Philosopher's Stone:
Lord Voldemort, an evil and powerful dark wizard, has just been defeated. When he tried to kill an infant boy, Harry Potter, the killing curse rebounded upon him, destroying his body. Harry is left an orphan with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, Voldemort having killed his parents Lily and James Potter. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall leave him on the doorstep of his ultra-conventional, insensitive, negligent Muggle (non-magical) relatives, the Dursleys, who take him in. They decide to conceal his magical heritage from him and make him live in a cupboard under the stairs for eleven years.
Shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday, he receives a letter addressed specifically to him. His uncle, however, reads and tears up the letter before Harry has a chance to look at its contents. The letter writer does not give up, and the Dursleys receive successively larger numbers of the same letters. Soon, his uncle becomes so paranoid that the Dursleys, with Harry in tow, hide in a shack in the middle of the ocean to get away from the letters. That night (which happens to be Harry's birthday), he is visited by an enormous man named Hagrid who busts through the locked door of the shack. With Hagrid holding the Dursleys at bay, Harry finally reads his letter, in which he learns he has been invited to study magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He enters the wizarding world for the first time, learns to his surprise that he is famous, and meets the new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell. He takes the train to Hogwarts from Platform Nine and three-quarters, befriending Ron Weasley, and meeting Hermione Granger, a Muggle-born witch-to-be.
Upon arrival, the Sorting Hat places Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Gryffindor House. Draco Malfoy, an arrogant and elitist student, gets placed in Slytherin. Harry discovers he has a talent for riding broomsticks, and after an incident with Malfoy, is recruited to join Gryffindor's Quidditch team as a Seeker. He is the youngest Quidditch player at the school in many years, much to Malfoy's displeasure.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville Longbottom explore Hogwarts late at night and accidentally stumble across the door to a corridor. A three-headed dog, christened Fluffy by Hagrid, guards a trapdoor. On Halloween, Quirrell informs everyone that a troll has entered the castle; it gets locked in the girls' bathroom by Ron and Harry, where Hermione is crying after Ron has insulted her. When they realise their mistake, Harry and Ron fight the troll to save Hermione, and the three become best friends.
At Harry's first Quidditch match, Harry's broom becomes possessed, nearly knocking him off. Hermione sees Professor Severus Snape, the sinister Potions master, staring at Harry and mouthing words, making her believe that Snape has caused the broom to misbehave with a dark curse. Hoping to save Harry, Hermione sets Snape's robes on fire, distracting him and others and allowing Harry to survive.
At Christmas, Harry receives an Invisibility Cloak, once belonging to his father, which renders its wearer invisible. Harry uses it to explore the Restricted Section in the library to research information on Nicolas Flamel, a name Hagrid lets slip when confronted about his knowledge of Fluffy. Eventually, Harry learns that Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone, which produces the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal."[2].
Harry sees Snape trying to get information from Quirrell about getting past Fluffy; Quirrell says he doesn't know what's he's talking about. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sure that Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone in order to restore Lord Voldemort to power, but Hagrid denies it.
Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco are caught out late at night, and forced to serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Harry sees a hooded figure drink the blood of an injured unicorn, which makes Harry's forehead scar start burning. Firenze, a centaur, tells Harry that it is a monstrous thing to slay a unicorn, let alone drink its blood. He also tells Harry that unicorn blood is like Elixir of Life, and that the hooded figure is in fact Voldemort.
Harry, Hermione and Ron find out that Hagrid, while he was drunk in a pub, has told a hooded stranger how to get past Fluffy, and they believe the theft of the Stone is imminent. That night, they go through the trapdoor to get to it first, believing that Snape is the thief. They navigate the security system set up by the school's staff which is a series of complex magical challenges. The three make it through together until finally, Harry must enter the inner chamber alone. There he finds that meek Professor Quirrell, not Snape, is attempting to steal the Stone, and realizes that Snape was trying to protect him, Harry, from harm all along. Harry confronts Quirrell and survives a second encounter with Lord Voldemort, who has possessed Quirrell and appears as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell's head. Quirrell gets blisters when he touches Harry's skin, and Harry suffers because of his close proximity to Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore arrives just in time to rescue Harry. Voldemort then pitilessly abandons Quirrell, who dies in the aftermath of his possession.
