Harry Potter

## Harry James Potter

"*You are protected, in short, by your ability to love! The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort's! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart, just as pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stared into a mirror that reflected your heart's desire, and it showed you only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality or riches. Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen what you saw in that mirror?*"
— Albus Dumbledore describing Harry's rare nature

**Harry James Potter** (b. 31 July, 1980) was an English pure-blood wizard and one of the most famous wizards of modern times. The only child and son of James and Liliana Potter (née Selwyn-Evans), Harry's birth was overshadowed by a prophecy, naming either himself or Neville Longbottom as the one with the power to vanquish Lord Voldemort. During his years at Hogwarts, Harry frequently clashed with Aurora Pikeman, and though he didn't like her, he still felt some concern for her during the final battle. After graduating from Hogwarts following the final battle, Harry married Ginny and had four children with her, James Sirius, Severus Remus, Liliana Mercedes, and Skye Melissa Potter, the former three were named in honor of his parents, godfathers, and Severus Prince-Slytherin, who, after finally clearing the animosity between them, treated him like a son and respected colleague.

He is a member of Slytherin House, the husband of Ginevra Potter (née Weasley), and a distant cousin of Marvolo and Nathara Prince-Slytherin, although he doesn't know it yet. Through his father, James, and godfather, Sirius, he is the heir of the Noble House of Black.

After half of the prophecy was reported to Voldemort, courtesy of Regulus Black, Harry was chosen as the target due to his many similarities with the Dark Lord. In turn, this caused the Potter family to go into hiding. Voldemort made his first vain attempt to circumvent the prophecy when Harry was a year and three months old. During this attempt, he murdered Harry's parents as they tried to protect him, but this unsuccessful attempt to kill Harry led to Voldemort's first downfall. This downfall marked the end of the First Wizarding War, and to Harry henceforth being known as "The Boy Who Lived", as he was the only known survivor of the Killing Curse.

One consequence of Liliana's loving sacrifice was that her orphaned son had to be raised by her only remaining relative, his Muggle aunt Petunia Dursley. While in her care, he would be protected from Lord Voldemort due to the Bond of Blood charm Albus Dumbledore placed upon him. This powerful charm would protect him until he became of age, or no longer called his aunt's house home. Due to Petunia's resentment of her sister and her magic gifts, Harry grew up abused and neglected.

On his eleventh birthday, Harry learned that he was a wizard from Rubeus Hagrid. He began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991. The Sorting Hat told Harry that he would do well in Slytherin House, but Harry pleaded 'not Slytherin' and the Hat ignored his request, Sorting the young wizard into Slytherin House, along with Nathara Prince-Slytherin and Ron Weasley, the former being a distant relative of his on his father's side.

He later became the youngest Quidditch Seeker in over a century and eventually the vice-captain of the Slytherin House Quidditch Team in his sixth year, Nathara being the House Captain and Princess, winning two Quidditch Cups. He became even better known in his early years for protecting the Philosopher's Stone from Voldemort, saving Ron's sister Ginny Weasley, solving the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, helping Nathara subdue the Basilisk, and learning how to conjure a corporeal stag Patronus at the age of thirteen.

## Family Lineage

The Potters were an old and wealthy pure-blood family, dating back to their founding patriarch Linfred of Stinchcombe. Linfred was given the nickname "Potterer", which over the years was corrupted into simply "Potter". The family took on the simplified nickname as a surname, thus leading to future generations calling themselves Potter.

The Potters were also descended from the Peverell family, via Hardwin Potter's marriage to Iolanthe Peverell. As such, they are related to Ignotus Peverell, one of the three brothers that created the Deathly Hallows, who passed the Cloak of Invisibility down to his descendants as a family heirloom. The Prince-Slytherin family were also descended from the Peverells through Cadmus Peverell, who passed the Resurrection Stone as an heirloom, set in a signet ring. The Potters were thus indirectly related to the Gaunts as well, and by extension Marvolo Prince-Slytherin.

Before the start of the 17th century, some of Harry's ancestors migrated to the United States, and held strong ties with the Magical Congress of the United States of America. These ties developed as a result of Abraham Potter being one of the original twelve Aurors of MACUSA. This distant relation of Harry's was uncovered by genealogists centuries after Abraham's death.

Two members of the Potter family have held positions on the Wizengamot. The first was Ralston Potter and the second Henry Potter. Harry inherited much wealth from his grandparents Fleamont and Euphemia, as Fleamont invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, which quadrupled the family gold. Harry's father James Potter was born late in couple's lives. By that time, his parents were both elderly (even by wizarding standards), and he grew up in a doting household to the point where he became a proud yet arrogant boy. But deep down, James was a good person.

Conversely, Harry's mother Liliana Selwyn-Evans was a pure-blood and the birth daughter of Michael and Mercedes Selwyn, who didn't know about the wizarding world due to her adopted Muggle parents. She was introduced to the wizarding world via her friendship with Severus Snape (eventually Severus Prince-Slytherin), who lived nearby. The discovery of Liliana being a witch caused a rift between her and her adopted older sister Petunia, who envied her abilities.

James and Liliana met when they attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry together 1971. Their relationship was a rocky one; while James was a popular student and talented Quidditch player, Liliana was unimpressed with him. This had to do with James' hostile relationship with Severus, who was falling in with a group of Slytherins aspiring to join the Death Eaters.

By their seventh year, James lost the less savoury aspects of his personality and was even appointed Head Boy, despite the fact that he had not been a prefect. This impressed Liliana, who was appointed Head Girl, and the two began dating at the same time as Severus and Marvolo.

The couple eventually married after graduation in 1978 at the same time as Severus and Marvolo, and served as members of the original Order of the Phoenix at the height of the First Wizarding War. They personally defied Voldemort on three occasions, the first being when they refused to join his cause when he tried to recruit them (possibly at Regulus Black's request).

## Backstory

Harry James Potter was born on 31 July 1980, at Godric's Hollow in the West Country, England, only hours after his classmate-to-be Neville Longbottom. Around the same time a prophecy regarding a boy born at the end of July with the power to defeat him. His christening was quiet and quick, with only mother, father, and Sirius Black in attendance. Harry spent his infancy in hiding with his parents in the Potter cottage.

For Harry's first birthday, Sirius bought him a toy broomstick. In Liliana's letter to Sirius, it mentioned that this broomstick had been Harry's favourite present and that he had smashed a horrible vase that had been a gift from Petunia and nearly killed their cat. In the letter, Liliana also included a picture of Harry flying around on the broom and James chasing after him. Liliana also stated in the letter that Harry looked pleased with himself while flying around on the toy broom*.* Liliana and James also hosted a very quiet birthday tea. The only ones in attendance were them, Harry, and Bathilda Bagshot also used to dote on infant Harry. The Potters owned a cat, who turned out to eventually be his friend Hermione Granger's cat Crookshanks.

When it became clear that Voldemort marked the Potters for death in regards to the prophecy, Albus Dumbledore suggested they use the Fidelius Charm to keep them safe. He even offered to be the Potter's Secret Keeper, but the Potters had planned to make Sirius their Secret Keeper instead. On Sirius' advice, they changed this designation to Dumbledore, who they thought would be less suspicious. In a terrible turn of fate, Dumbledore was a Death Eater spy, and barely a week later betrayed the Potter's whereabouts.

#### Attack at Godric's Hollow (1980)

"*My Parents didn't mean anything to you. They were just stupid, and that's what you get for being stupid. Your Master dies...*"

— Aurora Pikeman regarding her parents and the Attack at Godric's Hollow in 1995.
On the evening of Hallowe'en in 1980', Lord Voldemort arrived at Godric's Hollow and murdered James and Liliana. He murdered James first, who tried to distract the Dark Lord; unfortunately, he did not have his wand with him and was killed immediately. Voldemort then advanced on Liliana, who died trying to protect Harry. Her sacrifice prevented the Killing Curse from working on Harry, resulting in her love for Harry becoming a barrier to protecting him. When Voldemort attempted the curse on Harry it backfired on the caster and instead of murdering Harry, Voldemort lost all his powers and his physical form was obliterated.

Voldemort was saved from death by the five Horcruxes he had made up to that point, including his diary, Gaunt's ring, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, and Ravenclaw's diadem, the former two belonging to Marvolo by birthright and the latter belonging to Severus. Later this also included Harry himself, because a piece of Voldemort's unstable soul latched onto the only living being present. This event made Harry the only person to have survived the Killing Curse, thus giving him the title the "Boy Who Lived". The failed curse left a traumatic memory Harry would always remember.

Rubeus Hagrid rescued Harry from the house, partially destroyed by Voldemort's faulty killing curse, and was given specific orders from Albus Dumbledore to take him to his aunt and uncle. As Hagrid left, he was intercepted by Sirius Black, a close friend of the Potters, who pleaded for Hagrid to give the baby to him, as he was the chosen guardian in the event of James and Liliana's death. Hagrid refused, saying that he was under orders from Dumbledore to take Harry to his relatives. Sirius, though reluctant, relented and gave Hagrid his flying motorcycle to take Harry to Privet Drive, and left to find Dumbledore, who subsequently faked his death and framed Sirius for his death and that of twelve Muggles.

Hagrid delivered Harry to Dumbledore late on the evening of 1 November 1980. Dumbledore left a letter of explanation to the Dursleys, but they never relayed it to Harry. Instead, Harry spent the next decade of his life in their strict and miserable home without knowing that he was a wizard.

#### Life at Privet Drive

As the Dursleys were Muggles, and they had no understanding of magic, and even though his aunt and uncle knew about his lineage, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. They proudly considered themselves a "normal" family and despised anything out of the ordinary. They lied to Harry about his parents' death, claiming they had died in a car crash. Whenever Harry tried to remember it, all he could vaguely recall he couldn't remember anything about a car. He tried to understand what it was, or if it was from the car crash, but he simply could not. Petunia and Vernon forbade him from asking questions, particularly those regarding his parents. In addition, the Dursleys refused to have pictures of Liliana and James, and did their best to avoid the subject of Harry's parents altogether.

They resented Harry for his magic, which was sporadic, but evident and strongly discouraged any sort of imagination. They neglected Harry, verbally and emotionally abused him, and inflicted cruel punishments like depriving him of meals and locking him into the cupboard under the stairs on him whenever something "unusual" occurred. Their behavior was left unreported to authorities. In his youth, Harry could make strange things happen without understanding why he could, as no one had told him that he was a wizard. For instance, after Petunia had sheared off all of his messy hair using a pair of kitchen scissors in her fury that it would not lay flat, leaving him almost completely bald with only the fringe at the front, it had grown all the way back, and to its previous messy state at that, by the next morning. Harry was punished, even though he had not done anything on purpose. Another time, Dedalus Diggle bowed to him in a shop, and Petunia furiously interrogated Harry as to know how he knew the man before leaving the shop hastily.

The Dursleys spoiled and pampered their son Dudley and paid almost no attention to Harry; indeed, what little attention they did pay to him was negative in its entirety. All his clothes were hand-me-downs from Dudley and were far too large for Harry. He was made to sleep in the Cupboard Under the Stairs, while his cousin got two bedrooms to himself (one for sleeping in and one for storing all his toys). They also made Harry do household chores for them, such as making food and getting the post. In time, Dudley started bullying Harry. The Dursleys took Dudley and Piers Polkiss to someplace spectacular every year for his birthday, but the only thing Harry ever got for his birthday was one of Vernon's old socks or a coat hanger.

The Dursleys always hid evidence of Harry's existence by not having pictures of him in the house. Among the few people who did know about Harry were Petunia's friend Yvonne and Vernon's sister Marge, the latter of whom the boy was forced to consider an aunt to him despite not being a relative of his. Aunt Marge showed the most dislike for the frail boy while visiting Privet Drive during Dudley Dursley's fifth birthday, when she whacked Harry around the shins to stop him from beating Dudley at musical statues, and on holidays like Christmas, when she brought a computerized robot for Dudley and a box of dog biscuits for Harry. She eventually made a fool out of the young Potter during Dudley's tenth birthday, when Harry accidentally stepped on the paw of her favourite pet bulldog Ripper, causing the enraged dog to chase him out into the garden and up a tree. Dudley laughed himself silly at the sight of his cousin then, and to the Dursleys' delight, Marge refused to call Ripper off until past midnight.

Harry's hardship, however, was highly necessary as by returning to live with his mother's only living blood relative, the protection that Liliana gave Harry would continue. While Harry could call that place home he could not be harmed. However, the Bond of Blood charm would be broken when Harry turned seventeen years old, or when he no longer called 4 Privet Drive his home.

Unknown to Harry, one of his neighbours, Arabella Figg, was a Squib. Unfortunately for Harry, to maintain favour with the Dursleys, she was forced by Albus Dumbledore to give him a lousy time whenever she had to look after him, as the Dursleys would never have let him go if they knew Harry was enjoying himself, a possibility that infuriated them. Harry discovered her connection to the wizarding world when it was revealed during the summer before his fifth year that she worked undercover for the Order of the Phoenix to keep tabs on Harry's suffering.

On 23 June 1991, Dudley's eleventh birthday, the Dursleys went to the zoo with Dudley's best friend Piers Polkiss. Unfortunately for the Dursleys, they had to take Harry with them, as Mrs Figg had broken her leg and there was no one to take Harry, and they refused to leave him alone in their house. At the zoo, Harry spoke with a boa constrictor and unintentionally made the glass of its enclosure disappear. This allowed the snake to slither out of his cage which scared Dudley into thinking it was after him. Then the snake slithered out of the reptile house calmly. After this incident, the enraged Dursleys sentenced Harry to his cupboard until the beginning of the summer holidays.

#### St. Grogory's Primary School

Harry attended St. Grogory's Primary School, a Muggle primary school, with Dudley. He had no friends there, since all the students were afraid of Dudley's gang, all of whose members hated Harry because Dudley did. In particular, Dudley's friends liked to play a unique game — 'Harry Hunting' — which involved chasing Harry. Although he was good at sports, he was always the last picked for a team because no one wanted to admit to Dudley that they liked him, rather than because he was no good.

Harry got decent, if not good grades at school. On one occasion, Harry accidentally turned his teacher's wig blue; on another, he accidentally apparated onto the school kitchen roof when escaping from Dudley's gang; and on a third, he made Dudley's old jumper shrink as Aunt Petunia tried to shove it over his head. These incidents always enraged the Dursleys, and after each, they would punish Harry by throwing him into the cupboard — except for after the jumper incident because Aunt Petunia thought that the jumper had shrunk in the wash.

If Harry had not gone to Hogwarts, then he would have attended Stonewall High, a Muggle secondary school that Harry dreaded attending.

#### Discovery of being a Wizard

Harry had no birthday celebrations until the day he turned 11, which was the same day that he discovered the exceptional reality about his identity. On the week of Harry's birthday, hundreds of letters began arriving at the Dursleys' home, addressed to him from a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When the Dursleys saw the first letter was addressed as "*cupboard under the stairs*", they panicked at the thought of Harry's ill treatment being observed and transferred him to Dudley's second bedroom out of fear of being arrested for child abuse, which soon appeared on letters as the *smallest bedroom.*

When Uncle Vernon first read the letter, he turned a pale porridge grey out of fear that wizards were trying to contact Harry. Because of this, Vernon tried to destroy the letters in a futile attempt to keep Harry from his destiny. But the letters kept coming in increasingly larger quantities, to the point where they started flying out of the fireplace by the dozens, and as they did, the Dursleys saw no alternative, but to flee from them. This was not enough to let the Dursleys avoid the letters, as the owls carrying these letters followed them wherever they went. On 30 July 1991, In a final desperate move on, the Dursleys moved to a shack on a rocky island at the edge of the sea.

At midnight on Harry's birthday, Rubeus Hagrid appeared in person to find out why Harry had not received his letter. He was infuriated by the Dursleys and explained to Harry, in spite of Vernon's obstinate protests, that he was a wizard, how his parents died, that Dumbledore demanded him to take Harry from the ruined house to his hated relatives, and that he was to be sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This would be Harry's first birthday celebration and Hagrid gave him a small homemade birthday cake and later, a snowy owl. Harry named her Hedwig, a name he had found from his textbook (History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot). This was the first birthday present Harry ever received. Hagrid took Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, where he learned that he was famous. He met Quirinus Quirrell, his soon-to-be Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, the Inn-keeper Marvolo, a witch named Doris Crockford, and Dedalus Diggle — the man who had bowed to Harry several years earlier. Hagrid then took Harry to Diagon Alley, where he learned more about his fame in the wizarding world and that his parents had left him a small fortune in a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

Harry bought his first wand from Ollivander's that very day. The wand that chose Harry was made of holly wood and had a phoenix feather core; it was 11", nice and supple. The phoenix feather at its core came from Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes. It was crafted by Garrick Ollivander, who had also created a twin wand. This wand had been made from yew, and contained the only other feather supplied by Fawkes. This twin wand had long ago chosen Marvolo Riddle as its master. But Riddle, after he turned to evil and assumed the alias of Lord Voldemort, ended up using this wand to attack Harry and his parents. The two wands, sharing the same phoenix origin, had a unique connection which would prevent them from successfully duelling against each other in the years to come.

## Hogwarts Years

### 1st Year

Harry was guided further to his destiny on 1 September, 1991, when he was dropped off by the Dursleys at King's Cross Station. Vernon helped Harry wheel his things to the platforms and left laughing about how Platform Nine and Three-Quarters hadn't been built yet. The family then drove off leaving Harry at the busy station all alone. With only ten minutes left until the train's departure at eleven a.m., Harry was panicking when he overheard a red-headed family complaining about the station being packed with Muggles and he noticed they had an owl with their belongings.

