Deathly Hallows

37 hours - including sleeping twice. Very good, an excellent book and I was left captivated by it and kept going (admittedly in part because I feared finding out too much from other sources and having my enjoyment of the book spoiled, as HBP had when a football website I frequent had a post declaring that Dumbledore pegged it). I will be reviewing the book somewhat in this post so if you don't want to know the score, look away now

The book begins in Malfoy manor where Voldemort and the Death Eaters are meeting, discussing the time of Harry's movement to a safe house (as he is about to turn 17 his protection at Privet Drive is about to expire). Conflicting reports are issued but Voldemort follows Snape's information and sets the plan in motion to intercept Harry, then kills the Muggle Studies teacher from Hogwarts
The Dursleys finally decide to leave (having changed their minds 3 or 4 times about whether or not to accept protection from the Order). They depart and a guard of 13 arrive to collect Harry (including Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Hagrid, Moody, Remus & Nymphadora Lupin, Mundungus Fletcher), six of whom take polyjuice potion to make 7 Harrys, the original and six decoys. They leave en masse but are ambushed by Death Eaters. Despite encountering Voldemort, Harry survives, but at the loss of his owl, Hedwig (Voldemort had borrowed Lucius Malfoy's wand, knowing his own would not work against Harry, due to priori incantatum (book 4) as they share a core - however Malfoy's wand worked poortly against Harry as well). Moody is killed, George loses an ear to Snape's sectumsempra spell, but other than that the Order meet up at the Burrow where Harry celebrates his 17th birthday (among his presents is a passionate kiss from ex-girlfriend Ginny, much to Ron's chagrin), receive items left to them by Dumbledore (Harry receives the original snitch he caught in his first Quidditch game, but not the sword of Gryffindor, despite Dumbledore bequeathing it to him, Hermione gets the tales of Beedle the Bard - Wizarding fairy stories - and Ron receives the deluminator Dumbledore had used in books 1 and 6, aka the put-outer) and the wedding of Bill and Fleur, during which they receive news that the Ministry of Magic has fallen to Voldemort and that the Minister is dead. Harry, Ron and Hermione go on the run immediately but are tracked to a muggle café in Tottenham. After evading the Death Eaters they head to the old HQ of the Order, Grimmauld Place (now Harry's house) where they lay plans to track down and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Meanwhile Rita Skeeter is stirring trouble again, revealing unpleasantries about Dumbledore's early life, his friendship with the dark wizard Grindelwald and the death of Dumbledore's sister
Harry correctly guesses (as did I on a previous post) that RAB was Sirius's brother Regulus, who had the true horcrux that Harry and Dumbledore went after at the end of HBP. With help (surprisingly) from Harry's reluctant house-elf Kreacher (whose behaviour changes markedly as Harry establishes a bond through Kreacher's affection for Regulus) they are able to determine that Dolores Umbridge has the locket-horcrux and lay plans to steal it from the Ministry, difficult given that Voldemort's puppet minister has accused Harry of Dumbledore's murder and put a 10,000 galleon bounty on his head. With the aid of more polyjuice potion, the trio acquire the true horcrux but without the sword of Gryffindor they are unable to destroy it and are forced to carry it with them, which badly affects the mood of the wearer, especially Ron.