Dumbledore reveals to Harry that Harry's mother died to protect Harry as an infant. Her pure, loving sacrifice provided Harry an ancient magical protection from Voldemort's lethal spells and also prevents Voldemort from touching Harry without suffering terribly. Dumbledore also says that the Philosopher's Stone has been destroyed to prevent future attempts by Voldemort to steal it.
Finally, at the end-of-year feast, the House Points totals are given: Gryffindor is in last place. However, Dumbledore gives a few "last-minute additions", granting points to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, so that Gryffindor wins the House Cup, and are crowned champions.
Chamber of Secrets:
While home with the Dursleys for the summer, Harry Potter is not getting any mail from his friends, Ron and Hermione. On his twelfth birthday (July 31) Harry is visited by Dobby, a house-elf, who warns him he, Harry, will be in mortal danger if he returns to Hogwarts. Harry is determined to return despite Dobby's dire warning. It turns out that Dobby was stopping Harry's letters, hoping that if Harry thought his friends had forgotten him, he might not want to return to Hogwarts. Dobby, seeing that he will have to use force, decides to drop a bowl of pudding on the kitchen floor through the use of a charm. Harry is blamed by the Ministry of Magic for Dobby's charm, and is told that if he does magic outside of school again, he will be expelled. The Dursleys, upon learning that he cannot do magic outside of school, have locked away Harry’s books and wand; Mr. Dursley has screwed bars onto his window, making Harry a prisoner.
A few days later, Fred, George, and Ron Weasley come to his rescue in their dad's flying car, a Charmed Ford Anglia. After a pleasant summer together in the Weasley house, everyone heads to Platform 9¾ to take the Hogwarts Express back to school. To their shock, Harry and Ron are unable to enter through the magical barrier between platforms 9 and 10. In desperation, they fly to Hogwarts in the car, crashing into the Whomping Willow and damaging Ron's wand. The semi-sentient car ejects them and their belongings and disappears into the Forbidden Forest.
Harry soon finds he is the unwanted center of attention of three people: the vain new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, a wizard perpetuating his own legend; admirer Colin Creevey, a young first year Gryffindor who endlessly takes Harry's photo; and Ron's sister, Ginny Weasley, who fancies Harry. Events take a bad turn when the Chamber of Secrets is opened and a monster stalks the castle, which literally petrifies several students. According to legend, the Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin and can only be opened by his heir to purge Hogwarts of students who are not pure-blood wizards. Many suspect Harry is the Slytherin heir, especially after he inadvertently speaks Parseltongue (the language of snakes), a rare ability Harry gained after Voldemort's murderous attack upon Harry when Harry was an infant. Harry, Ron, and Hermione attempt to discover the Heir of Slytherin's true identity. Using Polyjuice Potion brewed by Hermione, they disguise themselves as Slytherin students, Crabbe and Goyle, hoping to learn from Draco Malfoy the identity of the heir. Malfoy, they learn, does not know who the Heir of Slytherin is, but he inadvertently provides Harry and Ron with an important clue about the Chamber of Secrets.
Unfortunately, Hermione mistakenly adds cat hair instead of human hair to her practice potion and assumes a feline appearance, and it takes a little more than a month to restore her normal human appearance.
The attacks increase throughout the year, petrifying students, including Hermione. Most horribly, a message written on a wall declares that a student—Ginny Weasley—has been taken into the Chamber where, "her skeleton will lie forever."
With Ron and Moaning Myrtle's help, Harry discovers the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. They force Gilderoy Lockhart, a fraud who wipes clean other wizards' memories and claims their achievements, to go with them. Once they find the entrance to the Chamber, Lockhart attempts to use Ron's broken wand to erase Harry and Ron's memories, but the spell backfires onto himself and brings the ceiling caving in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart. Lockhart revives again, but has now lost his own memory.
Harry makes it to the Chamber where he finds an unconscious Ginny. He also meets a young man named Tom Riddle, who claims to be a "memory." Harry learns that Ginny, under the control of Lord Voldemort, opened the Chamber. Voldemort, whose real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle (an anagram of "I am Lord Voldemort"), imprinted his memory in an enchanted diary, in order to one day continue the work he began when he reopened the Chamber fifty years ago—ridding Hogwarts of non-pureblood witches and wizards. It was Hagrid, a Hogwarts student at the time, who was blamed for the attacks and expelled.
