Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter-by-chapter summaries. Heavy spoilers follow. Read at your own risk!

Facts:
Seventh and final book in the series
Released 21 July 2007

- Chapter 1 -

THE DARK LORD ASCENDING

Snape meets with Voldemort and a large group of Death Eaters. Provides them with useful information about when and where they can attack Harry Potter.

Lucius Malfoy is present, fresh from Azkaban, as is his family. The Malfoy's aren't being treated so well and it is clear they are less than happy with the situation. Voldemort mocks Lucius in front of the other Death Eaters.

Voldemort takes Lucius' wand to use for himself. No explanation is given as to why Voldie is unhappy with his own wand.

The first death occurs!

- Chapter 2 -

IN MEMORIAM

Harry is packing up, getting ready to leave the Dursleys for the last time in his life.

He reads a memorial for Dumbledore, written in the Daily Prophet by Elphias Doge.

Also in the DP is an announcement that Rita Skeeter is publishing a book on Dumbledore called, "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore". It is clearly an exposé and negative take on many unknown supposed-truths that promise to disturb Dumbledore supporters.

Harry brushes the article off as "Lies!" and then imagines (?) seeing a pair of bright blue eyes (Dumbledore's?) in the mirror shard he got from Sirius.

- Chapter 3 -

THE DURSLEYS DEPARTING

Basically, Harry and the Dursleys finally split paths.

Harry convinces the Dursleys that they are in danger. With two Aurors as protective companions, they go into hiding (a la witness protection) and leave Harry alone in the house.

During goodbyes, a decent side of Dudley is revealed which surprises and touches Harry.

- Chapter 4 -

THE SEVEN POTTERS

Harry has been protected from Voldemort "as long as he can call the Dursleys' house home" and/or until his 17th birthday, when he comes of age. Until he turns 17, there is also a trace on him which is how the Ministry knows if he has used magic outside of school. Once 17, this "trace" goes away and he is safe to use magic when he pleases.

Shortly after the Dursleys depart, a whole gang of Harry's close wizard-friends show up to escort him to a safe place.

Present are: Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Arthur W, Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Fleur, Kingsley, Hagrid, and Mundungus.

The plan is that six will take Polyjuice potion to disguise them as Harry Potter. Then the 7 Potters will be escorted by 7 wizards in 7 different directions to 7 different locations. This is to throw off the scent a bit.

They are not allowed to use magic because of the "trace" on Harry. So some use brooms, some Thestrals, and in Harry's case, Sirius' motorcycle (with Hagrid).

This precaution is because Moody expects that maybe a pair of Death Eaters could be "on watch" in that area and may see them. Little do they know that the Death Eaters have been tipped off about this exact date, and plan to ambush them.

Just as the group depart Privet Drive, several Death Eaters ambush! Hagrid and Harry get through the circle, with four or five Death Eaters on their tail. Each of the other pairs (seven Harry's each escorted by one Wizard or Witch) take off followed by Death Eaters.

The action really takes off!

Harry casts disarming jinxes on the Death Eaters chasing them. One of the them is Stan Shunpike, from the Knight Bus. As soon as Harry zaps Stan, the other Death Eaters chasing him yell out, "It's him! This is the real one!" They summon Voldemort, who joins the pursuit, flying like Superman (broomless), to Harry's surprise.

Jinxes cause Hagrid to fall from the motorcycle, still several hundred feet over ground, and Harry to go into a dive in attempt to save Hagrid.



During the fall, Voldie nearly closes in on Harry. He points his wand and yells "Avada Kedavra" but then stops suddenly in the air while Harry continues to fall.

Before crashing to the ground, Harry sees Hagrid, face down and spread Eagle on the ground below. Presumably dead. (I swear I thought he was!)

- Chapter 5 -

FALLEN WARRIOR

From the title, I was certain that Hagrid died by the fall at the end of the previous chapter. It turns out he survived, barely.

As luck would have it, Hagrid and Harry landed in Tedd Tonks' garden - exactly where Hagrid was planning to take Harry.

Turns out the reason Voldemort stopped and didn't kill Harry was because a protective charm surrounded the Tonks' property, protecting it from evil. Voldemort bumped into the 100-yard limit and was forced to stop.

Hagrid and Harry are healed and Portkey away to the Burrow to meet the others.

At the Burrow, it turns out some of the group do not make it back whole - or at all.

- Chapter 6 -

THE GOUL IN PAJAMAS

Ron, Hermione and Harry go through their basic plan to destroy the Horcruxes.

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- Chapter 7 -

THE WILL OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Minister of Magic, Scrimgeour, visits the trio at the Burrow to present them with items Dumbledore has left them in his will that will help them on their quest to destroy the Horcruxes.

Ron gets Dumbledore's deluminator, which looks a bit like a lighter, and when clicked, can take out all light or return light.