Harry watched as the older boys magically passed through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Harry nervously interrupted them and was introduced to the youngest son Ron, who was starting his first year as well. Molly (Ron's mother) kindly gave him instructions on how to board the platform. Harry quickly ran through the barrier, followed by Ron, and arrived on the Platform, catching his first sight of the Hogwarts Express. As most of the compartments were full, Harry pushed his things to near the end of the train, and with some help from twins from the red-headed family, was able to get his things aboard.

Harry sat near the window in his compartment watching the family, the twins Fred and George Weasley reported this discovery to the amazement of their little sister Ginny and their older brother Percy who was a Prefect and had already changed into his robes. After boarding, the train soon departed and Ron asked if he could sit with Harry, who agreed. Ron asked Harry about his Early Life, and Harry asked if Ron's whole family were wizards, which they are except for his mother’s second cousin, who was an accountant. When the Trolley witch came by around half-past twelve, Harry bought some of all the treats from the cart and shared them with Ron.

Neville Longbottom soon came by searching for his lost toad, Trevor. While Ron was attempting a magic spell to change his rat Scabbers, Hermione Granger interrupted trying to help find Trevor. After Ron's spell failed, Hermione introduced herself and upon learning Harry's name, informed him that he was in several books on magical history. While speculating which house they might be in, Harry and Ron were interrupted by Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. Although Draco attempted to ingratiate himself, Harry refused to shake his hand after he insulted Ron and his family. When Goyle attempted to take some of their Chocolate Frog Cards, Scabbers bit his finger and helped drive them off. Ron afterwards explained that the Malfoy family were on Voldemort's side, but came back saying they had been bewitched, although his father didn't believe it.

Upon arriving, Hagrid gathered all the first years together and they followed a path down to the edge of a Great Lake. In groups of no more than four, they climbed aboard a little fleet of small boats, and sailed across the lake to an underground harbour. Helping to remind Neville to take his toad, Hagrid took them up a passageway to the gates of the castle.

##### The Sorting ceremony

— Harry's choice to be Sorted into Slytherin

The new students were greeted at the castle door by Professor Minerva McGonagall, who explained the four houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, as well as the rules of the House Cup. McGonagall led the first years into a small room off the Entrance Hall and told them to wait until she returned. When she did, they were led into the Great Hall, where they were greeted by the rest of the students, and more importantly, a shabby wizard's hat on a small stool.

Harry was particularly anxious, as he did not feel that any of the Houses as they were described in the Hat's song were right for him. Harry noted that Draco Malfoy, whom Harry had met in Diagon Alley, was instantly placed in Slytherin, and remembered what Hagrid and Ron had told him about Slytherin's reputation for turning out Dark Wizards, and that Voldemort had been in Slytherin. When Harry put on the Hat, it slipped down past his eyes, and the hat told him that he "would do well in Slytherin". Thinking of Voldemort, Harry desperately repeated the phrase "not Slytherin". The Hat ignored Harry's request and placed Harry in Slytherin along with Ron. In his second year during a visit to Dumbledore's office, the Sorting Hat told Harry that "He has done well in Slytherin".

The Sorting Ceremony was followed by the Welcoming Feast. Harry, who had never been allowed to eat as much as he wanted, was overwhelmed by the sheer variety of foods in front of him. Dessert arrived, and talk turned to the first years' families. Draco Malfoy told the others how his family thought he was a Squib until his Great-Uncle accidentally dropped him out of a window, and he bounced, while a girl with black hair and green eyes whacked him upside the head.

Harry was looking up at the staff table at Professor Quirrell when the hook-nosed teacher Quirrell was talking to looked past Quirrell at Harry. This is because Lord Voldemort was inhabiting Quirrell's body as anytime Voldemort is near Harry's scar hurt. After the last morsels melted from the golden plates and goblets, Dumbledore gave a speech welcoming the new students to the school and the old students back. He added a few warnings about staying away from the Forbidden Forest, and avoiding the third-floor corridor before leading the school in singing the School Song and sending everyone off to their dormitories.

##### First years lessons/classes

**Severus Prince-Slytherin**: "*What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?*"

**Harry**: "*I don't know. I think Draco does, though, why don't you ask him?*"

— From this first interaction Harry deduces Prince-Slytherin's hatred of him
In his first ever Potions class, Harry discovered that Professor Prince-Slytherin hated him, mocking him as the school's "new celebrity" before teaching the class how to brew a Boil-Cure Potion. Harry and Ron went down to Hagrid’s hut for tea, where they met Hagrid's huge and fierce-looking dog, Fang. Hagrid told Harry that he was overreacting to Prince-Slytherin’s treatment, asserting that he would have no reason to hate him. Hagrid and Ron began to talk about Ron's brother older Charlie Weasley. While they were talking, Harry picked up a cutting from the *Daily Prophet* that was lying on the table. The article detailed a break-in that occurred on Harry's birthday at Gringotts. The vault that was broken into was number 713, the same vault Hagrid visited with Harry on their trip to Diagon Alley. During the visit, Hagrid gave Harry a photo album containing pictures of his parents, James and Liliana Potter, and himself as an infant.

One of the things Harry had been looking forward to was learning to fly until he found out that the Slytherins would be taking flying lessons with the Gryffindors. Malfoy had been bragging about his skill to anyone who would listen. Madam Rolanda Hooch taught the class by starting with basic broom control. After learning the theory, the students were told to hover gently off the ground on Madam Hooch's go-ahead.

On Hallowe'en, Professor Flitwick began teaching his students how to perform the Levitation Charm. Only Hermione succeeded; Ron, offended by her air of superiority, later made a nasty comment that she overheard. The comment was about her lack of friends, causing her to run off to lock herself in the girl's bathroom in tears and making him and Harry feel slightly guilty. When the two went down to the Hallowe'en feast later, their guilt was forgotten amidst the splendor of the decorations.

Partway into the feast, Quirrell arrived to announce that there was a twelve-foot Mountain Troll in the dungeons before fainting where he stood. The prefects led the students back to their dorms, but Harry realised that Hermione did not know about the troll and convinced Ron to help save her, since they were responsible. They sneaked off to the girl’s bathroom to warn Hermione, locking the troll inside. However, they didn't realise their mistake until they heard Hermione's terrified scream emanate from the bathroom. A horrified Harry and Ron ran back into the bathroom to rescue her. After a brief skirmish, during which Harry stuck his wand up the trolls nose. Ron finally knocked the troll out, by levitating the troll's own club to smash into it' head.

The teachers arrived, attracted by the troll’s yells, to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione covered in dust, and the bathroom in disarray. Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor, began scolding the boys for not going straight to their dormitories with the rest of their house, but instead putting themselves in grave danger. Much to Harry and Ron’s surprise, Hermione lied to McGonagall and told her that she had gone looking for the troll, as she thought she could handle them. She claimed that Harry and Ron were looking for her, (which was true), and she would most likely be dead if the boys had failed to rescue her (also true). The three bonded over the shared experience, and were friends thereafter.

##### Christmas season

— Albus Dumbledore warning Harry about the Mirror

Impressed as they were with the fact that Harry had managed to hold onto a bucking broomstick, Malfoy soon found that the rest of the school no longer found his taunts that Harry was to be replaced amusing, and so reverted to teasing Harry about having to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. Harry, however, was looking forward to spending Christmas away from the Dursleys, especially in light of the fact that Ron was also staying at Hogwarts, but also because it would give them some time to look up Nicolas Flamel; they were certain that the librarian would be able to find a book on Flamel in an instant, but were worried that it might be suspicious, and were thus forced to search for themselves.

On Christmas day, Harry and Ron awoke to a pile of presents each at the foot of their beds. At the bottom of the pile, he found a package containing an Invisibility Cloak and an anonymous note telling him only that the cloak once belonged to his father, and to "use it well". That night Harry, thoughts on the Cloak and decided to try it out. Realising he could go anywhere, he snuck back to the library and headed straight for the Restricted Section. Knowing he had to start somewhere, Harry pulled down one of the heavier books, and let it fall open on his knee. To his shock and horror, the silence was rent by a blood-curdling scream that issued from the book in front of him. He stuffed the book back in its place and ran for the door, knocking over the lantern he brought with him in his haste. Ducking under Filch’s outstretched arms, Harry ran down the dark corridors, away from the library, and away from Filch.

Thinking he had escaped, Harry was scared to hear Filch’s voice approaching, and horrified when he realised whom Filch was talking to: Prince-Slytherin. As Prince-Slytherin and Filch rounded the corner, Harry realised that although his father’s cloak made him invisible, it did not stop him from being solid, and that he had no chance of sneaking past them, as the corridor was particularly narrow. Thinking quickly, (and panicking slightly), Harry noticed a door to his left; slipping inside, he found himself in an abandoned classroom. After Filch and Prince-Slytherin passed his hiding place, Harry relaxed and took in more details about the room he was in.

In doing so, he noticed something he had missed the first time: an old, gilded mirror bearing the inscription “*Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi*”. Stepping in front of the mirror, Harry very nearly cried out in shock: inside the mirror he saw a large crowd of people standing behind him. Shocked, Harry turned around to look at the room, but saw no one there. Turning back to the mirror and looking more closely, Harry realised that the man and woman in the front looked oddly like him. The man looked just like him, from his untidy hair to his glasses, and the woman, Harry saw, had the same eyes he had. Understanding, Harry focused on other members of the crowd, and saw others who had his untidy hair, his eyes, and even an old man who had Harry’s knees; Harry was looking at his family, for the first time in his life.

The next night, Harry brought Ron with him to the mirror room. Ron did not see Harry’s family in the mirror, but instead saw himself standing alone, tall, holding the House Cup, wearing badges indicating he was Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. The two began arguing over who would be allowed to look in the mirror; Mrs Norris, Filch’s prowling cat, entered the room, attracted by the sounds of their argument. The next day, Ron, worried about being caught and about his friend’s obsession with the mirror, warned Harry not to return; Harry, however, was not to be dissuaded.

Going to the room that evening, Harry was ready to stay there all night, staring at the family he lost. However, in his haste, he failed to notice Professor Dumbledore standing by the door until after he removed his cloak. Dumbledore, who had been waiting for Harry, explained that the mirror, which was known as the “Mirror of Erised”, displayed the deepest, most desperate desire of whoever looked into it. Harry, who had never known his family, saw them standing around him; Ron, ever overshadowed by his older brothers, saw himself standing alone, the best of them all.

Before sending Harry back to bed, however, Dumbledore warned him that the mirror was and a dangerous object; men had been driven mad by what they saw in the mirror, not knowing if what they saw was real, or even possible. He told Harry that the mirror was to be moved to a new location, and warned Harry to not go looking for it. Before he left, Harry asked the headmaster what he saw in the mirror. Much to his surprise, Dumbledore told Harry that he saw himself with a pair of woollen socks. Despite his promise to Dumbledore, Harry found it difficult to forget the image of his parents, until Wood told the team that Snape would be refereeing the next Quidditch match against Hufflepuff.

Shortly before the match, Malfoy, ever eager to pick on Neville, used the Leg-Locker Curse on Neville, forcing him to bunny hop his way back to the Common Room. Harry told Neville he was "worth twelve of Malfoy" and gave him a Chocolate Frog. Thanking Harry, Neville handed the card back to Harry for his collection. Looking down, Harry noted it was Dumbledore's card, the first he ever got. He turned the card over and suddenly remembered where he read the name Nicolas Flamel before: on the train on the way to school.

At the End-of-Term Feast, Slytherin won the House Cup.

### Second Year

When Molly Weasley offered Harry to stay at her House, Harry happily accepted. Eventually when they went shopping in Diagon Alley, Harry wandered off and ended up at Borgin and Burkes in the adjacent Knockturn Alley. While inside the shop he found a Dark Object called Bulala amadoda ajoyine i-dem, asking the shop keeper Vladimir Borgin what it was. Although Harry immediately was distracted by two people who walked in, Draco Malfoy and his Father

The shopkeeper, Mr Borgin was surprised that Mr Malfoy was only selling dark and illegally enchanted artefacts and not buying. Mr Malfoy was sealing the items before they could be confiscated by the raids on wizarding households Mr Weasley was conducting as part of the Muggle Protection Act, Borgin expressed pity to the current decline of blood purity. Draco started talking to Harry and the two started to duel although Draco's Father stopped him from casting any spells at Harry beforehand.

Soon as the Malfoys left, Harry was found leaving the shop himself by Rubeus Hagrid, who brought him out of Knockturn and into Diagon Ally's Flourish and Blotts, where the Weasleys were. All safe together they left after they picked up all their supplies.

At the Sorting Ceremony, Much to Ron's anger his sister Ginny Weasley had been sorted into Gryffindor.

The next day at breakfast

As the DADA lessons started and continued Harry found himself having to act out scenes from Lockhart's books as he read them in class. Lockhart was in love with fame and kept bothering Harry, who had to help him answer his fan-mail. But he was not the only one who paid him extra attention: Many first-year Gryffindors like Colin Creevey were star-struck by Harry, and Ginny had a huge crush on him that developed over the summer since she first saw the famous Potter on Platform 9¾ at the start and end of his first year. In return for distracting Argus Filch just when he was about to give Harry severe punishment for something he did not do, Harry promised he would attend Nearly Headless Nick's Death-day Party on Hallowe'en. He did this as a favour in order to help boost Nick's reputation, so that he might achieve his desire of joining the Headless Hunt. He brought Ron and Hermione along, as well. Hermione was excited at the prospect of attending the event, as most living beings have not been to a Death-day Party. Ron on the other hand was not excited at attending the event.

The event was dismal and dreary. The party entailed a candlelit dinner of rancid, mouldy food, the smell of which caused all three to gag. Harry knew the reason for this was the claim that a ghost can "almost taste" seriously spoiled food. Sir Nicolas was deeply touched that the three students put in an appearance, in part because it gave him a certain status in the eyes of his fellow deceased. But the three of them quickly grew tired of the ghostly party and returned to the Great Hall. Before they got to the Hallowe'en feast.

Harry signed up for a Duelling Club, which was (to Harry's great displeasure) taught by his two least favourite teachers: Lockhart and Prince-Slytherin. The event was scheduled to take place in the Great Hall. During the club's first meeting Lockhart demonstrated an ineptitude. He was successfully disarmed by Prince-Slytherin and floundered throughout the entire practice duel.

### Third Year

Harry's third year in 1993 started out almost as bad as the year prior, and gradually got depressing. Throughout the preceding summer, the Dursleys became fearful of his magical abilities getting exposed that they banned him from talking to the neighbours immediately after his return home to them. They even went as far as punishing him for giving their phone number to his friends, as evident to Harry getting reprimanded by Uncle Vernon when the latter received a call from Ron. This, however, did not stop Harry from studying magic every night by sneaking his school supplies and hiding them in his room one night while Aunt Petunia and Dudley were out admiring Vernon's new company car. Furthermore, he had little contact with his friends nor any news from the wizarding world since the phone incident, but Hedwig was allowed out of her padlocked cage because the Dursleys could no longer take the noise she made in boredom.

On 31 July (Harry's thirteenth birthday), which might have made the Dursleys forget about his birthday, for they were too busy preparing for a visit from Aunt Marge. The sight of a copy of the *Daily Prophet* among the mail from Errol interested Harry, as it said that Ron had returned from a trip to Egypt to visit his oldest brother Bill Weasley (a Curse-Breaker of Gringotts) for which Arthur Weasley paid using seven hundred galleons he won in the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. The article also showcased a picture of the Weasleys standing in front of a pyramid. It was there that Ron bought Harry the most fascinating present: a Sneakoscope, which was sold for tourists. He also received birthday presents from Hermione and Hagrid as well.

When his Hogsmeade permission form was delivered, Harry was worried of the trouble he'll probably go through in order to persuade his aunt or uncle to sign it. They agreed to do so the next morning, but only if he behaved during Marge's visit. However, Marge began insulting the memory of Harry's mother at the dinner table three days later, describing her as a "bad egg" who ran off with a "scoundrel" and left the Dursleys with Harry as the "result in front of them". Harry lost his temper to this, inadvertently making Marge's wine glass explode. The insults transitioned to his father on the final day of her visit, making him very upset to such extent that he ended up losing all control of his magic powers and accidentally inflated her, possibly with an Engorgement Charm. Vernon ordered his nephew to put Marge back the way she was, but Harry said no and instead packed up his school things and left the house. He fled out of fear of being expelled from Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic, for using underage magic outside school, something he had already been warned about.

Later that night, Harry was picked up off the curb of Magnolia Crescent by the triple-decker wizard transport the Knight Bus, which was sent to drive him as two members of the Ministry's Accidental Magic Reversal Squad were dispatched to deflate and Obliviate Marge. During the ride to the Leaky Cauldron, the bus' conductor Stan Shunpike gave him a copy of the *Daily Prophet* with its front page story being about the Ministry's continuing struggle to recapture Sirius Black, a convicted Voldemort supporter who recently escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban (the first person ever to have done so) after spending twelve years there for the mass-murder of thirteen people with a single Blasting Curse.

They arrived at their destination to find a relieved-looking Cornelius Fudge waiting at the restaurant door to welcome Harry in for a meeting. To Harry's relief though, the Minister for Magic took no action against him since accidental uses of magic did not count as a violation to the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, but described the choice of running away as very irresponsible despite it putting the Ministry in a right flap. As a generous measure, Fudge booked the young wizard a room in the Leaky Cauldron Inn for the rest of the summer, though this made something about Fudge's tone spike Harry's suspicion.