Tom Riddle's memory grows more powerful as it steals life from Ginny's body, and it tries to kill Harry by setting loose the Basilisk (the monster responsible for petrifying the students). But Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes arrives carrying the Sorting Hat, from which Harry draws out the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Fawkes blinds the Basilisk, destroying its fatal gaze, and Harry slays it with the sword. He stabs the diary with one of the Basilisk's fangs, and Riddle's memory is vanquished while Ginny revives from a near-death state. She fully recovers, as does Hermione and the other petrified students.
Harry realizes it was Lucius Malfoy who slipped the diary into Ginny's cauldron when he encountered the Weasleys in a Diagon Alley bookshop, but he is unable to prove it. Dobby reveals he is the Malfoys' servant, and knowing their treachery, had been trying to protect Harry all year. In gratitude, Harry wraps the diary in one of his old socks and hands it to Lucius. Lucius throws away the sock, but Dobby catches it. This constitutes, in Dobby's eyes, a gift of clothing—the traditional manner in which a master frees a house-elf from servitude. The freed Dobby declares he is eternally grateful to Harry and protects him from an attempted reprisal from Lucius.
Dumbledore dispels Harry's fears that he is kin of Slytherin's rather than to Gryffindor's nobility. He tells Harry that it is his choices that define him and not his abilities, and he could not have wielded the sword of Gryffindor if he did not truly belong to that house.
Prisoner of Azkaban:
J.K. Rowling's third book opens with Harry Potter spending yet another miserable summer at the Dursleys. When Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, viciously insults him, Harry's anger causes her to inflate and float to the ceiling. Harry runs away. In the street's shadows, he sees a large black dog ominously watching him, but the Knight Bus suddenly appears and takes him to Diagon Alley. There he is met by Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, who Harry is certain will expel him from Hogwarts for using under-age magic. However, the matter is surprisingly dropped. While at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry overhears the Weasleys arguing over whether Harry should be warned about convicted murderer Sirius Black, who has escaped Azkaban prison.
There are a few changes at Hogwarts as Harry begins his third year. For one, Hermione is taking nearly twice as many classes, including some taught at the same time of day. In addition, two new teachers join the staff: Professor Remus J. Lupin for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Rubeus Hagrid, formerly Keeper of Keys and Grounds and gamekeeper, for Care of Magical Creatures. While Lupin's lessons are enjoyable, Hagrid's soon become dreary. During the first class, Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the hippogriff Buckbeak, a half-horse, half-bird creature, into attacking him. Draco's father, Lucius, a powerful Ministry of Magic official, files an official complaint against Hagrid. Because Black is said to be hunting Harry, Dementors, the inhuman Azkaban guards, patrol Hogwarts. Dementors drain happiness and light from anything they approach. Harry is particularly affected, and Professor Lupin teaches him the Patronus charm that repels them. During a Quidditch match, several Dementors approach Harry, causing him to faint and fall off his broomstick. Albus Dumbledore stops Harry's fall, but his Nimbus 2000 flies into the Whomping Willow and is destroyed.
Meanwhile, tension grows between Hermione and Ron when Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, continually torments Ron's rat, Scabbers. When Scabbers disappears, leaving blood behind, Ron accuses Crookshanks. At Christmas, Harry receives a superb Firebolt broomstick from an anonymous benefactor, although Hermione suspects it was sent by Black and may be cursed. She reports it to Professor Minerva McGonagall, who confiscates it for testing. Both Harry and Ron are furious and stop speaking to Hermione.
While in Hogsmeade, a wizarding village, Harry overhears a disturbing conversation that Black was once his parents' best friend and is still his godfather and legal guardian. He supposedly divulged the Potters' secret whereabouts to Lord Voldemort and murdered their friend Peter Pettigrew, as well as twelve Muggle bystanders. Harry vows to kill Black, but he is astonished when he later sees Pettigrew's name on his Maurader's Map, a magical document showing secret passageways and every person's location within Hogwarts.
