The Order of the Phoenix attempts to bring Harry Potter to The Burrow just prior to his seventeenth birthday but are ambushed by Death Eaters. Harry's wand, seemingly of its own accord, countercurses Voldemort and Harry escapes. Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour gives Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore's will: the Deluminator for Ron, a first edition of a children's book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, for Hermione, and a Snitch, bearing the mysterious phrase "I open at the close", for Harry. The Ministry refuses to give Harry Godric Gryffindor's Sword, which Dumbledore also left to him. At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, a Patronus arrives, announcing that Scrimgeour is dead, that the Ministry of Magic has fallen under Voldemort's control, and that Death Eaters are on their way to the reception. Harry, Ron, and Hermione take refuge in 12 Grimmauld Place, which Sirius Black had left to Harry. Harry realizes that Sirius's brother Regulus was the "R.A.B" who took the Locket Horcrux.[HP6] Hermione recalls seeing such a locket in the house.[HP5] The house-elf Kreacher had kept the locket, but Mundungus Fletcher had stolen it from Kreacher and given it to Dolores Umbridge. Using Polyjuice Potion, the trio infiltrate the Ministry of Magic and steal the locket, but they are forced to flee to the countryside with no means to destroy it. Harry and Hermione deduce that Gryffindor's sword can destroy Horcruxes, which is why Dumbledore attempted to leave it to Harry, and learn that the one kept by the Ministry is a fake. Ron, however, abandons the mission and goes home.
Harry and Hermione look for the sword in Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace as well as Gryffindor and Dumbledore's hometown. While there, they find a grave for Ignotus Peverell with a mysterious symbol on it. They are then ambushed by Nagini and Voldemort but escape due to Hermione's quick Blasting Curse, which also damages Harry's wand and knocks him unconscious. When he awakens, he and Hermione are in a forest. At night, Harry follows a silver doe-shaped Patronus to a pond containing the real Sword of Gryffindor. As Harry tries to retrieve it, the Locket Horcrux (which he is wearing) strangles him. Just then, Ron returns (using a secret power of the Deluminator) and rescues him and the sword. Harry directs Ron to destroy the Horcrux with it, and he does. Ron informs him that Voldemort's name is now Tabooed: speaking it summons the Death Eaters. Additionally, Ron supplies Harry with a Hawthorn wand that he managed to procure from a group of Snatchers. Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Xenophilius Lovegood, whom they had seen wearing the mysterious symbol briefly discussed at the wedding earlier, in order to learn its meaning. Lovegood explains that it represents the three legendary Deathly Hallows -- the Elder Wand (the most powerful wand in the world), the Resurrection Stone (which can bring back the dead), and the Invisibility Cloak (a true invisibility cloak that never wears out) -- discussed in a story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard that uses the symbol. According to the story, three brothers took these as "gifts" from Death. Lovegood tells them that "believers" in the Hallows think that the three brothers were the three Peverell brothers. Harry realizes that Luna is suspiciously absent, and Lovegood admits that Death Eaters abducted his daughter and are coming for Harry and his friends now, desperately hoping against hope that by doing so, Luna will be returned to him unscathed. The trio barely escapes.
Despite Ron and Hermione's skepticism, Harry believes that Dumbledore's gifts indicate that the Deathly Hallows are real and that Dumbledore had all three (although, amazingly, by his own knowing actions, not at the same time- therefore he is not considered to be a Master of Death). They include Harry's Invisibility Cloak and the ring Dumbledore was wearing (the Resurrection Stone),[HP6] which is probably inside the Snitch. He concludes Voldemort is pursuing the Elder Wand, which was buried with Dumbledore at Hogwarts. Harry then accidentally speaks Voldemort's name, and the trio are captured and taken to the cellar of Malfoy Manor, with Harry disguised. Finding Gryffindor's Sword, Bellatrix Lestrange fears the trio has broken into her Gringotts vault and indicates that something else of Voldemort's is there. She tortures Hermione for information. Harry calls for help using a two-way mirror piece, in which he sees an eye. Dobby then apparates into the cellar and rescues the other prisoners, which include Luna, the goblin Griphook and wand-maker Ollivander. Lucius Malfoy sends Wormtail to the cellar to check on the noise. Harry reminds Wormtail of his life debt.[HP3] Wormtail hesitates and is then fatally strangled by his own silver hand[HP4] (which forced Wormtail's allegiance to Lord Voldemort or else kill him at the slightest sign of betrayal)[45]. Harry and Ron rescue Hermione; Ron disarms Bellatrix and Harry disarms Draco Malfoy. Dobby reappears and disapparates with them, but he is struck by Bellatrix's knife during the escape and dies.
