Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, 2007 Arthur A. Levine Books

     In the final book of the series, Harry is back at Privet Drive and preparing to leave as the Dursleys go into hiding. The Order of the Phoenix arrives to transport Harry to safety beginning a battle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
     With losses to their list of allies, Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin travelling the countryside looking for Voldemort's horcruxes. After a meeting with the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, to receive their inheritance from Dumbledore and a Weasley wedding the trio flee to complete their quest.
     Death Eaters follow and the friends finally find temporary sanctuary in Harry's house, left to him by Sirius: Number 12 Grimmauld Place. There Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover Sirius's brother had stolen a locket-horcrux from Voldemort and left a fake one in its place. The house-elf Kreacher tells Harry that Mundungus Fletcher recently stole the horcrux and lost it to Dolores Umbridge.
     Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrate the Ministry to steal the locket back and bring a Death Eater within the protective magics of Grimmauld Place. On the run in forests around Britain Harry continues to have visions of Voldemort. Eavesdropping on a group of goblins helps him realize the Sword of Gryffindor (which Harry had inherited from Dumbledore, but the Minister had refused him) could destroy horcruxes.
     The search for the Sword of Gryffindor frustrates the three friends and Ron loses patience, abandoning Harry and Hermione. Hermione is hurt by Ron's abandonment and suggests they search out Bathilda Bagshot in Godric's Hollow with the hope she will give them the Sword. Bathilda, unfortunately, has been killed and her body inhabited by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. Harry and Hermione barely escape her attack and Harry's wand is destroyed.
     While on watch a doe patronus appears to Harry and leads him to the Sword of Gryffindor at the bottom of a pond. The locket horcrux attempts to strangle Harry, but Ron reappears and saves his best friend, using the Sword to destroy the horcrux. Hermione, again takes the lead and directs her friends to Luna Lovegood's father for an explanation of a symbol she found in Dumbledore's book. Luna's father betrays the trio in hopes of getting his imprisoned daughter back from the Ministry, but first he tells them the story of the Deathly Hallows -- three magical items which can stave off death.
     Captured during their escape, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are taken to Malfoy Manor where Bellatrix interrogates Hermione about the Sword of Gryffindor. They are rescued, along with Luna, Ollivander the wandmaker, and the goblin Griphook, by Dobby the Free House-elf. Bellatrix's behavior indicates something of interest in her vault at Gringotts and the trio finds Hufflepuff's cup, another horcrux.
     The final horcrux leads Harry, Ron, and Hermione back to Hogwarts where they infiltrate the borders through Dumbledore's brother. Aberforth connects the trio with Neville Longbottom who has taken over Dumbledore's Army and been training in the Room of Requirement. Harry enlists the D.A.'s help in finding the final horcrux, they indicate Ravenclaw's Diadem missing for decades.
     While Harry searches, Hogwarts prepares for Voldemort's arrival. With the destruction of Voldemort at hand a massive battle wages over the school, but Harry must sacrifice himself before victory is at hand.
     The conclusion of Harry's seven-year battle with the being who attempted to kill him as an infant is elaborate and the final book in the series illustrates the qualities which allow Harry to survive to adulthood. This novel is aimed at older readers, high school-aged and adults with rampant violence as in any war. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ties many of the loose ends together, ending the saga. Readers who enjoyed the Harry Potter series to this point will find many of their questions answered, and those who enjoy fantasy will enjoy the Harry Potter series.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, 2005 Scholastic

     Harry has escaped Voldemort's clutches once again, and there is no chance the wizarding world cannot accept the return of the dark wizard--he has appeared in the Ministry of Magic itself. But Harry has been branded a spoiled attention-seeker and his reputation, along with those who support him, has been trampled in the muck. Some still doubt Voldemort's return.
     Alongside Ron and Hermione, Harry returns to Hogwarts for his sixth and penultimate year of school. Despite the chaos outside the walls, it appears not much has changed. But with Snape as his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and a new Potions Master, Harry finds himself itching to get away.
     It is that new Potions Master that gives Harry his change of scene. Horace Slughorn knew Lord Voldemort when he was young Tom Riddle and first began his quest for supremacy and immortality. Dumbledore's invitation to return to Hogwarts begins a search for Voldemort's defeat--beginning with information Slughorn may have provided the young man. But the professor is hesitant to reveal information which may paint him in a less-than-desirable light.
     Dumbledore begins to entrust Harry with a more pivotal role in the rebellion against Voldemort and his forces. While still participating in his schooling and navigating changing friendships, as well as burgeoning relationships, Harry joins the Headmaster in his search for Voldemort's horcruxes and defeat.