The Gryffindor Quidditch team wins the House Cup, thanks to Harry's returned Firebolt. However, Buckbeak has been sentenced to death. When the Trio visits Hagrid to console him, Scabbers turns up, although he is again pursued by Crookshanks, who chases him to the Whomping Willow. There, a large dog attacks Ron and drags him and Scabbers into a hole at the tree's base. Harry and Hermione follow, finding a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. Inside, Harry finally confronts Sirius Black, who, as an Animagus, possesses the ability to transform into an animal at will. Lupin, who has spotted the group on the Maurader's Map, suddenly bursts in and embraces his old friend Black. Confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf. Together they explain that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in Animagus form. He is Voldemort's servant, and it was he who betrayed the Potters, framing Black for the crimes. Harry is sceptical until Black and Lupin force Pettigrew back into his human form. Black explains that when he discovered Pettigrew was still alive, he escaped Azkaban to kill him.
As the group heads back to the castle, the full moon rises, causing Lupin to turn into a werewolf. During the ensuing commotion, Pettigrew escapes. As Dementors move in to attack Black, Harry, and Hermione, a mysterious figure across the lake casts a powerful Patronus, scattering the vicious creatures. Black is captured and taken to the castle where the Dementors intend to suck out his soul.
Hermione reveals she possesses a time-turner, which is how she has been taking so many classes. She and Harry travel back in time three hours, watching themselves go through the night's previous events. Now they manage to save Buckbeak by setting him free and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors are about to attack the "other" Harry and Black, Harry casts a powerful Patronus that disperses them. Black and Buckbeak escape as the timeline restores itself to normal. Harry is deeply disappointed he will be unable to go and live with his godfather, Black, but takes comfort in knowing that Black is safe.
Goblet of Fire;
The fourth book begins with an old man, Frank Bryce, who tends the gardens of a house long since abandoned which was once owned by the 'Riddle family. When he sees lights on in the house he decides to investigate and, inside, overhears Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew plotting the death of Harry Potter. Frank is discovered by them and killed, and at the same moment Harry awakes, having seen what has happened in his dream.
Soon after, Harry departs to the Quidditch World Cup with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. After the match, Lord Voldemort's supporters, Death Eaters are seen marching through the camp, destroying tents. The trio flee into the forest, where they see the Dark Mark, or Lord Voldemort's sign, shot into the sky. Barty Crouch, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, arrives and accuses the trio of doing it, but upon investigating, they find Crouch's house elf, Winky, clutching a wand. Crouch is furious and fires Winky immediately.
Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts soon commences. During the Welcoming Feast, Professor Dumbledore announces that the Triwizard Tournament has been revived and will be held at Hogwarts. The tournament is a hundreds-of-years-old inter-school competition that was eventually discontinued because it had become too dangerous. It is comprised of three difficult tasks, one in each school term.
One student from each of the three schools competing in the tournament are to be selected by the enchanted Goblet of Fire. Since the tournament is so dangerous, the students putting their names into the Goblet must be at least 17 years old. Cedric Diggory is chosen to represent Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour represents Beauxbatons Academy and the Durmstrang Institute is represented by Viktor Krum. However, the Goblet also selects Harry Potter, even though Harry has never entered his name and is under-age. Harry is helped in the tournament by Professor Alastor Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and a former Auror.
In the first task, Harry has to retrieve a golden egg from a dragon. Having been forewarned by Hagrid, Harry uses advice from Moody and Hermione and uses his broom to fly past the dragon and capture the egg, earning high marks.
The second task calls for the champions to retrieve a person of importance to them, who has been imprisoned in the Hogwart's lake. Dobby helps Harry achieve this, and Harry receives high marks again.
The champions are later informed that the third task will be to navigate through a large maze that is filled with dangerous obstacles. Harry and Victor Krum are speaking after having been informed of the task, and are startled to see a disheveled Mr. Crouch emerge from the forest. He is crazily speaking to trees, and demanding to see Dumbledore. Harry goes to retrieve Dumbledore, but when he returns, they find Krum has been stunned and Crouch is no where to be seen.
Not long after, Harry looks into Dumbledore's pensieve, which enables him to see Dumbledore's memories, including several wizarding trials. Through these he learns that Crouch's son, Barty Crouch, Jr., was a Death Eater and was sent to Azkaban, as well that Severus Snape, the potions teacher, was also once a Death Eater.