Things get worse as they are discovered leaving the ministry and tracked back to Grimmauld Place and thus forced to flee and camp in the open. Ultimately Ron has had enough and leaves them, much to the disgust of Hermione, their burgeoning romance seemingly at an end. The two then head to Godric's Hollow, where Lily and James had died and visit their grave in the cemetery, though another grave catches their eye, as it features a symbol adopted by Grindelwald, but also worn by Luna Lovegood's equally eccentric father
Harry and Hermione attempt to visit Bathilda Bagshott, author of A history of magic, who also lives in Godric's Hollow, but this turns out to be another trap - Voldemort's snake Nagini is disguised ad Bagshott and nearly kills Harry before Hermione comes to his aid, though in the battle she accidentally snaps Harry's wand with a stray spell
Back in the woods, Harry discovers Gryffindor's sword, with the aid of a silver doe, but nearly drowns trying to recover it as the locket, around his neck, attempts to prevent him retrieving it. Ron returns, guided by the deluminator, and saves his life. Harry lets Ron destroy the locket and the 3rd horcrux is gone. The three visit Luna's father and he encourages Hermione to read a story featuring Grindelwald's sign, and they learn it to be the sign of the "Deathly Hallows", an all-powerful wand made from an Elder tree, a stone that resurrects the dead and an invisibility cloak, which sounds remarkably like Harry's own. Xenophilius Lovegood betrays them, as Death Eaters have abducted Luna, but they escape. Ron reveals to Harry and Hermione how they were tracked to the muggle café, Voldemort's name is cursed and anyone who utters it has their location immediately revealed. Harry forgets this and the three are captured and imprisoned in Malfoy manor, where Hermione is tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, who is horrified to see they have the sword with them. Wormtail tries to kill Harry but when he reminds him that he owes Harry his life, he desists, causing his silver hand to turn on himself. Harry, looking into his two-way mirror (a gift from Sirius in book 5) calls for help and Dobby appears, using his magic to break them out of their prison, along with fellow prisoners Luna, Ollivander and the goblin Griphook. In a battle upstairs, Harry disarms Draco Malfoy, taking his wand (an acquired replacement for his own hadn't worked well for him) and the seven escape to Bill and Fleur's, where Ron had sought solace when he left them, but Dobby is killed by Bellatrix as they flee. They meet Lupin at Bill's, Nymphadora has had a son, Teddy (after her late father), and Remus asks Harry to be godfather, to which he agrees. Harry interrogates Ollivander and learns the truth behind the Elder wand, and that Voldemort wants it. In a vision, Harry then sees Voldemort break open Dumbledore's tomb - it was Dumbledore who held the Elder wand, having won it when he defeated Grindelwald, who had stolen it from Gregorovicz years earlier, Voldemort believing it to be the one weapon that he could use to kill Harry. Harry also questions Griphook about breaking into Gringotts bank, guessing that Voldemort hid a horcrux in the Lestranges' vault, hence Bellatrix's look of horror on seeing the sword she thought was safely in there. Griphook eventually agrees, his price being ownership of the Goblin-made sword of Gryffindoe. Reluctantly Harry agrees, planning to let him have the sword "just not yet". However, on reaching the vault Griphook escapes with the sword, alerting guards to their presence, but Harry gets the horcrux (Hufflepuff's cuo) and they escape on a dragon that was guarding the lower vaults. Voldemort learns of the theft and realises what Harry is up to, his connection to Harry betraying the location of the final horcrux - Hogwarts, now under Snape's headship and Death Eater control
The three return to Hogsmeade but are set upon by dementors and saved by the landlord of the Hog's Head pub, Dumbledore's brother Aberforth. He shows them a secret entrance into the Room of Requirement, used by the old DA, now led by Neville Longbottom, as a focal point for student resistance against the new regime. Harry is led by Luna to the Ravenclaw tower, where he identifies the last horcrux, the diadem of Ravenclaw and asks the House ghost, the Grey Lady (who turns out to be Helena Ravenclaw, the founder's daughter) where it is. He learns it was buried in Albania after she stole it from her mother, and that Voldemort, as Tom Riddle at school, found its location from her. Harry then realises it to be in the Room of Requirement, in its guise as a room for storage of items that must be hidden by students. He empties the room of DA, who join the rest of the of-age students in preparing for battle against Death Eaters (Slytherin house is divided in its loyalties) and is joined by Hermione and Ron, who have been