When finished with his exploration of Diagon Alley for school supplies three weeks later, Harry found Ron and Hermione looking all over for him at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where they met Ravenclaw student Aurora Pikeman, Who already heard of his inflation of Marge, Although there was a small fight that followed. Ron, however, was more concerned for his pet rat Scabbers, who was looking very ill since he was brought back from Egypt (possibly due to the stress of the trip), so he and Harry went over to the Magical Menagerie to buy a bottle of rat tonic for him.

While in Diagon Alley, Harry found it very interesting to learn from the saleswoman behind the counter that most rats have an expected life span of three years. He found this odd, since Scabbers originally belonged to Ron's older brother Percy Weasley. Thus Scabbers lived much longer than Ron could remember, at least 12 years. As Ron declined the Saleswoman's offer to buy a sleek black rat as a replacement, a half-Kneazle cat, (Who was orginally his Parent's) named Crookshanks tried to attack Scabbers, who scurried away to hide in a wastepaper bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies with his owner and Harry following. Hermione spent the early birthday money from her parents to buy the tonic and Crookshanks, much to Ron's displeasure.

When the rat tonic was misplaced somewhere around the Leaky Cauldron salon later that night, Harry volunteered to search for it there while Ron was busy helping Percy search for his new Head Boy badge in their room at the inn. But the conversation which a worried Molly Weasley was having with her husband soon caught his attention, so Harry listened to what they were saying about Sirius Black's escape, and what connection it had to Harry himself. According to Mr Weasley, when Voldemort met his downfall, Black lost everything he hoped to gain, but to that day he remained a faithful servant to the Dark Lord's cause.

The Ministry feared that the killer's motive was to use Harry to return his master to full strength, as evident to the report from Fudge's inspection of Azkaban saying that Black was repeatedly muttering "*He's at Hogwarts*" in his sleep. This shook Harry a little to the realisation that Fudge let him go because he was relieved to see Harry all right after running away. Though he was convinced that Hogwarts was a a safe haven because of the presence of Albus Dumbledore, the senior Weasleys agreed that Black could break into the school if he could break out of his Azkaban.

When they got onto Platform 9¾, Mr Weasley moved Harry aside to tell him not to go looking for Black, but Harry claimed that he would never look for someone who wanted him killed. He, Ron and Hermione found only one empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, but had to share with a friend of Harry's parents, Remus Lupin, who was recently appointed Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. As Harry told his friends of what he heard about Black coming after him until, the train stopped almost halfway to Hogwarts, letting one of the Dementors (a gliding wraith capable of feeding on human happiness to cause depression and madness to anyone near it via mental energy draining) used as the Azkaban guards aboard to determine if Black himself was hiding on it.

Only Harry and Ginny Weasley were the most affected by the creature (since he had the worst past involving the night Voldemort killed his parents, and she had the worst experience of being under the control of the sentient memory within Voldemort's old school diary the year before), and were about to fall victim to its fatal kiss when Lupin cast a Patronus Charm which drove it away. Harry fainted to the sound of his mother screaming, but recovered when Lupin gave him a piece of chocolate to feel better and sent a letter ahead to Professor Minerva McGonagall saying he was ill.

For one, Hermione was taking nearly twice as many classes, including some taught at the same time. Rubeus Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures. While Lupin's lessons were enjoyable, Hagrid's soon become dreary. During the first lesson, Draco Malfoy deliberately provoked the hippogriff Buckbeak into attacking him. This in turn forced Lucius Malfoy to file a complaint against Hagrid with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Meanwhile, tensions grew between Hermione and Ron over Crookshanks' continuing habit of trying to harm Scabbers.

Shortly before Christmas, the Weasley twins gave Harry their Marauder's Map, a magical document that showed every person's location within Hogwarts, what they were doing, and secret passageways in and out of the castle. Harry used a tunnel to sneak into Hogsmeade village, where he overheard a disturbing conversation that Sirius Black was his parents' best friend, as well as his godfather and legal guardian. Dumbledore was the Potters' Secret Keeper and he allegedly divulged the Potters' secret whereabouts to Lord Voldemort and murdered their friend Peter Pettigrew, as well as twelve Muggle bystanders. Peter left a finger to prove that he has been killed with the twelve Muggles.

After Harry completed his Divination exam, Professor Trelawney entered a trance and predicted that the Dark Lord's servant would return to him that night. Harry and Ron finally made peace with Hermione, but the trio soon learned that Buckbeak would be executed. When they visited Hagrid to console him, Scabbers appeared, and Ron picked him up. Cornelius Fudge, Albus Dumbledore and the executioner were making their way to Hagrid's hut, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way out the back door. As they were walking up the path, they thought they heard Buckbeak executed, when all of a sudden, Scabbers bit Ron, and Ron chased him to the Whomping Willow. A large dog attacked Ron and dragged him and Scabbers into a hole at the tree's base. Harry and Hermione followed, With Aurora Pikeman secretly watching from a distance, finding a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. Inside, Harry confronted Sirius Black, who, as an unregistered, and therefore illegal, Animagus, could transform into an animal at will. Lupin, who spotted the group on the Marauder's Map, suddenly burst in and embraced his old friend Black. Confronted by Hermione, Lupin admitted to being a werewolf, as well as the Map's creator along with Sirius, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter. Also the latter two were illegal Animagi, a rat and stag respectively. Lupin and Black explained that Scabbers was actually Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. He was Voldemort's servant, and he betrayed the Potters (Although Black had switched his position as Secret-Keeper with Dumbledore), framing Black for the crimes. Although this was wrong as it was truly Dumbledore who betrayed the Potters

Harry was sceptical, until Black and Lupin forced Pettigrew back into his human form. This came as a huge shock to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, especially Ron. Black then explained he discovered that Pettigrew was still alive and escaped Azkaban to seek revenge, as well as to make sure that Pettigrew could not harm Harry. Harry stopped Black and Lupin from murdering Pettigrew, believing that his father would not have wanted his two best friends to become killers. Until, Suddenly Aurora Pikeman, Who had been watching from a distance, Decided to burst open the door. As the group headed back to the castle, the full moon rose, causing Lupin to turn into a werewolf. During the ensuing commotion, Pettigrew escaped, while Sirius turned into his dog form to protect the others from Lupin. Lupin fled, leaving Black badly injured. As Dementors moved in to attack Black, Harry saw a mysterious figure in the distance cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus, scattering the vicious creatures. Harry became convinced it was his father, or at least his father's spirit, who produced the Patronus. Black was then captured and taken to the castle where the Dementors intended to suck out his soul.

Hermione revealed to Harry that she was entrusted with a time-travelling device, called a Time-Turner, which was how she was able to attend so many classes. Prompted by Dumbledore, she and Harry travelled three hours into the past, watching themselves go through the night's previous events. They freed Buckbeak and returned to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors were about to attack the "other" Harry and Sirius, Harry realised that the mysterious figure he saw earlier was actually himself. He cast the powerful Patronus that repelled the dementors. Harry and Hermione freed Black, who escaped on Buckbeak, as they rushed back to where they were before. As they saw Dumbledore exiting the hospital wing, they completed their journey.

After Sirius was revealed to have once again escaped, Severus Prince-Slytherin burst into the hospital wing and blamed Harry, but left when he was unable to convince anyone without any proof. Fudge said he would remove the Dementors because they tried to perform their kiss on Harry. Draco Malfoy was furious that Buckbeak escaped, while Hagrid was ecstatic. Professor Lupin resigned after Severus "accidentally" revealed that he was a werewolf. Harry the previous nights events Harry visited Lupin in his office, during which the map was returned to him.

When Harry told Dumbledore about Professor Trelawney's prophecy, Dumbledore encouraged him to not feel guilty about letting Pettigrew live. On the train back, Harry received a letter from Sirius, telling him that he sent him the Firebolt, and included a letter giving Harry permission to visit Hogsmeade. The letter was delivered by a small minute owl, which Sirius gives to Ron as a replacement for Scabbers. The owl was later named Pigwidgeon by Ginny.

### Fourth Year

On the 8th of August a letter from Mrs Weasley addressed to the Dursleys arrives, she asks if Harry can join Hermione, Aurora and the Weasley family to go to the Quidditch World Cup final between Ireland and Bulgaria. The letter upsets Vernon and he intentionally says no, but one mention of Sirius Black is enough to convince him to let Harry go. Harry immediately writes back to Ron and on Sunday afternoon, the Weasleys attempt to use Floo Powder to access the Dursley household. They did this unaware that the Dursleys have an electric fireplace, which results in Mr Weasley destroying half the sitting room. One of the twins purposely drops a Ton-Tongue Toffee, as a means of product testing, which Dudley eats. Things only get worse form that point forward and results in Vernon throwing figurines at Mr Weasley. On 25 August, 1994 Harry, the Weasley family (besides Mrs Weasley), Hermione and Aurora attended the Quidditch World Cup. At Stoatshead Hill, Cedric Diggory and his father, Amos joined them. Once at the camp grounds, they met Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch Snr with his house-elf Winky, and many other Hogwarts students and their families, including: Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Oliver Wood, and Draco Malfoy. They were able to see the match between the Irish and Bulgarian national teams up close, because Harry, the Weasleys, and Hermione had seats in the Top Box, thanks to a favour Mr Weasley had done for Ludo Bagman. It was during this World Cup that Harry learned of the existence of foreign wizarding schools, something he had not given any thought to before the cup.

##### Reappearance of the Dark Mark

— Discussion of the mysterious crowd
The night after the match, while the Irish team's supporters were still celebrating, a group of black-cloaked, hooded figures held terrifying celebrations of their own by suspending the Muggle camp site manager and his family in air like twisted marionettes done via *Levicorpus*. They also proceeded to pillage and destroy everything in sight. On Mr Weasley's orders, Harry fled into the woods near the camp site, along with Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny. The group was separated in the woods and the trio were on their own. In the chaos Harry had lost his wand, he speculated that it most have fallen out of his pocket at some point. The trio and Aurora ran into Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he all but told them that his father was among the cloaked wizards. Malfoy also gave a nasty bit of advice to the trio regarding Hermione's blood status, saying that she would be safer out of the hooded figures' sight.

At the Hogwarts start-of-term feast, Professor Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts would host the Triwizard Tournament, a recently revived inter-school competition in which the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute would also participate. New rules stated that only students seventeen and older could compete, for safety reasons. Also, during the start of term feast, Dumbledore introduced "Mad-Eye" Moody, an ex-Auror, as the newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. This news was greeted with a mixture of responses, as Moody was known to be a great Auror, a little crazy, and to have a magical eye, earning him the nickname "Mad-Eye" Moody.

During the first lesson with Moody on a Thursday, he reveals that he will only be staying for the year and decides to show the fourth-year Slytherins the Unforgivable Curses. Despite some fear amongst the students, Moody shows the entire class the three curses using spiders as his test subjects: the Imperius Curse, Cruciatus Curse, and Killing Curse . He also reveals the the use of these spells gain the user a one way ticket to Azkaban.

Around Hallowe'en, the students from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute arrived at the school. The arrival of famous international Quidditch Star Viktor Krum caused a lot of excitement, particularly among girls. Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and Cedric Diggory were all chosen to represent their respective schools in this tournament. However, Harry was mysteriously chosen as a fourth competitor. This came as a shock for all those present, due to the fact that he was under-age and that he never entered his name into the Goblet of Fire during the selection process. Many people (even Ron and fellow Slytherins) did not believe Harry's story. They thought this to be nothing but another attempt to gain even more fame and eternal glory. This caused extreme tension between the two friends and they did not speak again for a long time. Ron started spending more time with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. Hermione on the other hand "*accepted his story without question*" and explains the reason behind Ron's recent actions toward Harry, stating that it steams from jealousy. She later assisted Harry in preparing for the Tournament by teaching him useful spells, such as the Summoning Charm. Harry used this charm in the first task of the Tournament. The champions were to face three dangerous challenges on their way to the Triwizard Cup. These challenges were in correspondence to the four elements. A few days after his name unexpectedly came out of the Goblet, Harry attended the wand weighing ceremony, where his wand was inspected. After examining the other champion's wands, Ollivander examines Harry's and deems it in perfect condition. After the champions and judges go through a long photoshoot, Harry goes to dinner and then returns to Gryffindor Tower. Once in the tower Ron tells him that he has an owl and that their detention starts later. The letter is from Sirius telling Harry he will contact him on 22 November at 1:00 a.m. Harry must be alone at the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room at that time. There the notorious *Daily Prophet* reporter Rita Skeeter asked him many leading questions, took everything he said out of context, and wrote a ludicrous article about him and Hermione. This article was titled "*HARRY POTTER'S SECRET HEARTACHE*". The piece claimed that Hermione was Harry's girlfriend and that she was toying him around by seeking the affections of Viktor Krum, who himself was very much smitten with her. Harry faced even more turmoil during this time, as the majority of the student body was making everyday life difficult for him. Hufflepuff believed that Harry was stealing spotlight from their house and Draco Malfoy was doing everything in his power to make Harry even more miserable. He accomplished this by making and mass producing "POTTER STINKS" badges, which many students proceeded to wear around. Malfoy had also taking to commenting and reading aloud Rita Skeeter's articles every chance he got, making Harry very uncomfortable. In the first task, each champion needed to get past a dragon in order to collect a golden egg. Harry received help from Hagrid, who showed the dragons to him and Madam Maxime. Realising that every champion but Cedric had found out about the dragons, Harry told Cedric about the first task. He did this as a way of levelling the playing field. The newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor Moody, witnessed Harry telling Cedric but did not report him. Instead he advised Harry to play to his strengths, hinting that he should use his flying ability to get the golden egg.

Four different dragons were chosen for each of the champions to face. On 24 November, Fleur ended up with the Common Welsh Green, Cedric with the Swedish Short-Snout, Viktor Krum with the Chinese Fireball, and Harry faced the Hungarian Horntail (the most dangerous of the four). Harry used a Summoning Charm to bring him his Firebolt and dodged the Hungarian Horntail to get the golden egg. Harry escaped the dangerous task with a mild cut to the arm, due to being grazed by one of the Horntail's spikes. He also proved to be the fastest when it came to capturing his egg, which earned him a compliment from Professor McGonagall. He and Viktor Krum tied for first at the end of the task. After seeing how dangerous the task was, Ron decided that Harry did not put his own name in the Goblet. He made amends with Harry.

Between the first and second tasks, the Yule Ball, a Triwizard Tournament tradition took place on Christmas. Ron, dismayed to discover that Viktor Krum had asked Hermione to go with him, called her out for "*consorting with the enemy*", though he and Hermione acted as if they had not fought the following day. Harry asked his long-time crush Cho Chang to attend the Yule Ball with him, but was disappointed to learn that she had already accepted an invitation from Cedric Diggory, a fellow champion. Harry and Ron ended up attending with Parvati and Padma Patil, respectively.

While at the ball both Harry and Ron ended up neglecting their dates. Harry watched Cho with Cedric and Ron was overcome with jealousy for Viktor Krum, who danced with Hermione. After the Yule Ball, Rita Skeeter struck again. She had overheard Hagrid telling Madame Maxime about his family and his heritage. She then wrote an article exposing Hagrid as a half-giant, and he was so ashamed that he stopped teaching and stopped coming to meals in the Great Hall. Dumbledore tried to bring him around by visiting his hut, but to no avail. Only after Harry, Ron, and Hermione proved that they still liked and that it did not matter to them that he was half-giant did he finally return to his post.

To prepare for the second task, Harry was told that he had to open the egg he had won from the dragon, but every time he did, it let out a horrifying screech. His rescue from that particular problem came when Cedric Diggory paid him back with the information that he would figure it out if he were to "*mull things over in the hot water*" with the egg. Harry reluctantly followed this advice and decided to take a bath in the prefects' bathroom. He had an uncomfortable exchange with Moaning Myrtle, and on the way back to the common room, he ran into Professors Snape and Moody. The latter informed Harry of Barty Crouch Snr's obsession with catching Dark Wizards.

Harry learned that the second task was going into the Black Lake to rescue "*the thing they would miss most*" from the merpeople. Harry's new problem was how he was going to survive underwater for an hour. He got his answer in the form of gillyweed from Aurora, The second task took place on 24 February. Harry was able to save Ron, but when he reached him he was shocked to find Hermione, Cho, and Gabrielle Delacour (Fleur's sister), there as well. After the other hostages were rescued, Harry hung around and saved Gabrielle, as well as Ron. The judges were then informed that Harry reached to hostages first. He was outside the hour that had been allotted, although doing so earned him extra points for "moral fibre". After the second task had finished, Harry and Cedric were tied for first, Viktor was in second, and Fleur was in last place.

A month before the final task, the Champions were shown the beginnings of the challenge. Harry and Cedric both expressed horror at the sight of the Quidditch pitch being turned into the hedge maze, put were quickly reassured by Bagman that it would be put right after the Tournament. They were told the third and final task was going into a maze filled with obstacles to find the Triwizard Cup. On the way back to the castle, Krum took Harry aside to ask him something. Thinking that this was something important, Harry went with him.

Krum then asked Harry about his relationship with Hermione, in whom Krum was deeply interested. Harry told him that there was nothing between him and Hermione and that she was just a friend. He also told Krum not to believe anything Rita Skeeter, who had recently written in *Witch Weekly* that there was a Harry-Hermione-Krum love triangle, wrote about him. This supposed love triangle also led to Hermione receiving numerous amounts of hate mail. At that moment, Barty Crouch Snr appeared in the forest disoriented and asking for Dumbledore. He disappeared when Harry went to fetch Dumbledore.