     The war continues to rage around Hogwarts and even the school is not the safe haven it once was. As Voldemort's power increases and the dangers surrounding their questing mount, Harry discovers something more to his fight than just the hope for peace. The second-to-last novel in the Harry Potter Series is meant for older readers and one of the darkest yet, but as outrages pile, resistance gains strength. Harry's battle becomes one the entire wizarding world can take part in.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J.K. Rowling, 2003 Scholastic

     The youngest wizard to win the Triiumbvirate??? Wizarding Cup, Harry Potter returns in his fifth adventure. Cedric Diggory is dead and Voldemort has returned in the flesh--and this time the magic that has protected Harry since his mother's death is part of Voldemort too.
     Harry has returned to the Dursleys's and is making his way home one night when a group of dementors attack him and his cousin Dudley. He performs magic to defend both himself and his cousin and is whisked away from the Dursleys by several friends, before the Ministry of Magic can have him taken away for performing magic in front of a muggle. The group takes him to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place--his godfather's home. Reunited with Sirius and his friends, Harry begins to enjoy his unexpected summer.
     But things are as they haven't been since Voldemort's demise fourteen years before. Gimmauld Place is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a resistance lead by Dumbledore himself. They are forced to act outside the Ministry because Cornelius Fudge (Minister of Magic) refuses to acknowledge Voldemort's return and therefore give the Order legitimacy.
     After a disciplinary hearing Harry is allowed to return to Hogwarts. Once there he, Ron and Hermione discover that Dolores Umbridge, one of Fudge's employees, has been assigned the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. An unusual warning from the Sorting Hat cautions the students from becoming too divided while the world around them doesn't want to believe Voldemort's return. Harry becomes the target of much ridicule as the Ministry finds it easier to attack him and label him an attention-seeking child rather than give credence to his claims.
     As the danger outside Hogwarts' walls increases the students become more and more frustrated when Umbridge refuses to teach them any defensive skills. Harry and several friends form a club that will self-educate in defensive magic. The club names themselves Dumbledore's Army, the D.A. for short, and after Umbridge is appointed High Inquisitor over all Hogwarts's teachers and students they must act in secret.
     Umbridge actively dislikes Harry and frequently singles him out for punishment. She even bans him from playing on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. In protest, Ron's twin brothers Fred and George Weasley storm out of Hogwarts in a great spectacle designed to cause Umbridge as much strife as possible.
     Harry has dreams about a corridor deep in the Ministry of Magic, walking down the corridor in the dark of night. When he dreams that a giant snake attacks Mr. Weasley, Harry's dreams become a danger to him and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore sends him to Professor Snape, Harry's nemesis before Umbridge, to learn to protect his mind from the invasions. Harry's attempts show little progress and Snape is not a pleasant tutor, they begin to go longer and longer between lessons until they no longer meet at all.
     The D.A., however, continues to meet regularly until Umbridge discovers their club. Dumbledore takes responsibility for the formation and continued meetings, he resigns as headmaster and Umbridge takes his place. The school falls into a gloom and the fifth-years begin taking their O.W.L.s.
     Harry's dreams continue, yet he dreams that Voldemort has captured Sirius and is intent on rescuing him. Hermione warns against believing everything he dreams, but when Harry flees to London she and Ron join him. They discover nothing is as it seems, yet the friendships they have cultivated throughout the years will support them through the darkness.
     Rowling's fifth installment of the Harry Potter Series is a dark and gloomy tale of dangers we all experience in one way or another; that teacher whose treatment seems unwarranted and is unfair, the friendships lost because of general perception, and fear of losing resulting in a loss. As the stories become darker Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is no longer appropriate for younger readers. Readers as young as mid-teens will understand the story, yet the nuances are more appropriate for more mature readers.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling, 2000 Bloomsbury

     Harry goes to visit Ron at the Burrow in the summer after his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry, Ron, and Hermione travel to the World Quidditch Cup where all hell breaks loose. Death Eaters are more and more brash about their performances and the Dark Mark in the sky throws everything into confusion--Death Eaters attack wizards and witches and are not repelled by the Ministry of Magic.
     Back at school the Ministry has decided to revive the age-old tradition of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. A student from each of the three magical schools in Europe will participate in a three-tiered tournament for the honor of housing the Tri-Wizard Cup. Representatives from Beauxbaton Acadamy and Durmstrang Institute travel to Hogwarts hoping to be chosen.  With such a public distraction the Death Eaters and Voldemort's followers gain traction and progress toward bringing the Dark Lord back.