Hermione gets a wizarding children's book, which is full of stories that wizarding children have grown up with but that neither she nor Harry are familiar with becuase they were raised by muggles.

Harry gets the golden snitch from his very first quidditch match. Dumbledore also wills the Sword of Godric Gryffindor to Harry, but Scrimgeour says it belongs to Hogwarts, was not Dumbledore's to give away, and that no single person can claim possession of it. So Harry does not get the sword.

Harry thinks that the snitch might open if he puts it in his mouth since that is how he caught it during the match. He places it in his mouth and sees writing appear briefly on the snitch: "I open at the close"

- Chapter 8 -

THE WEDDING

Fleur and Bill get married in the garden at the Burrow.

We are introduced to Luna's father who is wearing a bright yellow suit with a triangular symbol on it. Viktor Krum is in attendance and tells Harry the symbol from Mr. Lovegood's robes is from Grindelwald and of the Dark Arts.

Following the ceremony, word is received that the Ministry has fallen and Death Eaters are on their way. Many escape before the Death Eaters arrive, seconds later. Mayhem ensues.

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- Chapter 9 -

A PLACE TO HIDE

Harry, Ron and Hermione escape from the wedding under the invisibility cloak. They hide out momentarily in a tavern where they discuss Voldemort and the recent events. They soon notice two Death Eaters watching them from a booth in the tavern.

Quick on their toes, they defeat the Death Eaters, place hexes on them to forget what happened, and clean the place up - all the while, wondering how the Death Eaters could have found them so quickly.

They decide the safest place to go, where no Death Eater could find them (except Snape - who Harry hopes finds them so they can fight) is Sirius' house at Grimmauld Place.

- Chapter 10 -

KREACHER'S TALE

When entering number twelve, Grimmauld Place, the trio hear Moody's voice whisper "Severus Snape?" To which Harry replies, "I am not Dumbledore's murderer." This was the secret words needed to counter an attack by puppet-Moody, which is apparantly a hex that Moody cast (before he died) to prevent Snape from entering.

It appears that Snape has been there since the puppet figure of Moody that springs out to scare intruders has been shot by a wand.

Entering Sirius' bedroom for the first time, Harry finds a picture of his parents that has been torn in half and the Lily part is missing. On his way out of the room he discovers a sign on the door that reads, "Regulus Arcturus Black" which sparks Harry's memory about the Horcrux locket and the note signed R.A.B.

Lupin visits and asks if he can accompany them on their quest without them having to tell him all the details. He suggests a werewolf could be added protection and they wouldn't need to tell him anything they didn't want to. Harry lectures him about leaving his wife and future child and says he should go back to her and not be such a coward.

Harry decides to ask Kreacher if he knows anything about the locket. Kreacher confirms that it was Regulus who took it from the cave, with Kreacher's help. Kreacher says Mundungus took the locket, along with other items from the house. So Harry sends Kreacher to find Mundungus and return him to the house.

- Chapter 11 -

THE BRIBE

After a few days, Kreacher returns with Mundungus who explains what happened to the locket. He was peddling the items he stole at Diagon Alley and was stopped by a "toadlike" witch with a pink bow who confiscated all of it, including the locket.

Harry recognizes this to be Dolores Umbridge, whom they figure must be in possession of the locket.

As a reward to Kreacher for helping him find the locket Horcrux, Harry gives him a locket from the Black family for Kreacher to keep as his own. Kreacher is overwhelmed by Harry's generosity and gradually changes his behavior towards the trio, cleaning up the place and cooking for them.

- Chapter 12 -

MAGIC IS MIGHT

The trio decide the only way to get the locket from Umbridge is to go to the Ministry of Magic, where they know she works.

They use Polyjuice Potion to disguise as three random Ministry workers who they ambush on their way to work. Using some treats from the Weasley twins' Snackboxes the three ambushed (unaware) Ministry workers get bloody noses, vomit, etc. and decide to go home sick.

When they arrive, they notice the Ministry has changed since their last visit (in OotP). The statues golden statues have been replaced by large statues of a witch and wizard, sitting on thrones. At close inspection they see that the "thrones" are really naked muggles, elves, goblins and other "lesser" creatures. Inscribed at the base of the statue are the words, "Magic is Might".

- Chapter 13 -

THE MUGGLE-BORN REGISTRATION COMMISSION

A new Ministry-decree forces all Muggle-born witches and wizards to register with the Ministry because they have allegedly "stolen" magic since they weren't born with it.

Still at the Ministry, the trio find Umbridge in an Elevator on their way to her office. She is on her way down to the cellar to try some of the newly registered Muggle-born witches and wizards, and send them to Azkaban as thieves.