During a Divination lesson, Harry passed out and had a vision of Voldemort being informed of someone's death and him torturing Wormtail for failing to prevent someone from escaping. Harry awoke with his scar badly hurting and pretended he needed to go to the hospital wing, he actually went to see Dumbledore. Once in the headmaster's office, Harry overheard an argument between Dumbledore, Moody, and Cornelius Fudge, regarding the Barty Crouch situation: Fudge refused to believe the words that Crouch said about Bertha Jorkins being dead and, while debating what had happened to Crouch, Fudge suggested that Madame Maxime was the likely culprit given her half-giant physiology. Dumbledore then accused the Minister of acting on personal prejudice, which he ignored due to Dumbledore's friendship with Hagrid. Moody interrupted the debate to explain that Harry had arrived. Harry was left alone in the office after Dumbledore, Fudge, and Moody left to examine the school grounds. While looking around, Harry noticed Dumbledore's Pensieve. Through curiosity, Harry peered in and ended up looking into three of Dumbledore's memories, from the days immediately after the end of the First Wizarding War. The first was the trial of Igor Karkaroff, in which he renounced his support of the Death Eaters and gave the names of existing Death Eaters, including Snape. Dumbledore (in the memory) stated that Snape had defected the Death Eaters and was a spy against Voldemort and no longer a threat. The second memory showed the trial of Ludo Bagman, who was accused of passing information to Voldemort, but his popularity quickly cleared him. The third was the trial of the Lestranges (Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan) and Crouch's son, for the use of the Cruciatus Curse on Jacob and Naomi Longbottom. Crouch sentenced them all to a lifetime in Azkaban.

To prepare for the final task, Harry, Ron, and Hermione used vacant classrooms to practise spells and jinxes. In Divination class between two of these study periods, Harry dozed off dreaming about Voldemort and left the classroom in a disturbing fashion. Rita Skeeter had witnessed this event and she wrote, on 24 June, 1995, the day of the final task, that Harry was "*disturbed and dangerous*". This did nothing to boost Harry's morale, but when he spent the day with Bill and Molly Weasley, they cheered him up. They also came to watch the final task as his substitute family.

##### The Final Task

Harry successfully navigated the maze with the aid of the Four-Point Spell. He got past both a Blast-Ended-Skrewt and a Boggart disguised as a Dementor. Along the way, he heard Fleur scream. Harry rescued Cedric, who had been attacked by an bewitched Krum; Harry managed to stun Krum and send out a signal for Krum to be rescued before he and Cedric moved on. Harry managed to pass a sphinx.

During this final event, Harry saved Cedric from a Acromantula and Cedric being grateful offered Harry the cup. Both Hogwarts champions then showed supreme sportsmanship and cooperation despite the tension brought on by the maze. They agreed to touch the Triwizard Cup simultaneously, as it would be a Hogwarts victory either way, which would result in tie for first place. Harry and Cedric were unaware that the cup was actually a portkey and were transported to the graveyard in Little Hangleton.

This graveyard was the Riddle family's final resting place, where Lord Voldemort was waiting. Just as Harry and Cedric are trying to figure out what happened, someone appears and Harry's scar begins hurting again. Acting on Voldemort's orders, his servant Wormtail murdered Cedric with the Killing Curse. Harry saw a flash of green light and heard Cedric's body hit the graveyard's ground with a thud. Harry is then dragged to a large marble Marvolobstone, with the name Marvolo Riddle engraved upon were he is bound. From there he was forced to witness a ritual in which Pettigrew used some of Harry's blood to restore Voldemort's body. The Death Eaters were summoned to the cemetery. After his Death Eaters arrived, Voldemort spends time criticising them for failing to seek him out during these last thirteen years, even though they knew that he had found a way to escape mortal death. He then rewards Wormtail for aiding with his rebirth by creating a new silver hand for him. The Dark Lord identifies more Death Eaters and reveals that this servant who is at Hogwarts has ensured that Harry would win the tournament and be brought to the graveyard. Voldemort then frees the injured and weakened Harry and orders him to face him in a duel, wishing to prove who among the two is stronger in front of his minions now that there is no one around to protect Harry.

Voldemort then tortured him by subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse and used the Imperius Curse, but when it didn't work he tried to murder Harry using the Killing Curse. Harry fired back with the Disarming Charm. The nature of their wands' mystical connection caused their magical streams to interlock, which created an effect called *Priori Incantatem* (Reverse Spell effect). Harry and Voldemort then engaged in a battle of will. After Harry was momentarily shielded by the echoes of Lord Voldemort's previous victims, including Harry's parents and Cedric. Cedric's echo asked Harry to return his body to his parents. This bought Harry some time to grab Cedric's body and the Portkey.

##### Exposure of Barty Crouch Jr

Chaos erupted when Harry returned to Hogwarts with Cedric's dead body in tow. It was uncovered that Barty Crouch Jnr, who had willingly taken the Dark Mark as a young man, was throughout the school year disguised as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Alastor Moody. Crouch (disguised as Moody) managed to usher Harry away from the panicking crowd to interrogate him about Voldemort's return. He wanted to murder Harry, but Albus Dumbledore and several other members of the Hogwarts staff arrived to stop him. Under the influence of Veritaserum, Crouch confessed everything.

In a terrible turn of fate Crouch's soul was destroyed by the Dementor's Kiss, from the Dementor that accompanied Cornelius Fudge. Fudge felt that his personal safety was in jeopardy, hence why he brought the Dementor. As a result, Crouch Jnr could not give testimony and the Ministry of Magic began to dispute Harry's and Dumbledore's insistence that Voldemort had returned. The Minister refused to believe Harry's account of Voldemort's return, even when he was supported by Albus Dumbledore. This was due to Fudge not wanting the peace and tranquillity they worked so hard for to be destabilised by this announcement. The Ministry publicly denied the Dark Lord's return and branded Harry and Dumbledore either liars or nutters in the press. Voldemort and his Death Eaters took advantage of this to operate in secret, while Dumbledore called for a reconstitution of the Order of the Phoenix.

### Fifth Year

Witnessing Cedric Diggory's murder was very difficult for Harry, and it was not helpful that he was forced back to number 4 Privet Drive in the school holidays. He suffered constant nightmares and flashbacks. Also his friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger seemed to block him from information and he was blocked entirely from the wizarding world except for the *Daily Prophet* that said that Harry was wrong.

In retaliation against Dumbledore, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge appointed Dolores Umbridge, his Senior Under-Secretary, as the new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher so that she could spy on the school. She was later appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor, empowered to arbitrarily change and impose school rules whenever she chose. She made numerous rules that the students were expected to follow and if they did not harsh punishments would be enacted. Umbridge proved to be sadistic and cruel, with a personality that resembled 'Posioned Honey'

Harry hated her on sight and she had a deep dislike for him as well. This dislike bordered on hatred and came about because of her inability to control him. Every time Harry spoke out of turn or even mentioned Voldemort, Umbridge threw him into detention. The detentions he had with her were torturous, forcing him to write with a Black Quill. The Black Quill was of her own invention and it made him write with his own blood, scribed the message "*I must not tell lies*" onto the back of his hand. Harry had to endure numerous sessions with the quill, so many that the words are now permanently carved into his hand. These detentions however did not sway him from his opinions or make him subservient to Umbridge. They had the opposite effect and strengthen his resolve to stand by his statements of Voldemort's return .

However, Umbridge presumed the message had failed to sink in, as Harry spread the word through *The Quibbler* about the previous year's events, and thus he was banned from any more Hogsmeade visits. Also once Umbridge found out that he gave *The Quibbler* an exclusive interview she banned the magazine, which caused the whole student body to take an interest in it. Later in the year Ron was chosen to be a prefect, not him. This surprised everyone, as they all believed that Harry would have gotten the badge instead of Ron. It was later revealed that Ron was chosen instead of Harry because Dumbledore thought that Harry had "*enough responsibility to be going on with*". Harry's jealousy threatened to affect his friendship with Ron, but he felt better when he discovered that his father was also not chosen as a prefect at school. This suggests that Harry's desire in becoming prefect was to emulate his father, who was Head Boy in his day, not to inflate a sense of his own importance. He also heard from fellow Slytherin, Skyler Falcon, that Nathara Prince-Slytherin fell ill and was confined to the hospital wing. Due to this, he and Aurora thought that Nathara was lucky about not having to deal with Umbridge.

##### Dumbledore's Army and The Dominion

— Hermione convincing Harry to teach the legal study group

Because Fudge was raked with paranoia and stubbornly believed that Dumbledore was training an army to overthrow him, Umbridge had the Defence Against the Dark Arts class reduced to reading textbooks. This proved an ineffective teaching method and did nothing to prepare students for what was to come. Hermione proposed the idea that Harry teach the students, as he has previous experience defending himself against the Dark Arts and various monsters. The trio held a meeting at the Hog's Head to discuss with other students the possibility of Harry giving them Defence lessons. Harry is stunned at how many there are various Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs show up. Although he harboured the suspicion that a few, such as Zacharias Smith, only wanted to hear about the night Cedric Diggory was murdered. After some initial scepticism, the students started to list Harry's achievements Mainly The ability to produce a corporeal Patronus and winning of the Triwizard Tournament.

Giving into Hermione's persistent urgings Harry secretly trained a group of students in practical defensive magic. In an attempt to make light of the Ministry's fears the group called themselves Dumbledore's Army (or the D.A.). Aware that arranging meetings and passing the word about them verbally was not a secure method of communication, Hermione bewitched several coins with a Protean Charm one for each member of the D.A. When activated by Harry, the numbers on each coin would change to inform the bearer of the time and date of the next meeting. Feeling highly anxious and frustrated most of the time Harry found that the D.A. was now his chief source of happiness, and the thing to which he looked forward throughout his school day. This happiness was felt by most members, as all of them (particularly Neville and the Creevey brothers) gained a lot of skills under Harry's tutelage. Although Aurora Pikeman had escalated this further, creating a smaller Duelling Society meant to strengthen Dumbledore's Army in Duelling in case the Death Eaters planned an Attack on Hogwarts called 'The Dominion'.

Harry taught the group many different spells, ranking from the simplistic Disarming Charm to the highly advanced Patronus Charm. The class progressed at a fair rate, practising the: Impediment Jinx, Reductor Curse, Stunning Spell, and various other hexes and jinxes before temporarily breaking up for Christmas break. Lessons continued during the early months of 1996, The class mastered the Shield Charm, and began to work on the Patronus Charm. Some members were even able to produce corporeal Patronuses, Harry thought this might have been due to the lack of Dementors present, as there was nothing to make the students scared.

Cho Chang also became a member. During the meetings whenever Harry was near, she would become so flustered that she had difficulty casting spells correctly. Before the Christmas holidays, she and Harry were discussing how she had never been able to pull of the Stunning Spell before, when the room generated mistletoe. The room did this due to sensing the tension that was present. Under the mistletoe, the two kissed for the first time. This moment was confusing to Harry, as Cho, clearly still suffering from her ex-boyfriend's death, had been crying during their kiss. Cho's crying during the kiss also caused concern in Harry. Harry later informed Hermione and Ron of his disastrous first kiss and Hermione comforted him saying that it was not his kissing that made Cho cry.
However, Harry took on some much more pressing worries later that night. Lord Voldemort, wanting a "secret weapon" against him, had heard of a prophecy hidden in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries concerning both of them. Voldemort had been obsessing over the door to the Hall of Prophecy for the past few months, and had been inadvertently allowing Harry to read his thoughts through Legilimency. The link between Harry and Voldemort's minds had been growing stronger for quite a while. As a result, after falling asleep on the night of his kiss with Cho, Harry witnessed Nagini attack Arthur Weasley in his dream, and felt almost as if he had been the snake. Realising what could happen if the link grew more powerful, Dumbledore commissioned Snape to train Harry in Occlumency in an effort to prevent further problems. Critically injured, Arthur was taken to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George took a portkey to Grimmauld Place. When they arrive at headquarters, they were greeted by Sirius, who ordered them to stay put and wait for news. Mrs Weasley stated that Arthur survived the attack and was grateful towards Harry. Even though Arthur survived, he was required to take a Blood-Replenishing Potion at regular intervals. Mr Weasley also shared the ward with a man who had been bitten by a werewolf and a woman with a massive chunk out of her leg who refused to tell the Healers what had bitten her, arousing suspicions she had been handling something illegal. Hermione joined Harry and the Weasleys at Grimmauld Place for Christmas, and Percy sent back his Weasley jumper, which made his mother cry. Hermione, Ron and Ginny discovered that Neville's parents were insane and living at St Mungo's. They were informed of this by Neville's grandmother, who made it known that Frank and Alice were tortured by Death Eaters for information regarding Voldemort. They also saw their former Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart. Also Harry finally admitted that he knew what happened to Neville's parents. Unfortunately, Harry did not enjoy having his mind peered into and did not focus on using Occlumency, having indeed been extremely curious about the door himself. During a lesson in Occlumency, Snape stepped out of the room, and Harry's curiosity got the best of him. He looked into the pensieve, which contained Snape's memories, and, to his dismay, Harry found images of his father bullying Snape and of his mother rushing to his defence. Harry found himself siding with his mother, agreeing that James' treatment of Snape was wrong and it bordered on being almost cruel. The conflict escalated to the point where Snape called Liliana a "Mudblood," an act that cost him his friendship with her. Snape himself discovered Harry's spying. Snape refused to give him any more Occlumency lessons, something that Harry was not particularly concerned about and something he did not inform anyone of. Uncovering the source behind Snape's hatred for James left Harry seeing his father in a slightly different light. He also found comfort in the fact that at least his mother appeared to be person of strong morals while wondering why she ever agreed to marry James in the first place. As the second term progressed, Harry's relationship with Cho became more strained. While the two did like each other, Cho was mistakenly jealous of Hermione due to the latter's closeness with Harry, and Harry still felt awkward about Cho's feelings over Cedric. When Cho's friend, Marietta Edgecombe, betrayed the D.A. to Umbridge, the members were all punished and forced to end their meetings. Harry was furious with Marietta but Cho insisted on defending her friend. Cho even claimed that it was not Marietta's fault because she was being pressured by her mother. At this point, Cho's and Harry's relationship "fell apart", and the two no longer saw each other romantically. Umbridge is appointed Headmistress and imposes even tighter control. Fred and George Weasley rebelled against the new authority at the school. On one occasion, the twins released enchanted fireworks through the castle. Fred and George took it easy during the Easter holidays, but then took their rebellion to a new level. They turned a corridor of the school into a swamp to create a diversion for Harry to access the fireplace in Umbridge's office in an attempt to contact Sirius, and were cornered by Umbridge and members of the Inquisitorial Squad. In a final act of defiance, the twins summoned their brooms, openly mocked Umbridge's authority, struck the Squad members with a variety of jinxes, and escaped the school behind to pursue a career in their joke shop, with the money Harry lent them.
The fifth years begin the sessions on the advice of what they'll need to do to prepare for the careers they'll pursue after graduation. During Harry's career advice session with Professor McGonagall, he tells her that he wants to be an Auror. During this admission they are rudely interrupted several times by Umbridge; she remarks against Harry's ambition of becoming an Auror. She stating that applicants can not have a criminal record, these constant interruptions angered McGonagall. The meeting ends with McGonagall supporting him, and having a screaming argument with Umbridge. During the final Quidditch match of the year — in which Harry did not play as Umbridge had banned him for life — Hagrid, who had returned to the school months into the term and very badly beaten, decided to show Harry and Hermione why he was so badly injured. This caused them to miss much of Gryffindor's Quidditch match. Hagrid also relayed to the trio were he had been during those months that he was away. He along with Madam Maxime were given a mission to the Giant Colony, in order to persuade them to join Dumbledore and his cause. This mission proved to be a failure to the Order, as the giants chose to align with the Death Eaters, due to their shared love of violence and killing.
Eventually, late in the O.W.L. examinations on 18 June, while taking his History of Magic exam Harry dozed off. He received a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius and ordering him to get the prophecy. Harry was prepared to go to the Ministry immediately, but Hermione advised him to check Grimmauld Place first to see if Sirius was still there. Harry used the Floo Network in Umbridge's office to peer into Grimmauld Place, where Kreacher stated that Sirius was gone. Unfortunately, Umbridge caught Harry and his friends in the act. Umbridge asked Snape to extract information from Harry through the use of Veritaserum, but Snape claimed to have none left in his stocks. Umbridge then resorted to the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione managed to save him by luring Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest. Once in the forest Umbridge attempted to harm Harry and Hermione, but was dragged off by centaurs for calling them "*filthy half-breeds! Beasts!*" and *"creatures of near-human intelligence"*. Harry and Hermione escaped when Grawp stumbled into the centaur camp looking for Hagrid. The trio, along with D.A. members Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Aurora Pikeman, and Luna Lovegood — who had assisted in Harry's attempt to contact Grimmauld Place — used Thestrals to fly to London.
##### Battle of the Department of Mysteries

After reaching the Department of Mysteries, Harry led them all through various rooms in search of Sirius, without finding him. The group became doubtful until they came across a room filled with crystal balls, later to be known as prophecies. One of the prophecies had Harry's name on it, and he picked it up, much to the displeasure of Hermione. Upon picking up the prophecy Death Eaters appeared, revealing that it was all a ruse to bring him there. Harry then attempts to buy time by fully mocking Voldemort in front of his Death Eaters, which infuriates Bellatrix, yet Lucius stops her from hurting Potter, not through defence, but so that they can protect the prophecy. Harry still refuses to hand over the prophecy, so Lucius then begins to tease him that the prophecy holds the answer to his scar, why Voldemort wishes to kill him, and the cause of the Second Wizarding War.

