Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
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| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
About the book :
Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in January 2007. Before its release, Bloomsbury reportedly spent £10 million to keep the book's contents safe before its release date. American publisher Arthur Levine refused any copies of the novel to be released in advance for press review, although two reviews were submitted early. Shortly before release, photos of all 759 pages of the U.S. edition were leaked and transcribed, leading Scholastic to look for the source that had leaked it.
Released globally in 93 countries, Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever, a record it still held in 2012.It sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours following its release, including more than 11 million in the U.S. and UK alone. The previous record, 9 million in its first day, had been held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The novel has also been translated into over 120 languages. The title proved difficult to translate and was often rendered closer to "Harry Potter and the Relics of Death" in other languages.
Major themes in the novel are death and living in a corrupted society, and critics have compared them to Christian allegories. Generally well-received, the book won the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award, and the American Library Association named it a "Best Book for Young Adults". A two-part film adaptation began showing in November 2010 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released; Part 2 was released on 15 July 2011.
Plot:
Throughout the six previous novels in the series, the titular character Harry Potter has struggled with the difficulties of adolescence along with being famous as the only wizard to survive the Killing Curse. The curse was cast by the evil Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard, who had murdered Harry's parents and attempted to kill Harry as a baby, in the belief this would frustrate a prophecy that Harry would become his equal. As an orphan, Harry was placed in the care of his Muggle (non-magical) relatives Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon.
In Philosopher's Stone, Harry re-enters the wizarding world at age 11 and enrols in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He makes friends with fellow students Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and is mentored by the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. He also meets Professor Severus Snape, who intensely dislikes and bullies him. Harry fights Voldemort several times while at school, as the wizard tries to regain a physical form. In Goblet of Fire, Harry is mysteriously entered in a dangerous magical competition called the Triwizard Tournament, which he discovers is a trap designed to allow the return of Lord Voldemort to full strength. During Order of the Phoenix, Harry and several of his friends face off against Voldemort's Death Eaters, a group of Dark witches and wizards, and narrowly defeat them. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry learns that Voldemort has divided his soul into several parts, creating "horcruxes" from various unknown objects to contain them; in this way he has ensured his immortality as long as at least one of the horcruxes still exists. Two of these had already been destroyed, one a diary destroyed by Harry in the events of Chamber of Secrets and one a ring destroyed by Dumbledore shortly before the events of Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore takes Harry along in the attempt to destroy a third horcrux contained in a locket. However, the horcrux had been taken by an unknown wizard, and upon their return Dumbledore is ambushed and disarmed by Draco Malfoy who cannot bring himself to kill him. Dumbledore is subsequently killed by Snape, who finishes what Malfoy started.
Summary
Following Dumbledore's death, Voldemort consolidates his support and power, including covert control of the Ministry of Magic, while Harry is about to turn seventeen, losing the protection of his home. The Order of the Phoenix move Harry to a new location before his birthday, but are attacked upon departure. In the ensuing battle, Mad-Eye is killed and George Weasley wounded; Voldemort himself arrives to kill Harry, but Harry's wand fends him off of its own accord.
At the Burrow, Harry, Ron and Hermione make preparations to abandon Hogwarts and hunt down Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes, but have few clues to work with on their identities and locations. One is a locket once owned by Hogwarts' co-founder Salazar Slytherin which was stolen by the mysterious "R.A.B.", one is possibly a cup originally belonging to co-founder Helga Hufflepuff, a third might be connected to co-founder Rowena Ravenclaw, and the fourth might be Nagini, Voldemort's snake familiar. They also receive apparently meaningless bequests from among Dumbledore's possessions—a Golden Snitch for Harry, a Deluminator for Ron, and a book of fairy tales for Hermione.
Before leaving, they attend Ron's brother Bill's wedding, but during the reception the Ministry of Magic finally falls to Voldemort and the wedding is attacked. They flee to 12 Grimmauld Place in London, the family home of Sirius Black that Harry had inherited a year before. They identify R.A.B. as Sirius' brother Regulus Black, and learn from the house-elf Kreacher that Slytherin's locket was stolen from the house and then seized by Dolores Umbridge of the Ministry of Magic. They infiltrate the Ministry of Magic using Polyjuice Potion and take back the locket, but have no way to destroy it. With the Ministry now after them, the trio goes on the run across the countryside. Under the object's evil influence and the strain of constant vigilance, they argue and Ron leaves.
Harry and Hermione continue the quest, discovering more about Dumbledore's past, including the death of Dumbledore's younger sister and his connection to the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. They travel to Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace and the place where his parents died, and meet the elderly magical historian Bathilda Bagshot, but she turns out to be Nagini in disguise, awaiting their arrival. The snake attacks Harry and again they barely escape, but Harry's wand is destroyed. Their luck finally appears to turn in the Forest of Dean. A mysterious silver doe Patronus appears and guides Harry to an icy pond containing the Sword of Hogwarts co-founder Godric Gryffindor, one of the few objects able to destroy Horcruxes. During Harry's attempt to recover the sword, the Horcrux attempts to kill him. He is saved by Ron, who was guided back by the Deluminator, and they realise Dumbledore's gifts may be meaningful. Ron obtains the sword, and uses it to destroy the locket.
Hermione identifies in Dumbledore's book a strange symbol also worn at the wedding by Xenophilius Lovegood. They visit him and are told the symbol represents the mythical Deathly Hallows, three objects from an old fairy tale titled The Tale of the Three Brothers: the Elder Wand, an unbeatable wand; the Resurrection Stone, able to summon the dead; and an infallible Invisibility Cloak. Harry realises that Voldemort is seeking (and later successfully obtains) the Elder Wand, won by Dumbledore after Grindelwald's defeat, believing it will allow him to overpower the connection between his own wand and Harry's. Harry also recognises the Resurrection Stone as that found by Dumbledore which later become the second Horcrux, and believes it to be hidden inside the Snitch Dumbledore left for him, but can't open it. The description of the third Hallow also matches that of his own inherited Invisibility Cloak.
