Number Second-Wizarding War

The Second Wizarding War referred to the conflicts stemming from the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort's second rise to power after his return in 1995. Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, waged a violent campaign across both the wizarding and Muggle communities.The Death Eaters strived to topple the Ministry of Magic and subjugate Muggle-borns, with the eventual goal of conquering the entire wizarding world, in addition to the Muggle world. Harry Potter, prophesied as the "Chosen One" capable of bringing an end to Voldemort's power, took an active role in this war, alongside his peers in Dumbledore's Army and the members of the Order of the Phoenix. The Second War technically began on 24 June 1995, though was not officially announced by the Ministry until nearly a year later on 18 June 1996, and ended on 2 May 1998, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after the death of the Dark Lord.
==History==
===Prelude ===
====First Wizarding War====
The First Wizarding War was fought for approximately eleven years, from 1970 to 1981. It included Lord Voldemort's rise to power, the induction of the Death Eaters, and the mass chaos that resulted in his reign of terror.
Several great wizards were murdered in this time; brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewett, the McKinnons, the Boneses, and James and Lily Potter. Others, such as Alice and Frank Longbottom, were left permanently injured, both physically and/or mentally, to the extent that they could no longer perform magic.
On 31 October 1981, Voldemort attacked the home of James and Lily Potter in hopes of preventing the prophecy regarding his downfall from ever coming to fruition. However, his Killing Curse on their son, Harry, backfired due to the sacrifice Harry's mother made for him. Voldemort, having lost his physical body and magical powers, fled to a forest in Albania as a wisp of a shattered soul. 
The fragments of his soul stored in his Horcruxes prevented his actual death, which should have occurred when the Killing Curse backfired. Death Eaters were arrested by the Ministry of Magic; others such as Lucius Malfoy, Corban Yaxley, Walden Macnair, Amycus Carrow, Alecto Carrow, Avery, Crabbe, Nott, and Goyle claimed they had been enslaved by the Imperius Curse. The First Wizarding War ended and peace was temporarily restored to the wizarding world.
There was much speculation afterward concerning Voldemort's survival. Only Albus Dumbledore had any confirmation he was in Albania. However, some, including Rubeus Hagrid, believed he was still alive, as he "wasn't human enough to die". As Dumbledore strongly suspected that the worst was not over, Harry Potter was taken into the care of his Muggle relatives, the Dursleys. Dumbledore placed a protective charm on their home which would break on either:
#The day Harry came of age, or
#The day Harry stopped calling 4 Privet Drive home (the day he left and never returned).
====Attempted theft of the Philosopher's Stone====
Lord Voldemort waited for his followers to find him, but he was instead located by Quirinus Quirrell. Quirrell helped him infiltrate Hogwarts so they could steal the Philosopher's Stone. Voldemort first attempted to steal the stone from Gringotts Wizarding Bank, but the vault was emptied before he had the chance.
This attempt resulted in a skirmish, which took place on 4 June 1992. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger battled through a set of obstacles in the underground chambers. Most eleven-year-old children would find it near impossible to pass through these chambers, but they succeeded anyway. In the last chamber, Harry defeated Voldemort and kept the stone safe, with Quirrell dying in the process. This forced Voldemort back into hiding.
====Second opening of the Chamber of Secrets====
Before his first downfall, Voldemort had split his soul into six fragments which he embedded into Horcruxes. He did this out of his terror and paranoia of death. One such Horcrux was his diary, which Voldemort, through his servant Lucius Malfoy (who was ignorant of the diary's true form, not recognising it as a Horcrux, but thinking it was some obscure Dark object his master had created), tried to use to regain a physical form in 1992.
This time his unsuspecting victim was Ginny Weasley, who unwittingly allowed the diary to siphon life from her to the preserved memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort's former self However, this plot was foiled once again by Harry Potter, Ron, and Hermione, along with Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes.
Harry slayed Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk with Godric Gryffindor's Sword, which was acquired from the Sorting Hat. After slaying the Basilisk, he unknowingly destroyed the Horcrux with one of the serpent's fangs. The Basilisk venom destroyed the diary completely, putting it beyond the realm of magical repair. Harry was bitten by the Basilisk in the process and was an inch from death. However, Fawkes' tears healed his wound and saved his life. This also led to Dumbledore having some proof of his belief that Voldemort had Horcruxes though not fully certain of how many.
