Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 
The final summer
Lord Voldemort and his followers plan to ambush Harry Potter when he leaves the protected Dursley home for the last time. Voldemort also seeks a new wand to defeat Harry's. As members of the Order escort Harry to a safe house, they are attacked en route by Death Eaters. Harry narrowly escapes, but Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody are killed.

A few days later, Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrives at The Burrow to give Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore's will. Ron receives a Deluminator, and Hermione is left a children's book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's Sword and the Snitch he caught in his first-ever Quidditch match, although Scrimgeour withholds the sword. The trio, while puzzled, presume the items will help them in their Horcrux hunt.

The search begins

At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus arrives, announcing that Scrimgeour is dead and the Ministry is now under Voldemort's control. As Death Eaters approach, Harry, Ron and Hermione Disapparate, ultimately taking refuge in 12 Grimmauld Place. There, Harry deduces that Sirius Black's brother Regulus was the "R.A.B" who removed the Locket Horcrux from the sea cave.[HP6] Hermione recalls the locket seen amongst house-elf Kreacher's possessions.[HP5] Kreacher reveals that he placed the Locket Horcrux in the cave for Voldemort, and Regulus died retrieving it. The Horcrux has since fallen into Dolores Umbridge's possession via Mundungus Fletcher. The trio successfully infiltrate the Ministry of Magic and recover the locket, but Grimmauld Place is compromised during their escape, forcing them to flee.

The trio learn that the Gryffindor Sword confiscated by the Ministry is a fake. Harry wants to find the real one because it can destroy Horcruxes, but a frustrated Ron leaves the group. Harry and Hermione seek the sword in Godric's Hollow, but they are ambushed by Nagini and Voldemort. During their escape, Hermione accidentally breaks Harry's wand.

In the Forest of Dean, a doe-shaped Patronus leads Harry to an icy pond containing the real Sword. As Harry attempts to retrieve it, the Locket Horcrux tightens around his neck, strangling him. He is saved by Ron, who returns by using Dumbledore'e Deluminator and destroys the locket with the sword. Ron warns his friends that Voldemort's name is now a Taboo: uttering it reveals the speaker's location to bounty hunters, known as Snatchers.

The Deathly Hallows

The trio learn from Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father, that a cryptic symbol they have repeatedly encountered represents the three Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak. When pressed about Luna's absence, Lovegood admits that Death Eaters abducted her in retaliation for supporting Harry in his paper, The Quibbler. Fearing for Luna's safety, he has alerted the Death Eaters that the trio is there, but they escape.

Harry is convinced Voldemort is seeking the Elder Wand, but when he accidentally speaks Voldemort's tabooed name, they are immediately captured by Snatchers and imprisoned at Malfoy Manor, along with Luna, Dean, Ollivander, and Griphook. Finding Gryffindor's Sword among the trio's possessions, Bellatrix Lestrange suspects they have broken into her Gringotts vault, and tortures Hermione for information. Dobby Apparates into the cellar and rescues Luna, Dean, and Ollivander, prompting Peter Pettigrew to investigate the noise. He throttles Harry, but reminded that he owes a life debt,[HP3] Pettigrew loosens his grip, causing his own silver hand to choke him to death in retribution. Harry and Ron rush upstairs, where Ron disarms Bellatrix and Harry takes Draco's wand. Dobby reappears, and they Disapparate to Bill and Fleur Weasley's cottage. Dobby is killed by Bellatrix's knife during the escape.

At the cottage, Ollivander confirms the Elder Wand's existence and says that a wand can transfer allegiance if its owner is defeated or disarmed. Bellatrix's behaviour convinces the trio that another Horcrux is hidden in the Lestrange vault. Aided by Griphook, they penetrate Gringotts' defences and retrieve Hufflepuff's Cup Horcrux.

Meanwhile, Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb, believing it is the only wand that can defeat Harry. Dumbledore captured it after defeating the Dark wizard Grindelwald in a duel. Voldemort also realises that his Horcruxes are being destroyed; his mind link with Harry unintentionally reveals that another Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts.

The Battle of Hogwarts

In Hogsmeade, Aberforth Dumbledore smuggles the trio into Hogwarts. Harry alerts the staff to Voldemort's impending invasion; Hogwarts allies soon arrive. Harry has learned that Ravenclaw's Diadem is a Horcrux, while Hermione destroys the Cup Horcrux with a basilisk fang from the Chamber of Secrets.[HP2] Harry recalls seeing the diadem in the Room of Requirement.[HP6] The trio are attacked there by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe mishandles the powerful Fiendfyre spell, killing himself and destroying the diadem, but the others escape unharmed.

Harry glimpses Voldemort's mind again, leading the trio to the Shrieking Shack. There they witness Voldemort kill Snape with Nagini, believing it will make him the Elder Wand's master. As Snape dies, he gives Harry memories that prove his loyalty to Dumbledore, motivated by his lifelong love for Harry's mother Lily. After being cursed by Gaunt's Ring Horcrux, a doomed Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him, if necessary, at a strategic time. It was Snape who sent the doe Patronus. The memories also show that Harry himself is a Horcrux; he must die to destroy Voldemort.

Resigned to death, Harry approaches Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest. Along the way, he finds the Resurrection Stone inside the Snitch and summons the spirits of his parents, Sirius Black and the recently killed Remus Lupin, who comfort him. Voldemort strikes him with Avada Kedavra.

Awakening in an ethereal place, Harry is unsure whether he is alive or dead. Dumbledore appears and explains that Voldemort's Horcrux within Harry has been destroyed. He says that just as Voldemort cannot die while his soul fragments remain, Voldemort cannot kill Harry because he used Harry's blood in his resurrection.

Harry revives, but feigns death. Voldemort forces Hagrid to carry Harry's body to Hogwarts as a trophy. When Neville Longbottom defies Voldemort, the Sorting Hat is thrust aflame atop his head; pulling it off, he withdraws Gryffindor's sword from it and beheads Nagini, destroying the final Horcrux. As the battle resumes, many magical folk join the combat against the Death Eaters. Knowing that he is the Elder Wand's true master, Harry challenges Voldemort. When Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower,[HP6] he unknowingly became the Elder Wand's master; Harry gained its allegiance when he captured Draco's own wand. Voldemort casts a Killing Curse as Harry conjures a Disarming Spell, but the Elder Wand's curse rebounds on Voldemort, killing him.

Among the battle's casualties are Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey and Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry tells Dumbledore's portrait he is keeping the Invisibility Cloak, but the Resurrection Stone will remain lost in the forest, and the Elder Wand is to be returned to Dumbledore's tomb, where its power will be extinguished if Harry dies undefeated. Dumbledore approves. Before returning the Elder Wand to the tomb, Harry uses it to repair his own wand.

Epilogue

Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny Weasley are married and have three children: James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Ron and Hermione are also married and have two children, Rose and Hugo. The families meet at King's Cross station, where a nervous Albus is departing for his first year at Hogwarts. Harry's nineteen-year-old godson, Teddy Lupin, is found kissing Victoire Weasley in a train compartment. Teddy is a frequent visitor to the Potters, coming to dinner several times a week. Harry sees Draco Malfoy and his unnamed wife with their son, Scorpius; Malfoy acknowledges Harry with a curt nod, then turns away. Harry comforts Albus, who is worried he will be sorted into Slytherin, by telling him that his namesake, Severus Snape, was a Slytherin and the bravest man he ever met. He adds that the Sorting Hat takes one's own choice into account. Neville Longbottom is now the Hogwarts Herbology professor and is close friends with Harry. The book concludes: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."