Just then, on Harry’s signal, the seven D.A. members all use the Reductor Curse to smash the shelves of prophecies, distracting the Death Eaters so that they could flee. Ron, Ginny, Aurora, and Luna had taken another path and Harry, Hermione, and Neville did not know where they were. Chaos ensued, Harry's group was chased through various rooms. When in he Death Chamber, all but Harry and Neville were incapacitated in the fighting. Then reinforcements from the Order of the Phoenix, alerted by Snape, arrived to help aid in the battle. In the ensuing fighting, Sirius Black was murdered by a killing curse from his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, and fell through a mysterious stone arch. Harry pursued Bellatrix, using the Cruciatus Curse, but he was unable to kill her.

Voldemort appeared, angered by the failures of his Death Eaters. For the second time, he attempted to fatally curse Harry, who was too transfixed to even defend himself, but Dumbledore's sudden arrival saved him. Voldemort then fully possessed Harry, hoping that Dumbledore would sacrifice Harry in order to kill Voldemort. However, Voldemort was forced to leave Harry's body when Harry's grief for Sirius became too overwhelming to bear, as Voldemort did not understand the concept of love. Voldemort then grabbed Bellatrix and Disapparated, but not before the Minister and Ministry employees saw him and finally accepted that he was back.

Back at Hogwarts, Harry appeared in Dumbledore's office and tried to get out after Phineas Nigellus Black mentioned Sirius, only to find the door locked. Harry was none too pleased about Dumbledore's name being mentioned by the portraits. When the Headmaster returned, Harry lost his temper and started destroying Dumbledore's possessions, trying to get Dumbledore to let him out; Dumbledore refused, asking Harry to sit down and listen to what Dumbledore needed to say.

Dumbledore explained to Harry the real reason why Voldemort tried to kill him as an infant. A prophecy stated that he was destined to defeat the Dark Lord, for he had powers Voldemort did not: the ability to love, something that the Department of Mysteries was trying to research in a locked room. As a result of the battle, the Ministry of Magic realised that Lord Voldemort had indeed returned, and Harry and Dumbledore were vindicated along with Sirius (though he didn't live long enough to enjoy his freedom, but was honoured as hero by the Ministry). Serious steps were taken following this change in policy, such as the dismissal of Umbridge. However, this was not a sea of change, as the Ministry still had a mistrust of Dumbledore.

### Sixth Year

In October, during a Hogsmeade visit, Katie Bell was nearly killed after being bewitched to carry a cursed necklace to Draco Malfoy. Remembering seeing the same necklace in Borgin's shop, Harry voices his suspicions of Dumbledore to Professor McGonagall. But she (like Ron and Hermione) rubbishes his theory, stating that Dumbledore did not go to Hogsmeade as he was a Professor, and that there is no proof that he bought the necklace. Harry felt annoyance towards Ron and Hermione, as they did not back him up, but he did not give up on his theory.

Harry's lessons were quite sporadic that autumn, and he did not have another one until after tragedy befell someone at Hogwarts. In this lesson, Harry first sees Caractacus Burke talking about Slytherin's Locket which a pregnant and desperate Aisha had sold him, her husband having abandoned her when she stopped giving him love potion. Dumbledore then focused on Marvolo Riddle just as he was on the cusp of his Hogwarts years, and Harry discovered a troubled child who consciously used his magic to bully and intimidate the other children. Also Harry shared his suspicions of Malfoy with Dumbledore during their lesson, only to be rebuffed.

Not long after that meeting, Quidditch season was upon them. In preparation for their first game, Harry replaced the injured Katie Bell with Dean Thomas. The change produced some results, both expected, as the team excelled on the pitch, and unexpected, as Harry found himself in a jealous rage after seeing Dean kissing Ginny after practice. The team's only problem was Ron, who was suffering from a lack of confidence. In an attempt to boost Ron's confidence, Harry blatantly acted as if he had spiked Ron's pumpkin juice with Felix Felicis. Ron took the bait and played a flawless match; however, Hermione took the bait as well and acted unkindly toward Ron and Harry. While she made up with Harry when he told her of the ruse, Ron's sudden relationship with Lavender Brown led to continued strife, as it spiked jealousy in Hermione.

While Harry attempted to reconcile his best friends, the Christmas holidays were fast approaching and with them the Hogwarts Christmas party out of which Harry could not wrangle. Since "the Chosen One" rumours had been printed, Harry had received an unnatural amount of attention from the young ladies at Hogwarts. Specifically a fourth year named Romilda Vane, who's attention bordered on obsession. As Harry could not ask Ginny to the party, he was left to ask Aurora Pikeman to attend with him as a friend. This made Aurora extremely happy and hugely disappointed the gaggles of giggling girls who awaited Harry below every doorway with mistletoe, they gave him resentful looks.

At the party, Harry was surprised to learn that Hermione attended with Cormac McLaggen, a large Gryffindor seventh year whom Ron despised. Hermione confessed that she did this solely on the fact that fact that it would annoy Ron the most. He told her that it served her right when McLaggen was less than gentlemanly, only talking about himself and Quidditch. Harry was then forced to endure a conversation with both Snape and Slughorn in regards to his potion making skills and his future career choice. Later, after Malfoy was apprehended "gate-crashing" the party by Filch, Harry learned that Dumbledore was indeed up to something. Harry's Christmas was less than enjoyable, as he was cornered by the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour had been hoping to speak with Harry for months and used Percy Weasley as his in. The Minister interrupted the Weasley family Christmas. He tried pitching Harry on becoming the Ministry's mascot, an idea that Harry was not prepared to accept. During the meeting Harry proceeded to tell the Scrimgeour why he would not offer the Ministry his support. The main reasons for his lack of support being: the Ministry's ineffectiveness in dealing with the Death Eater threat, the knowledge that Dolores Umbridge still held a position within the Ministry, the Ministry's refusal to come to his aid when he tried to inform the wizarding community of Voldemort's return the following year, and the mere fact that Harry had no desire to be used. This discussion left Harry and Scrimgeour on increasingly bad terms.

Early in the morning of March 1st he awoke to find Ron under the influence of a very powerful Love Potion, and he took him to the new Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn, only for Ron to end up poisoned. Harry managed to act quickly and save him with a Bezoar. This was enough for Hermione to overcome her animosity toward Ron, and the three became friends again. Meanwhile, a recovered Katie had returned to the school, causing Harry to ask her who gave her the necklace. She states that someone Imperiused her in the girl's bathroom at The Three Broomstick. In the week before the final Quidditch match, Harry discovered Malfoy crying in the toilet and a duel ensued. With Malfoy on the verge of using an Unforgivable Curse, Harry cast *Sectumsempra*, a curse with unknown effects that he found in a book. The curse nearly killed Malfoy and earning Harry indefinite Saturday detentions with Prince-Slytherin and a telling off from McGonagall. When the dentition was finally over he arrived back at Gryffindor Tower and discovered that Ginny and Dean had split up and having come to terms with his feelings, was still unwilling to ask her out, fearing Ron's reaction. So in the heat of the moment he spontaneously kissed Ginny while over fifty people watched, about whom he had been thinking quite often. He kissed her after she embraced him afterwards; this marked the beginning of their relationship.

On 30 June, Prince-Slytherin led Harry out of the castle in search of a Horcrux. Before they left, Prince-Slytherin made Harry swear to obey any order given him, regardless of his feelings about said order. From Hogsmeade, they Apparated to a sea-side cave, where Marvolo Riddle had traumatised two young children from his orphanage in his youth. Once inside, Prince-Slytherin attempted to locate the Horcrux's second line of defence. He spoke in a whispered tongue and found a hidden doorway which only opened when it received an offering of blood. The cave was difficult to enter with a toll paid in blood, and to get to the island in the centre of the cave there was only a small boat.

They next found themselves in a vast chamber containing an underground lake, with a solitary island at its centre from which a faint green light was visible. After a failed attempt by Harry at Summoning the Horcrux, Prince-Slytherin located a carefully concealed boat that would allow them safe passage across the lake. During the crossing, Harry learned another of the Horcrux's lines of defence. The lake was filled with Inferi (animated corpses of Voldemort's previous victims) which would attack anyone who touched the lake's water. Dumbledore instructed Harry on the use of fire as the weapon of choice against the Inferi, should it become necessary. Inferi fear both light and warmth. The thought of the Inferi hidden below caused Harry unease, but was quickly reassured by Prince-Slytherin.

Once on the island, Prince-Slytherin found a stone basin from which he could not remove the Horcrux, without drinking the Emerald Potion that the Horcrux resided in. Harry was reluctant that either one of them drink it, as they did not know its effects, but there was no way to avoid it. Prince-Slytherin extracted a promise from Harry that he would force him to drink, no matter how much he tried to persuade him not to. With this promise, Prince-Slytherin drank and Harry watched as Prince-Slytherin was driven out of his mind, but upheld his promise.

Prince-Slytherin drank and experienced intense stomach pains, dehydration and saw visions that mentally tortured him. Harry later thought that Prince-Slytherin saw his Mother's Death. Harry managed to get the potion down Prince-Slytherin's throat. When they finally finished the potion, Prince-Slytherin fell unconscious. When he was revived by Harry he asked for water. Harry attempted to conjure water for Prince-Slytherin with a Water-Making Charm, but this proved ineffective as the water disappeared before Dumbledore could drink it. This being another defence designed by Voldemort. In desperation Harry filled a cup with water from the lake, triggering the army of Inferi that were waiting below.

As he splashed the water on Prince-Slytherin's face, Harry felt something ice cold on his arm and saw a disgusting hand and the Inferi climbing up from the lake. Harry panicked and attempted to fight back with a multitude of spells and curses, including *Impedimenta* and *Sectumsempra*. None of the spells worked, since the Inferi were too numerous and could not feel pain. He was overwhelmed and dragged under.

Prince-Slytherin, having regained consciousness, created a ring of fire around them that repelled the Inferi. He pocketed the Locket and drove the Inferi back into the lake while he and Harry escaped in the boat. Harry then proceeded to Apparate them back to Hogsmeade.

After a short broomstick ride through the village they landed atop the Astronomy Tower. Once on the tower they discovered that Hogwarts had been invaded by Death Eaters, but Harry's friends Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Ginny, who had been ordered by Harry to watch the school lest Malfoy accomplish his nefarious goal. The D.A. members battled alongside the Order of the Phoenix, on the floor below Harry and Prince-Slytherin, with some help from the remainder of Harry's vial of Felix Felicis. Prince-Slytherin had stopped Harry from fighting and frozen him against a wall with a Full Body-Bind Curse, hidden underneath his invisibility cloak, so all he could do was helplessly watch and wait. While waiting Harry witnessed the 'death' of Severus Prince-Slytherin at the hands of Albus Dumbledore, who was really someone under a polyjuice potion.

'Severus's' body plummeted from the tallest tower at Hogwarts. With Severus dead, Harry was free of the spell that petrified him. He immediately set off after Snape, petrifying a Death Eater and seeking revenge. As the Death Eaters made their way out of Hogwarts Castle and on to the grounds, trying to reach the border where they would be able to Apparate again, Harry pursued and faced off against Dumbledore. Harry tried many times to defeat Dumbledore, even weakly attempting the Cruciatus Curse and Severus's own hand crafted spells, all with no effect. In the process, Snape identified himself as the Half-Blood Prince, and escaped Hogwarts with Draco Malfoy and the other Death Eaters.

Hagrid found Harry and together they managed to extinguish the fire that burnt Hagrid's hut (caused by Thorfinn Rowle) with the Water-Making Charm. Harry then told Hagrid that "*Dumbledore Killed Prince-Slytherin*", but Hagrid refused to believe him. Harry and Hagrid returned to the castle to find people staring at Prince-Slytherin's crippled and lifeless body. Harry moved forward the base of the Astronomy Tower and found his mentor's body lying still upon the ground and Hagrid finally believed him. Harry proceeded to stay next to Prince-Slytherin's body thinking that everything that previously happened that night had been all for naught. Harry started crying over Prince-Slytherin’s corpse and Harry wiping a trickle of blood from the dead Headmaster’s mouth with his (Harry’s) own sleeve. Hagrid tried many times to get Harry to move, but did not succeed. It was only when he was comforted by Ginny that Harry finally consented to move.

Then, he remembered Severus's daughters, Nathara and Snowbell, and saw the two sisters crying their hearts out in their father's embrace, causing Harry to feel pity and sympathy for them, because he knew how it felt to lose a loved one. Harry remembering the locket, took it from Prince-Slytherin's robes. He was absolutely beside himself when he learned it was just a plain bit of jewellery. It was in fact a decoy; there was a note inside the locket that revealed the real Horcrux was taken by someone called 'R.A.B.'. It appeared to Harry that Prince-Slytherin had died in vain and that they had achieved nothing that night. Harry was still processing this information while Ginny escorted him to the Hospital Wing on McGonagall's orders, all the while holding his hand as means of comfort. Later at the end of the year, Harry would inform Hermione and Ron of the decoy locket.

Once in the Hospital Wing he found a injured Neville apparently asleep in bed, as well as: Ron, Hermione, Luna, Tonks, Lupin, Madam Pomfrey, Aurora Pikeman, and Ron's brother Bill Weasley. At some point during the battle Bill had been horribly scarred by Fenrir Greyback. When Ginny announced that Prince-Slytherin was dead, everyone appeared horrified. Lupin actually lost control for a moment, while Madam Pomfrey burst into tears and McGonagall was weak-kneed. Harry explained to everyone what had happened on the Astronomy Tower and when he was finished, they were all shocked by what he had said. Harry also revealed Prince-Slytherin's apparent reasons for trusting Dumbledore and allowing him a second chance.

Following the death of Severus Prince-Slytherin, his funeral was carried out. Harry was disgusted to see that Dolores Umbridge and Rita Skeeter had the nerve to attend his funeral, but he did not want to make a scene at Prince-Slytherin's funeral and bit his tongue. Knowing that he would have to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes and, fearing for her safety, Harry took Ginny aside, and broke off their romance. Ginny told him that she did not care about the danger of being his girlfriend, but Harry still thought it was best if the two stopped seeing each other. He then spoke to Ron and Hermione, who committed to forgoing their final year at Hogwarts in order to accompany him, despite his protests.

What Harry didn't know, was that Severus was alive and in hiding deep within the Forbidden Forest.

### On the Run and The Horcrux Hunt

Once settled in at the Burrow, Harry, Ron, and Hermione helped prepare the wedding ceremony of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The day before the wedding, the group celebrated Harry's seventeenth birthday. Harry received a watch from Mr and Mrs Weasley, a traditional coming-of-age gift. Ginny also gave him the most passionate kiss they have ever shared. It was something to remember her by in case he "*meets some veela*" during the Horcrux hunt. Harry responded by saying that "*dating opportunities will be thin*". The pair was then interrupted by Ron and Hermione.

At the party that night, Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrived to release the contents of Severus Prince-Slytherin's will. Harry was left the first Snitch he had ever caught in a Quidditch match and Godric Gryffindor's Sword; Scrimgeour withheld this second gift, claiming that it was a historical magical item and was not exclusively Harry's property. Noting that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the only students mentioned by name in the will, he asked the trio why this was; the three were unable to give him an answer.

On 1 August, Harry attended Bill and Fleur's wedding disguised as a distant Weasley cousin, Barny Weasley. They used polyjuice potion and the hairs of a red-haired Muggle boy from the village to disguise him. During the party, Harry met Luna Lovegood's father, Xenophilius, (who wore a necklace bearing an Triangle-Eyed symbol) and Viktor Krum, (who dislikes the symbol for it is synonymous with the dark wizard Grindelwald, who attended Krum's school, Durmstrang). The reception was interrupted when the Patronus of Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived and announced the fall of the Ministry of Magic and the death of Rufus Scrimgeour. Chaos erupted and guests started to flee, while Harry and Hermione drew their wands and grabbed Ron before Disapparating to Tottenham Court Road.

There, Hermione revealed that she had planned ahead, packing supplies in her bag, which had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. Ron changed, and Harry put on his Invisibility cloak, and the three then entered a nearby café to hang low for a while. Whilst at the café, Ron and Hermione discussed the events of the wedding and Voldemort's coup. They unwittingly broke the Taboo curse that had been placed on Voldemort's name when the Death Eaters overthrew the Ministry of Magic, alerting Death Eaters Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle to their location. After a brief skirmish, the trio defeated the Death Eaters, whose memories Hermione wiped at Harry's suggestion. Harry, Ron, and Hermione then found refuge at 12 Grimmauld Place.

#### Infiltrating the Ministry of Magic

— Harry freeing prisoners from the Muggle-Born Registration Commission

Having found no leads regarding the Horcruxes over the summer, Harry discovered R.A.B. during the trio's first morning at 12 Grimmauld Place. Once Hermione remembered that the locket had been in the house during its occupation by the Order of the Phoenix, Harry summoned Kreacher, and they learned that it had been stolen by Mundungus Fletcher. When the trio questioned him about it, he revealed that it was now in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. On the same day, Remus Lupin had been to visit. He asked Harry if he could join them, but once Harry found out that Tonks was pregnant, he refused. This caused a temporary rift between the two of them.