====Servant returns to the master====
In 1994, Ron's pet grey rat, Scabbers, was revealed as Peter Pettigrew. Although thought to be dead (he was believed to be murdered by Sirius Black), he turned out to have been in hiding, due to the fact he was now a Death Eater and an accomplice of Voldemort. He had been hiding in his Animagus form of a grey rat named Wormtail since shortly after betraying Lily and James Potter to their deaths on 31 October, 1981. He spent 12 years with the Weasley family, as their pet.
Pettigrew's disguise was discovered by the part-Kneazle Crookshanks, Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban in the Animagus form of a black dog named Padfoot, and Remus Lupin. Though not from lack of trying, Harry Potter failed to successfully turn Peter Pettigrew over to the Ministry of Magic, and Pettigrew escaped to return to service to Voldemort, though he later regretted it, where he made two complicated Dark potions, one of which was the Regeneration potion, to return Voldemort to a physical body.
====Triwizard Tournament====
Voldemort soon learned that Bartemius Crouch Jnr, one of his loyal Death Eaters, was alive and had escaped Azkaban. Voldemort went in search of his servant and found him being kept prisoner in his father's house. After a group of Death Eaters wreaked havoc at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, Barty Crouch Jnr scared them off by launching the Dark Mark into the sky. Voldemort and Crouch Jnr then hatched a plan to bring Harry Potter directly to Voldemort.
Using a Polyjuice Potion, Barty Crouch Jnr disguised himself as Alastor Moody, who would be returning to Hogwarts to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Taking advantage of his position of authority, Crouch Jnr entered Harry Potter into the Triwizard Tournament, under the name of a false fourth school. During the final challenge of the tournament, Barty Crouch Jnr turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, which then transported Harry to the Little Hangleton graveyard. Using Harry's blood, Voldemort was able to regain physical form and overcome the protective spell from Harry's mother. After a duel between the two, Harry managed to escape and report Voldemort's return to Albus Dumbledore.
===Voldemort's return to power ===
In the beginning, there were casualties which went unnoticed by most. Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry of Magic official at the Department of International Magical Co-operation, was captured by Peter Pettigrew during her holiday to Albania in summer of 1994. She was interrogated for information on the Triwizard Tournament and then murdered with the Killing Curse. Frank Bryce, Muggle caretaker of the Riddle family mansion, was murdered by Voldemort with the Killing Curse on 20 August, 1994, after overhearing Voldemort's plans to murder Harry Potter.
Barty Crouch Snr, head of the Department of Magical Co-operation at the Ministry, was murdered by his son Barty Crouch, Jnr in May of 1995. Barty had been previously incarcerated in Azkaban for the crime of taking part in the capture and, by means of the Cruciatus Curse, torture of the aforementioned Longbottoms. Later, his father smuggled him out of prison to fulfil the dying wish of his wife.
However, with the aid of Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew, Crouch Jnr broke free of his father's Imperius Curse and assumed the identity of Alastor Moody. Under this disguise, he was able to take up the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts while his father was subsequently put under the Imperius curse by Lord Voldemort, but when he escaped, he was murdered by his son before he could reveal the truth to Dumbledore. However due to Harry's escape his identity was compromised and his soul was destroyed by the Dementor's Kiss.
On the same night, Hogwarts's champion, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by Peter Pettigrew, who used the Killing Curse on Voldemort's orders, via the usage of the Dark Lord's yew wand. Through a spell and potion, Voldemort regained his physical form, though under developed, and attempted to duel Harry Potter. He failed, as the "echoes" of his previous victims, including James and Lily Potter, Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, and Frank Bryce, came to the scene at the accidental summoning of Priori Incantatem. They held back Voldemort's spell's power, allowing Harry to escape using the Triwizard Cup as a portkey back to Hogwarts.
====Ministry of Magic's denial====
Shortly after Harry emerged from the maze claiming Voldemort had returned, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, refused to believe it, as it might compromise his position as Minister. Instead of working with Dumbledore to prepare the wizarding world for battle and try to stop the Death Eaters, he launched a campaign to slander and discredit both Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, as Fudge was paranoid that Dumbledore was after his job. He used his influence at the Daily Prophet to convince the wizarding public that Dumbledore and Harry were crazy, attention-seeking liars and that everything was going well in the world.