Harry now has to decide whether to chase Horcruxes (battle Voldemort, and follow Dumbledore's instructions) or Hallows (and battle Death as he learns more about Dumbledore's past). He chooses to seek the Horcruxes and discusses breaking into Gringotts with Griphook. Ollivander confirms that the Elder Wand exists and that a wand will transfer its allegiance if its owner is defeated or disarmed. Aided by Griphook, Harry, Ron and Hermione penetrate Gringotts and retrieve Hufflepuff's Cup from the Lestrange vault, although they lose Gryffindor's sword to Griphook in the process and are thus unable to destroy the Horcrux. Voldemort takes the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb. Through his mental connection to Harry, he inadvertently reveals that a Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione head to Hogsmeade to find a way in. The bartender at the Hog's Head Inn turns out to be Aberforth Dumbledore. He tells Harry the story of his family, including his brother and Gellert Grindelwald's role in his sister Ariana's accidental death. Harry realizes that Albus Dumbledore had been begging to die in his sister's place during his delirium while attempting to retrieve the Locket Horcrux.[HP6] Aberforth smuggles the trio into Hogwarts with the help of Neville Longbottom, who has assumed the leadership of Dumbledore's Army at Hogwarts, and other members of the Order and Dumbledore's Army begin showing up. Luna suggests that the fifth Horcrux could be Ravenclaw's lost diadem. Hermione destroys the Cup Horcrux with basilisk venom (procuring a fang from the Chamber of Secrets- Ron duplicating the sounds he heard Harry make in order to open it). Harry recalls seeing the diadem in the Room of Requirement when he hid his Potions book the previous year.[HP6] Harry, Ron and Hermione enter, but Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle ambush them there. Crabbe mishandles the powerful Fiendfyre spell, killing himself and destroying the Diadem Horcrux. Harry saves Draco's life in their escape.
The Battle of Hogwarts commences between the Order of the Phoenix and most of the Hogwarts faculty and student body on one side and the Death Eaters, the Ministry of Magic, the Slytherins and the giants on the other. Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin and Tonks are among the dead. Harry follows Voldemort to the Shrieking Shack, where Voldemort deliberately kills Snape to become the Elder Wand's master. Harry captures the dying Snape's last memories and takes them to Dumbledore's Pensieve. He learns that Snape had loved Harry's mother Lily since they were children, and the silver doe was Snape's Patronus as a result. Snape had turned double agent for Dumbledore to save Lily's life and had remained loyal even after her death. When he acquired the Resurrection Stone, Dumbledore was cursed by the Ring Horcrux, causing his dead hand, but Snape had saved his life by containing the curse.[HP6] Dumbledore then ordered Snape to kill him if needed, in order to spare Draco. Snape's last memory is Dumbledore's conclusion that Harry himself is a Horcrux, which had created the connection between Harry and Voldemort. Harry must die to finally kill Voldemort.
Harry asks Neville Longbottom to kill Nagini if he gets the chance and then heads for Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest. On the way, Harry realizes the meaning of the clue on the Snitch, says, "I am about to die", and retrieves the Resurrection Stone, which he uses to summon the spirits of his parents, Sirius, and Lupin to accompany him. Voldemort casts the "Avada Kedavra" curse at Harry, and Harry dies (along with his Horcrux). He awakens in an ethereal place that looks like (to him) King's Cross station, unsure whether he is alive or dead. Dumbledore appears and congratulates Harry on choosing to destroy Horcruxes instead of chasing the Hallows, as Dumbledore had done in his quest to revive Ariana. He explains that, just as Voldemort cannot die while his soul fragments remain alive, Voldemort cannot kill Harry because he used Harry's blood in his resurrection.[HP4] Harry then is presented with the choice of easily succumbing to Death (passing on) or to return to the world of the living in order to continue to struggle against Voldemort.
Harry revives but feigns death. Voldemort orders Narcissa Malfoy to check Harry. She realises that Harry is alive, asks him very quietly about Draco (the only person for whom she now cares), then, once Harry (barely whispering back) informs her that he is, tells Voldemort that Harry is dead. Harry's still body is carried to Hogwarts by the weeping Hagrid as Voldemort's trophy. Voldemort resumes his assault on Hogwarts. When Neville defies the Death Eaters, the Sorting Hat is summoned by Voldemort. He puts it on Neville's head and sets it on fire. Neville draws Gryffindor's Sword out of it and decapitates Nagini, destroying the final Horcrux. Harry quickly hides under his Invisibility Cloak as reinforcements arrive for his side in the form of the centaurs and the house-elves, led by Kreacher.
Voldemort uses the Elder Wand to blast multiple opponents off their feet. Harry then takes off the Invisibility Cloak and confronts Voldemort, informing him that Draco (not Snape) had become the Elder Wand's master by disarming Dumbledore.[HP6] This allegiance was transferred to Harry when he won Draco's wand, and so Harry (not Voldemort) is the master of the true Elder Wand. The two circle each other and Harry offers, despite all the strife and sorrow he has caused, Voldemort a final chance at redemption. Voldemort, playing to character, vehemently declines and they both become (further) prepared to act at a split moment's notice. As in their first duel,[HP4] Harry then casts Expelliarmus, while Voldemort casts the killing curse Avada Kedavra. The Elder Wand's allegiance prevents the spell from harming Harry, and the Killing Curse rebounds off Harry's disarming spell, thereby killing Voldemort. After the climatic battle, Harry decides that the Elder Wand will be returned to Dumbledore's tomb, that the Resurrection Stone will be left in the Forbidden Forest, and that the Invisibility Cloak will continue to be a family heirloom, as Harry is the last descendant of Ignotus Peverell. Before returning the Elder Wand, Harry uses its power to repair his own wand. By giving up the Hallows, Harry, the first person to have possessed all three (and therefore the first, and only, Master of Death), shows that he has come to terms with the notion of life ending for everyone, is not afraid of death, and demonstrates a strength beyond that of any other character in the series (including Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Snape).
Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny Weasley are married and have three children; Ron and Hermione are married and have two children; Draco Malfoy is married with one child. The families meet to send their children on the Hogwarts Express for the school year. The Lupins' son, Teddy, also is mentioned to be for all intents and purposes part of the family and seems to be having a romantic relationship with Bill and Fleur's daughter. It is shown that Harry has come to the realization that both Dumbledore and Snape are heroes (having named one of his sons after the two) and has come to accept the Slytherin house. The book ends with these final words: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."
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