First Wizarding War

The **First Wizarding War** was an event in the *Harry Potter book series*.

The war was fought from 1970 until 1981. The war started because Voldemort wanted to defeat the Ministry of Magic and rule the wizarding world.

## First Wizarding War

### Rise of the Death Eaters

By 1970, Voldemort began looking for supporters and found them. He was starting to gain power. In the "dark days", witches and wizards started to feel paranoid about who they could trust, and stayed away from strangers. The fear developed to such a point that they were too afraid to even say the name "Voldemort", and began saying other things like "You-Know-Who" which continued even when he was gone.

### Order of the Phoenix

The only person Voldemort was afraid of facing was Albus Dumbledore, so Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the one of the only safe places in the wizarding world because Voldemort wouldn't try and take it.

### Height of War

At the height of power, Voldemort and the Death Eaters thought the value of a House-elf's life was very low, and they were thought to be vermin.

### Downfall of Voldemort

In October, Peter Pettigrew betrayed James and Lily Potter by telling Voldemort they lived at Godric's Hollow. He killed a wandlwss James when Lily and Harry were running for safety. Voldemort then found Lily and Harry, and gave Lily a chance to live due to a promise gave to Snape, a Death Eater to spare her. However, she wouldn't step aside and let him kill Harry. Her conscious denial to comply and her choice to die for Harry enabled her death to turn into a sacrifice, and an ancient force shielded Harry from the Killing Curse.

Lily's protection caused the Killing Curse to bounce back and hit Voldemort instead. Harry had a lightning bolt scar where the Killing Curse had struck him and bounced back. A piece of Voldemort's soul unknowingly broke off and latched onto Harry, turning him into a Horcrux, connecting Harry and Voldemort's minds and fates. Harry wouldn't find out about it until he was eighteen.

The wizarding world had no idea at the time why Voldemort targeted the Potter family, and Hagrid proposed that Voldemort was afraid of how powerful they were. They had no idea why Harry had survived or what actually happened to Voldemort, but witched and wizards proposed their own explanations for what happened to him:

* He had actually died.
* He survived and was biding time until he was stronger.
* He survived but he was too weak to ever come back.
* He was half-dead.

### Celebrations

Harry was taken by Rubeus Hagrid to Privet Drive on the orders of Dumbledore, where he was brought up by the Dursley family. He hoped that the blood connection between Harry and Lily's sister, Petunia Dursley, could be enough to keep the sacrifical protection caused by Lily's death to continue shielding Harry for a very long time. Sirius Black wanted to bring up Harry, and he was upset about giving him up.

Harry achieved fame for being the first person to survive the Killing Curse. People couldn't understand how a powerful Dark wizard, who killed a few of the best witches and wizards of their time, couldn't kill a one-year old child at the height of power. Death Eaters at the time were captured, went into hiding or avoided Azkaban by selling out fellow Death Eaters or claiming they were under the Imperius Curse.

The next day, the wizarding world celebrated Voldemort's defeat for the whole day and night. However, their celebrations drew the attention of the Muggle world who saw strange things happening and talked about it on the news. Owls were flying around in broad daylight, and they saw what they called shooting stars. Witches and wizards had cloaks on in the Muggle world and openly talked about why they were celebrating. Minerva McGonagall was very annoyed because their world was meant to be kept secret, and blamed the shooting stars on Dedalus Diggle.

## Peace

### Ministry of Magic

Following the downfall of Voldemort, the Ministry of Magic began tracking down rounding up Death Eaters and sending them to Azkaban unless they bargained for immunity. A few Death Eaters claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse and were let go. Igor Karkaroff bargained and Lucius Malfoy lied about being under the Curse. He led a very normal and successful life for years.

Very few Death Eaters were loyal enough to continue searching for answers about what happened to Voldemort because they couldn't accept that he was dead. Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, and Barty Crouch Jnr. tracked down Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom and tortured them into insanity for any details about what happened, but they knew nothing. They were soon captured and put in Azkaban.

Sirius Black began hunting for Peter in order to bring him to justice. He found him in a rosd and the two argued. Peter began lying and shouting that Sirius was the Secret Keeper who betrayed James and Lily. He then killed twelve Muggles and faked his own death. He snuck away in Animagus form, leaving behind a finger in bloody robes. Successfully framing Sirius, he was captured by Aurors and sentenced to life in Azkaban. He was cornered and taken away laughing. Peter was considered a hero who died capturing Sirius, and was awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class.

Peter was too afraid of being found by Aurors and Death Eaters because they wanted to know how he caused Voldemort's downfall. He stayed in Animagus form, and became the pet rat of the Weasley family for thirteen years so he could keep up-to-date in the wizarding world. Knowledge of Peter being killed and the Potters being betrayed by a Secret Keeper wasn't widely known in the wizarding world. People thought Sirius had joined the Dark side and was a big supporter of You-Know-Who.

### Peaceful Years

Voldemort actually survived the Killing Curse because he had created Horcruxes which contained pieces of his soul. They kept what was left of him in the world of the living but in a wretched, weak form. He went into hiding in Albania until he could find a way to get powerful enough to start a second wizarding war. The wizarding world eventually settled into a world of peace, but Dumbledore and a few others suspected the truth, and whenever anything strange happened, witches and wizards worried it might have been Voldemort. Harry was raised by the Dursleys, which was widely known to witches and wizards. However, Harry was brought up to have no knowledge of the wizarding world.

House-elf life improved and for Dobby, Harry became a beacon of hope that it would continue to get better.

### Second Wizarding War

*Main article: Second Wizarding War*
In the summer of 1991, Voldemort finally stepped out of hiding. He was found by Quirinus Quirrell and they joined forces in an attempt to obtain the Philosopher's Stone. He knew it would give him a wretched half-life, but he thought it was better than whatever life he had. He was defeated again by Harry and went back into hiding. In 1992, the Chamber of Secrets was opened by Lucius Malfoy through Ginevra Weasley. He failed to achieve what he wanted, and Harry found and closed it.

In June 1994, Peter Pettigrew stopped living in hiding too and searched for Voldemort. Through Bertha Jorkins, he found Voldemort and they saved Barty Crouch Jnr. They spent a year developing a plan to get Voldemort a new body. The Second Wizarding War then began. On the 2 May 1998, Voldemort was defeated at the Battle of Hogwarts when he was killed in a duel against Harry, who had gained the loyalty of the Elder Wand.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 4
3. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 15
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 10
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 33
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 17
7. ↑ The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part One
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 19
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, Chapter 30
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 3
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 6
12. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 23
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 10
14. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 18
15. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, Chapter 18
16. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, Chapter 35
17. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 36