However, Harry Potter found strength from within by forming a secret organisation with his friends called Dumbledore's Army in order to prepare themselves for the war that would soon follow. As Dumbledore's Army trained, disappearances continued to occur as Voldemort gained power, while the Ministry turned a blind eye to it. The Dementors guarding Azkaban started to move their authority to Voldemort and a large break-out occurred, including the release of notoriously sadistic Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, who is also a cousin of Sirius Black. Dumbledore was forced to flee the school when Dumbledore's Army was discovered and he took the blame for it. This allowed Umbridge to be appointed as Headmistress of Hogwarts, though she did not get much help from the other teachers in stopping the chaos that the students caused to disrupt her tyrannical regime.
The Death Eaters took full advantage of the Ministry's denial and kept a low profile, rebuilding their forces quietly and secretly. They managed to recruit both Dementors and giants because the Ministry refused to take the suggested actions, and successfully engineered the Azkaban breakout because of this. Consistent with the denial, Cornelius Fudge suggested the breakout and occurring disappearances were the work of Sirius Black, much to the contrary.
The only resistance the Death Eaters met with, at the time, was the Order of the Phoenix, which was suppressed by the Ministry's propaganda and threat of dismissal, thus furthering Voldemort's freedom of action. Falsely-reformed Death Eaters such as Lucius Malfoy and Walden Macnair remained in the Ministry's trust, subtly sabotaging the government's efficiency and gathering information on them. While Harry and several Order of the Phoenix members suggested that Fudge was under the Imperius Curse, Dumbledore believed otherwise, which was not a lot of comfort.
====Battle of the Department of Mysteries====
After the Death Eaters made two unsuccessful attempts to steal a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, it was realised that only those about whom the prophecy referred could remove them from the shelves in the Hall of Prophecy. Thus, in June 1996, Lord Voldemort used his connection to Harry Potter to send him a fake vision of his godfather, Sirius Black, being tortured within the department.
After leading Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest where she was carried away by centaurs after she insulted them, Harry, Ron, Hermione and fellow members of Dumbledore's Army: Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley flew on Thestrals to the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry of Magic to try to rescue Sirius. After obtaining the "Dark Lord's prophecy," they were confronted by a group of Death Eaters (Bellatrix Lestrange among them), who are under the leadership of Lucius Malfoy.
The D.A. students quickly distracted them, scattering throughout the Department of Mysteries, and frequently encountering and duelling with the Dark wizards. Neville was kicked in the face and as a result could not perform spells; Hermione, Luna, Ron, and Ginny, including numerous Death Eaters, were all incapacitated, but there were no fatalities until five members from the Order of the Phoenix — Sirius Black, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, and Alastor Moody — arrived. They battled the Death Eaters before Bellatrix Lestrange suddenly blasted Sirius Black with her wand, causing him to fall and disappear through a mysterious veil, killing him instantly.
Soon afterwards, Albus Dumbledore appeared and (through the use of an Anti-Disapparition Jinx) captured all the Death Eaters except Bellatrix, who ran out of the chamber while being chased by a vengeful Harry Potter, who, for the first time in his life, used and cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix. However the curse was too weak, as Harry was furious at Bellatrix for murdering Sirius, and this only gave her a small amount of pain. The two proceeded to exchange spells in the Atrium.
Searching for Harry and Bellatrix. Dumbledore then came across Lord Voldemort himself. The two engaged in a duel of epic proportions which left the Fountain of Magical Brethren in ruins, with Dumbledore taking the upper hand and eventually incapacitating Voldemort with an orb of water. Unable to defeat Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort attempted to possess Harry in the hope that Dumbledore would sacrifice the latter in order to kill Voldemort. When an army of Aurors, including Cornelius Fudge, arrived, Voldemort hastily fled, thus ending the battle. Having seen Voldemort with his own-eyes, Fudge finally believed Dumbledore and Harry's claims about the Dark Lord's return.
===Open war ===
Upon their reactivation being no longer secret, the Death Eaters resumed their modus operandi: terrorism, abduction and mass murder. There were numerous casualties of the war in 1996. When Minister Cornelius Fudge refused to surrender the Ministry, Voldemort destroyed the Brockdale Bridge drowning many Muggles. Florean Fortescue and Garrick Ollivander both went missing and Ollivanders was emptied, but there was no sign of struggle. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour showed evidence of a struggle or fight, but no sign of him was ever found. 
During this time, Voldemort also gathered the strengths of the giants, Dementors, and werewolves to his cause. Because of the Ministry's denial, Voldemort was able to rebuild his forces unhindered, which led the Ministry to fall far too back behind by the time they finally accepted the truth. Now forced to admit that he couldn't defeat his old teacher, Voldemort also set a plan in motion to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the resistance against him, striking a crippling blow against the wizarding world's morale as well as removing Harry Potter's strongest defender and mentor.