Umbridge asks Hermione (who is in disguise) to help transcript the day's Muggle-born hearings. Harry takes advantage of this and goes to Umbridges office to look for the locket. Ron is forced to attend to a hexed office.

Wearing the invisibility cloak, Harry searches Umbridge's office for the locket, and finds Mad-Eye Moody's eyeball in her office door. Umbridge has been using it to spy on the people in the room outside her office. Harry takes it from the door and places it in his pocket.

Harry notices that people are looking at him (in disguise as a large, bulky Ministry worker) with respect and fear. He figures this guy must be one of the Death Eaters who has taken over the place, and Harry uses this to his advantage.

He goes down to the cellar to see how Hermione is doing, and to see if Umbridge has the locket on her since he couldn't find it in her office.

There is a long line of nervous (accused muggle-born) witches and wizards who are waiting for their turn to be tried in the court (and sent to Azkaban). Harry enters with the next one in line and watches the farce trial and feeling pity on the unfairly accused witch, he stops freezes Umbridge and the Death Eater running the trial, takes the locket from Umbridge (who was wearing it around her neck), and flees with Hermione and the witch.

Ron, Harry and Hermione decide to rescue all of the muggle-born witches and wizards who are unfairly being tried and sentenced to Azkaban.

The trio helps them all to escape the ministry and barely make it out alive.

- Chapter 14 -

THE THIEF

The trio relocate to the open clearing/grassy field where they watched the Quidditch World Cup, using the tent they camped in during the QWC. Hermione has enchanted the tent so that nobody can see it or hear them on the outside.

Harry's scar hurts and causes him to have flash-dreams into Voldemort's mind. He sees Voldemort trying to track down a bulgarian wandmaker. Harry sees in flashback through Voldie, a memory of a strange man stealing something from this wandmaker, and jumping out a window to get away.

Harry finds out that only something magically crafted like Godric's sword, Basilisk fangs or of very high magic could destory the Horcruxes. They decide that they should seek out the sword and use that.

While wearing the locket, Ron gets fed up with the situation and decides to leave Harry and go home. He wants Hermione to come but she refuses, so Ron leaves alone.

- Chapter 15 -

THE GOBLIN's REVENGE

Harry and Hermione move locations from the QWC field to a remote forest where Hermione used to go camping with her parents. The still use the tent and Hermione casts the same protection charms.

While in the tent, H & H hear some voices outside. They listen in on the conversation and discover it is two goblins who are on the run from Death Eaters, plus Dean Thomas, Ted Tonks and another wizard who are fugitives.

The Goblins tell the wizards that some Death Eaters delivered Godric's Sword to Gringott's for safe keeping, but the Goblin's noticed that it was a fake. They didn't share the information with the Death Eaters.

Harry needs the sword to destroy the Horcruxes, and so he wonders where the real sword might be.

- Chapter 16 -

GODRIC'S HOLLOW

Harry convinces Hermione that they should go to Godric's Hollow to learn more about Dumbledore and hopefully visit Bathilda, the woman who wrote History of Hogwarts and the major source for Skeeter's biography on Dumbledore.

At the small village, H & H visit Harry's parent's graves and the house where they were killed. It is preserved by the town as a memorial to them.

While standing in front of the ruiins that was his old house, Harry sees a woman approach them through the snow. Harry and Hermione are hiding under the invisibility cloak, so they are surprised that she looks at them and beckons for them to follow her.

They agree it must be Bathilda who has been waiting for them and wants to tell them something, so they follow her to her house.

- Chapter 17 -

BATHILDA'S SECRET

Bathilda doesn't speak to Harry or Hermione at all on the way back to the house, nor once they arrive. She acts a bit senile, which Harry credits her old age and a comment he heard from a wizard at Bill and Fleur's wedding.

Harry looks at the coffee table and notices quite a few pictures of Dumbledore in the old days. One of them is of Dumbledore and the theif (chapter 14) that Harry saw in flashback who stole something and jumped out a window. He takes the picture, stuffing it into his pocket without Bathilda noticing.

Bathilda beckons Harry to go upstairs with her - and ONLY Harry, not Hermione.

He agrees to go. Once alone with her she speaks to him in a whispery voice, then Nagini eats his way out of her from the inside through her neck and head.

Harry hears Voldemort's voice inside his head telling Nagini to hold him until Voldie arrives.

The whole house begins to fall apart and Harry faints. Hermione rushes in to rescue him and breaks his wand in the process. But they do escape and make it back to their hideout at the QWC field.

- Chapter 18 -

THE LIFE AND LIES OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Once they are safely back in their protected tent, Hermione shows Harry the Rita Skeeter book, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, which she took from Bathilda's house.

