Harry Potter''s protection at the Dursleys'' home expires when he turns 17, he must be moved to a new location. After the Dursleys are escorted to safety, Order of the Phoenix members arrive to sneak Harry from the house. Despite an attempted decoy using Harry impostors, the real Harry is identified and attacked by Voldemort and his
Death Eaters. After a narrow escape, Harry and his companions arrive at The Burrow, where they discover that Mad-Eye Moody has been killed by Voldemort. A few days later, the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, arrives to give Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore''s will: Ron is given Dumbledore''s Deluminator, with the power to capture lights; Hermione receives a book of children''s stories written in Ancient Runes; Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor''s
sword and the Snitch he caught in his first ever Quidditch match. The Ministry withholds the sword, claiming it was not actually Dumbledore''s. After the departure of Scrimgeour from the scene, Harry finds a hidden inscription on the Snitch: "I open at the close." During Bill and Fleur''s wedding reception, Kingsley Shacklebolt''s Patronus arrives, warning that Voldemort has killed Rufus Scrimgeour, taken over the Ministry and sent Death Eaters to the wedding. Harry, Ron and Hermione escape the attack and take refuge at the deserted Black estate, where they discover that Regulus Arcturus Black is the "R.A.B." who removed the locket Horcrux from the lake.
Discovering that Dolores Umbridge now possesses it, they infiltrate the Ministry of Magic using Polyjuice Potion and recover the Horcrux. After several months on the run, the trio overhears a conversation revealing that the sword confiscated by the Ministry was a fake; the location of Gryffindor''s real sword is unknown. Harry questions the portrait of Phineas Nigellus and learns that Dumbledore destroyed a Horcrux with the real sword. Unable to destroy the locket, Harry wants to find the real sword, but Ron becomes discouraged and leaves. Harry and Hermione go to Godric''s Hollow, hoping that Dumbledore hid it there. However, it is a trap: Harry and Hermione narrowly escape Voldemort and his snake Nagini, and Hermione accidentally breaks Harry''s wand as they flee. One night, a doe-shaped Patronus appears near their camp and leads Harry to Gryffindor''s real sword, hidden in an icy pond. Harry dives after the sword, but the locket Horcrux around his neck begins strangling him. Ron, who suddenly returns, rescues Harry and retrieves the sword; he destroys the Horcrux with it. The trio set off to find Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna Lovegood''s father, and ask him about Grindelwald''s mark, a symbol in the book Dumbledore bequeathed to Hermione and also on a pendant Mr. Lovegood wore at the wedding. The trio reach the Lovegoods'' house and learn that the symbol represents the Deathly Hallows, three legendary objects that conquer death: the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak. However, they are forced to flee when Xenophilius betrays them to the Ministry in the hope that they will release his captured daughter. Harry now believes his Invisibility Cloak to be a Deathly Hallow. At their camp, "snatchers" capture the trio, and they are imprisoned at Malfoy Manor, the new Death Eater headquarters. After finding the sword among the trio''s possessions, Bellatrix Lestrange fears they have broken into her vault at Gringotts Bank. Dobby appears to free the prisoners, but they are discovered by Peter Pettigrew. He repays his life debt to Harry, but is murdered by his own silver hand. In the escape, Harry takes the wands of Bellatrix and Draco Malfoy. They apparate to Bill and Fleur''s home, but Dobby has been killed by Bellatrix. Guessing that Bellatrix''s vault contains a Horcrux, the trio break into Gringotts, retrieve a Horcrux in the form of Helga Hufflepuff''s Cup, and escape riding a dragon. Voldemort finag destroyed, and his telepathic link with Harry accidentally reveals that another Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts. Dumbledore''s brother, Aberforth, helps the trio to enter Hogwarts. They alert the staff to Voldemort''s impending arrival. Underage students are evacuated as Order of the Phoenix members arrive. At least fifty wizards die in the ensuing battle. As the Death Eaters attack, Harry learns that Ravenclaw''s Diadem is the Horcrux and realises he has seen it in the Room of Requirement. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione enter the Chamber of Secrets to retrieve basilisk fangs, with which Hermione destroys Hufflepuff''s Cup. In the Room of Requirement, the three are confronted by Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. Crabbe mishandles a powerful spell, killing himself and inadvertently destroying the diadem. Harry has another vision and leads his friends to the Shrieking Shack where Voldemort orders Nagini to kill Severus Snape. Voldemort believes that Snape became the Elder Wand''s master when he killed its former owner, Dumbledore, and that with Snape''s death, the wand''s allegiance will now be his. As Snape dies, he gives Harry his memories, who uses the Pensieve to discover that Snape had always been loyal to Dumbledore, motivated by his lifelong love of Lily Evans, Harry''s mother. Dumbledore, dying after being cursed by Marvolo Gaunt''s ring, had instructed Snape to kill him, if necessary, to spare Draco from completing the task. Snape had always protected Harry, and it was he who sent the doe Patronus to lead Harry to Gryffindor''s sword. Harry also discovers that he himself is a Horcrux, and that Voldemort cannot be killed while Harry remains alive. Resigned to his fate, Harry goes alone to the Forbidden Forest where Voldemort awaits. Harry opens the snitch he received from Dumbledore and finds the Resurrection Stone within. He uses it to summon the spirits of James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin (recently killed in battle along with his wife, Tonks) who comfort him. Prepared for death, he allows Voldemort to strike him with the Avada Kedavra curse. However, Harry awakens in what appears to be King''s Cross railway station where Albus Dumbledore explains that Harry cannot die while the blood carrying Lily''s protection resides in Voldemort''s body. Furthermore, the Horcrux within Harry has been destroyed by the Killing Curse. Back in the forest, Harry revives. Feigning death, he is carried to Hogwarts as a trophy. As reinforcements charge in, Harry covers himself with the Invisibility Cloak while Neville pulls Godric Gryffindor''s sword from the Sorting Hat and beheads Nagini, destroying the final Horcrux. Harry confronts Voldemort. He realises that when Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore, he unknowingly became the Elder Wand''s master. When Harry later took Draco''s own wand, the Elder Wand''s allegiance passed to him. Voldemort casts Avada Kedavra, but the Elder Wand protects its master and the spell rebounds, killing Voldemort. Shortly after, Harry visits Dumbledore''s portrait. He tells the Headmaster that he will keep the Invisibility Cloak, but leave the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest and return the Elder Wand to Dumbledore''s tomb. As long as Harry remains undefeated, the Elder Wand''s power will die with him. In the story''s epilogue, set nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny have three children, James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Ron and Hermione have two children named Rose and Hugo. Harry tells Albus Severus, who does not want to be sorted into Slytherin, that Severus Snape, his namesake, was probably the bravest man Harry ever met. Neville is now the Hogwarts Herbology professor and is close friends with Harry. The book ends with the line: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well." This book has the most named casualties of any book in the series. Challenged on this before the book''s release, J.K. Rowling had commented "It''s not
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