Harry Potter (plot)
This page contains a detailed synopsis of all the books in the Harry Potter series. For information on how the movies differ from the corresponding books, see the appropriate movie page.
See Movie for differences.
- New Places Visited: Privet Drive, Diagon Alley and Hogwarts
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Quirrell
- Title Refers To: The philosopher's stone
Harry, born on July 31, 1980, is orphaned on October 31, 1981, when the evil Lord Voldemort murders his parents. His mother's sacrificial attempt to save him causes the killing spell (Avada Kedavra) to backfire on Voldemort, leaving some of Voldemort's powers with Harry and nearly killing Voldemort. His mother's love and Voldemort's powers give Harry magical protection against further attacks by Voldemort.
Harry is put in the care of his Muggle (non-magical person) relatives, his mother's sister Petunia Dursley and her husband Vernon. They live in Little Whinging, a suburb of London, along with their spoiled son Dudley Dursley (born June 22, 1980). The Dursleys conceal from Harry any knowledge of his magical abilities, and tell him that his parents were killed in a car crash. The Dursleys are not fond of Harry, and they favour their own son, Dudley. Harry's room is a cupboard under the stairs.
A week before his 11th birthday, Harry receives a letter informing him of his acceptance at Hogwart's. The groundskeeper Hagrid comes to take him to school.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is in a castle in Scotland, according to a margin note in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Rowling's own comments in an interview. Most students get to school on the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross station, London.
Harry's closest friends at Hogwarts are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, and his biggest rival is Draco Malfoy.
Harry, Ron and Hermione discover that a giant dog named Fluffy guards a trapdoor in a forbidden corridor and they speculate as to what to guards. They soon find it is the Philosopher's Stone that Fluffy guards and they come to believe Severus Snape is trying to steal.
When they feel they have no choice, Harry, Ron and Hermione go through the trapdoor to get the Stone first. They find that Professor Quirrell, not Snape, is trying to steal the Stone and Harry survives a second encounter with Lord Voldemort.
See Movie for differences.
- New Places Visited: The Burrow and Knockturn Alley
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Gilderoy Lockhart
- Title Refers To: The Chamber of Secrets
The story continues with Harry's second year at Hogwart's. Several new characters, such as Moaning Myrtle, Gilderoy Lockhart, Colin Creevy, Ginny Weasley and Dobby, are introduced.
Harry is warned not to return to Hogwarts by Dobby, who says that if he return to Hogwarts he will be in mortal danger. Harry doesn't heed the house-elf's words and returns anyway. At school, Harry finds himself at the centre of attention of three people; Gilderoy Lockhart, Colin Creevy and Ginny Weasley.
However, his year takes a really bad turn when the Chamber of Secrets is opened and someone or something starts to petrify students, literally! According to legend, the Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin and can be opened only be his true heir. Harry, Ron and Hermione spend the majority of the book trying to discover the identity of the Heir of Slytherin and end up solving a fifty year old mystery.
They discover at the end that it was Ginny who opened the Chamber of Secrets, but that she wasn't acting of her free will. She was possessed by Tom Riddle, alias Lord Voldemort. Riddle(Voldemort) tries to kill Harry again, but fails. Ginny is saved and, despite her fears, is not punished.
See Movie for differences.
- New Places Visited: Hogsmeade
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Remus Lupin
- Title Refers To: Sirius Black
Harry's life at the Dursleys takes a horrible turn when his Aunt Marge comes to stay. Harry grows so angry at her insulting his parents that he "blows her up."
Harry runs away from the Dursleys and is picked up by the Knight Bus and learns that a criminal named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban. Harry is found, but, to his bewilderment, not punished by the Ministry of Magic for blowing up his aunt.
Harry soon learns why: Sirius Black is after him. The school is now protected by the Dementors of Azkaban to prevent Black from getting onto the grounds. The mystery deepens as Harry discovers that Black has mysterious ties with his own parents' death at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
The story takes an unexpected turn when Harry finds that Sirius Black was innocent and wrongly sent to Azkaban. The real criminal is Peter Pettigrew, who is believed dead at the hands of Sirius Black. It was Pettigrew who betrayed Harry's parents to Lord Voldemort, and later killed a number of Muggles in an incident for which he framed Sirius Black and faked his own death. Pettigrew is an animagus, a wizard who can take the form of a particular animal at will, and has really spent the last twelve years disguised as Ron's rat, Scabbers.
Pettigrew gets away and the Ministry refuses to believe Harry, Ron and Hermione's tale. Dumbledore does, and they sneak Sirius to freedom on the back of a hippogriff.
No movie yet.