to the Chamber of Secrets to destroy the cup with a basilisk fang (the venom being one of the only materials that can destroy a horcrux). Ron had remembered enough parseltongue from Harry's opening of the locket to manage to open the entrance. Hermione then kisses Ron after he says that they must empty the kitchens as they cannot ask the house-elves to die in their cause. They go into the room of "possessions" and Harry acquires the diadem but they are trapped by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who lay in wait and Crabbe sets fiendfyre at them, causing the room to begin to burn. Harry finds broomsticks and rescues Ron, Hermione, Malfoy and Goyle, but Crabbe is trapped and presumed dead. The fiendfyre has, however, destroyed the diadem and now just the snake remains. Another vision causes Harry to realise Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack and the three go there (under the invisibility cloak), just in time to see Voldemort set the snake on Snape, believing he must kill him to become true master of the Elder Wand (it, too, is unresponsive to Voldemort in the way it should be). With his last strength, Snape gives Harry, who had revealed himself after Voldemort left, some memories. Harry rushes to the pensieve in the Headmaster's Office and views the memories. Snape had loved Harry's mother from the first time he saw her and had been on Dumbledore's side all along. He saved Dumbledore's life after Dumbledore donned Gaunt's ring (the 2nd horcrux from HBP and in it was set the resurrection stone) but could only buy him one year. Dumbledore knew Voldemort intended Draco Malfoy to kill him but asked Snape to watch over him and to do the job himself (it wouldn't be murder and he would be giving him a quick death rather than a lingering painful one from the curse). Harry also learns that Snape had watched over and protected him the whole time, he was the one who sent the silver doe patronus and that he, Harry, was an inadvertent seventh horcrux, from Voldemort's murder of his family and attempt to murder him. Thus, Dumbledore said, Harry had to die at Voldemort's hand to destroy the horcrux and allow Voldemort to be killed
The battle has raged. Among the dead are Remus, Nymphadora, Fred and Colin Creevey. Harry encounters Neville and tells him to kill the snake as a means to defeating Voldemort, if Ron or Hermione are unable to do so. He then surrenders himself to Voldemort during a cease-fire, in an attempt to avert further bloodshed. Voldemort uses the killing curse and Harry awakes inside King's Cross station, alone except for Dumbledore (who admits to him that he and Grindelwald had been fascinated by the Hallows and had sought to bring about a world ruled by wizards. This was why he had donned Gaunt's ring, it bore a hallow. He possessed the wand and also had borrowed James Potter's invisibility cloak, attempting to unite the Hallows. It was also why he refused the job of Minister for Magic, refusing to trust himself in a position of power) and a creature akin to the Voldemort depicted early in book 4, representing the portion of his soul inside Harry, which the curse had destroyed. Harry returns to his body to find Narcissa Malfoy bent over him. She feels his heartbeat and tells Voldemort he is dead. His body is carried to the school gates where Voldemort announces to the DA/Order that they have lost. Neville refuses to admit defeat and is attacked by Voldemort, who places the sorting hat on his head and sets fire to it, declaring there is no need for sorting, everyone will be Slytherin now. Neville recovers Gryffindor's sword from the hat and decapitates Nagini. Harry then leaps to his feet and battles, and taunts, Voldemort. In the meantime, Molly Weasley has killed Bellatrix, who was attacking Ginny. Harry guessed, correctly, that Snape was never master of the Elder Wand, Draco (who disarmed Dumbledore in HBP) was - and consequently, having defeated him, Harry is now master. Thus the wand does not obey Voldemort and his killing curse rebounds, this time, with no horcruxes, Voldemort is killed
Nineteen years later, on platform 9 3/4, Harry and Ginny see their two sons off to school. James is a returning student but Albus is to be a 1st year. Their daughter Lily is too young, as is Ron & Hermione's youngest child. Their eldest, along with Draco's son Scorpius, Teddy and Bill's daughter (who Ron's son caught "snogging") board the train. Albus fears being sorted into Slytherin and Harry has a quiet word, informing Albus Severus that he is named for two former headmasters, "one of whom was a Slytherin and was the bravest man I ever knew". He tells him it doesn't matter to him which house his son is in but then confides that he can ask the sorting hat not to put him in Slytherin, just like Harry did
We are then told that Harry's scar hadn't hurt in 19 years. All was well


Phew. Like I said, it's a cracking book