At the third task, Harry successfully makes it through the maze, aided by Diggory, and they decide to grab the Cup simultaneously. Unknown to them, the Cup is actually a portkey that transports them to an old cemetery. Awaiting them is Peter Pettigrew, who is carrying what appears to be a deformed infant. The creature orders Pettigrew to kill Diggory. Harry is bound to a tombstone, and Pettigrew uses Harry's blood, Voldemort's fathers bone, and his own severed hand in a bizarre ritual that restores Lord Voldemort to his full body and power. Unfortunately, now that Voldemort carries Harry's blood within him, he is now unaffected by the magic protecting Harry.
Voldemort reveals that he has a servant at Hogwarts who has ensured that Harry would win the tournament and be brought to the graveyard. After summoning his Death Eaters, Voldemort challenges Harry to a duel. However, his wand and Harry's are "brothers." As the wands' streams interlock, a Priori Incantatem effect occurs, causing the spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Harry's parents, to spill out from his wand. The echoes momentarily protect Harry, allowing him to grab the portkey and escape to Hogwarts with Diggory's body.
After Voldemort's plan fails, Moody attempts to kill Harry. However, Harry is saved by Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall. Moody is exposed as Barty Crouch, Jr. who used a Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the real Alastor Moody. It is revealed that Barty Crouch Jr. has killed his father, and was responsible for entering Harry’s name into the Goblet of Fire, and has covertly made sure that Harry has passed through the difficult tasks. Before Crouch can repeat his confession to the authorities, however, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, who refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned, arrives at Hogwarts, along with a Dementor which sucks out Crouch's soul. Dumbledore quickly reinstates the the Order of the Phoenix, and a memorial feast for Cedric is held, where Dumbledore tells the school what has happened in the graveyard.
Order of the Phoenix:
Harry Potter is having a very agitating summer: not only is he bracing himself for the catastrophe that is sure to accompany Voldemort's return, but he has also been stuck in Privet Drive for a month, with little contact from the wizarding world. But when Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors in Little Whinging, Harry fends them off with a Patronus Charm. An owl letter soon arrives stating Harry has been expelled from Hogwarts for performing magic outside school. Several more letters arrive in quick succession: Arthur Weasley and Sirius Black instruct Harry to remain in the house, while another overturns his expulsion and orders him to appear at a hearing at the Ministry of Magic.
Several Order of the Phoenix members arrive and escort Harry to their secret headquarters at the Black family home, 12 Grimmauld Place in London. The Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry’s godfather Sirius Black are there. Harry learns that Voldemort is building an army and is attempting to retrieve a "weapon". Harry is cleared of all charges at his hearing.
The students return to Hogwarts, where Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, has been appointed by the Ministry as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She refuses to teach students real defense methods and only uses textbooks to teach Ministry-approved theory. It is soon clear she is only there to spy on and take control of the school and is soon appointed High Inquisitor, arbitrarily imposing rules and regulations. She also harbours an intense dislike for half-breeds, such as centaurs, werewolves, and similar creatures. She considers Rubeus Hagrid (a half-giant) and Sybill Trelawney incompetent, and fires Trelawney.
Harry has been having strange dreams about running down a hallway and attempting to open a door in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. He also dreams he is a snake attacking Ron's father, Arthur Weasley. Arthur is indeed found injured at the Ministry, suffering from a severe venomous snake bite. Harry fears he is being possessed by Voldemort to do his bidding. In response, Dumbledore has Severus Snape teach Harry Occlumency to block his mind from intrusion, but their mutual dislike ends their lessons prematurely.
Hermione blackmails journalist Rita Skeeter into writing a favourable newspaper article about how Harry witnessed Voldemort's return. Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw student, persuades her father to publish the story in his paper The Quibbler. Furious, Umbridge bans the tabloid at the school, but the story spreads rapidly, gathering support for Harry.
Hermione convinces Harry to teach students Defence Against the Dark Arts. They name their clandestine group "Dumbledore's Army", or D.A. for short, to mock the Ministry of Magic, which fears that Dumbledore is creating a secret wizard army. When Umbridge uncovers the group's meetings, Dumbledore claims that he organized the group, to divert attention from Harry. Confronted by two Aurors (Dawlish and Shacklebolt), Minister Fudge, Percy Weasley, and Umbridge, Dumbledore easily disables them and is spectacularly whisked away by his phoenix, Fawkes. Umbridge is appointed Headmistress and imposes even tighter controls on the students. Fed up, the Weasley twins instigate a revolt, causing mayhem throughout the school while the staff pointedly do nothing to help Umbridge regain control.