For the following month, the trio would take turns under the Invisibility cloak to watch the Ministry entrance. On 2 September after formulating their plans, they managed to infiltrate the Ministry. Using Polyjuice Potion Harry transformed into Albert Runcorn. Once inside the Ministry it became apparent that the trio did not plan well enough, as they focused all their attention on how to get in and not what they were going to do once inside. Harry searched Umbridge's office but did not find the locket. He did, however, take Moody's eye from her door. Finding Umbridge trying Muggle-borns for "stealing" magic, Hermione managed to trick Umbridge into revealing the locket, and she lied about how she obtained it.

Furious, Harry stunned both her and Yaxley. He and Hermione freed the Muggle-borns who were being held by the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and Hermione conjured a copy of the locket while they took the real thing. They met up with Ron again and escaped, though Yaxley grabbed Hermione’s arm while they were Disapparating. She evaded him with a Revulsion Jinx, but the location of 12 Grimmauld Place was revealed to him, and they were forced to abandon it as a hide-out. But instead Hermione took them to the woods that were once the location of the Quidditch World Cup.

After securing Slytherin's locket, the three friends took turns wearing it, to ensure it was not lost. The locket had a negative influence on all of them, straining relations and causing them to all act moody and inclined to get into petty arguments. They overheard a goblin saying that the sword protected by Snape was a fake. They learned that the Sword of Gryffindor in Snape's office was a copy of the real sword, and that they would have to trace the location of the real sword.

Harry and Hermione were excited at knowing what object they could use to destroy Horcruxes, but the locket's negative energy pushed Ron over the edge. Knowing that they now had something they were not close to destroying, Ron and Harry got into a horrible row. Ron accused Harry of not knowing what he was doing and not being very concerned when they learned that Ginny Weasley had been punished for attempting to steal Gryffindor’s sword for them, along with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Ron then abandoned his friends accusing Hermione of preferring Harry to himself.

Ron’s departure left both Harry and Hermione depressed. After some listless time in which they accomplished nothing, they decided to head to Godric's Hollow, as Harry wanted to visit his parents' graves, and Hermione had convinced herself that Dumbledore might have entrusted the Sword of Gryffindor to Bathilda Bagshot, a magical historian who lived there and who had been friendly with the Potters and the Dumbledores.

#### Attack at Godric's Hollow

— Hermione recounts the attack at Godric's Hollow
They arrived on Christmas Eve. After seeing the memorial dedicated to his parents and himself, Harry and Hermione searched the graveyard for the Potters's grave and came across the grave of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore and that of Ignotus Peverell. Harry was filled with regret that Dumbledore had not shared this connection with him. Upon discovering Harry's parents' grave Hermione called out to him and comforted Harry when he reached the grave. After placing a conjured wreath of flowers on his parents' graves, the two then met Bathilda Bagshot, who motioned for them to follow her into her home. Believing Bathilda wanted to give him Gryffindor's Sword, Harry accompanied her upstairs alone when she indicated that Hermione should stay downstairs.

Once there, she questioned Harry in what he did not realise was Parseltongue, revealing herself to in fact be Nagini, Voldemort's snake. Voldemort had murdered Bathilda and animated her corpse to hide Nagini, who attacked Harry, biting and coiling herself around Harry. Hermione raced upstairs and repelled the snake, while Harry's scar burned, alerting him to Voldemort’s approach. The pair managed to escape, but Harry was knocked unconscious and such a close call with Voldemort caused the connection to re-open and Harry had a vision of his parents' demise. And in the scuffle, Harry's wand was accidentally broken by Hermione's Blasting Curse.

After escaping Voldemort, Harry and Hermione camped out in the Forest of Dean, where Hermione healed Nagini’s bite with Dittany, Although couple nights later, while standing guard outside the tent, Harry was lead by a silver doe Patronus to a frozen pool into which someone had placed the Sword of Gryffindor, which leads Harry to strip to his underwear and jump in the pool. While trying to acquire the sword, the locket attempted to strangle him, but he was rescued by Ron, who had returned through the use of his Deluminator.

During the brief intense skirmish, the Horcrux created disturbing imagery, as a last line of defence. Ron was showed his deepest fears, such as spiders and telling him that he was the least loved by his mother who craved a daughter. The final taunt was creating apparitions of Harry and Hermione. The naked Harry and Hermione began to kiss passionately angering Ron, who then destroyed the Horcrux with the sword, casting the two away. As Ron had saved his life, Harry forgave him for leaving and after seeing the Horcrux torture Ron, explained that he had no feelings for Hermione beyond that of a sibling. Hermione, who had been inside the tent during the destruction of the Horcrux, was angry with Ron for a longer period.

On 30 December at Hermione's request, the three friends travelled to Luna Lovegood’s home to question Xenophilius Lovegood. They asked about a triangular symbol Prince-Slytherin had left them to decipher in the book he bequeathed to Hermione. After learning of the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discovered that Xenophilius summoned Death Eaters in an attempt to persuade them to return his abducted daughter. The trio escaped the Death Eaters when Hermione blasted the floor open to show them Harry, but managed to keep Ron's alibi of being sick at home with spattergroit intact by covering him with the Invisibility Cloak.

Harry soon became obsessed by the Deathly Hallows. He spent everyday brooding over the possibilities, forgetting about his responsibilities. With Harry's new found obsession with the Hallows, he became more and more withdrawn and listless. He came to believe that the Resurrection Stone was enclosed within the Golden Snitch bequeathed to him by Prince-Slytherin. He also surmised that Lord Voldemort was abroad in a search for the Elder Wand. This obsession troubled his friends, and with the drop in Harry's attentiveness Ron's leadership qualities flourished.

After listening to a broadcast of *Potterwatch* around Easter 1998, Harry determined that Voldemort was seeking the Elder Wand, and accidentally broke the Taboo on Voldemort's name. Captured by a gang of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback, the trio were questioned about who they were. Hermione had previously hit Harry in the face with a Stinging Hex in an attempt to conceal their true identities, but it all amounted to nothing as the Snatchers then found the Sword of Gryffindor. After Greyback and Scabior realised that they had caught Harry Potter, the trio were taken to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. The Snatchers decided to forgo taking Harry to the Ministry, but instead to Voldemort directly.

When Bellatrix Lestrange learned that Harry had been caught, she immediately sought to summon Voldemort. She planned to do this, until she noticed one of the Snatchers had the Sword of Gryffindor, which was supposed to be in her vault at Gringotts. From her drastic change in tone of voice and her worries that they would all perish, Harry determined that another Horcrux was hidden there, as well. Bellatrix isolated Hermione for interrogation based on the knowledge that she was Muggle-born, stating that she wished to talk "girl to girl with her" and proceeded to brutally torture her with the Cruciatus Curse. While being tortured Hermione lied, claiming that the Sword was just a copy. Harry convinced Griphook (a goblin prisoner) to support this story, knowing that Bellatrix would interrogate Griphook next, as she would want a goblin's opinion on the Sword.

In panic as Hermione screamed in pain upstairs, and Ron sobbed at hearing her, Harry called out for help — a cry heard by Aberforth Dumbledore through a fragment of a two-way mirror in the cellar. Aberforth sent Aurora Pikeman to rescue the prisoners. Harry had her take Luna Lovegood, Garrick Ollivander, and Dean Thomas to Shell Cottage, while he and Ron went to rescue Hermione. On the way, they had to fight Peter Pettigrew, whose silver hand strangled him to death when he hesitated to hurt Harry, who reminded him that he had once saved his life. A skirmish ensued upstairs, during which Harry took Draco Malfoy's wand from him, and he and Ron saved Hermione.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed at Shell Cottage for some time. During their stay, the trio formed a plan to break into the Lestrange Vault to obtain the Horcrux within, with the help of Griphook and Aurora. Due to the fact that Griphook would only help in exchange for Godric Gryffindor's Sword, Harry decided to word his request so that the handover would not take place until after Harry had used it to dispose of the remaining Horcruxes. Harry also found out information regarding the Elder Wand from Ollivander. He learned that his hunch that Elder Wand was real and that Voldemort was going abroad to search for it was correct. Harry also learned some complex wandlore, such as what happens when a wand's allegiance changes to that of another individual and that a wand's allegiance doesn't necessarily have to change hands through murder, as most (including Lord Voldemort) believed with regards to the Elder Wand. The trio and Griphook left Shell Cottage early on the morning of 1 May to break into Gringotts. Hermione disguised herself as notorious Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, using Polyjuice Potion. The goal was to try and fool the goblins at Gringotts into believing that it was really Bellatrix who was entering the vault. The trio had Bellatrix's wand that Harry had captured at Malfoy Manor as further proof for the disguise. Ron used Polyjuice to become Aurora's Father, Aurora didn't do any effects to herself, Being the Daughter of Two Death Eaters would most likely prove she was on their side, and Harry had Griphook on his shoulders; both were under the Invisibility Cloak.

Their plan proceeded reasonably well; Hermione made a convincing Bellatrix, despite a close encounter with a Death Eater named Travers, whose suspicions seemed to be eased and accompanied the group to Gringotts. Two human guards there had Probity Probes that detected concealment charms, and Harry used a Confundus Charm on them to get Hermione passed unchecked. Inside, the Goblins requested Bellatrix's identification. When Hermione hesitated, one nervously said that her wand was sufficient proof, though Hermione claimed it was new. Harry suspected the goblins knew that Bellatrix's wand was stolen and were looking for an impostor.

Griphook told Harry to use the Imperius Curse, he complied and Bogrod then accepted the wand as being correct. Bogrod requested the Clankers, and then led the trio, Griphook, and Travers into a passageway. The door slammed shut, and Harry sent Travers away to hide. Bogrod, still under the Imperius curse, summoned a cart that descended deep within Gringotts. After many twists and turns, the cart passed through Thief's Downfall, a security waterfall that washed away all illusion charms. When the cart overturned and dumped them out, Hermione and Ron had been reverted to themselves. Griphook believed the other Goblins knew they were impostors, but Harry wanted to continue and cursed Bogrod again.

The trio and Griphook found the vault guarded by an aged, half-blind dragon. Griphook subdued it using the Clankers. Hearing pursuit approaching, Harry forced Bogrod to open the vault, which was filled with precious objects. Hermione screamed in pain, and they discovered that the vault's protective charms included the Flagrante and Gemino curses: the contents would multiply and become searing hot every time something was touched. Harry spotted Hufflepuff's Cup, the Horcrux, but it was out of reach. Hermione levitated Harry by the ankle and he snagged the Cup by using Gryffindor's Sword, as to not be burned by the metal. Meanwhile Hermione, Ron, Griphook, Aurora, and Bogrod all struggled to stay above the searing-hot rapidly multiplying objects below.

##### Battle of Hogwarts

A vision from Voldemort helped Harry realise that the third Horcrux, whilst unbeknownst to him at the time, Ravenclaw's Diadem, remained at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione along with Aurora set out on their final mission to return to the school and obtain the diadem, inadvertently tripping the Caterwauling Charm upon Apparating to Hogsmeade and thereby alerting the waiting Death Eaters to their presence. Due to the trio being under the Invisibility cloak, however, the Death Eaters resorted to unleashing Dementors into the streets to try to force the intruders out of hiding.

Having no choice, Harry conjured his Patronus to protect himself and his friends, auMarvoloatically giving away their position and confirming their identities (the Death Eaters having been pre-warned that Harry Potter's Patronus took the form of a stag). As Death Eaters began to close in on the still invisible trio and Aurora, Aberforth Dumbledore emerged from the Hog's Head, hurriedly telling the four to enter his pub. While Harry, Ron, Hermione and Aurora did so, Aberforth remained outside, proclaiming to the Death Eaters that it was he who tripped the alarm (by letting his cat out) and conjured the Patronus to ward off the Dementor threat; mockingly contradicting a Death Eater, saying that what he had seen was a goat Patronus rather than a stag. The incensed Death Eaters believed this and retreated.

After Aberforth re-entered his pub and home, he scolded them for coming to Hogsmeade advising them to leave the country. After Harry engaged in a brief and fierce argument with him, he led the grateful trio directly into Hogwarts through a secret entrance behind the portrait of his deceased sister, Ariana Dumbledore. Neville Longbottom (acting as their escort) then guided them into the Room of Requirement, where they were enthusiastically greeted by the reconstituted Dumbledore's Army; most of which were beaten and bruised, yet ready to fight the Death Eaters controlling the school as well as Nathara and her mother. Harry tried to tell them that he, Ron, and Hermione only returned to find something, but Neville contacted other allies with a call to arms. Harry was initially reluctant to allow the others to help, as he had developed trust issues. But in an attempt to be a better man than Dumbledore (whom he feared he was turning into) and after some discussion with Ron and Hermione, he allowed it.

Harry hesitantly asked the room at large if they had ever heard of any sort of legendary artefact belonging to one of the Founders of Hogwarts. Luna Lovegood then elaborated on the fabled Diadem of Ravenclaw, pronouncing that a statue in Ravenclaw Tower depicted Rowena Ravenclaw wearing a diadem. Harry, having no idea of what the diadem looked like, was led by Luna to the Ravenclaw Common Room to observe the statue. Here the pair were ambushed by Alecto Carrow who pressed her Dark Mark immediately upon noticing Harry, summoning Voldemort, before Luna stunned her from under the Invisibility cloak. Amycus Carrow attempted to force his way through the common room door, designed only to open after the door-knocker's question was correctly answered, by seeking the help of Minerva McGonagall, who easily allowed him entry by solving the door's riddle herself; by that time, Harry had managed to rejoin Luna under the Invisibility cloak.

Amycus (in fear of his master's wrath) suggested framing Alecto's apparently mistaken summoning of the former on the Ravenclaw students; as he did, he spontaneously devised a lie that made it seem as though the students had forced Alecto to touch her Dark Mark at wand-point. In her outrage, McGonagall strongly insinuated that Amycus was a coward for proposing such an idea and that she would not allow it. Carrow spat in McGonagall's face in retaliation, utterly enraging Harry who suddenly revealed himself while momentarily casting the Cruciatus Curse on the surprised Carrow. The curse sent Amycus flying backwards into the wall where he crumpled and fell unconscious. Harry then told McGonagall about the mission Dumbledore had left him, and she offered to hold Voldemort and his invading forces off, buying him the time he needed to search for the Horcrux. All students of age, the D.A., and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight prepared themselves for the impending siege. The Battle of Hogwarts began as Voldemort and his army approached the outer boundaries of the school.

On 2 May, Lord Voldemort upon arrival at Hogwarts, demanded that the school turn over Harry, and the Battle of Hogwarts began. Harry realised that the positioning of Alecto Carrow in Ravenclaw Tower confirmed the Horcrux's identity. It was the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. After thinking on it for some seconds, he went to ask the Grey Lady about the diadem. From her information, Harry surmised that the Horcrux had been hidden in the Room of Requirement. Harry, in the meantime, was worried about Hermione and Ron, who seemed to have disappeared. They had gone into the Chamber of Secrets, where Hermione destroyed Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup with basilisk fangs, which were one of the few weapons able to destroy Horcruxes.

The trio quickly headed for the Room of Requirement where Harry remembered seeing the Diadem the previous year. However, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle ambushed them. After a skirmish, the entire room was destroyed by the cursed fire Crabbe unleashed but could not control. Harry managed to fly himself and Malfoy out, while Ron and Hermione grabbed Goyle, but they were too late to save Aurora Pikeman (Who had apparated out of the scene just as the Flames would have Incinerated Her) and Crabbe who perished in the flames that also destroyed the horcrux. With one Horcrux remaining, Harry, Ron, and Hermione continued their pursuit of Nagini, but before they could go search for it, they witnessed the death of Fred Weasley. This incensed Ron and Harry, but Hermione reminded them that only they could finish Voldemort and that to obtain the final Horcrux they would have to do their share of fighting.

##### Aurora's Return

"*No! Don't do this Aurora! Voldemort's nearly dead!*"

— Harry's response to Aurora's return

A few hours after the Death of Crabbe and (Supposedly) Aurora Pikeman. Aurora returned to Hogwarts bravely battling through the ongoing group of Death Eaters. This distracted Voldemort, Neville then received the Sword of Gryffindor and sliced off Nagini's head in one swift, fluid motion. Harry slipped away in the ensuing melee under the Invisibility Cloak. Death Eaters started to fold under sheer weight of numbers as the house-elves in the kitchens joined the battle, with Kreacher at its front, declaring war against the Dark Lord in the name of brave Regulus Black. Using his Invisibility Cloak, Harry protected the defenders of Hogwarts from attack, deflecting Voldemort's curses. Soon, only Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange were the only two remaining and fighting, with Voldemort duelling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley at once, and Bellatrix duelling Hermione, Luna, Aurora, and Ginny. Harry was torn between the two until he saw a Killing Curse aimed at Ginny, the latter missing death by a mere inch.

Harry redirected his path to Bellatrix, until being roughly knocked aside by Molly Weasley, who duelled and ultimately beat her. Voldemort's fury at the fall of his last, best lieutenant exploded with the force of a bomb and Harry turned in to see McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley blasted backwards in pain and Voldemort directing his wand at Molly. Harry then cast a Shield Charm to protect her from Voldemort's wrath, revealing himself for the final duel.

When Harry and Voldemort faced off for the last time, Harry tried to tell him this and about the mistakes he had made. Harry also asked him to feel some remorse for his actions, which Voldemort instantly rejected. Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, and Harry countered with the Disarming Charm. The Elder Wand refused to attack its master, and the Killing Curse rebounded, destroying Voldemort once and for all.