Unfortunately for the Ministry, even with the consequences of Fudge's denial as an example, it did little to change their preference of reputation over true security; Fudge attempted to request Harry to lie to the public how the Ministry was doing a great job in their defence against the Death Eaters, which would have led to more false sense of safety that would endanger them. Although Harry refused, Minister Scrimgeour attempted to do the same and also created many cover ups such as Azkaban breakouts and arresting random suspects to make it look like progress.
Harry found the pamphlet distributed by the Ministry to be not so helpful in regards to basic defensive strategies against the Death Eaters. This campaign of corruption and false security would cause the Ministry's defence to drop further, as Death Eaters were able to place Imperius Curses onto high-ranking officials, who in turn would take control of others, leading to a network of powerful conspirators, and eventually, the Ministry would pay for its folly in 1997.
====Battle of the Astronomy Tower====
At the close of the Hogwarts school year in June 1997, Albus Dumbledore was slain by Severus Snape's Killing Curse in the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower. He had been previously sickened to the brink of exhaustion by the Drink of Despair. After convincing Draco Malfoy to forgo his plans to murder him, Severus Snape and four other Death Eaters came to the scene. Snape took over the task of killing Dumbledore.
Among the Death Eaters present were siblings Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Corban Yaxley, Thorfinn Rowle and Gibbon, along with werewolf Fenrir Greyback. On the side of Hogwarts were siblings Ginny, Ron, and Bill Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Minerva McGonagall, and Harry Potter. Bill Weasley was attacked by werewolf Fenrir Greyback and received scars on his face, but because Greyback was not fully transformed at the time of the attack, Bill sustained only minimal lycanthropic symptoms. On the Death Eaters' side, the only death was Gibbon, killed by a stray Killing Curse cast by Thorfinn Rowle.
The Death Eaters were forced to retreat once their task was accomplished. They were pursued by Harry, who duelled with Snape but was unable to prevent the Death Eaters' escape. Much of the luck of the Hogwarts defenders can be attributed to Felix Felicis, liquid luck, which was used by the students who were present. Now that Voldemort was finally rid of Dumbledore, the only wizard he ever was afraid of, he could turn his attention to toppling the Ministry and finally murdering Harry Potter.
Throughout the year, parents withdrew their children from Hogwarts due to the Death Eaters' activities becoming increasingly brazen due to the lead they had; families preferred to stick together during these challenging times despite the school being a safer place due to the powerful magical protections. However, it was only when Draco successfully allowed Death Eaters into the fortress that the community was struck with the horrific realisation that there was no longer anywhere safe from Lord Voldemort and his army, resulting in many more families rushing to gather together.
====Battle of the Seven Potters====
Also known as the Battle over Little Whinging, this battle occurred when the Order of the Phoenix was ambushed while attempting to remove Harry Potter from the Dursley home at 4 Privet Drive just before Harry's seventeenth birthday. The "seven Potters" included Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour, Ron, Fred and George Weasley, and Mundungus Fletcher, who all took Polyjuice Potion to take on the disguise of Harry Potter. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Bill and Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Rubeus Hagrid acted as escorts to various "Potters" to confuse any Death Eaters who might try to prevent them from reaching their destination of The Burrow.
Immediately after takeoff, they were ambushed by at least thirty Death Eaters, including Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Lord Voldemort. Fletcher Disapparated as soon as he sensed danger, and Hedwig and Moody were both slain by Killing Curses.
All others safely arrived at the Burrow, with only George Weasley sustaining a great injury with his ear which was accidentally caused by Severus Snape's Sectumsempra curse. Harry, however, was devastated by the death of his loyal pet owl.
====Fall of the Ministry of Magic====
On 1 August 1997, the Ministry of Magic fell under the control of Lord Voldemort. The coup was described as "swift and quiet", but as Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour was murdered, this is disputable. Before Scrimgeour died, he was interrogated under use of the Cruciatus Curse about Harry's whereabouts; despite his knowledge, Scrimgeour's last act was to protect Harry from Voldemort.
Many of the Ministry's top officials were under the influence of the Imperius Curse when this battle took place, including Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Pius Thicknesse, who became Voldemort's puppet Minister after the take-over. Voldemort himself did not declare open leadership, instead choosing to use secrecy and confusion to maintain the public's distrust for each other, thus preventing rebellion. Whether Death Eaters actually entered the Ministry and fought in person is not known. Regardless, some Death Eaters, such as Yaxley, Travers, and Selwyn became employees in the new regime. They also quickly placed the Taboo on Voldemort's name as a way of spreading fear and locating enemies which later played an important role in the capture of Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger.
