Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron and Hermione leave school to hunt down and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes while Voldemort takes over the Ministry. They also learn of the Deathly Hallows, three legendary objects that could master death. The search ends in the Battle of Hogwarts and Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort.
It is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Harry Potter | The Boy Who Lived |
| Ron Weasley | Harry's loyal friend |
| Hermione Granger | Harry's brilliant friend |
| Voldemort | Dark wizard who has seized power |
| Severus Snape | Headmaster under Voldemort |
| Neville Longbottom | Leader of the school resistance |
| Draco and Narcissa Malfoy | Death Eater family having doubts |
| Dobby and Kreacher | House-elves |
| Nagini | Voldemort's snake |
How does the story begin?
The Order moves Harry from Privet Drive using six friends disguised as him with Polyjuice Potion. Death Eaters attack, and Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody are killed. At Bill and Fleur's wedding, news arrives that the Ministry has fallen. Harry, Ron and Hermione flee and hide at Sirius's house in London.
↑ Back to the topHow do they find the Horcruxes?
Kreacher reveals that R.A.B. was Sirius's brother Regulus and that the real locket was stolen by Umbridge. The trio breaks into the Ministry to take it. Then they camp in the wild for months, unable to destroy it. Worn down by the locket's influence, Ron leaves. At Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace, Nagini ambushes them and Harry's wand is broken. Ron returns and saves Harry from drowning while retrieving the sword of Gryffindor from a frozen pool, and Ron destroys the locket.
↑ Back to the topWhat are the Deathly Hallows?
Xenophilius Lovegood tells them the tale of three brothers who received the Elder Wand, a stone that calls back the dead and a cloak of invisibility. Harry realizes his cloak is one of them and that Voldemort is searching for the Elder Wand. Captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, the trio is rescued by Dobby, who is killed by Bellatrix. They break into Gringotts to steal a cup Horcrux and escape on a dragon.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in the Battle of Hogwarts?
At Hogwarts, Harry finds the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, while Ron and Hermione destroy the cup with a basilisk fang. A great battle erupts. Fred, Lupin and Tonks are among the dead. Voldemort kills Snape so that he can master the Elder Wand. Dying, Snape gives Harry his memories, which show that he loved Harry's mother Lily, worked for Dumbledore all along, and that Dumbledore planned his own death. They also reveal that a piece of Voldemort's spirit lives in Harry, so Harry must die.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in the forest?
Harry walks into the forest, accompanied by the spirits of his parents, Sirius and Lupin, and lets Voldemort strike him with the Killing Curse. He wakes in a bright place like King's Cross station, where Dumbledore explains that the curse destroyed only the piece of Voldemort inside him. Harry chooses to return. Narcissa, checking on him, lies to Voldemort that he is dead in return for news of Draco.
↑ Back to the topHow does Deathly Hallows end?
Neville pulls the sword from the Sorting Hat and kills Nagini, the last Horcrux. Harry reveals he is alive and faces Voldemort before everyone. The Elder Wand's true master is Harry, who disarmed Draco, its previous owner. When Voldemort casts the Killing Curse, it rebounds and kills him. Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione watch their children leave for Hogwarts, and Harry's scar has not hurt for nineteen years.
↑ Back to the topMore about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.