Immediately, Harry was surrounded by overjoyed fellow fighters; Hermione and Ron reached him first, and then Ginny, Neville, Aurora, and Luna. Victory celebrations began and Harry was an indispensable part of the grief and celebration.

Harry ensured that Severus Prince-Slytherins's portrait was hung in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. He also made occasional visits to the school to give lectures to the students on Defence Against the Dark Arts. At some point the trio were featured on Chocolate Frog Cards for their accomplishments.

Harry was also on "Christmas card" terms with his cousin Dudley Dursley and his family, and occasionally visited him, which were occasions dreaded by his own children. Harry also made peace with his former rival Draco Malfoy, something that his father and his friends were never able to do with Severus Prince-Slytherin. They were civil towards each other; however, their schoolboy enmity meant that they were still not friends at this stage.

Also following the war, he aided in the care of his godson, Teddy Lupin, thus fulfilling the role that his own godfather, Sirius Black, never got to play. Harry and Teddy eventually became very close. Harry's children commented that they wanted Teddy to move in with the family, Harry mentioned that Teddy had already been coming to their home for dinner four times a week, and that he was practically living with them as it was. The Potters were also thrilled at the idea that Teddy, who was seen snogging Victoire Weasley (the eldest daughter of Bill and Fleur Weasley) might officially become a part of their family.

At the end of the Second Wizarding War, Harry was recruited by the new Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt and became an Auror at the Ministry of Magic. Kingsley permitted those who had fought in the final battle to become Aurors without getting their N.E.W.T.s, as surviving such a battle satisfied the skill and character requirements. Along with his friend Ron Weasley, Harry was considered an expert and helped reform and revolutionise the Auror department and the rest of the Ministry, along with Hermione Granger, who became a high ranking official in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. In 2007, Harry became the Head of the Auror Office at the age of 26 or 27.

On 1 September 2008, Harry arrived at the King's Cross Station and guided a student to the barrier that connected to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

#### 2014 Quidditch World Cup

Harry had married Ginny likely sometime before 2005, but certainly by 2014. By 2017, the couple had three children of their own: two sons James Sirius and Albus Severus, and one daughter Liliana Mercedes. Harry attended the final of the 427th Quidditch World Cup in early July of 2014 in the Patagonian Desert. Harry, James, and Albus joined Ginny Potter, who had been in Patagonia since the start of the Cup, in her capacity of special Quidditch correspondent to the *Daily Prophet*.

Harry along with his family (including Teddy Lupin) and Dumbledore's Army were granted access to the VIP section of the campsite. Harry embraced Viktor Krum, who was competing again after being retired for a few years, upon meeting him and introduced him to his sons, James and Albus. He supported Bulgaria in the match together with the rest of his family (save for Albus) and looked "emotional" when Viktor Krum and his team had won the match. While at the game Harry also sported a nasty cut over his right cheekbone, which was a result of his top-secret work for the Auror Office.

On 31 July, 2014 Rita Skeeter launched a book at Flourish and Blotts titled *Dumbledore's Army: The Dark Side of the Demob*, regarding the lives of the members of Dumbledore's Army. The book according to Rita's description, seemed to focus on the D.A. members "imperfections". Harry and Ginny were featured on the front cover, Harry trying to hide their faces behind his hand. Rita also wrote a mostly fictionalised biography about Harry, with an unnamed title.

## Physical Appearance

Harry was a near-spitting image of his father, having inherited his untidy jet-black hair. However, his almond-shaped startlingly green eyes were identical to those of his mother. This strong resemblance was often remarked on by those who had known his parents.

Harry's physique as a boy was described as "small and skinny", with a thin face and knobbly knees. This skinniness was due to his poor quality of life in his childhood. Despite the neglect he suffered, Harry seems to have grown at the same rate as James. When he was fifteen he was within an inch of James at the same age, and when he was seventeen he was exactly the same height his father was, and James was often described as tall. Harry was so much like his father that Harry mistook his future self for him while saving Sirius’s life from the Dementors, although his father was then dead.

Harry wore round-rimmed glasses, peculiarly similar to his father's glasses. During his time hunting Voldemort's Horcruxes, Harry's black hair grew shoulder length as was described when he saw his reflection in Malfoy Manor. This was due to his preoccupation with the hunt for the Horcruxes and his lack of interest in his physical appearance, it is the longest his hair has ever been.

Harry also had a faint scar on the back of his right hand which said, *"I must not tell lies".* This scar was caused while Harry spent detentions with Dolores Umbridge, who forced him to use the Black Quill that carved the words into the back of his hand. In addition, Harry has an oval-shaped scar over his heart where the locket-Horcrux seared his skin during the confrontation with Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot's house, Godric's Hollow.

When possessed by Lord Voldemort at the end of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Harry's eyes became somewhat glassy green in appearance, and his voice became a mixture of his own and Voldemort's.

Harry had "great skin" and never suffered from zits.

At age 33, Harry already had "*a couple of threads of silver*" in his hair, according to *Daily Prophet* gossip columnist Rita Skeeter. In the summer of 2014, Harry made an appearance in the Patagonian Desert, where he would attend the final of the 427th Quidditch World Cup with his family, sporting a nasty cut over his right cheekbone, which was a result of his top-secret work for the Auror Office. When he was 40, Moaning Myrtle stated that Harry seemed to have gotten more handsome in his older age.

## Personaility and Traits

Harry was an extremely brave, loyal, and selfless person who possessed tremendous strength of character. He willingly went to what he truly believed to be his death, because he believed that this was the only way to defeat the Dark Lord. Harry was also marked by what Lord Voldemort once deemed a "*weakness for heroics*" — he would go to great lengths and take great risks in order to help others, particularly his loved ones. Notably, this was taken advantage of by Voldemort in 1996, when he lured Harry to the Department of Mysteries by making him believe that his godfather was in danger. Harry was also very strong-willed and unafraid to stand up for himself. The fact that he was capable of repelling the Imperius Curse suggests that he had an unusually strong sense of himself and his morals. Dumbledore once made parallels between Harry's traits and qualities that Salazar Slytherin looked for in his own hand-picked students. He also noted that Harry's choice not to draw on those qualities really defined who he was, rather than the simple fact that he had them.

Harry was perfectly prepared to put his friends' needs and best interests first, shown by how he ended his relationship with Ginny Weasley, due to his concern for her well being (even though being with her was one of the best things that ever happened to him). The amount of trust that Harry put into his friends was so strong that he absolutely refused to consider that any of them would betray him to Voldemort. Considering that Harry knew a person (Peter Pettigrew) who had betrayed all of his closest friends to Voldemort, this proves Harry's ability to love so unequivocally.

The closeness that Harry felt for many was great enough for him to behave violently if any of them were harmed. When his godfather was murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange, Harry attacked her in a grief-stricken rage of righteous anger and attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse on her. He also attacked Severus Snape after the latter murdered Dumbledore. Ironically, the only people with whom Harry ever initiated a duel were Snape and Bellatrix and he only desired to do so right after they killed someone he loved. This highlights Harry's bravery even further because Harry was fully aware that Snape and Bellatrix were two very skilled and experienced duellists, but did not hesitate to harm them as soon as he was pushed into it. This can also happen if a loved one of his is, even if it isn't true, insulted in front of him, as he so enraged he was seriously considering attacking Albus Dumbledore himself when he stated he believed Sirius was wrong to have treated Kreacher the way he did and that he was trying to keep Sirius alive by keeping him in 12 Grimmauld Place, as Harry believed that Dumbledore had no right, despite knowing fully well he was completely outmatched by Dumbledore, who he acknowledged to be the greatest wizard in history, but fortunately for Harry Dumbledore did not resort to such means and calmly levelled with him.

However, Harry was also accused of being arrogant, in particular by Severus Snape (although Snape's perspective was skewed due to his poor relationship with James Potter, and Harry often found being famous and admired very difficult), and could be hot-tempered and impulsive. This could sometimes make him rude to authority figures such as Professor Snape and Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. In contrast, Dumbledore stated that "*many teachers report that* [Harry's] *modest, likeable, and reasonably talented*".

Harry was prone to moodiness and unkind remarks towards even his friends during his adolescence, though this is likely the result of the great emotional stress and trials he endured during this period. Harry displayed many signs of clinical depression throughout his mid-to-late teens, however this extended to his older life. In his mid-to-late teens, Harry showed signs of these sympMarvolos: general discontent, guilt, hopelessness, mood swings, insomnia (nightmares), agitation, irritability, social isolation and even lack of concentration. These sympMarvolos were continued to be well into his mid ages. It was clear that Harry received limited assistance in his depression during his adolescence, although this was possibly improved in his later life.

Harry was also not one to let bygones be bygones. He had a vindictive streak that made him vengeful at best and spiteful at worse towards those who did him wrong. This varied from wanting to murder/torture those who had performed unforgivable acts like: Bellatrix, Voldemort, and Dolores Umbridge to a desire for pettiness towards: Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Snape, and the Dursley's. Harry even wanted Sirius (before learning of his innocence) and Pettigrew to suffer the Dementor's kiss for their crimes and spent the entirety of the Horcrux hunt angry at Dumbledore for the latter's lack of trust.

— Barty Crouch Jnr's opinion of Harry's intelligence

Harry possessed an instinctual, intuitive intelligence. This intelligence allowed him to make intellectual leaps, as opposed to the logical intelligence of Hermione. For example, Harry divined the truth about the Deathly Hallows well before Hermione would accept it. And although he was clever, Harry lacked intellectual curiosity. He rarely put forth effort into school work; for instance, he relied on the notes of the Half-Blood Prince to get ahead in his sixth year Potions class rather than devoting time to studying. Although he did study reasonably hard for his Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the only set of wizarding qualifications he sat at Hogwarts. Harry generally did his best magical work when tackling practical exams rather than theoretical ones. This could be a result of the lack of confidence that Harry developed from growing up with the Dursleys.

Barty Crouch Jnr (disguised as Alastor Moody) remarked that Harry possessed a streak of pride and independence that almost cost him the Triwizard Tournament. His pride didn't allow him to ask for help regarding the problem of breathing underwater for an hour, which was required for the Second task that took place in the Black Lake, was what almost cost him the competition. Harry was also known for wanting to tackle challenges and obstacles on his own, without the aid or interference of others. His friends had to frequently remind him that he needed their assistance and that he "*did not always have to go it alone*".

Harry also seemed to have a bit of an obsessive personality, a trait he shared with his arch enemy Lord Voldemort. He could be somewhat nosy and was known for sleuthing around and getting involved in things that did not concern him. For instance, during his sixth year Harry became intensely preoccupied with finding out what Malfoy was doing in his free time. He also developed on unhealthy obsession with the Deathly Hallows, to the point where he was listless with longing for the three artefacts. This period of listlessness lasted for many weeks during the hunt for Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Harry's greatest strength was his ability to feel love, despite having a miserable childhood of neglect. Harry was extremely loyal to and protective of his loved ones and that love was what allowed him to overcome Voldemort. Dumbledore noted that Harry's strength of will at resisting the temptation of the Dark Arts, even when granted a direct insight into Voldemort's mind and methods was due to Harry's ability to love. Harry even claimed that he felt sorry for Voldemort because of his inability to feel or understand love. Ginny, his wife, commented that he was the kindest and most loving man anyone would ever meet.

Albus Dumbledore noted that Harry was unfailingly kind and compassionate. This is shown by how he freed Dobby from the Malfoys and by standing up for Muggle-borns, half-bloods, and half-breeds (like Hagrid). This is likely attributable to his childhood, during which the Dursleys deprived him of compassion and discriminated against him due to his magical abilities. His compassionate led him to spare the life of Delphi, the daughter of Lord Voldemort, despite the history between himself and the Dark Lord. Also, Harry was not a cruel person and he never wished anyone harm. He rarely initiated duels, instead fighting in self-defence. Even after Bellatrix Lestrange had murdered his godfather, Harry failed to cast the Cruciatus Curse on her. Bellatrix noted the he had failed to cast the curse properly because he had cast it out of righteous anger and not malicious intent. However, he did use the Cruciatus Curse more effectively on Amycus Carrow after he spat at and insulted Minerva McGonagall. In addition, he saved Peter Pettigrew from being killed by his (Pettigrew's) former friends Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, though this was not done for humanitarian reasons but for the memory of his father.

Remus Lupin once noted that Harry had very good and nearly always right instincts. Harry had a strong awareness of the incalculable power of certain acts, which is never more apparent than when he refused to allow Lupin to accompany him and leave his wife and child at home and realised that Ron Weasley was meant to destroy Slytherin's locket.

In some ways, Harry can become extremely intimidating toward people such as: Gilderoy Lockhart, Mundungus Fletcher, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. It is seen that Harry can become extremely frightening when pushed to the point of anger or extreme annoyance. When in a bad mood and argumentative, even Harry's closest friends have been shown to be wary of him, usually replying to his angry tone in a calm and appeasing voice. The only person who does not appear to be afraid of him when he is angry (other than his teachers and other authority figures in his life) is Ginny Weasley. Dumbledore is a special case, as he acts fatherly towards Harry and has managed to successfully calm him down whenever he got angry with him.

Harry seems to have good and long memory, as he remembers the motorbike ride to Privet Drive with Hagrid when he was eleven and could remember the deaths of his mother and Voldemort's laughter when the events occurred ten years earlier. Despite needing glasses, Harry possessed a tremendous eyesight as well, he was able to locate the Golden Snitch (which was approximately the size of a golf ball) in a massive Quidditch field. Harry also cared very much for his children. He comforted his daughter, Liliana Potter when she was upset about not going to Hogwarts. He also made sure his younger son Severus Potter would not be teased a lot by Harry's older son, James Potter.

Although never as given to sarcasm or humour as his best friend Ron, Harry often displayed a dry wit. For instance, on finding out that Hermione Granger intended to take twelve O.W.Ls, he asked her if she planned to eat or sleep at all that year. This humour often became more cutting when applied to people Harry disliked. When threatened by Draco Malfoy and his cronies after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Harry remarked that he supposed that "*Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you three?*", responding to Malfoy's threat that he was dead by casually commenting "*funny, you'd think I'd have stopped walking around*". Harry also displayed wittiness when he first encountered Crookshanks, remarking that he was either "*a very large cat or quite a small tiger*".

He was also known to apply his cutting wit to Severus Prince-Slytherin and Dudley Dursley as well. During his first Potions lesson, Severus antagonised Harry with question after question. This was until Harry responded with "*I don't know. I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?*" He also commented that he was surprised that Dudley was intelligent enough to know the days of the week, after Dudley stated he knew what day it was. When Harry was eleven, Dudley suggested that he and Harry should do upstairs and practise shoving heads down toilets. Harry then stated that the toilet had never had something as disgusting as Dudley's head down it.

Although he never sought power himself and would be content with a normal life, when a situation required him to step up he would do so. Such as when he, Ron, and Hermione discovered Voldemort and Quirrell's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone and his time as teacher/leader of Dumbledore's Army. Harry has shown not-inconsiderable leadership abilities, to the point that Dumbledore reflected that Harry was a better leader than him as he never sought power for himself but simply had to assume the mantle of leadership due to circumstances beyond his control and found in the process that he did it well.

During his youth, Harry tended to see things in a rather stark, absolute manner, particularly when it came to the Hogwarts Houses. Harry generally regarded members of Slytherin House as evil and therefore his enemies, while Gryffindors, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuffs were allies. The former part could be due to his own status as a Gryffindor and that many of the Slytherins he encountered, such as Lord Voldemort, Draco Malfoy, and Severus Snape, were significant enemies of his during this period. In addition, many of his friends and allies, such as: Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Hagrid, were fellow Gryffindors. However, this mentality eroded as he aged, since he encountered both allies among Slytherin, such as Horace Slughorn (and later, Severus) and enemies among the other three Houses, such as Peter Pettigrew (a fellow Gryffindor) and Quirinus Quirrell (a Ravenclaw). By 2017, Harry had adopted a more moderate attitude on the Houses, telling his younger son Severus Potter that "*it doesn't matter to us*" if Severus was Sorted in Slytherin or Gryffindor. In addition, Harry named that same son after Severus Prince-Slytherin, whom he recounted as "*the bravest man* [he] *ever knew*".

In the aftermath of the Secondary Wizarding War, Harry is shown to suffer from survivors guilt and also Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These two sympMarvolos extend into his childhood and throughout his life at Hogwarts. Because of his depression he also claims that he was supposed to die and everyone knew it, but he survived it all. He also claims that too many people died for the "Boy Who Lived" and that he wasn't worth dying for at all. Harry's depression and trauma are caused by not having removed Voldemort completely from his life. He fears that he will always allow Voldemort to have some mental and emotional control over him.

Harry also has shown signs of suffering from recurring clinical depression, such as his sullen and withdrawn demeanour during his mid-to-late teens as a result of the tragedies in his life. A particular symptoms of this is his outrageous temper during his bouts of depression, which frighten all but Ginny by their sheer force and magnitude alone. Overall, Harry is much the same as any other soldier, struggling to carry on despite the horrors of his past and the brutality he has been a part of for so long.

Harry does have some fears, though he hides them extremely well from his family. In fact he hide them so well that his younger son considered his father to be utterly fearless. These fears include the dark, pigeons, small spaces, and seeing his family in danger.

It is commented by his son that Harry's personality is complicated and this is furthered by Ron, who calls him intense in terms of his traits and past experiences.