The Order was informed of the coup by Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus, which arrived at The Burrow during the reception for Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding. Death Eaters arrived as Hermione Apparated herself, Harry and Ron to Tottenham Court Road. There, after unwittingly breaking the Taboo on Voldemort's name, they were ambushed by Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle. After the Luchino Caffe Duel, Hermione wiped their memories. Harry, Ron and Hermione then took to hiding in 12 Grimmauld Place.
Meanwhile, Death Eaters interrogated those at the Burrow as well as other locations affiliated with the Order. Dedalus Diggle's house was burned down, though he was not there at the time, and Ted and Andromeda Tonks were tortured for information. The Death Eater regime soon established the Muggle-Born Registration Commission to round up and imprison Muggle-borns on charges of "stealing" magic. The new regime also asserted control over Hogwarts, attendance at which became mandatory, and installed Severus Snape as Headmaster. Despite the seemingly absurdity of these new policies, Voldemort's effectiveness in spreading confusion to maintain control made the citizens to accept the changes.
====Infiltration of the Ministry====
The trio learned of the locket's location from Mundungus Fletcher and planned accordingly. On 2 September 1997, Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrated the Death Eater-controlled Ministry under the disguise of Polyjuice Potion. They disguised themselves as Albert Runcorn, Reginald Cattermole, and Mafalda Hopkirk, respectively. They were looking for Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which they believed to be in the possession of Dolores Umbridge.
Not only did they manage to reclaim the locket, but Harry Potter also liberated Alastor Moody's magical eye from the front of Umbridge's office door. In addition, they assisted several Muggle-born wizards in escaping interrogation and quite possibly saved their lives in the process. There were no known deaths or permanent injuries. However, they were forced to abandon 12 Grimmauld Place as a safe house after Yaxley forcibly Disapparated with them by grabbing Hermione's arm.
====Attack at Godric's Hollow====
On Christmas Eve of 1997, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger made their way to Godric's Hollow, both to visit the graves of the former's parents and to see if Bathilda Bagshot knew anything about the symbol on a book left to Hermione by Albus Dumbledore, and if she possibly had Godric Gryffindor's Sword. At the graves of the Potters Hermione conjured a wreath of flowers for Harry to put at the foot of their headstone. On the headstone was the inscription "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death". 
After visiting the graves of James and Lily Potter, Harry and Hermione were spotted by Bathilda, despite being under Harry's invisibility cloak. Harry found it odd that Bathilda sensed them, and connected it to Dumbledore, as he too could sense the presence of others. They followed her back to her home, where Harry saw a picture of a young wizard he later learned was Bathilda's nephew, Gellert Grindelwald. Bathilda beckoned Harry to follow her upstairs, and Hermione reluctantly remained on the lower floor.
Upstairs, Bathilda asked if he was Harry Potter; he was not aware that she asked this in Parseltongue. When he confirmed that he was, he felt his scar burn — Bathilda had in fact been dead for some time, and Nagini was in her animated corpse. She signalled Voldemort and then attacked Harry, biting and coiling herself around him. Hermione came running upstairs and tried to curse the snake while Harry felt Voldemort approaching. Hermione repelled Nagini from Harry using a Blasting Curse that also ended up breaking Harry's wand. Both jumped out of the window and Disapparated just as Voldemort arrived. Hermione managed to heal Harry's bite, but they had to share her wand until Ron Weasley returned to them, with a spare wand taken from Snatchers.
====Ambush at the Lovegood House====
On 30 December 1997, shortly after Ron Weasley returned to the hunt and his friends. Ron destroyed the locket Horcrux, Hermione Granger expressed a desire to visit Xenophilius Lovegood in order to question him about a mysterious symbol somehow connected to , Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and Godric's Hollow. It was also the symbol Xenophilius had worn to the wedding at the Burrow in the summer.
In spite of Harry Potter's scepticism, the trio went to the Lovegood House. There, Xenophilius told them about the legend of the Deathly Hallows. They began to grow suspicious, however, when they saw a copy of The Quibbler that was no longer supportive of Harry and the Order of the Phoenix, and when they deduced that Luna Lovegood had not been home for a long time. Xenophilius admitted that Death Eaters had taken her hostage against his good behaviour, and that he had alerted them to Harry's presence in his home. 
