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Following
Dumbledore's death, Voldemort continues to gain support and increase his power.
When Harry turns seventeen, the protection he has at his aunt and uncle's house
will be broken. Before that can happen, at Mad Eye Moody's suggestion, Harry
flees to the Burrow with his friends, many of whom use Polyjuice Potion to
impersonate him so as to confuse any Death Eaters that may attack. They are
indeed attacked shortly after leaving Privet Drive; Mad Eye is killed, and
George Weasley wounded, but the rest arrive safely at the Burrow. Ron and
Hermione decide to accompany Harry, instead of returning to Hogwarts School for
their seventh year, to finish the quest Dumbledore started: to hunt and destroy
Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes. They have little knowledge about the
remaining Horcruxes except that one is a locket once owned by Hogwarts'
co-founder Salazar
Slytherin, one is possibly a cup once owned by co-founder Helga Hufflepuff,
a third may be connected with co-founder Rowena Ravenclaw,
and the fourth may be Nagini, Voldemort's snake familiar.
The whereabouts of the founders' objects is unknown, and Nagini is presumed to
be with Voldemort. Before leaving, they attend Ron's brother's Bill's wedding
to Fleur Delacour,
with Harry disguised by Polyjuice Potion, but the Ministry of
Magic is taken over by
Death Eaters during the wedding and they barely escape with their lives.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione flee to
12 Grimmauld Place in London, which is Sirius Black's family's house, where
they learn from the house-elf Kreacher the whereabouts of Salazar Slytherin's
locket, which Sirius' brother Regulus stole from Voldemort at the cost of his
own life. They successfully recover this Horcrux by infiltrating the Ministry
of Magic and stealing it from Dolores Umbridge. Under the object's evil
influence and the stress of being on the run, Ron leaves the others. As Harry
and Hermione search for the Horcruxes, they learn more about Dumbledore's past,
including the insanity and death of Dumbledore's younger sister and his
connection to the evil wizard Grindewald. Harry and Hermione ultimately travel
to Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace and the place where his parents died.
They meet the eldery magical historian Bathilda Bagshot, who turns out to be
Nagini in disguise and attacks them. They escape into the Forest of Dean, where
a mysterious silver doe that appears to be a Patronus leads Harry to the Sword of
Hogwarts co-founder Godric
Gryffindor, one of the few objects able to destroy Horcruxes, lying
at the bottom of an icy lake. When Harry attempts to recover the sword from the
pool, the Horcrux attempts to kill him. Ron reappears, saving Harry and then
using the sword to destroy the locket. Resuming their search, the trio
repeatedly encounter a strange symbol that an eccentric wizard named Xenophilius Lovegood tells them represents the mythical
Deathly Hallows. The Hallows are three sacred objects: the Elder Wand, an
unbeatable wand; the Resurrection Stone, with the power to summon the dead to
the living world; and an infallible Invisibility Cloak. Harry learns that
Voldemort is seeking the Elder Wand,
recognizes the Resurrection Stone from the second Horcrux, which Dumbledore had
destroyed, and realizes that his own Invisibility Cloak is the one mentioned in
the story, but he is unaware of the Hallows' significance.
The trio are captured and taken
to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. Harry and Ron are
thrown in the cellar, where they find Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, Dean Thomas,
and Griphook. They escape to Shell Cottage (Bill and Fleur's house) with
Dobby's help, but at the cost of the house-elf's life. Harry now realizes that
the Hallows may have the power to defeat Death and knows that Voldemort robbed
Dumbledore's tomb to procure the Elder Wand, but he decides to focus on finding
the Horcruxes instead of the Hallows. With Griphook's help, they learn that
Helga Hufflepuff's cup - a Horcrux - is hidden in Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts, break into her
vault, retrieve the cup, and escape on a dragon, with Griphook swiping the
sword and escaping on his own. From his connection to Voldemort's thoughts,
Harry learns that another Horcrux is hidden in Hogwarts, which is under the
control of Severus Snape. Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the school through
Hogsmeade (being saved by Aberforth Dumbledore, who explains more about Albus's
backstory) and - with the help of the teachers - Snape is ousted from the
school. Ron and Hermione go to the Chamber of Secrets and destroy the cup using
a basilisk fang. The trio then finds Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem (another
Horcrux) in the Room of Requirement. Vincent Crabbecasts
a Fiendfyre curse in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but he
instead destroys the diadem, the Room of Requirement, and himself. At this
point, a total of five Horcruxes have been destroyed.
The Death Eaters and Voldemort
besiege Hogwarts, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, their allies, and various magical creatures defend the school. Several major
characters are killed in the first wave of the battle, including Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks,
and Fred Weasley.
Voldemort kills Severus Snape because he believes doing so will make him the
Elder Wand's true master, since Snape killed Dumbledore. Harry discovers while
viewing Snape's memories that Voldemort inadvertently made Harry into a seventh
Horcrux when he attacked him as a baby, which is the true significance of
Harry's scar, and that Harry must die in order to destroy Voldemort. These
memories also confirm Snape's unwavering loyalty to Dumbledore and that his
role as a double-agent against Voldemort never wavered after Voldemort killed
Lily Evans, Harry's mother and Snape's one true love. Harry also learns that
Dumbledore had less than a year to live when he died, that his death by Snape's
hand had been per Dumbledore's request, and that Dumbledore had known that
Harry must die. After using the Resurrection Stone to bring back his deceased
loved ones for a short while, Harry surrenders himself to death at Voldemort's
hand. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at him, but it only sends Harry into a
limbo-like state between life and death.
While in this state, Dumbledore's
spirit explains to Harry that when Voldemort used Harry's blood to regain his
full strength, it protected Harry from Voldemort killing him; however, the
Horcrux inside Harry has been destroyed, and Harry can return to his body
despite being hit by the Killing Curse. Dumbledore also explains that Harry
became the true master of the Deathly Hallows by facing Death, not by seeking
to avoid it or conquer it. Harry returns to his body, feigning death, and
Voldemort marches victoriously into the castle with his body. However, per
Harry's prior instructions, Neville Longbottom kills Nagini, the last Horcrux, with
the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry then reveals that he is still alive, and the
battle resumes, with Bellatrix Lestrange being killed by Molly Weasley.
Harry and Voldemort engage in a
final climactic duel. Harry reveals that because he willingly sacrificed
himself to death by Voldemort's hand, his act of love would protect the
Wizarding community from Voldemort in the same way the sacrifice Harry's mother
made protected Harry. Harry also reveals that Snape was not loyal to Voldemort,
did not murder Dumbledore, and was never the master of the Elder Wand. Instead,
Draco was the master of the Elder Wand after disarming Dumbledore, but, because
Harry had disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor, Harry is the true master of the Elder
Wand. Harry claims that the wand will refuse to kill the one to whom it owes
allegiance, further protecting Harry. During the duel, Harry refuses to use the
killing curse and even encourages Voldemort to feel remorse, one known way to
restore Voldemort's shattered soul. Voldemort dies when his own killing curse
backfires against Harry's disarming curse, killing himself; the Death Eaters
are finally defeated. The wizarding world is able to live in peace once more.
