus Lupin, Harry’s final link to his father, is gone, along with his wife, and something in Harry twists to think of their orphaned baby boy. Anguished, Harry forces himself to look into Voldemort—to locate the Dark Lord so he can face him. With members of the D.A. to help, the trio battle their way past giants, Death Eaters and dementors until they finally slip under Harry’s invisibility cloak and sneak toward the abandoned house where Voldemort hides, safe from the battle.
Voldemort is there, along with Nagini. But so is Snape. Harry, Ron and Hermione watch in mute horror as Voldemort calmly tells Snape, who he believes to be his most loyal servant, that he cannot truly control the elder wand while Snape survives. Voldemort reasons that since Snape killed Dumbledore, the wand’s allegiance is his, even though Voldemort physically possesses it. Without remorse, the vile wizard orders Nagini to attack Snape. Voldemort leaves the dying man alone, and Harry rushes to him. He doesn’t know why he does it, but to see his former professor bleeding, desperately trying to survive, he can think of no other action than to try to help. Snape seizes Harry and makes him take the pearlescent, hidden memories that are leaking out of his eyes. His final words implore Harry to look at him.
Stunned, Harry walks back toward Hogwarts. The school he loves so much is in ruins, but Voldemort has called his followers back, and his high, cold voice rings through the air. He will give Harry one hour to meet him in the forest, or they will all die. Harry goes to the only place he knows to see the memories Snape was so desperate to give him: Dumbledore’s office. He looks into the pensieve a final time and finally learns the truth about Severus Snape. Snape remained true to Dumbledore and the Order until the very end. He only killed the elderly headmaster because Dumbledore was dying from the cursed horcrux and demanded Snape not let Draco become a murderer. And Harry also learns this: He is the final horcrux, the horcrux Voldemort never intended to create. His connection to Voldemort is because a part of the dark wizard’s soul lives within him. To defeat Voldemort, Harry must die.
Harry walks through Hogwarts for the last time, and he leaves Neville with a task: Kill Nagini. He’s alone as he enters the forest, and he’s scared.
“It was not, after all, so easy to die. Every second he breathed, the smell of the grass, the cool air on his face, was so precious: To think that people had years and years, time to waste, so much time it dragged, and he was clinging to each second. At the same time he thought that he would not be able to go on, and knew that he must. The long game had ended, the snitch had been caught, it was time to leave the air.” (“Deathly Hallows,” page 698)
Harry pulls out the golden snitch Dumbledore bequeathed him and learns its secret. Hidden inside is the resurrection stone, and Harry uses it. The ghosts of Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James and Lily Potter—all the people who he had loved and had died because of him—walk with him through the quiet forest to finally face Voldemort.
It is over in an instant. Harry comes to in a peculiar place that looks somewhat like Platform 9 ¾. He is alone, save for Dumbledore and a hideous, struggling creature the size of a newborn. That monstrous creature is the bit of Voldemort’s soul that was inside of Harry, and it is dying. When Voldemort used the killing curse on Harry, it destroyed not Harry, but the bit of the Dark Lord that lived within in. Harry was willing to sacrifice himself—to face the unknown—for the greater good, and that is what saved him. Voldemort may physically hold the elder wand, but by facing death, Harry is the true master of the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore presents him with a choice: Move on or return and fight. Harry chooses the fight, and he comes to in the forest, the triumphant Voldemort unaware that he lives.
Voldemort forces Hagrid to carry Harry—presumed dead—back to the castle to revel in his victory, yet people aren’t willing to give up the fight. Neville charges toward Voldemort, and the Dark Lord taunts him by shoving the old Sorting Hat onto his head and setting it ablaze. But Neville pulls the sword of Gryffindor from the hat, just like Harry did all those years ago, and slices off the head of Nagini.
Harry jumps into action as the battle rages. But it’s not just wizards fighting Voldemort now—centaurs charge from the forest, house elves rally against the Death Eaters, even Buckbeak returns to fight off the giants. But it all comes down to Harry and Voldemort.
Voldemort turns the elder wand on Harry, but it has never truly been his. It was Draco who disarmed Dumbledore and won the wand’s allegiance, not Snape. And it was Harry who disarmed Draco. Voldemort doesn’t understand that you can defeat someone without killing them. Harry refuses to use the killing curse on the dark wizard, and even tries to make him remember his human self—that he was once a boy who could feel remorse. But the human part of Voldemort was shed with his muggle name, and the dark wizard again tries to kill Harry. Voldemort’s killing curse rebounds, and with no more horcruxes for his tattered soul to flee to, he finally dies for good.