Xenophilius tried to hold them there, but ended up causing the erumpent horn in his living room to explode. The trio hid as Selwyn and Travers arrived and started to beat and torture Xenophilius, thinking he had been lying to them. Hermione then engineered their escape so that the Death Eaters caught a glimpse of her and Harry but not of Ron, who was supposed to be home with spattergroit. That way, Ron's alibi was preserved and the Death Eaters would not punish Xenophilius or Luna.
====Skirmish at Malfoy Manor====
The small but bloody skirmish of Malfoy Manor occurred after Fenrir Greyback captured Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Griphook, and Dean Thomas after Harry broke the Taboo on Voldemort's name. Greyback and five Snatchers descended on their location around Easter of 1998 when Harry accidentally broke the Taboo.
Opting to take Harry directly to Voldemort for the large reward, they Apparated to his headquarters at Malfoy Manor. Though Voldemort was elsewhere, the Malfoy family, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Peter Pettigrew were present. Bellatrix stunned the Snatchers for their "lack of respect" towards her and ordered Draco Malfoy to take all the hostages to the basement. Once in the basement Harry and Ron met with Luna Lovegood and Garrick Ollivander. 
Bellatrix kept Hermione upstairs and brutally tortured her with the Cruciatus Curse for information on how they were able to get Godric Gryffindor's Sword and at one point threatened to run her through with a dagger. In spite of her great suffering, Hermione was able to concoct a bogus story, claiming the sword was a fake. Harry overhearing Hermione say the sword was a fake convinced Griphook to back up her claim.
Dobby the house-elf was sent to Harry's aid from Aberforth Dumbledore. Harry requested that he evacuate Dean, Ollivander, and Luna using the elf's special brand of Apparition magic. Dean and Luna were both reluctant to leave Harry and protested. The noise was overheard in the house above, and Peter Pettigrew was sent to investigate. He was ambushed in the basement when Harry and Ron took his wand and briefly battled him hand-to-hand. However, when Harry reminded Pettigrew that he had saved his life, Pettigrew hesitated to murder Harry and, despite of Harry's and Ron's efforts to stop it, Pettigrew's Voldemort-made silver hand turned against him and strangled him to death for the tiny, merciful impulse that Wormtail felt.
The two boys then stormed the room where Bellatrix was holding Hermione. When Dobby reappeared, the group — Harry, Ron, Hermione, Griphook, and Dobby — disapparated to the cottage of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. It was only then that they discovered Bellatrix had thrown a blade and stabbed Dobby, who died soon afterwards. Dobby was buried in the garden of Shell Cottage with the epitaph of "Here lies Dobby, A Free Elf."
====Gringotts break-in====
While staying at Shell Cottage, Harry, Ron, and Hermione planned to break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank in order to steal an item from the Lestrange vault, as they suspected from Bellatrix's earlier panic that it was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Using hair that had fallen onto Hermione's sweater when Bellatrix was holding her at Malfoy Manor, the trio brewed Polyjuice Potion so that Hermione could disguise herself as the Death Eater. She then transfigured various aspects of Ron's appearance and he took on the alias of "Dragomir Despard", a foreign wizard. Harry and Griphook followed under the invisibility cloak.
With Griphook's help, and Harry using Confundus Charms and the Imperius Curse on Death Eater Travers and various bank employees, the trio got into the Lestrange vault. There, they struggled to get Helga Hufflepuff's Cup as the treasure turned hot enough to burn them and multiplied when touched. Just as they obtained the Cup, Griphook took Godric Gryffindor's Sword from Harry and deserted them. Harry, Hermione and Ron escaped by flying the half-blind dragon that had been guarding the vault out of the bank.
====Malfoy Manor massacre====
On the same day as the break-in, Voldemort was informed by several goblins from Gringotts that the Trio had robbed the Lestrange Vault. This caused Voldemort to panic, and when he was informed that a small golden cup had been stolen, he flew into a rage. Realising at that moment that Harry was hunting his Horcruxes, Voldemort unleashed the Elder Wand while Nagini watched and the rest of the witnesses fled, including Lucius Malfoy and even Bellatrix Lestrange pushing others aside in their haste.
The Dark Lord smote each goblin on the floor in their turn, including Griphook who collapsed holding the Sword of Gryffindor, until he was left alone amongst the dead with his followers, who were slowly and fearfully approaching the carnage.
