After a cursed necklace sends one of Harry’s friends to the hospital and poison mead winds up in Slughorn’s office, Harry becomes determined to figure out what Draco and Snape are up to. But Ron and Hermione, although they dislike Draco as much as Harry, don’t believe the teen could truly be a Death Eater. At least Harry’s two best friends are speaking again. Ron was accidentally poisoned by the mead and nearly died, and the fright was enough to make Hermione forgive him. It doesn’t hurt that Ron seems to be quickly tiring of Lavender Brown.
Finally, Harry learns the crux of his lessons with Dumbledore. With a memory from Professor Slughorn, Dumbledore puts the pieces together of how Voldemort survived the rebounded killing curse: The Dark Lord split his soul into seven parts. Voldemort placed the shreds of his torn soul into horcruxes, magical objects that hold his spirit. That way, even if his body is destroyed, parts of his soul remain. Voldemort has placed terrible curses on his hidden horcruxes, and it was in trying to track down one of them that resulted in Dumbledore’s withered, dead hand. Now is the ultimate test: Dumbledore knows where Voldemort has hidden a horcrux, and Harry wants to come with him. Worried that Draco and Snape will make a move with Dumbledore gone, Harry leaves the last of a good luck potion with Ron, Hermione and his new girlfriend, Ginny, and tells them to be wary.
With a last look at Hogwarts, Harry disapparates with the headmaster. They appear at the mouth of a massive sea cave and venture deep into the side of the cliff. There, they find a still, black underground lake with an island in the middle that holds Slytherin’s locket. The only way to retrieve the locket is by drinking a potion, and Dumbledore insists he be the one to do it. Dumbledore understands how valuable Harry is to the fight against Voldemort and is unflinching in his willingness to sacrifice himself for the larger cause. The potion is agony for Dumbledore, yet Harry has to continue forcing him to drink. Finally, he is able to scoop up the locket, but when he tries to give Dumbledore a sip of water from the black lake, it comes alive. Writhing, pale inferi—or reanimated corpses of Voldemort’s many victims—swarm the desolate island as Harry struggles to protect himself and Dumbledore. Although weakened, it is the headmaster who saves them, and they head back to Hogwarts.
But Hogwarts is in chaos. Harry’s heart stutters as he sees the Dark Mark floating above the castle, and he finally understands what Draco was secretly working on all year: He was trying to find a way to get Death Eaters into the castle despite all of Dumbledore’s protections. And he’s finally succeeded. Harry is under his invisibility cloak as they reach the tallest tower of the castle, and in the moment they land two things happen: Dumbledore freezes Harry to the spot, and Draco Malfoy uses that instant to disarm the headmaster.
Dumbledore is weak, his wand is gone, and Draco stands before him ready to finish the impossible task set out to him by Voldemort: to kill Albus Dumbledore. Draco is sneering and arrogant at first, but the longer he faces his headmaster, the more Harry sees him dissolve into a frightened boy caught up in something beyond his control. His wand drops just as Death Eaters burst onto the tower, laughing with glee at the destruction of Hogwarts. They taunt Dumbledore who is weakening by the second, and they urge Draco to kill the old man. But it’s Snape who Dumbledore turns to, the man he trusts despite everything. He pleads with Snape, although it’s unclear whether it’s to kill him or save him, and Harry can only watch in horror as Snape raises his wand and murders Dumbledore.
Harry tears after Snape through the ruined castle. Members of the Order fight alongside students from the D.A. against the vicious Death Eaters, but it’s only Snape Harry can see. He fights his way through the Death Eaters until he finally faces his professor. He tries to fight him, but Snape is powerful. Harry attempts one of the spells he’d seen scribbled in the margins of his used potions text, but Snape explodes in anger. How dare Harry use one of his own spells against him. Yes, he tells Harry, he is the Half-Blood Prince. Snape flees and Harry finally looks around. Hagrid’s hut is ablaze, parts of the school are destroyed, and students, professors and members of the Order are wounded.
But it’s a single body that Harry staggers toward—the crumpled, broken form of Dumbledore. The horcrux they had struggled to recover is forgotten on the ground next to the dead headmaster. The locket opens, and inside is a note from someone called R.A.B. It is a fake—the whole ordeal, Dumbledore’s death, it was all for a fake locket. The real horcrux is still out there. It was all for nothing.