     Though the competitors must be of age--seventeen--fourteen-year-old Harry's name somehow makes it into the Goblet of Fire and Harry becomes the fourth contestant. Throughout the three challenges Harry is both aided and challenged by the people around him and his competitors. Not only are the adults around him taking sides, but his friendships seem to be cracking under the pressures of a competition Harry never wanted.
     Facing dragons, mer-folk, and a deadly maze all lead up to one of the most difficult experiences of Harry's life. He loses friends, gains enemies, and witnesses the rebirth of the most dangerous and terrifying wizard his world has ever known. Yet he persists and helps to unearth treachery in the most impregnable stronghold in the wizarding world: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
     Public opinion has never seemed to impact Harry's life, but when he transforms into the youngest competitor in the Tri-Wizard Tournament he is no longer just the Boy Who Lived--he becomes the hero and golden boy. Life has progressively gotten darker for Harry and his friends since they met their first year at Hogwarts yet they stick together and rely on each other for their strengths. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a story aimed at a teen audience, but one that has entertained readers of all ages since its publication.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, 1999 Bloomsbury

     After nearly being killed by a book, Harry Potter is seeing strange shapes in the shadows. First a cloaked figure then a large, shaggy dog, but things are getting out of hand when one of the strangely cloaked figures attacks him while Harry and his cousin, Dudley, are in a public playground. Harry is sent an owl from the Ministry of Magic and scolded for his use of magic in front of a Muggle.
     When Aunt Marge comes to visit she, like the rest of her family, demeans Harry's parents and Harry himself. In a fit of rage Harry unwittingly uses magic to inflate her like a helium balloon and escapes in the aftermath. He is picked up by the Knight Bus and travels to Diagon Alley where he runs into the Minister of Magic himself. Fudge asks Harry to spend the rest of his summer in Diagon Alley where he may be protected and looked after.
     As he takes the train back to Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione, Harry discovers that Fudge wanted him accounted for because Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather and a convicted murderer has escaped from Azkaban Prison. Nearly everyone assumes Black plans to murder Harry and the Ministry has sent Dementors to patrol the school and surrounding areas.
     The Dementors are soul-sucking hooded creatures capable of stealing an individual's happiness and making them relive their worst memories. When one appears on the train, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts' Professor Lupin defends the trio and helps them recover with chocolate. It is not the first or last time Harry encounters the Dementors: he falls nearly fifty feet during a Quidditch match when a group swarms him. The problems urge Harry to take lessons from Lupin on a patronus charm, which repels the creatures.
     Third Years are offered the opportunity to visit the nearby town of Hogsmeade, but when Harry doesn't have permission from his guardian he is confined to the grounds. Fred and George Weasley, however, have other plans and deliver into Harry's possession the Maurader's Map. The Map was created by Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs in years gone by and shows the location of any person within Hogwarts grounds, as well as passages off campus. Harry uses the map and his father's invisibility cloak to sneak into Hogsmeade where he meets up with Ron and Hermione. On one such trip Harry overhears several professors speaking about Black: how he betrayed Harry's parents, his true relationship to Harry, how he murdered not only muggles but friend Peter Pettigrew, and how he is thought to be working for Voldemort.
     The boys' relationship with Hermione is strained when she reports Harry's Christmas gift of a state-of-the-art broomstick (to replace his Nimbus 2000 after it was destroyed by the Whomping Willow), and only made worse when Ron thinks her cat ate his rat. But when Hagrid needs their support, the friends reconcile to be there for him as Buckbeak the Hippogriff is executed for attacking Malfoy (but not without reason).
     Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to the gamekeeper's cottage where they hear the axe of Buckbeak's execution. As they prepare to leave Ron's rat flees and Ron chases after him, only to be dragged down a tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow by a large black dog that has been following Harry about.
     Hermione and Harry follow where they discover Sirius Black with Ron. Lupin interrupts their standoff to explain the situation. Lupin is a werewolf and his friends became animagi, wizards who could transform into a chosen animal, so they might spend time with their friend. James Potter became a stag, Sirius Black became a large black dog, and Peter Pettigrew transformed into a rat. That rat became Scabbers, Ron's pet. Old feuds break out among the three remaining friends and Pettigrew escapes. Harry, Ron and Hermione must hurry to make it back to the castle as Lupin transforms into his were-self and Sirius chases him away from the children. They run into several Dementors and wake in the hospital wing.
     Dumbledore explains that Black is awaiting the Dementor's Kiss, which sucks the soul out of a person's body, and Harry and Hermione must go back with Hermione's Time Turner to save the day. They manage to save Buckbeak and themselves and arrive back in their hospital wing beds when Dumbledore returns with the news that Black has escaped.