====Battle of Hogwarts====
Following the massacre, Lord Voldemort warned the Carrows that Harry might go to the Ravenclaw tower and ordered a massive attack on Hogwarts Castle, where his Horcrux was hidden as Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. Harry, Ron, and Hermione went into the Room of Requirement, followed close behind by Vincent Crabbe, Draco Malfoy, and Gregory Goyle. Crabbe set off Fiendfyre, burning everything until Harry, Ron, and Hermione rescued Draco and Goyle and flew from the Room on broomsticks. Crabbe was unable to escape and perished.
Hogwarts fortified itself for the attack. Voldemort demanded that Hogwarts hand over Harry Potter but, despite his threats, they remained in support of Harry and refused. Eventually, having been convinced to hand himself over by Snape's memories, Harry surrendered himself to Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, convinced that his death would destroy Voldemort as well, for a piece of Voldemort's soul attached itself to Harry's soul when the Killing Curse backfired, turning Harry into an accidental Horcrux.
Voldemort's use of the Killing Curse on Harry merely sent Harry's soul into a Limbo where he had a brief conversation with Dumbledore before reawakening in the forest. To maintain his safety, Potter feigned his death. Ordered by Voldemort to confirm Harry's demise, Narcissa Malfoy discovered that Potter was in fact alive, but kept it secret in exchange for information from Harry concerning the welfare of her child Draco (she and Lucius no longer cared who won, they just cared whether or not Draco was alive and well). 
Rubeus Hagrid was forced to carry Harry back to the Castle, where the Hogwarts community believed he had been murdered and Voldemort claimed that he had been caught trying to escape and save himself. In the ensuing commotion, Harry concealed himself with the invisibility cloak, and witnessed Neville beheading Nagini, Voldemort's last remaining Horcrux. Morale renewed by Longbottom's bravery, the final battle included the house-elves, the residents of Hogsmeade; the friends and families of every remaining student, a few returning Slytherins, a flock of Thestrals, a herd of centaurs, and the outlaw Hippogriff Buckbeak. Death Eaters were either cut down or forced to surrender.
In the Great Hall of Hogwarts, the crowd congregated around Voldemort battling Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minerva McGonagall and Horace Slughorn all at once, and "his last, best lieutenant," Bellatrix Lestrange, fighting Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood. After Bellatrix nearly murdered Ginny, Molly Weasley stepped in, killing the Death Eater. Voldemort blasted his three opponents away from him and turned on Molly, but Harry Potter revealed himself at that moment.
====Voldemort's Last Stand====
The crowd retreated and watched then as the two great enemies, Voldemort and Harry Potter, bantered and circled each other. Harry dared Voldemort to feel remorse, to which Voldemort responded by shooting a Killing Curse from the Elder Wand. Harry simultaneously cast his own signature spell, the Disarming Charm, using Draco Malfoy's wand. However, because the Elder Wand rightfully belonged to Harry, the Killing Curse rebounded and ended Voldemort's life once and for all, restoring peace to the wizarding world. Harry then, shortly after, used the Elder Wand to repair his own broken wand, and then placed it back in Dumbledore's tomb, hoping the wand's power would die with him.
The Second Wizarding War was over with a decisive victory for the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army. Few members of the Order survived, but most the Death Eaters and allies were either killed or imprisoned after the war, except the Malfoy family.
===Aftermath ===
After the defeat of Voldemort, twenty or more Death Eaters were killed. The rest were imprisoned, with the exception of the Malfoys. Approximately fifty-five defenders of Hogwarts were killed in the final battle. Kingsley Shacklebolt was named interim Minister for Magic, and later took the position on permanently. Minerva McGonagall became headmistress of Hogwarts. Celebrations were held in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
In the years following the Second Wizarding War, Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt lead a massive reform of the Ministry of Magic in order to put an end to prejudice based on blood status and to better combat Dark wizards in the future. In addition to the reforms, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley revolutionised the Auror Office and Hermione Granger helped advance the rights of magical creatures and eradicated the old pro-pure-blood laws from high up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. 
Ron Weasley later went on to join his brother George at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, which became an enormous money-spinner. Harry would later be promoted to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Hermione became the Minister of Magic.