Dumbledore is buried on the school grounds, but as Harry leaves his beloved Hogwarts he realizes he’ll never be back. Dumbledore set him a task—to find and destroy the horcruxes and make Voldemort mortal once more—and he’s going to see it through. But he won’t be alone. Ron and Hermione, his best friends, vow to remain by his side.
Character Spotlight: Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore is many things to many people. He is a respected, powerful wizard. He is a thorn in the Ministry’s side. He is a benevolent and slightly kooky headmaster. He is the only one Voldemort ever feared. And he is a mentor and inspiration to Harry Potter.
Readers are introduced to Dumbledore in the very first chapter of the series, when we see him, Hagrid and Professor McGonagall leave baby Harry on the doorstep of the Dursleys. At first, he seems benign and quirky. His speech at the opening feast in “Sorcerer’s Stone” is “Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!” But the headmaster’s eccentricities mask a deep intellect and a quiet power. Readers only see Dumbledore use his considerable magical talent a handful of times, but they are powerful examples. Consider this: Voldemort, who likes to believe he is without match, forces a teen to try to kill Dumbledore so he won’t have to face the task.
Dumbledore’s greatest legacy, however, is his belief in the good of people and his unwillingness to choose the easier path. When the Ministry refuses to acknowledge the return of Voldemort, Dumbledore never gives up trying to make them see reason. Even when his own job is taken from him and his reputation is slandered, he doesn’t acquiesce or quiet down. He is willing to sacrifice everything—and he does—to defeat evil. There is also a sadness about the elderly wizard, one that Rowling has said comes from the burden of knowing so much. Readers see this when he finally tells Harry the truth about his connection with Voldemort. It weighed on him to have to give such responsibility to someone so young. Although a complicated, multi-layered man, Dumbledore is overwhelmingly a force for good.
Myth and Magic
Astute readers will remember Tom Riddle’s diary from “Chamber of Secrets.” Now, we learn it was one of six horcruxes Voldemort created in a skewed, disturbed idea of everlasting life. It’s the darkest of magic to split a soul and involves killing another human. Creating a horcrux, then, is the inverse of the magic Lily used to save Harry. One is created through an act of hate, the other through an act of love.
Through Harry’s trips into the pensieve with Dumbledore, he has learned an important aspect of the Dark Lord’s personality: Voldemort loves trophies, and despite what he has become, he considers Hogwarts the closest thing he ever had to a home. Voldemort has always been desperate to link himself to greatness, that’s partly why he shed his given name, which came from a muggle. Those traits combine to give Dumbledore, and now Harry, a clue to what objects he used to create the horcruxes.
Seven is the most powerful magical number, so Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces. Counting the shred of soul in Voldemort’s body as one part of the seven, that leaves six horcruxes. One was the diary that Harry destroyed with a basilisk fang. Another is the ring of Marvolo Gaunt, which Dumbledore destroyed but which cursed his hand. The remaining horcruxes are Slytherin’s locket, Hufflepuff’s cup, Voldemort’s snake, Nagini, and an unknown relic of either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.
Chapter 8: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Introduction
Harry Potter was just 11 years old when we first met him, a scrawny boy with bright green eyes and unruly black hair who was forced to wear his cousin Dudl
ey’s hand-me-downs. And now, he’s on the cusp of adulthood. He’s grown from a curious, unloved boy to a confident, powerful wizard who is ready to face down the most evil darkness the wizarding world has known.
“Deathly Hallows,” released in 2007, completes the journey that Rowling began more a decade earlier. It focuses on the themes that have been woven through the entire series: the power of friendship and love; courage in the face of the unknown; the destructive potential of prejudice; and the audacity of choosing what is right over what is easy. Harry and his friends have been hurtling toward this epic confrontation since chance brought them together aboard the Hogwarts Express, and now they face the very end together.
Plot
Voldemort is holding court at Malfoy Manor with Snape at his right hand. But Mr. Malfoy, once the preening bigot, has been reduced to a sniveling sycophant. He was imprisoned in Azkaban for much of the events of “Half-Blood Prince,” but now that the dementors are loyal to Voldemort, he is free. Yet Voldemort will not let Malfoy forget that for 13 years he did nothing to find the Dark Lord. Voldemort is not a forgiving master. Beside Mr. Malfoy, his son Draco is not faring any better as he faces the heavy consequences of his decision to become a Death Eater.