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There will be years of work to repair the damage done by Voldemort and those who were seduced by his promises of a pure-blood society, but right now, all Harry wants is to find his best friends. The three of them head to Dumbledore’s office, where Harry uses the elder wand for the first and only time to repair his beloved, broken wand. He places the potent elder wand back where it belongs—with Dumbledore—in the hope that when he dies of old age, it will finally lose its power. Harry is exhausted, elated, a thousand other emotions, but most of all he is content. He never meant to be the hero, but he still found within himself the courage to face evil. Now, he just wants a normal life.
Character Spotlight: Severus Snape
The great mystery throughout the Harry Potter series was the allegiance of Severus Snape. Of the tragedies the series explores, his is the most acute. The faithful, never-ending love Snape felt for one woman led him to make the ultimate sacrifice—to be thought a traitor and a murderer, and to willingly die to save her son.
Snape was one of the lost boys, like Harry and Voldemort, who found their true home at Hogwarts. But unlike Harry or Voldemort, he wasn’t accepted or befriended. He was a taunted, lonely boy whose only solace was Lily Evans, his oldest, truest friend in the entire world. He was tormented by James Potter and Sirius Black, a fact that Harry struggles to face. Harry understands what it is to be bullied, and it makes him question his unwavering hero-worship of his dead father. Although it’s a long time coming, it helps him understand Snape.
But Harry shares many traits with his father—the charm and a bit of the arrogance, the easy friendships and confidence—and Snape can’t look at Harry without seeing his preening, proud father. But Harry has Lily’s eyes, and he can’t look at the boy without seeing his mother either.
Snape is a complicated character. He was a Death Eater. He was the person responsible for telling Voldemort about the prophecy that ultimately led to James and Lily Potter’s death. But Lily held that bit of Snape that was still a good person, and when he realized what he’d done, he went to Dumbledore in a desperate attempt to save the woman he loved and her family. This selfless act earns the trust of Dumbledore, and Snape deserves that trust.
It is Snape who Dumbledore goes to with the whole truth about Harry; and it is Snape who Dumbledore goes to when his hand is cursed. It is Snape who Dumbledore asks to make that huge sacrifice—to brand himself a traitor. Although it ruined him emotionally, he agreed to kill Dumbledore to save Draco Malfoy from an act he would never be able to take back. And in the end, Snape, who was ultimately a good man because of his ability to love, grows to see Harry beyond his resemblance to James Potter, and instead see him as Lily’s son.
“Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter—”
“But this is touching, Severus,” said Dumbledore seriously. “Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?”
“For him?” shouted Snape. “Expecto Patronum!”
From the tip of his wand burst forth the silver doe: She landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office, and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
“After all this time?”
“Always,” said Snape. (“Deathly Hallows,” page 687)
Snape dies with only his well-hidden memories to show the truth of his character, but he dies staring at Harry, who has his mother’s eyes.
Myth and Magic
“Deathly Hallows” ends with a short epilogue that brings the series full circle. It is 19 years later, and Harry and Ginny Potter are dropping off their children at Platform 9 ¾ to catch the Hogwarts Express. There, they meet Ron and Hermione Weasley, who are sending their oldest child to Hogwarts for the first time. It is a sweet, happy ending that reminds readers of the excitement and the magic of discovery that accompanied our first trip aboard the Hogwarts Express when Harry was just 11 years old.
Rowling began the series with a peculiar boy with a lightning-shaped scar and ends it the same. “The scar had not pained Harry for 19 years. All was well.” (“Deathly Hallows,” page 759)
Over the course of seven books, 10 years and more than 4,000 pages, Rowling captivated readers of all ages. Her books deal with magic and fantasy, but they have a very human heart. The power of love and friendship, the devastation of prejudice and the courage to do what is right instead of what is easy are themes woven throughout the entire series. What began as a simple story of one 11-year-old boy on an adventure grew and transformed into an examination of the unlimited capacity of people—regardless of age—to affect change, forgive and make their world better.
Harry Potter was the defining series of a generation of readers, and will continue to enchant new readers for years to come. It has spawned movies, a theme park, a new sport and even bands. For fans, the saga ended with the release of the final movie in 2011, but Rowling herself had something to say about that: “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”
Table of Contents
Everything You Need to Know About the Harry Potter Series
About Charles River Editors
Chapter 1. The Boy Who Lived
Introduction
Chapter 2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Harry Potter
Myth and Magic
Chapter 3: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Hermione Granger
Myth and Magic
Chapter 4: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Rubeus Hagrid
Myth and Magic
Chapter 5: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Ron Weasley
Myth and Magic
Chapter 6: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Neville Longbottom
Myth and Magic
Chapter 7: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Albus Dumbledore
Myth and Magic
Chapter 8: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Introduction
Plot
Character Spotlight: Severus Snape
Myth and Magic