==Known casualties==
Person 	Allegiance 	Killed by 	Cause of death 	Circumstances 	Time of death
Cedric Diggory 	Hogwarts 	Peter Pettigrew, on Lord Voldemort's orders 	Killing Curse 	Accompanied Harry Potter to the graveyard in Little Hangleton 	24 June, 1995
Broderick Bode 	Ministry of Magic 	Unknown Death Eaters 	Strangled by Devil's Snare 	To prevent him from revealing the Death Eaters' planned theft of a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries	January 1996
Sirius Black 	Marauders, Order of the Phoenix 	Bellatrix Lestrange 	Knocked through the Veil 	Battle of the Department of Mysteries 	17 June, 1996
Amelia Bones 	Ministry of Magic 	Lord Voldemort 	Killing Curse (possibly) 	A relative of Order of the Phoenix members, and senior official at the Ministry of Magic 	Summer of 1996
Igor Karkaroff 	None 	Unknown Death Eaters 	Unknown 	Killed for betraying his fellow Death Eaters after the First Wizarding War 	July 1996
Mrs Abbott 	N/A 	Unknown Death Eaters 	Unknown 	Found dead in her home 	Autumn of 1996
Florean Fortescue 	N/A 	Unknown, possibly Death Eaters 	Unknown 	Abducted from his shop along with Mr Ollivander 	1996
Emmeline Vance 	Order of the Phoenix 	Unknown Death Eaters 	Unknown 	Member of the Order of the Phoenix 	Mid-1996
Albus Dumbledore 	Hogwarts, Order of the Phoenix (founder and leader) 	Severus Snape, on Dumbledore's own orders 	Killing Curse 	As part of his own plan; Dumbledore was already dying and Snape was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix 	June 1997
Hedwig 	Harry Potter 	A Death Eater 	Killing Curse 	Battle of the Seven Potters 	July 1997
Mykew Gregorovitch 	N/A 	Lord Voldemort 	Killing Curse 	Voldemort's search for the Elder Wand 	Autumn of 1997
Ted Tonks 	Order of the Phoenix 	Snatchers 	Unknown 	The search for "Mudbloods" and "blood traitors" 	Spring of 1998
Gornuk 	Gringotts 	Snatchers 	Unknown 	The search for "Mudbloods" and "blood traitors" 	Spring of 1998
Peter Pettigrew 	Marauders (betrayed), Death Eaters 	His own magical silver hand 	Strangling 	He owed a life debt to Harry Potter 	Spring of 1998
Dobby 	Hogwarts, Harry Potter 	Bellatrix Lestrange 	Stabbed with a thrown knife while Disapparating	The escape from Malfoy Manor 	Spring of 1998
Fred Weasley 	Dumbledore's Army, Hogwarts, Order of the Phoenix 	Unknown 	Explosion 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Remus Lupin 	Marauders (last surviving), Hogwarts (resigned), Order of the Phoenix 	Antonin Dolohov 	Duel 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Nymphadora Tonks 	Order of the Phoenix, Ministry of Magic (Auror) 	Bellatrix Lestrange"A transcript of a web chat with J.K. Rowling" from The Leaky Cauldron	Duel 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Colin Creevey 	Hogwarts 	Unknown 	Unknown 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Severus Snape 	Double agent: Order of the Phoenix and Hogwarts (primary loyalties) and the Death Eaters	Nagini, on Voldemort's orders 	Snakebite 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Nagini 	Death Eaters (Voldemort's Horcrux) 	Neville Longbottom 	Beheaded with Godric Gryffindor's Sword 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Bellatrix Lestrange 	Death Eaters 	Molly Weasley 	Unknown curse 	Battle of Hogwarts 	2 May, 1998
Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort	Death Eaters (founder and leader) 	Himself (inadvertently), Harry Potter 	Killing Curse backfire 	Battle of Hogwarts, Final duel with Harry Potter 	2 May, 1998
==Behind the scenes==
*Although the deaths of Quirinus Quirrell, Bertha Jorkins, Frank Bryce, and Barty Crouch Snr can all be directly attributed to either Lord Voldemort himself or his Death Eaters, they all died before the Second Wizarding War officially began with Voldemort's rebirth.
*Barty Crouch Jnr technically wasn't killed in the Second War, but he was given the Dementor's Kiss by a Dementor bodyguard brought by Cornelius Fudge.
*In , several extra deaths happen that didn't seem to have happened in the book:
**Hermione's Stunning Spell sends Fenrir Greyback off the Viaduct Courtyard to the ravine below and to his death after he was discovered mauling Lavender Brown. As this contradicts the events of the novel, it cannot be considered canon to the book (in which she does blast him away from Lavender but clearly not off a cliff, as he turns up again in the final part of the battle).
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Second
Second Wizarding War
2nd