Harry has another vision: that Sirius is being tortured at the Department of Mysteries. Unaware it is a ruse, he desperately attempts to contact Sirius via the Floo Network in Umbridge's office fireplace, but he is caught. Umbridge reveals it was she who sent the Dementors to attack Harry during the summer. As she is about to use the Cruciatus Curse on him, Hermione claims that Dumbledore has hidden a powerful weapon in the Forbidden Forest. She leads Harry and Umbridge into the forest, where they encounter centaurs. Umbridge foolishly insults them and, angered, a centaur picks up Umbridge and carries her off screaming into the woods. When Hagrid's giant half-brother, Grawp crashes onto the scene, Hermione and Harry escape amid the chaos.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with Luna, Ginny, and Neville fly to the Ministry of Magic on the school's Thestrals, unaware they are being lured into a trap. When they arrive at the Department of Mysteries, they are ambushed by Death Eaters. Voldemort is seeking a prophecy contained in a glass sphere there and needs Harry to retrieve it for him.
The students heroically fight the Death Eaters, but they are outmatched. Just as they are nearly defeated, Order members arrive. During the ensuing battle, the glass sphere is shattered and the prophecy lost. Sirius is blasted with a spell by his Death Eater cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange and, falling backwards, disappears through a mysterious veiled archway. Lupin reveals to Harry that Sirius is dead. Dumbledore arrives and the Death Eaters, except for Bellatrix, are captured. Lord Voldemort appears and duels with Dumbledore as Ministry of Magic employees arrive in time to see the Dark Lord before he Disapparates, taking Bellatrix with him. Cornelius Fudge finally admits Voldemort has returned and Harry's interview with Rita Skeeter is reprinted in the Daily Prophet.
Later, in his office, Dumbledore apologizes to Harry for not revealing all he knew over the past year. He reveals the lost prophecy: either Harry or Voldemort must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. He also reveals that due to the date of birth of the boy in the prophecy, it is possible that Neville Longbottom or Harry Potter could have been "the boy who lived," and therefore the child who was referred to in the prophecy. However, because Voldemort chose to attack Harry, Harry had ended up being marked as the one who would bring down the Dark Lord.
Half-Blood Prince:
Voldemort and his Death Eaters openly wreak chaos throughout Britain. Following public outcry over mishandling the Voldemort situation, Cornelius Fudge is forced to resign. Rufus Scrimgeour is the new Minister for Magic. As a result, Arthur Weasley receives a promotion.
At his home in Spinner's End, Severus Snape receives a visit from Draco Malfoy's mother Narcissa and her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange. Narcissa swears Snape to an Unbreakable Vow, ensuring he will protect Draco and, should her son fail, complete his mission for the Dark Lord.
Albus Dumbledore arrives at the Dursleys and asks Harry Potter to accompany him to see retired professor Horace Slughorn. With unwitting help from Harry, Dumbledore persuades Slughorn to resume his old teaching position at Hogwarts. Harry then spends the remaining summer months at The Burrow with the Weasleys and Hermione, who is also visiting. To his family's dismay, Bill Weasley has become engaged to Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Harry, Ron, and Hermione receive their O.W.L. results. Hermione receives high marks in all her subjects, but Ron and Harry fail Divination and History of Magic. They are also unable to take N.E.W.T.-level Potions because Snape only accepts "O" (Outstanding) grades. The course is a requirement to Harry's becoming an Auror.
As school begins, Snape is surprisingly announced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor while Slughorn takes his place as the Potions teacher. Since Slughorn only requires a minimum "E" grade (Exceeds Expectations) at O.W.L. to take his N.E.W.T.-level Potion classes, Harry and Ron are now able to sign up. Slughorn lends Harry and Ron old Potions textbooks. Harry's copy is marked as the property of "The Half-Blood Prince". The talented former owner's handwritten notes help Harry excel in the class. As a reward, Slughorn gives him a small vial of Felix Felicis, a good luck potion.
