A guide to prepare you for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”
Book One
Book title: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (aka “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”)
Major new characters: Harry Potter, a young wizard and an orphan; Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry’s best friends; Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper; Draco Malfoy, a fellow student and Harry’s nemesis; Severus Snape, potions master who dislikes Harry; Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts; Lord Voldemort, an evil wizard almost universally feared; Quirinus Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Major plot points:
n On his 11th birthday, Harry learns he is a wizard. For most of his life, he’s been living with his cruel relatives, the Dursleys, who have kept his magical past a secret.
n Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter but was unable to kill their baby son, Harry. Harry is known throughout the wizarding world for surviving Voldemort’s attack, which left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on the boy’s forehead.
n Harry attends his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is assigned to Gryffindor, one of four houses. He shows a natural talent for playing the wizard game Quidditch.
n Harry learns that Voldemort is trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone, which grants its owner wealth and immortality. He, Ron and Hermione fight to keep the stone away from Voldemort.
Memorable quote: “If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign … to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.” – Dumbledore to Harry
Book two
Book title: “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”
Major new characters: Gilderoy Lockhart, author and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Dobby, a house-elf (servant) in the Malfoy home; Tom Riddle, a former student with a staggering secret.
Major plot points:
n On his 12th birthday, Harry receives a visit at the Dursleys’ home from Dobby, the Malfoys’ house-elf. Dobby warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts for his second year.
n Harry returns to school anyway, where strange things start to happen. Several students turn up petrified, and a message scrawled on a hallway wall warns, “The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.”
n Harry and his friends learn that Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts’ founders, built the chamber to house a horrible creature that would purge the school of all non-pureblood wizards.
n Harry finds a diary, and through its pages, begins to correspond with its owner, a former student named Tom Riddle.
n When Ginny Weasley is taken into the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron go on a mission to rescue her. Their journey results in a perilous battle and a startling revelation about Riddle.
Memorable quote: “Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby … Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew.” – Dobby to Harry
Book three
Book title: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”
Major new characters: Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Sirius Black, an escaped convict; Peter Pettigrew, one of James Potter’s closest friends.
Major plot points:
n After another awful summer, Harry escapes the Dursleys to Diagon Alley on the Knight Bus.
n Harry learns about Black, who escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban. Black was put there for killing 13 people with one curse. He is rumored to be after Harry.
n Harry takes private lessons from Lupin to learn the Patronus charm to defend against Dementors, which affect Harry more than others because of his horrible past.
n Hermione announces that Lupin is a werewolf.
n Lupin figures out that Black was falsely imprisoned, and he and Black confront the true murderer. But Lupin turns into a werewolf and runs into the woods. Black, Harry and Hermione chase after Lupin, but Dementors attack them. Harry’s Patronus charm fails, but they are saved by a Patronus that appears out of nowhere.
Memorable quote: “Didn’t make any difference? It made all the difference in the world, Harry. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate.” – Dumbledore to Harry
Book four
Book title: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
Major new characters: Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Bartemius Crouch, head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic; Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet newspaper.
Major plot points:
n Harry attends the Quidditch World Cup with Hermione and the Weasleys.
n At the start of Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore announces that the school will host the Triwizard Tournament, a competition among three schools.
n The Goblet of Fire announces the names of the students that will represent each school in the tournament: Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons and Viktor Krum of Drumstrang. The goblet then spits out Harry’s name, even though he’s too young to compete.
n Harry is allowed to participate, but he doesn’t know who submitted his name for the tournament. The competition is made up of three tasks.
n When Harry attempts the third task, he faces Voldemort and finds out why he was entered into the tournament.
Memorable quote: “Why do they have to move in packs? How’re you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?” – Harry to Ron, as he tries to pick a girl to ask to the Yule Ball
Book five
Book title: “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
Major new characters: Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater (follower of Voldemort) and cousin of Sirius Black.
Major plot points:
n The Dementors, who have teamed up with Voldemort, terrorize the Muggle and wizarding worlds.
n Harry learns about the Order of the Phoenix, the group of wizards headed by Dumbledore who have joined together to fight Voldemort.
n Umbridge refuses to teach Anti-Dark magic spells. As a result, Harry, Ron and Hermione start Dumbledore’s Army, a secret meeting of students learning these spells.
n Voldemort begins to enter Harry’s mind in his dreams. Voldemort puts an image of Black being tortured into Harry’s mind to lure him into a dangerous trap, which ends tragically.
Memorable quote: “So does that mean that … that one of us has got to kill the other one … in the end?”
n Harry, learning how his fate is tied to Voldemort
Book six
Book title: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
Major new characters: Horace Slughorn, an old friend whom Dumbledore recruits to teach at Hogwarts; Narcissa Malfoy, Draco’s mother and Bellatrix’s sister.
Major plot points:
n Voldemort is back and is wreaking havoc on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds.
n Harry and his friends grow suspicious of Draco’s possible relationship with Voldemort.
n Harry borrows a used Potions textbook, inscribed with the words, “This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince.” The book includes instructions in the margins.
n Harry discovers that Voldemort has divided his soul among seven objects called Horcruxes, and all seven must be destroyed to kill him. Dumbledore and Harry set out to find and destroy one of the Horcruxes, with disastrous results. The locket that Dumbledore and Harry retrieve turns out not to be a Horcrux after all, but it contains a note to Voldemort and is signed “R.A.B.”
n When the book ends, it is uncertain whether Hogwarts will reopen the following year, and Harry swears to seek out the remaining Horcruxes and destroy them.
Memorable quote: “I take you with me on one condition: that you obey any command I might give you at once, and without question.” – Dumbledore to Harry
A lot has happened since readers met Harry Potter almost a decade ago. He’s gone from a preteen orphan who didn’t even know he was magical, to the best-known teen wizard in the world.
In fact, so much has happened since “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was first published in 1997, it’s hard to keep up with all the twists in Harry’s saga. And as the final book in the series hits stores this summer, it wouldnt be surprising if some readers were struggling to remember what happened in Harry’s first few years at Hogwarts.
You could comb through several thousand pages of Harry’s adventures in anticipation of reading the final installment, but let’s face it, that’s a big commitment. Instead, read our crib sheet, which hits the high points of what’s happened to Harry and his friends.
Becky Sher, Jessica Milcetich, Jody Mitori and Kim Ossi
McClatchy-Tribune
Illustrations courtesy of Scholastic Inc.
Harry Potter faces his final challenge in”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh book in the popular series.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