- New Places Visited: Quidditch World Cup Stadium and Little Hangleton
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Barty Crouch Jr. disguised as Alastor Moody
- Title Refers To: The Goblet of Fire
Peter Pettigrew (a.k.a. Wormtail) returns to what remains of Lord Voldemort and begins helping him. Harry attends the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys and sees the flying legend of Viktor Krum. At night, there is a riot and the Dark Mark appears in the sky for the first time since Voldemort was at the height of his powers.
At Hogwarts, Harry discovers that the Triwizard Tournament, a competition between the magical schools of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang is to take place at Hogwarts. When representatives from the other schools arrive, and they find that Viktor Krum is a student at Durmstrang.
The Goblet of Fire is the selector who selects a champion for each school. Dumbledore explains that nobody under seventeen is allowed to enter, and he draws an age line around the Goblet to prevent any younger students from submitting their names.
Naturally, many underage students, including Fred and George Weasley, attempt to get past the age line using aging potions, but they are unsuccessful. The chosen champions are Viktor Krum for Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons and Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts. Harry is unexpectedly chosen as a second champion for Hogwarts even though he never entered his name. It is later learned that the Goblet of Fire was fooled by submitting Harry's name as the only student in a fictitious fourth school.
Harry focuses most of his energy on getting through the Tournament alive, but he and his friends also speculate on who put his name in the Goblet. Their top suspects are Snape and Igor Karkaroff. They believe whoever is responsible wants Harry killed in the Tournament.
They were mistaken, they wanted Harry to win the Tournament. Their plan almost succeeds as Harry ties with Cedric Diggory. However, it still works for their plan. Harry and Cedric, upon touching the Triwizard Cup, are carried to a graveyard as the Cup has been turned to a portkey. In the graveyard, they are taken to Pettigrew and Lord Voldemort. Cedric is murdered, the beginning of the deaths.
Pettigrew takes blood from Harry and uses it as the final ingredient to make Voldemort rise again. Right after he rises, many of his faithful and not-so-faithful Death Eaters return to him. However, Harry manages to escape back to Hogwarts.
Harry finds out, upon his return, that it was Barty Crouch Jr. who entered him in the Tournment. Crouch Jr. had disguised himself as Alastor Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Once again, the Ministry refuses to believe Harry's story. Dumbledore does and brings the "old crowd" back together. The school year ends and the students are sent home before Harry has a chance to tell the student body what happened, and before Dumbledore is able to convince many of them.
No movie yet.
- New Places Visited: Grimmauld Place and the Ministry of Magic
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Dolores Umbridge
- Title Refers To: The Order of the Phoenix
Cornelius Fudge has refused to believe Voldemort has returned, because it would be great trouble for the Ministry. Instead, he convinces himself that Dumbledore wants to replace Fudge as Minister of Magic, despite Dumbledore's public denials of such a desire.
Dumbledore brings the "old crowd" who opposed Voldemort before back together to re-form the Order of the Phoenix. The Order's goal is to fight Voldemort, a task made difficult by the Ministry's obsession with rooting out Dumbledore and his supporters.
As part of the Ministry's task, they install Dolores Umbridge as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, so she can prevent students from being trained in combat, as the Ministry fears Dumbledore could mobilze the students against the Ministry.
Harry and his friends don't think being defenseless in the light of Voldemort's return bodes well, so they form their own group called Dumbledore's Army (the D.A. for short), named as a joke because that's the Ministry's worst fear.
However, the D.A. is betrayed by Marietta Edgecombe and Dumbledore leaves Hogwarts to go into hiding. Umbridge appoints herself the new headmistress and begans twisting the rules at Hogwarts to fit her fascist plans for complete control. However, the school (teachers and students) revolt against her, and the headmaster's office fails to recognize her position, leaving her locked out while it awaits Dumbledore's return.
Meanwhile, Harry has been having dreams involving the Department of Mysteries and eventually has one where Sirius Black is being tortured by Voldemort. Believing what he sees is real, he escapes from Umbridge and goes to the Department of Mysteries accompanied by Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.
However, Voldemort has placed that vision in Harry's mind and Harry found that he had been brought there to take a prophecy out of the Department of Mysteries for Voldemort. A group of Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix become involved in a battle. In this battle, Sirius Black is killed, most of the Death Eaters are capture, and Lord Voldemort is driven away without either learning the prophecy or killing Harry.
Harry learns of the prophecy's content from Dumbledore, even though the one from the Department of Mysteries is smashed in the battle. Dumbledore also reveals to Harry both his danger and the protections available to him, particularly at the Dursley's house. The Ministry finally accepts Voldemort has returned and begins preparations for the coming war.
Book 6: As yet unreleased
- New Places Visited: Unknown
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Unknown
- Title Refers To: Unknown
Book 7: As yet unreleased
- New Places Visited: Unknown
- Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Unknown
- Title Refers To: Unknown
J.K Rowling has suggested that Harry Potter will die in this final version of the book.