## Magicial Abilities and Skills

Harry was seen and had proven himself to be an extremely powerful and talented wizard. His power was evident from the start: he demonstrated immediate command of a broomstick, was able to conjure a corporeal Patronus at an exceptionally young age (a mark of superior magical ability), and even survived numerous encounters with Lord Voldemort. He mastered a wand made of hawthorn, which one should only ever consider placing in the hands of a witch or wizard of proven talent.

* **Love**: Harry's greatest power of all was his ability to love. In spite of being raised by a family that treated him with anything but affection, Harry remarkably turned out capable of very strong love. For example, Harry's love for his friends caused him to sacrifice himself to Lord Voldemort. This loving sacrifice conferred a certain amount of protection onto his allies, making it so that spells Voldemort tried to place on them quickly wore off. Harry's ability to love has also protected and helped him on several occasions. Those occasions are: when he produced a Patronus that could drive hundreds of Dementors away, repelled Voldemort when he possessed him, and the times he was able to close the connection between himself and Voldemort. His love was strongest when directed at Ginny Weasley, who was the driving force that kept him going until Voldemort was defeated. Harry also felt strong love toward his three children, such as when he deliberately placed himself between his son Albus and a Killing Curse. Harry even felt compassion and pity for his enemies, offering Voldemort a chance to feel remorse for his actions.

* **Auror skills**: Harry was extremely young for an Auror, which spoke highly of his magical abilities. He became Head of the Auror Office at the age of 26, presumably the youngest Head appointed. During his time in the department, he gained skills in various areas of magic such as: Concealment and Disguise, Stealth and Tracking, and poisons and antidotes. Being a fully qualified Auror meant three additional years of study, all of these areas of magic were essential. He also had high skill in Transfiguration, as Aurors had to frequently transfigure and untransfigure things in their line of work. Harry also possessed a great instinct for the right thing to do, especially when faced with stressful and difficult situations. This instinct contributed to him becoming a fantastic Auror. Harry has also been stated as being a consummate expert in his line of work.
	+ **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: Harry was extremely adept at Defence Against the Dark Arts, having mastered all manners of spells. Some of the spells include: Stunning Spell, Disarming Charm, Impediment Jinx, Full Body-Bind Curse, and Reductor Curse. In fact, his Stunning Spell was so strong that opponents would get knocked out if they were hit directly. He was also skilled at defending himself against Dark creatures such as: Grindylows, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Boggarts, Erklings, and Dementors. In his third year, he was the only student who flawlessly made it through the end-of-the-year exam (an obstacle course containing some of the said creatures.) In his fifth year, Professor McGonagall stated that Professor Lupin said he showed a "pronounced aptitude" for the subject and that he had "*achieved high marks on all his Defence Against the Dark Arts tests*". In fact, Harry had beaten Hermione in two of the three Defence Against the Dark Arts exams they had taken together. The only exam she beat him in was their first year exam and Hermione later reflected that it did not count, as Quirrell "wasn't a particularly good teacher". Harry improved his skills in this subject significantly during his fourth year, by learning a lot of new spells in order to face the Triwizard Tournament. During his O.W.L. examination, Professor Tofty (Wizarding Examinations Authority) expressed pleasure at Harry's performance of Defence Against the Dark Arts, calling it "excellent". This statement was later proven true when he achieved an 'Outstanding' Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. (something that not even Hermione achieved), a testament of his extraordinary talent in defensive magic. In 1996, Ron stated that it came as no surprise that Harry was top of the class at Defence Against the Dark Arts. Indeed, Harry was so good at DADA that when the Ministry of Magic prevented the subject from being taught effectively in 1995, he set up his own DADA club and successfully taught members how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts. He immediately became an Auror after the Second Wizarding War, which also required considerable skill in both defensive and offensive magic. Harry also developed a high level of resistance towards the Imperius Curse, demonstrated when it was cast upon him by Barty Crouch Jnr (disguised as Alastor Moody) in 1994 and by Lord Voldemort himself in 1995.
		- **Dark Arts**: Harry was one of the few non-Dark Wizards who was highly proficient in the Dark Arts at all levels. On top of being able to cast simple dark charms like the Leg-Locker Curse, Full Body-Bind Curse, Reductor Curse, Pimple Jinx, Knockback Jinx, Revulsion Jinx, and Melofors Jinx, he could cast more powerful dark spells such as the Blasting Curse. He was also able to flawlessly cast the jinxes, hexes and curses in the Half-Blood Prince's copy of *Advanced Potion-Making*, such as the Toenail-growing hex and the extremely dangerous curse Sectumsempra, which he cast at Draco Malfoy in 1997, severely slashing and wounding him. Harry even used two of the three Unforgivable Curses, the Imperius Curse on Travers and a Goblin called Bogrod during the 1998 Break-in of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, as well as the Cruciatus Curse on several occasions. However, his first successful attempt was in 1998 against Amycus Carrow, but it did not result in the prolonged, excruciating pain that the curse was famous for — instead, Carrow screamed and was incapacitated. He never used the Killing Curse for obviously moral reasons, even in his final battle with Voldemort.
			* **Master of Death**: Harry mastered all three Deathly Hallows and accepted his own death. First, he inherited the Cloak of Invisibility from his father, James. Then, he inherited the Resurrection Stone from Dumbledore, which was inside a snitch. Finally, he won the Elder Wand from Draco Malfoy during the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor. All three were directly or indirectly employed by Harry in the Forbidden Forest: he was wearing the Cloak, using the Stone, and was preparing to be killed by the Wand, which he had already won. The only Hallow he choose to keep was the cloak as it was a priceless family heirloom; the stone was lost in the forest and the wand returned to Dumbledore's Marvolob.
				+ **Potions**: Although Harry's strong dislike for Prince-Slytherin made Potions the subject he was worst at, it was later on shown that Harry had no problem with potions with Slughorn as his teacher, showing that he had indeed inherited Liliana's talent in potions to some extent. This was also shown when Prince-Slytherin did not pester him about his brewing a reasonably adequate Strengthening Solution and Harry even concocted an Invigoration Draught good enough that he would have earned an Exceeds Expectations had Hermione not vanished it. Indeed, he achieved an 'Exceeds Expectations' on his O.W.L. exam — proof of his proficiency in the subject and was one of only twelve students able to reach the required level to take N.E.W.T. potions, although he wouldn't have if Snape had kept teaching Potions. His great success during his sixth year was only after he came into possession of the Half-Blood Prince's copy of *Advanced Potion-Making*. Using that textbook, Harry gained the position of best in class, surpassing even Hermione's efforts. However, after he had to hide the Prince's book, Harry was still able to do a decent enough job at potion-making that Slughorn's suspicions were not raised. It was probable that he improved his Potions ability during his Auror career, at least becoming proficient enough in Poisons and Antidotes as required.
					- **Teaching skills**: Harry demonstrated tremendous skill in teaching others. Having mastered many spells at a young age, Harry successfully taught them to others even when he was still a student himself. He would give proper instructions and corrections on how to perform many fields of magic, ranging from the relatively simplistic Disarming Charm to the highly advanced Patronus Charm. Harry's effectiveness as a teacher led many, some even older than him, to choose him over the Ministry-installed (but highly incompetent) teacher Dolores Umbridge. He even returned to Hogwarts to give occasional Defence Against the Dark Arts lectures as an adult and professional Auror. He kept his teaching aptitude in his later years and successfully instructed the members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force in the use of several formidable spells.

## Possessions

— Vernon Dursley's shock regarding Harry's inheritance

Harry was a wealthy wizard, having inherited the Potter family fortune after his parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort. Harry relied on this gold for his school supplies, clothing, and other expenses. Following the death of his godfather Sirius Black, Harry became the sole heir of the Black family fortune as well.

* **Wand**: Made of holly, a wood with the powers to repel evil, Harry's wand was "brothers" with Voldemort's wand as both had cores with feathers from the same phoenix, Fawkes. Harry's wand broke in 1997 during a skirmish with Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot's house due to a stray spell cast by Hermione Granger. Later he used the Elder Wand to repair it.
* **Draco Malfoy's wand**: In 1998 Harry won the hawthorn wand's allegiance after overpowering Draco Malfoy during the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor. This wand was carried by him for the remainder of the Second Wizarding War; seeing action in the break-in at Gringotts, as well as during the final climactic Battle of Hogwarts. It is unknown what happened to the wand after Harry repaired his wand.
* **Photo album**: In June of 1992 Hagrid gave Harry this photo album containing pictures of his parents, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and himself.

* **Marauder's Map**: One of Harry's most treasured possessions. In his third year, Fred Weasley and George Weasley gave it to Harry while he was trying to sneak into Hogsmeade. It was confiscated by Remus Lupin, but later returned when Lupin quit his job. Harry kept it with him for a long period of time, keeping it in the mokeskin wallet he had gotten from Hagrid, until it was finally stolen from his desk by his son, James.
* **Cloak of Invisibility**: Another valued and useful possession is Harry's Cloak of Invisibility. In his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he received it as an anonymous Christmas gift. He later learned the gift came from Albus Dumbledore, who obtained it in turn from Harry's father, James Potter. It was later revealed to be a family heirloom as well as one of the three Deathly Hallows. From this Harry realises he is a direct descendant of Ignotus Peverell, one of the three brothers who created the Deathly Hallows. Harry later gave the Cloak to his eldest son, James Sirius.
* **Hedwig**: Harry's animal companion, Hedwig was vitally helpful in delivering messages and packages for Harry, especially while Sirius was in hiding from the Ministry. Hedwig showed affection by nibbling Harry's ear or fingers, and loyally obeyed his every command (even pecking Ron and Hermione until they answered back). Hedwig was killed during the Battle of the Seven Potters, and Harry was overcome with grief.

* **Deathly Hallows**: For a brief time, Harry was master of all three Deathly Hallows: the Cloak of Invisibility, the Resurrection Stone, and the Elder Wand (though he was not in physical possession of the Elder Wand until after losing the Resurrection Stone). These three artefacts are the most powerful magical items in all of the wizarding world and were so ancient that they were only the subject of fairy tales. When Harry lost the Resurrection Stone inside the Forbidden Forest, he decided to leave it there. Harry also interred the Elder Wand in Albus Dumbledore's grave, so the power of the wand would be extinguished after Harry's eventual death. However, the portrait of Dumbledore that hangs in the Headmaster's office advised Harry to keep the Invisibility cloak, since it was his father's.

* **Enchanted knife**: This magical knife, with the power to open most mechanical locks and magical seals and which Harry received for Christmas from Sirius Black, was melted when Harry tried it on a locked door at the Department of Mysteries. The protective enchantments on the door were far stronger than the magic of the enchanted knife.

* **Firebolt**: During Harry's third year at Hogwarts, the Nimbus 2000 broomstick he'd been riding since his first year was destroyed by the Whomping Willow, and Sirius Black replaced it by giving Harry the finest broom available as an anonymous gift. The broom was one of Harry's most prized possessions for years. It was lost during the Battle of the Seven Potters. It is not known if Harry ever recovered or replaced it.
* **Nimbus 2000**: This broomstick was gifted to him from Professor McGonagall after agreeing to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team in 1991. He used it during his first and second years at Hogwarts. In his third year it blew into the Whomping Willow and was smashed to bits, breaking it beyond repair.
* **Communication mirror**: Harry also owns one in a pair of two-way mirrors, given to him by his godfather Sirius Black. The mirror was intended to be a means covert communication, but Harry broke it out of anger over Sirius' death. Harry did not realise the mirror could still work, although he kept a shard out of sentimentality. When Harry and several friends are captured at Malfoy Manor, at the time being used as a headquarters for Voldemort, Harry used the shard of mirror to communicate with Aberforth Dumbledore, who had the other mirror. Aberforth sent Dobby to rescue Harry and the other prisoners.
* **Schoolbag**: A schoolbag was used by Harry Potter to carry around textbooks, quills, and other items throughout his six years attending Hogwarts. It is possible that this bag was used even in his Muggle education before attending Hogwarts.
* **Weasley jumpers**: Harry received a homemade jumper every Christmas from Mrs Weasley. His were said to be much more extravagant, as Mrs Weasley "made much more effort" when her presents were not made for actual family members. The known jumpers he has include an emerald green one, a scarlet one, a green one with a Hungarian Horntail on the front, and one with a Golden Snitch on the front.
* **Sneakoscope**: Hermione Granger gave Harry a Sneakoscope as a gift for his seventeenth birthday at breakfast, the trio would later take it on their hunt for Horcruxes.
* **Alarm clock**: In the summer of 1991, Harry found and repaired the alarm clock and in the summer of 1996, this alarm clock ticked on Harry's windowsill as he slept on the night that Albus Dumbledore came to collect him.
* **Golden Snitch**: This Snitch was caught by Harry during the 1991–1992 school year. It was later left to him in Albus Dumbledore's will, to posthumously ensure that Marvolo Gaunt's Ring would be safely delivered to him.

**Watch**: This watch was used by Harry until it was destroyed in the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament, since it was not waterproof and by May of 1995, he had discarded the watch entirely.
**Dress robes**: Harry wore dress robes to the Yule Ball for the 1994 Triwizard Tournament, they were bottle green that matched his eyes. He also wore dress robes to Bill and Fleur's wedding in 1997. He also wore a set of dress robes to Slughorn's Christmas Party in 1996.
* **Fabian Prewett's watch**: Molly Weasley gave Harry the watch of her late brother Fabian Prewett for his seventeenth birthday. It has a dent in it, but Harry kept the watch, even into his thirties. The watch does not have arms; rather, it has stars.
* **Mokeskin pouch**: A birthday present from Hagrid. Harry kept it with him throughout the Deathly Hallows, and kept in it his treasures that were of no use to his search; the Snitch, the broken mirror, his broken wand, his mother's letter and the fake Horcrux. Harry also received a photo album, from Hagrid, which had photos of his parents and other family members.
* **Rucksack**: This rucksack was owned by Harry during the 1997-1998 school year. He packed it with everything he felt he would need during the hunt for Horcruxes. He almost lost it during the Battle of the Seven Potters, but managed to keep hold of it.
* **Enchanted razor**: In 1997, Harry received an enchanted razor on his seventeenth birthday from Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. It is not known whether he used it at any point or if he still owns it.
* ***Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts***: This book had moving colour illustrations of all the counter-jinxes and hexes it described. Harry received a set of these books in 1995 as a Christmas present from Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Harry planned to put them to good use in his lessons for Dumbledore's Army.
* ***Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them***: Harry owned a copy of this book, as was mandatory for any student of Hogwarts studying Care of Magical Creatures. He shared it with Ron Weasley after the latter lost his. The trio doodled and wrote messages to each other throughout the book.
* ***Flying with the Cannons***: Harry received a copy of this from Ron Weasley in 1992 as a Christmas present.
* ***Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland***: Hermione Granger gave this book to Harry in 1994, as a Christmas gift.
* ***Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches***: This book is a sophomoric manual on dating and flirting with girls. A copy was given to Harry on his seventeenth birthday from Ron Weasley. Harry speculated that there might be an entire chapter devoted to compliments.
* **Notebook**: This notebook was owned by Harry from at least 1997. It was used to keep his notes and other writings, such as things he wanted to remember.
* **Toy broomstick**: this was a gift to him from Sirius Black, it was the first broomstick he had ridden. It's unknown what happened to it after the 1981 attack at Godric's Hollow.
* **Car**: This car was used by Harry to drive his family to King's Cross Station on 1 September, 2017. On Platform 9¾, Ron Weasley asked Harry if he had parked the vehicle alright, then told him he had managed to park his own car.
* **Family home:** Sometime following the war, Harry acquired his own house and raised his three children there alongside his wife, Ginny. This can be assumed due to Harry denying James' request to have Teddy move in with them in exchange for sharing a room with his younger brother. Harry replied that he would only allow the two Potter brothers to share a room when "[he wanted] the house demolished."

* **12 Grimmauld Place**: Following Sirius's death, Harry inherited his family's London townhouse with all its contents and furnishings, including Kreacher (the family house-elf). Mundungus Fletcher would continue stealing many of Harry's inherited possessions, including Slytherin's Locket, as he had stolen from Sirius. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hid out there in August and September 1997.
* **Motorbike**: As one of Sirius's possessions, it was left to Harry in his will. Despite the severe damage done to it in the Battle of the Seven Potters, Arthur Weasley managed to repair the bike and returned it to Harry. Harry presumably learned to ride it sometime after the war. Given the ease with which he learned to fly a broomstick, ride animals such as hippogriffs and thestrals, and even a dragon, Harry likely learned how to ride with very little trouble at all.

## Relationships

Main article: Harry Potter's relationships

Throughout his life, Harry has had many relationships with a variety of people. Because of his upbringing, he had few connections in his early years, the only people he truly interacted with being the abusive Dursleys. With his introduction to the wizarding world, this changed and he built connections with many of the residents of the magical community, both good and bad. His strongest relationships were with: his parents, his children, Hermione Granger, the Weasley family, Sirius Black, Hedwig, Dobby, Albus Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid, Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Neville Longbottom, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Aurora Pikeman, Nathara Prince-Slytherin, and Teddy Lupin.

## Appeareances

The Truth Behind Aurora: Those Early Days (First Appearance, Appears in Newspapers)

The Truth Behind Aurora: When Hogwarts Calls Your Name

The Truth Behind Aurora: Life in the Dark

The Truth Behind Aurora: When Snow can Fall

The Truth Behind Aurora: Love in the Air

The Truth Behind Aurora: When One's Heart Keeps Beating

The Truth Behind Aurora: Runaway

The Truth Behind Aurora: Last Stand

The Truth Behind Aurora: The Later Years