But Voldemort is pleased. Despite Hagrid’s attempts to ally the giants with the Order of the Phoenix, the brutish race has sided with Voldemort. What’s more, the Ministry is close to falling—not by force, but by infiltration. Snape has been named headmaster of Hogwarts by the now-corrupt government, and the remaining professors, like McGonagall, are there only to protect the children.
In this bleak world, Harry Potter is about to turn 17, the age of adulthood for wizards, and he’s about to leave the Dursleys for the final time. At 17, the ancient, powerful blood magic that kept him safe with the Dursleys will break, and Voldemort will likely attack. Members of the Order gather to escort Harry to safety—half of them disguised as Harry with Polyjuice Potion. Harry, as he always does, puts up a fight. He doesn’t want others to place themselves in danger because of him, but it’s Ron who reminds him that they’re all well past the point of being safe. Resigned, the real Harry travels with Hagrid, the gentle giant who brought him to the Dursleys as a baby.
The Order is attacked almost immediately, Death Eaters swarming the air as the group desperately tries to fight and escape. Harry’s scar explodes in pain as Voldemort himself appears, flying through the air without a broomstick. Blinded by the pain, Harry can’t see to fight, but his wand acts on its own to repel the dark wizard. Harry and Hagrid survive, but others aren’t as lucky. As the ragged group reassembles at the Burrow, the Weasley home, they take stock: George Weasley is badly injured, Harry’s loyal owl Hedwig is dead, and Mad-Eye Moody’s body is never recovered. It is the first of many sacrifices characters make in this final book to defeat Voldemort.
Still, despite the growing terror, Harry stays at the Burrow to celebrate Bill Weasley’s marriage to Fleur Delacour, the former Beauxbatons champion. Everyone wants to keep Harry safe, to shelter him until Voldemort is defeated, but how will they understand the prophecy and the horcruxes? He clings to the idea that Dumbledore set him a job before he was murdered. And Harry is going to see it through.
The Ministry has fallen, and now Harry, Ron and Hermione are hunted not just by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, but by the entire corrupted Ministry. They isolate themselves to protect their friends and family and head out to search for the final horcruxes. They do, however, have gifts from Dumbledore to help, although the gifts are just as abstract and confusing as the headmaster often was: a book of children’s tales for Hermione; a deluminator for Ron that magically turns off and on lights; and the first snitch Harry ever caught in quidditch.
The trio arrives at No. 12 Grimmauld Place, where house elf Kreacher begrudgingly helps them locate the real locket of Slytherin: It is now unwittingly worn by Dolores Umbridge. Umbridge’s pure blood mania and prejudice toward non-wizards has put her in favor in the Voldemort-run Ministry, and she is Harry’s target as he, Ron and Hermione break into the Ministry disguised with Polyjuice Potion.
The Ministry is no longer concerned with protecting citizens, but in rooting out “undesirables”—muggle-borns and blood traitors like the Weasleys, a family scorned for their acceptance of muggles and muggle-borns. And Undesirable No. 1? That’s Harry. Illustrating the common theme of courage, the trio daringly breaks into the Ministry even though they are wanted fugitives. They have no idea if they’ll make it out alive, but the thought of not even trying is worse.
Facing dementors and Voldemort loyalists, the trio flees the Ministry and barely escapes. Now they’re truly alone in a desolate forest, with just a magical beaded bag Hermione had packed and the real horcrux. Alone and hunted, they go on the run, camping in isolated corners of Britain as they anxiously try to figure out how to destroy the horcrux. It’s an evil thing that manipulates the emotions and fears of anyone too close to it, but it affects Ron worst of all. Harry’s best friend has always doubted his self-worth, but with the horcrux preying on him he is consumed with the thought that Harry and Hermione don’t need him—that Hermione would never choose an impoverished, middling wizard over the great Harry Potter. In a fit of rage, Ron abandons them.