The trio are captured by Snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione to learn how the three acquired the sword, which she had believed was in her vault at Gringotts. With the help of Dobby the house-elf they escape along with fellow prisoners Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, Dean Thomas, and the goblin Griphook. During the escape Harry steals Draco Malfoy's wand and Dobby dies. Bellatrix' terror in interrogating Hermione suggests to Harry that some exceptional object is in her vault, and when questioned, Griphook confirms that a gold cup is indeed in her vault. With Griphook's help, they break into the vault at Gringotts, retrieve the cup, and escape on a dragon, but in the chaos they lose the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry has a vision of Voldemort and sees that he now understands their plan, and intends to make his remaining horcruxes even safer. The vision also confirms that the unidentified horcrux is at Hogwarts.
They enter the school through an undiscovered secret entrance. Harry alerts the teachers that Voldemort is planning an assault on the school, and they drive out Snape and summon the Order of the Phoenix to help defend the school to win time for Harry to locate the horcrux. Voldemort had set a guard in the Ravenclaw tower, corroborating Harry's belief that the horcrux is Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, lost centuries ago. The Ravenclaw ghost's story further confirms this belief, and Harry remembers an old diadem in the Room of Requirement. Ron and Hermione destroy the cup with basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets as Voldemort and his army besiege the castle. They find the diadem but are ambushed by Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe tries to kill them using Fiendfyre, a cursed fire, but is unable to control it; the fire destroys the diadem and himself while Harry and his friends save Malfoy and Goyle. Meanwhile, several major characters are killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, including Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley.
In his encampment, Voldemort feels that the Elder Wand is not performing as he expected. According to legend, its allegiance must be won by killing the previous owner, and Voldemort concludes—incorrectly—that as Snape killed Dumbledore, he will not be able to fully wield the wand's power until he kills Snape, which he does. Harry arrives as Snape is dying, and Snape passes him memories to view in a pensieve. They reveal that Snape had a lifelong love for Harry's mother and felt haunted by causing her death, and despite hating Harry's father he agreed at Dumbledore's request to watch over Harry and act as a double agent against Voldemort. The doe Patronus that led Harry to the Sword was summoned by Snape, who was watching over them the whole time. It is revealed that Dumbledore's death was planned in advance to prove Snape's allegiance to Voldemort. The memories also explain that Harry must die at Voldemort's hand if Voldemort is to be killed. Harry accepts his death and goes to the Forbidden Forest to allow Voldemort to kill him. On the way he mentions to Neville Longbottom that Voldemort's snake Nagini must be killed to make Voldemort vulnerable. He finally manages to open the Snitch and uses the Resurrection Stone within to seek comfort and courage from his dead loved ones—his parents, Sirius and Lupin—dropping the Stone in the forest before reaching Voldemort's camp. Voldemort uses the Killing Curse and Harry does not defend himself.
Harry awakens in a dreamlike location resembling Kings Cross Station and is greeted by Dumbledore, who explains that Voldemort's original Killing Curse left a fragment of Voldemort's soul in Harry which caused the connection they had felt, making Harry an unintended Horcrux; this fragment has just been destroyed by Voldemort himself. When Voldemort used Harry's blood to regain his full strength, this further protected Harry from Voldemort, allowing Harry to return to life if he chooses, or to "go on." Harry chooses to return and feigns death. Voldemort calls a truce and displays Harry's body, offering to spare most of the defenders if they surrender. Neville, however, kills Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor, leaving Voldemort unprotected, and Harry escapes under his cloak as the battle resumes.
In a final onslaught, Bellatrix is killed and Harry reveals to Voldemort that he is alive. He explains to Voldemort that the Elder Wand's loyalty transfers upon the defeat, not necessarily the killing, of its previous master. Although Voldemort believes that by killing Snape he has gained the Wand's loyalty, Snape was in fact never its master. Instead, Draco Malfoy earned the Wand's loyalty when he disarmed Dumbledore just before Snape arrived and killed the headmaster. Harry believes that the Elder Wand recognized Draco as its master, up to the point where Harry disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor, and that the duel will depend on whether or not the wand recognizes Harry to be its master. Voldemort attempts one final Killing Curse on Harry, but the Elder Wand refuses to act against Harry and the spell rebounds, killing Voldemort at last.
After Voldemort's death, Harry uses the Elder Wand to repair his original broken wand, saying that he will return the Elder Wand to Dumbledore's tomb where its power may vanish if Harry dies undefeated and it may drop out of history. Harry does not intend to search for the Resurrection Stone he dropped in the forest, but will keep the Invisibility Cloak he inherited. The wizarding world returns to peace once more.
Epilogue
In an epilogue set in King's Cross station 19 years later, Harry and Ginny Weasley are a couple with three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione also have two children, Rose and Hugo; Harry's godson Teddy Lupin, is found kissing Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's daughter Victoire; Neville Longbottom is now a Hogwarts professor; and Draco Malfoy and his wife are also at the station to send off their son, Scorpius. Albus is departing for his first year at Hogwarts, and is worried he will be placed into Slytherin House. Harry reassures him, telling his son that he is named for two Hogwarts headmasters, and one of them (Snape) was a Slytherin and "the bravest man he had ever met", but that the Sorting Hat could take account of personal preferences, as it did for Harry. The book ends with the words: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."
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Sources : Wikipedia.
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