They read a part about Albus' sister who died young, and who Rita accuses of being a squib in her book because she never attended Hogwarts. In the book, Dumbledore is portrayed to have been behind her death and connected with the dark arts through his friend Grindelwald. Grindelwald is also the wizard Dumbledore was said to have defeated, so this confuses Harry. Which is true?

Harry sees a photograph in the book of Dumbledore and "the thief" and discovers that it is Grindelwald and Dumbledore, looking like close friends.

The book also has a photocopy of a letter which Dumbledore wrote to Grindelwald, which makes it appear that Dumbledore supported the idea of Magic supremacy, "for the greater good".

- Chapter 19 -

THE SILVER DOE

Under the invisibility cloak, Harry goes to the woods outside to be alone and think.

There he sees a silver doe, and it makes him feel very happy and warm inside. The doe begins to walk away and Harry follows it to a pond. At the bottom of the pond he sees the Sword of Godric Gryffindor!

Then the doe disappears. Harry shows courage by going into the ice-cold pond without clothes on to retrieve the sword. Wearing the Horcrux locket around his neck, Harry nearly drowns, but is pulled out of the water at the last minute by Ron Weasley.

Harry inspects the area to see who might have cast the doe patronus to lure him there. Ron says he thinks he saw some motion behind a certain tree. The area behind the tree is abandoned, but Harry suspects somebody was recently there, watching them.

- Chapter 20 -
Xenophilius Lovegood

Harry recalls the triangular symbol on Luna's father's suit at the wedding, and the fact that Krumb insisted it was Grindelwald's mark, and a discovery of this symbol as a chapter-illustration above a chapter in the wizarding children's book that Hermione got from Dumbledore in his will.

Connecting the three, they decide to go visit Luna's father and find out more about the symbol.

- Chapter 21 -
The Tale of the Three Brothers

While visiting Mr. Lovegood, he explains that the triangular symbol is something worn by "seekers of the Deathly Hallows" - which he says is described in a story from Hermione's book: The Tale of the Three Brothers.

The tale describes three brothers who are to cross a bridge, but need to pass Death in order to do so. Death grants them each a wish. The first brother wishes for the most powerful wand in the world. Something that can defeat all and make him the most powerful wizard alive. Death creates and gives him The Elder Wand.

The second brother wishes for something that can bring people back from the dead. He gets a stone called The Resurrection Stone.

The third brother asks for something that will make him invisible to all around him. He gets a magical cloak.

The symbol of "The Deathly Hallows" represents the three items: The triangle is the cloak, the circle in the middle is the stone, and the vertical line through the circle is the wand.

Mr. Lovegood attempts to turn Harry over to Death Eaters because they have his daughter, Luna. The Death Eaters attack the house but the trio escape.

- Chapter 22 -
The Deathly Hallows

Harry is convinced the Deathly Hallows are real and that his invisibility cloak is the cloak from the story.

He believes that Voldemort is trying to locate the Elder Wand, and that the Stone must be on a ring which Dumbledore found at Riddle's family home and then destroyed as a Horcrux. Harry thinks he recalls the triangular symbol on the stone in the ring, and he thinks the ring might be hidden inside the Snitch that he got from Dumbledore's will.

- Chapter 23 -

MALFOY MANOR

While discussing their plan to find the remaining Horcruxes, Harry let slip the word "Voldemort" which Ron quickly tells him was a taboo word because the Death Eaters have hexed it so they know immediately when the word is spoken, and where.

Hermione acts fast and casts a spell on Harry to disguise his face so the Death Eaters will not recognize him.

Presently, the trio is surrounded by a group of Death Eaters, who take them to the Malfoy Manor while waiting for Voldemort to return from Bulgaria.

The Death Eaters ask Draco if he will identify the trio since they are not 100% sure it is Harry and don't want to call Voldie if they're wrong. Draco is non-committal and does not positively identify them, instead saying, "It could be him."

Bellatrix notices the sword in their possession and becomes frightened that they should perhaps not call the Dark Lord back because he might be very angry and kill them in his wrath. They decide to torture Hermione to try to find out where they got the sword.

Ron and Harry are taken to the basement, where they find Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Griphook the Goblin, and Olivander the wandmaker.

- Chapter 24 -

THE WANDMAKER

Harry asks Olivander if his wand can be repaired. He is told, "Not by any means I am aware of."

Harry learns more about the phrase "A wand chooses the wizard" and that it also means that wizards can take posession of a wand if they have "bested" its owner/master.

The Death Eaters call the Goblin up to confirm whether Godric's sword is fake or authentic. Harry convinces him to lie and say it is a fake.

While the Goblin is upstairs, Harry calls for help through the shard of mirror, where he previously believed to see Dumbledore's eyes.

Dobby apperates to their aid! They find out that only house elves can apperate in and out of the manor. Harry asks Dobby to apperate the other captives to safety, and then to return for him, Ron and Hermione.