Harry and Hermione, desperate for answers, visit a famous historian who they believe will be able to give them some clue as to how they are to proceed. But the historian is long dead, and in her place is an imposter—Nagini the snake wearing the dead woman’s skin. They escape just in time and apparate to the Forest of Dean. Harry’s cherished wand is broken, they’re no closer to answers, and hope seems lost. But late at night, Harry sees a silver doe in the forest, and he follows it. It leads him to a frozen pond, and at the bottom is the sword of Gryffindor—one of the few weapons that can destroy the horcrux. Like in the second book, the sword appears to brave Gryffindors in their time of need. Harry jumps into the icy pool to retrieve the sword, but the horcrux reacts, violently twisting at Harry’s throat and trying to drown him. Someone jumps into the pool and pulls Harry to safety—Ron. His deluminator pointed the way to the forest, and there he too had followed a silver doe to the pool. With the sword, Ron destroys the horcrux and finally faces all his fears.
With one horcrux down, Harry, Ron and Hermione turn to figuring out how to track down the rest. But before they can do that, Hermione wants to uncover the truth about a strange shape she keeps seeing repeated. It’s a triangle with a circle in the middle bisected by a line, and the trio learns the story from Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna’s eccentric father. He tells them the true story of the Deathly Hallows, a story in the children’s book Dumbledore bequeathed to Hermione. The Deathly Hallows are three ancient objects that combine to make one a master of death: the cloak of invisibility, the resurrection stone and the elder wand. The cloak makes one invisible to death; the stone brings back loved ones from the dead; and the elder wand is the most powerful wand in existence. But while Mr. Lovegood tells them this story, he is holding something back. Luna has been taken by Death Eaters for his support of Harry, and he is willing to do anything to save her—even if it means turning Harry over to Voldemort.
Harry, Ron and Hermione barely escape as Death Eaters descend on Lovegood’s house, but the trouble is far from over. Harry uses Voldemort’s name, which is now protected, and they’re immediately surrounded by mercenaries who kidnap muggle-borns and blood traitors for a reward. Thinking quick, Hermione tries to jinx Harry with a disfigurement to hide his famous lightning-shaped scar, but it’s too late, and they are dragged to Malfoy Manor.
Mr. Malfoy is beside himself with cruel joy at the thought of being the one to turn Harry over to Voldemort, but Draco refuses to confirm his identity. He even pretends he doesn’t recognize Ron and Hermione, who are not disguised. In his own way, Draco stands up to the evil with which he’s surrounded. But it’s not enough. Bellatrix Lestrange loses her already-tenuous grip on sanity when she recognizes the sword of Gryffindor found in Hermione’s ba
g. Ron and Harry are dragged to a cellar and locked away with other prisoners, but Bellatrix keeps Hermione. As Ron fights his captors and bellows for Hermione, Harry can hear her upstairs, screaming as Bellatrix tortures her.
Desperate, Harry uses a sliver of a mirror used for communicating to call out for help. He has no idea who—if anyone—will hear, but it is the only thing he can do. And someone does hear him. The cellar is inescapable for the wizards, but not for a house elf. The Malfoys and others like them are incapable of understanding that every creature has a power all their own. Dobby appears and disapparates with the other prisoners, and Harry and Ron get their chance to fight back. They bolt upstairs, and Harry disarms Draco. Dobby reappears to disapparate with Harry, Ron and Hermione just as Bellatrix throws a dagger. The group lands on a beach, but Dobby is dying. He had the courage to defy his old masters to save his friends, and he has a dagger sticking out of his chest for it. Dobby sacrifices himself for his friends, a theme that has woven through the entire series—but it is only here at the end that those sacrifices often mean death.
The ragged, wounded group arrives at the home of Bill and Fleur. But they have saved Luna and another student, along with the famed wandmaker Ollivander and a Gringotts Bank goblin. Despite the occlumency lessons Harry had with Snape so long ago, he’s still having visions of Voldemort—and he knows the dark wizard is after the elder wand, which belonged to Dumbledore. Through Ollivander, Harry learns that the elder wand changes allegiance to wizards that have won it, just like regular wands. The wand that Harry won from Draco, then, is essentially his. Harry knows Voldemort is close to locating the elder wand, but he decides to focus on the task that Dumbledore set him. From the goblin, Harry learns that Bellatrix was so upset to see the sword of Gryffindor because it was supposed to be in her vault with another important object—Hufflepuff’s cup. Harry convinces the goblin to help him break into Gringotts Bank, one of the most protected institutions of the wizarding world.
Everything You Need to Know About the Harry Potter Series Page 5