     The trio's third year at Hogwarts is full of caution and the results of misrepresented facts. Though Black was not the one to betray the Potters, he feels guilty for being unable to stop them. The guilt has sentenced him to twelve years in the wizarding world's high security prison, a punishment beyond his perceived crimes. Yet when the truth is revealed, he relieves himself of that guilt to become the man James Potter made godfather to his only son. Without Harry's search for the truth and Sirius' insistence he must repay the debt to his only remaining family, Sirius Black might have continued to live in a self-imposed prison.
     This story illustrates the power of forgiveness and how strongly guilt can hold a person in thrall. It is aimed at young adults from middle school age through adulthood. Though some concepts of time travel can be difficult for young readers to understand, the ideas behind them and that the travel supports are simple and easily explained.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, 1999 Bloomsbury Publishing

     Harry returns to the Dursleys' house for the summer after his first spectacular year at Hogwarts. Very few things have changed: Harry is still at the beck and call of his aunt, uncle, and cousin, but he has been moved from the cupboard under the stairs to the upstairs second bedroom. While the Dursleys are hosting a dinner party a house-elf, Dobby, appears to Harry and attempts to warn him away from returning to Hogwarts. However Dobby's methods only cause more problems at the Dursley home encouraging Harry to return to school at the earliest opportunity.
     That opportunity is presented when Ron, Fred, and George Weasley steal their father's flying car and break Harry out of Number 4 Privet Drive. Harry spends the rest of the summer at the Burrow with the Weasley family.
     Preparations for school go awry when Harry mispronounces Diagon Alley and the Floo network (magical transportation from fireplace to fireplace) sends him to the dark-arts center, Knockturn Alley. Hagrid rescues him and returns Harry to the Weasleys in Diagon Alley. Harry and Ron's family meet Gilderoy Lockheart--a famous wizard taking up the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts--who insists upon a picture with Harry for the papers. Returning to Hogwarts is again difficult for Harry and Ron when the barrier onto the Platform refuses to let them through; they borrow the flying car again, following the train, but crash into the Womping Willow when they try to land it. They manage to make it to Hogwarts, but Mrs. Weasley sends Ron a Howler proclaiming her displeasure to the entire banquet hall and threatening to yank him out of school if he misbehaves.
     Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that his fame is all Lockheart is willing to talk about and his classes become monuments to his accomplishment, rather than teaching opportunities. Things get even stranger than normal at Hogwarts when Mrs. Norris, the caretaker Filtch's cat, is petrified and someone writes in blood on the wall "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir beware." The trio does some research and discovers Salazar Slytherin had created the Chamber of Secrets during the building of Hogwarts, it houses a monster only the heir can control.
     Harry comes under suspicion when he speaks Parseltongue at a meeting of Lockheart's dueling club--Slytherin was known for his ability to speak Parseltongue. When Harry finds Nearly Headless Nick and an annoying Gryffindor first-year petrified he becomes the number one suspect. Harry and his friends suspect Malfoy and disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle to test their theory. Malfoy is not the heir, but he reveals the chamber was opened fifty years before. Things are quiet but soon a mysterious journal appears in a flooded bathroom. Harry writes in the journal and it writes back: it houses the spirit of Tom Riddle, a student who, fifty years previously, falsely accused Hagrid of opening the Chamber of Secrets getting Hagrid expelled.
     It isn't until Hermione is petrified and sent to the Hospital Wing that the boys learn what the creature is or how it travels the castle. The basilisk slinks through Hogwarts at the beck and call of the heir and those lucky enough to escape its direct glance are simply frozen in place rather than immediately killed. But with Hermione lost Harry and Ron hurry to find Hagrid, hoping to discover the heir before he or she can do more damage to the school. Before they can speak to him, Hagrid is taken to Azkaban prison for opening the Chamber and releasing its terrors on the school. His only advice is to "follow the spiders" as they flee Slytherin's creature. Harry and Ron follow the spiders into the Forbidden Forest where they come across Aragog, a giant spider and pet of Hagrid's. Aragog points them to the girl killed fifty years before, a girl found in a bathroom. The only answer is Moaning Myrtle, a ghost living in the bathroom where she died.
     Harry and Ron drag an escaping Lockheart along with them as they enter Myrtle's bathroom. Using Parseltongue, Harry opens the chamber, but must leave Ron with an incapacitated Lockheart when he causes a cave-in with Ron's broken wand. Within the chamber proper, Harry discovers a semi-solid Tom Riddle over Ginny's prone form. Riddle tricked Ginny into opening the chamber and acting for him until he was strong enough to reform and take over his inheritance. Riddle calls the basilisk to kill Harry, who cannot fight back as he cannot look at the creature.
     Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, appears with the sorting hat and blinds the basilisk, infuriating Riddle. The phoenix drops the hat and it produces Godric Gryffindor's sword, giving Harry a chance against the giant serpent. He defeats the creature, but is bitten by one of its poison fangs. Fawkes's tears heal Harry's wound, but Riddle is solid and attacks him. Harry stabs the journal with the basilisk fang and it bleeds ink as Riddle disintegrates into nothing.
     Harry and Ginny return to the cave-in and, with Lockheart and Ron, the school where they reunite with the Weasleys. Ron and Harry are commended, the basilisk's victims are revived, and all returns to normal. Harry confronts Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, for slipping the journal to Ginny and tricks him into releasing Dobby the house-elf, earning Dobby's eternal gratitude. Harry reluctantly returns to the Dursley home for the summer holidays.
     In this second novel, Harry encounters a crisis of identity: while he knows he is not the perpetrator of the crimes, his entire school is not so convinced and the evidence against him grows. Harry must deal with the difference between what he knows to be true and what the people around him believe, yet he manages to maintain his sense of self, listening to his mentors' advice--we are a sum of our choices, rather than our abilities. Dobby's appearance and the accompanying prejudices mirrors challenges of race and personhood that appear throughout our society, as do the issues of magical and non-magical beings and their access to the magical world. One major theme that is magnified through Lockheart and Riddle's Diary is the acceptance of information without looking into motivations or biases. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is about muddling through appearances and deciding whom to become based on personal wants and desires, rather than the dictates of society. The ideal audience is older elementary to middle school, though anyone can find something enjoyable in the story.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, 1997 Bloomsbury Publishing

     In the first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry is an eleven-year-old living with his cruel Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon Dursley. His parents were killed when he was only one year old and his aunt and uncle refuse to speak of it, other than to tell young Harry that his parents were worthless. To make matters even more unfair, Harry lives in a cupboard under the stairs while his cousin is spoiled with two bedrooms of his own and anything he could possibly ask for. Everything changes on Harry's eleventh birthday.
     A letter arrives in the mail, addressed directly to Harry Potter, cupboard under the stairs. The Dursleys throw the letter away before Harry can open it, and when others arrive, they dispose of them as well, until they cannot stop Harry from opening a copy of the letter inviting him to attend Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Still Harry is kept from preparing for school until a representative of the school, Hagrid, appears on Harry's birthday to tell him he is a wizard and to help him phase into the wizarding world.
     Harry catches the train to school and meets Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, with whom he becomes good friends, Draco Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle, who become Harry's arch enemies, and a slew of other characters who continue through the story with him. When they arrive at Hogwarts the first-years are sorted into houses where they will live for their time at school. Harry and his friends are sorted into Gryffindor where the rest of Ron's family has been sorted, while Malfoy and his crowd are sent to Slytherin.
     The school year commences and Harry meets Professor Minerva McGonagall, head of Gryffindor and transfiguration professor, Professor Severus Snape, head of Slytherin and potions master, other professors, wizards and witches important to the wizarding world, Professor Quirinus Quirrell the defense against the dark arts professor, and Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. McGonagall takes on a motherly role in Harry's life while Snape spends his every waking moment making Harry's life as difficult as possible, and there's just something about Quirrell that makes Harry's scar hurt.
     It isn't until Malfoy's mockery and Hermione's open-mouthed awe make him start asking questions that Harry is told about Voldemort and the significance of his lightning-bolt scar. When Harry was just a baby, Voldemort was the most dangerous and evil wizard that had ever existed seeking world domination and immortality, for some reason he came after Harry trying to kill him, and gave the infant not only the protection of his mother's sacrifice, but also the power to overthrow Voldemort himself.
     Harry and his friends go about their days, but there are little things about Hogwarts that make them question what they see. When Professor Snape starts acting strangely, they begin to suspect he is trying to steal whatever it is that's hidden on the forbidden third floor corridor. When they discover it isn't Snape, but Quirrell, and the parasitic Lord Voldemort on the back of his head, they must go after him. Through teamwork they manage to make it past the challenges set before them, but only one may continue to the end. Harry confronts Quirrell and rescues the Sorcerer's Stone, but not before being injured by the escaping spirit of Voldemort when he flees Quirrell's corpse.
     The friendship between Harry, Hermione, and Ron sets the tone for the series, providing support and strength for each of the three friends. Why three first-year wizards can make it past the guards meant to hold back one of the most dangerous wizards of all time is a troubling question, but shows their synergy and its power.