As the year progresses, more Death Eater attacks occur that may be linked to events at Hogwarts. On the first Hogsmeade visit, Katie Bell, a Gryffindor student is injured when she is forced to carry a cursed necklace while under the Imperius Curse. Harry suspects Malfoy or another Death Eater is involved.
Ron begins dating Lavender Brown — although it is mostly to spite Hermione, who, Ron learned, had kissed Viktor Krum. In turn, Hermione flirts with the egotistical Cormac McLaggen, but this backfires. Ron and Hermione's continual bickering causes Harry to fear they will never reconcile. But when Ron is accidentally poisoned drinking meade that was intended for Dumbledore, Hermione is so distraught that she and Ron end their feud, and Ron soon breaks up with Lavender.
Dumbledore gives Harry private lessons using his Pensieve to view collected memories about Voldemort's past. A memory belonging to Slughorn is partially missing. Aided by the Felix Felicis potion, Harry retrieves it from him. Dumbledore speculates that Voldemort has split his soul into seven fragments, storing six pieces in Horcruxes to grant himself immortality, while leaving the seventh in his own body. Two Horcruxes have been destroyed (Tom Riddle's diary by Harry[HP2] and Marvolo Gaunt's ring by Dumbledore).
When Harry discovers Malfoy sobbing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, they begin hurling curses at each other. Harry casts Sectumsempra, causing blood to gush from Malfoy's body. Snape arrives and tends to Malfoy. Recognizing the spell, he orders Harry to hand over his Potions book. Harry instead gives him Ron's copy. Snape assigns Harry detention for the same day as the Quidditch finals. After detention, Harry learns that Gryffindor won the finals, with Ginny Weasley as their substitute Seeker. During the victory celebration, Harry's suppressed feelings for Ginny are revealed when he spontaneously kisses her. They soon begin a relationship.
Just before Harry and Dumbledore leave to find another Horcrux (Salazar Slytherin's locket), Harry gives the remaining Felix Felicis to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He has suspected all year that Malfoy may be a Death Eater and has confided his suspicions to Dumbledore, who seemed unconcerned. He learns later that Dumbledore had Snape investigate. Believing Malfoy is involved in something sinister, Harry asks Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to patrol the halls. Harry then disapparates with Dumbledore to a secret cave. Upon retrieving the Horcrux, Dumbledore is seriously weakened by a potion he drank in order to uncover the locket inside a basin.
Returning to Hogsmeade, Harry and Dumbledore see Lord Voldemort's Dark Mark hovering over Hogwarts. They borrow broomsticks from Madam Rosmerta, whom they later discover to be under the Imperius Curse. They fly to the Astronomy Tower where they are ambushed by Draco Malfoy. Dumbledore paralyses Harry, who is under his Invisibility Cloak, just before Draco disarms Dumbledore. Draco reveals that he helped the Death Eaters enter Hogwarts, although Dumbledore discerns that the obviously frightened boy was coerced into aiding Voldemort's followers.
Death Eaters appear and urge Draco to fulfill his mission—killing Dumbledore—but Draco is reluctant. Snape arrives; Dumbledore uncharacteristically pleads with Snape. Hesitating, Snape kills Dumbledore with the Avada Kedavra killing curse. The spell's force hurls Dumbledore's body over the tower wall. Upon Dumbledore's death, Harry is freed from the paralysing spell. The Death Eaters flee, and Harry pursues Snape, who identifies himself as the Half-Blood Prince in a short-lived duel before escaping with Malfoy.
Harry recovers the locket from Dumbledore's body only to discover that it is a fake. Inside is a note from someone with the initials "R.A.B." who has stolen the real Horcrux and has vowed that it will be destroyed with the hope that when Voldemort meets his match he "will be mortal once more".
The school year ends abruptly with Dumbledore's funeral. Professor McGonagall is appointed Hogwarts' interim headmistress, although the school may never reopen. Regardless, Harry decides to leave Hogwarts to search for the remaining Horcruxes. Ron and Hermione vow to accompany him, while Harry ends his relationship with Ginny to protect her from Voldemort. The book concludes as Harry looks forward to Bill and Fleur's wedding and being comforted that "...there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione."
Deathly Hallows:NOT YET RELEASED (I will give you an overview when it comes out)